Black grinned up at his new robot. Because of the better equipment he was able to re-create the BlackBott much faster, still with all its up grades. He walked up to the sizzer lift and hopped inside it. He pushed down on the red button and lifted himself to the sitting place. Bones licked his nose and watched from down below. Black grunted as he lowered down into the black leather seat and rolled his shoulders backing a stretch to get comfortable. He placed his palm on the dash board and turned, the BlackBott jolting and springing into life. "HAHA! NOW WE'RE TALKIN'!" He shouted in glee.
"WOOF! WOOF!" Bones jumped up and ran around the BlackBott, his tail wagging furiously. The bot's legs cringed and stepped forward, two of them rising above to the roof. "METRO CITY, YOUR ASTRO BOY IS GOING TO BE A LITTLE DISMANTALED…WOHAHAHAHAAHA!"
"Conner?" Nick's voice sounded through Conner's phone. Conner lifted it to his ear. He was in his room, the walls full of Astro posters and diagrams of space ships. "Yeah?"
"Henna told me Astro was off to save a Whale Ship full of people. Wouldn't he be back by now? It's extremely late." Conner glanced over to his alarm clock.
5:30am
"Actually the correct term would be extremely early, for it is past the timing of twelve A.K.A midnight which represents the coming of the new day… hey, why are you so worried? I thought you preferred the 'original copy' more than Astro." Nick sighed.
"Look, the city would be screwed without him, aright? Now, do you know any vital information about this matter?"
"No, actually. I might give him a call…"
"But…you don't have his number. Do you?"
"Nick, you're talking about Conner here."
"Right, you do that." Conner nodded and clicked the phone off. He lowered his fingers to the blue buttons, when suddenly the floor vibrated. The light jolted above his head, making little jingling sounds. Then it stopped. But then, again the vibrating came, with a noise of what sounded like distant thunder going off in the center of the city. Conner pulled the phone away for a second. No more thunder came.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
His phone going off made Conner jump. He quickly clicked it on. "Yes?" said, his voice trembling.
"Conner? It's Henna. Did you hear that?"
THUMMM…
The thunder went off again. Conner walked up to the windows along his bedroom wall.
"It just went off again! Did you hear it? Did you?"
"Y-yes!"
"What do you think it is?"
THUMMM…
"I-I-I'm not sure…"
"Thunder?" Conner shook his head.
"There's no forecast for a shower, and the weather is to warm this time of year."
THUMMM….
Once again the trembling came, everything in the room shivering with fear. Conner pressed his nose up against the glass of the window, his breath fogging up his sight. But still there was no denying what came stamping from behind an apartment building. A huge, and I mean HUGE, black robot. Its body was a sphere, and it bared twelve long mechanical legs that raised him at least twenty meters above the ground. Conner's mouth dropped open.
"Conner? Conner, can you hear me?" Henna's voice sounded as the phone dropped to the ground and landed on the soft white carpet with a thud. Conner looked at the bot with wide eyes.
"We ARE screwed…"
Tenma looked ahead with weary eyes. His legs were numb from holding down on the accelerator flat down for more then half an hour and he hadn't got any sleep for the night. "Hey, are those lights?" Zane asked from the back, leaning forward and pointing ahead. Z squinted her eyes and looked out the window. With a gasp and a smile she turned to Tenma. "Bill, we're almost there! Look!" soon everybody was looking out the front to see three pairs of large shimmering lights in the air. "YESS!"
"WOOHOO!" Cora, who had her head out the window to talk with Astro and keep him awake, looked to the lights and smiled.
"We're almost there, Astro!" Astro groaned.
"Really?" he breathed.
"Just keep it up! The car's in close range!"
But as they approached closer, Z and Tenma noticed the ship was desperately low to the ground. Z gasped.
"It looks like there's only about twenty minutes till they go down! We won't make it in time!"
"Get Astro to go faster." Ember said casually.
"OKAY!" Zoran stuck her head out the window and looked to the back of the car. Astro was losing energy, heaving his back against the boot with his rockets on at full blast. "ASTRO!" Astro moaned and looked p to Zoran. He sighed.
"YEAH, Zoran?"
"We have to go faster!" she yelled. Astro spun around so he could face her.
"WHAT?"
"We won't make it in time!"
"This is as fast as I can go!" he answered back.
"No it isn't…" Cora said from the other side of the car. Astro just looked to her. "Remember, well of coarse you remember, but remember when you lifted the city from falling?"
"Umm, YEAH?"
"Your rocket flares were blue, not red! Concentrate!" she motivated. Astro looked back at his boots and tried to go faster. The lava yellow flares glitched a bit, but still no blue could be seen. "COMON ASTRO!" Zoran urged.
"TOUGHER THEN IT LOOKS, ZORAN!" Astro yelled back.
"(sigh) Well, I guess you aren't as tough as I once hoped. Ha, BRUSS could do better!" she taunted.
"HEY!" Astro fumed. Without him noticing, his rockets whirled and grew stronger, the car accelerating a little more. Widget tapped Zoran on the back.
"Zoran, what are you doing?" she asked.
"SHH! Trust me!" she turned back to Astro, heaving the car with all his might. "HEY BROTHER!" she called. Astro scowled and looked up to her.
"YES?"
"ASTRO'S HAVING A WITTLE SHUT DOWN!" everyone gasped and smiled to Astro to see his reaction. His face was filled with rage.
"OH YEAH? WELL LET THIS ANSWER TO THAT!" his rockets stopped for a second, and then practically exploded out in fury of blue energy.
"YES!" Cora cheered, ducking her head in the car. "We're on our way!" the car grew faster and faster, reaching the final speed of 280km. Zoran smiled at Astro.
"Im proud of you, brother!" she squeaked. Astro just looked up at her and managed a small smile. She gasped as she saw that his eyes were glowing blue. She giggled and pointed. Astro frowned. "What?"
"Your eyes are glowing…" she said. Suddenly Zoran's eyes started to glow and soon they were shining too. Astro laughed. Zoran tilted her head.
"What's so funny?" she ordered.
"Your eyes." He smirked. Zoran held her hands up to her face and saw the blue light reflecting off the palms. She giggled and crossed her eyes. Astro laughed softly. He was getting extremely tired…
"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! WE'RE ALL GOING…TO DIE!" Shane screamed, grasping his hair. Dr. Jet walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"STOP IT SHANE! Okay, we are NOT going to die! You're not exactly lifting everyone's spirits…" Dr. Logan stood up, a short man dressed in a brown suit with black hair greasy with sweat of panicking.
"How do you know that we're not going to die?" he yelled. Another scientist stood to join the fight.
"Don't try to trick us- THERE'S NO WAY WE'RE GETTING OUT OF THIS ONE!" soon the whole room was filled with screeching voices of arguing their fate. Jet shook her head and walked over to the windows. She looked up at the sky for what she thought was the last time. But wait. There was something there, a bright light in the sky. Yellow and blue lights, coming toward them. She squinted and looked closer, to see that the lights were actually a car! And Dr. Tenma was in the driver's seat! Who are the others? She thought to herself. And where is Astro? She turned to the fighting scientists. Captain Sheikh was wiping his forehead with a cloth and moping. "My wonderful ship…" he mourned with his co-captain. "I'll never be trusted with one again, you know-"
"HEY!" Jet yelled over the top of them all. They all fell silent and looked to her.
"What do YOU want?" Professor Duncan asked hastily. Jet pointed to the car approaching.
"It's Dr. Tenma! He's back!" she exclaimed. They all looked to the window and their eyes widened.
"WE'RE SAVED!" Dr. Logan cheered. The captain gulped.
"Umm, not if we don't move!" Jet looked to the car again and noticed that it wasn't ceasing to slow down…
"ASTRO! SLOW DOWN!" Cora yelled to him. Astro looked back to his rocket boots and tried to make the blue flares stop. But it seemed the more he tried, the stronger they got. Tenma slammed down on the brakes. The car jolted forward for a second. "WHOA!" Widget and Sluch almost went through the window, Cora reaching forward, grabbing them by the back of their shirt collars and hauling them back up. Ember's stomach slammed against the back seat infront of her. "Ooo, god…" she groaned. The car was getting slower, but still traveling at enough speed to crash right through the ship. "ASTRO!" Zoran yelled.
"Bill!" Z yelped.
"Astro can't stop!" he said. Astro looked to the ship.
"Here," he said. "Let's try this…" he sprung his legs forward so his rockets were pointing in front. The car immediately started to slow down, only a few meters from the ship windows. The hood of the car reached the glass. The glass cracked and broke away, crashing on the ground in a million shimmering pieces. The vehicle surged forward and finally stopped, half of it inside the Whale Ship, half out. Dr. Jet raced up to the car. "TENMA!" she yelled. Tenma and Z climbed out the front, while Cora, Zane, Sluch, Widget and Zoran jumped into the front seats and leapt out with them. Ember somehow squeezed herself over into the back seat and followed. Zane fell to his knees. "GROUND!" he cheered.
"No, an AIR ship about to crash!" Cora corrected. Zane's eyes widened.
"Oh yeah…"
"Where's Astro?" Widget asked. All the kids looked to the back of the car. Zoran's eyes had turned back to normal, but Astro was nowhere to be seen. All the scientists ran up to Tenma and Z.
"You're back!" Jet cheered.
"With the tools?" the captain asked hopefully.
"And something better." Tenma smiled at Z.
"Astro?" Ember called. Zoran's knees suddenly fell weary and she started to feel extremely worn out and weak. She groaned and sat on one of the coffee lounges. "He's not that well, guys…" she mumbled. They all looked to her.
"Zoran, are you okay?" Sluch asked. Zoran yawned.
"That means Astro must be having some sort of power failure…" Zane said. Astro suddenly could be seen, slowly hovering towards them, his rocket giving out for a few seconds, and then turning back on. They were back to the normal red. "Astro!" Cora sighed of relief. Astro closed his eyes and held his head, approaching the ground, but as he was about to land softly his rockets gave out and he fell. "Whoa!" Cora stepped forward and caught him under the arms. The kids ran up to see what the matter was. Astro appeared to be sleeping.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Probably just a small power failure. Tenma did say he wasn't in best condition, and that blue rocket stuff looked pretty tiring." Ember said. Cora dragged him over to one of the coffee lounges and laid him next to Zoran. She looked up to see that Zoran was asleep too, and her body slumbered against his red boots. Cora smiled. "Now that's just too adorable…"
"Jet, Shane, Sheikh…this is my long lost wife, Zoran." Everyone's mouths dropped open. Z laughed.
"But you were killed in a car accident!" Shane said. Z shook her head.
"Nope. I was staying with…" her eyes widened and she turned to Tenma. "Bill! Rose, is she okay?" Z asked in distress. She could stand if anything happened to her.
"She probably will show up any second now." Tenma replied calmly.
"DR, TENMA!" Cora called to her. He looked over to the children while the scientists kept taking with Z.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Astro's had a power failure, what do we do?" asked Sluch. Tenma started to walk towards them but Dr. Jet stopped him in his tracks.
"Tenma, there's no time. You go with Z to the engine. I'll see if Astro is okay." with a nod, Tenma grabbed Z's hand.
"Z, com'on!"
"Oh, right!" they raced down the corridor headed to the main engine room, the scientists and Sheikh following. Jet walked up and kneeled down next to Astro and Zoran, the kids surrounding. Their chests were rising and falling to represent breathing, a slight pale blue glow shining from under the clothing. She looked over to Zoran. "One of your friends decided to have a nap?" they laughed.
"Oh! No, Zoran is a robot!" Cora informed. Jet's eyebrows raised.
"She's Astro's sister." Widget said with a smile.
"Fascinating. Well, I guess you just have to wait until they wake up. Their systems probably need to rest to cool off from over heating. They'll be fine."
The crowd entered the engine room, Tenma carrying the box of tools. Z hauled open the steel door to the engine. It was practically destroyed, smoke spilling out and electricity zapping at every moment. Z got to her knees and grabbed a screw driver, working on the wires. "Com'on Zoran…" Shane encouraged.
Astro groaned and his eyes slowly opened. Zoran woke aswell, stretching her arms up in a squeaky yawn. Cora smiled and leaned over to Astro's face. "Wakey-wakey, sleepy head!" she sung. Astro lifted his head and looked around.
"Hmmm? Where am I? On the ship? Did we make it?" he asked.
"Yeah, you made it." Jet said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Widget hugged Zoran. She yawned again, causing Zane to yawn aswell.
"You guys just had to sleep a little, your systems were ova heated." Ember said.
"Is the engine okay?" Astro asked.
"We have to wait and see, they're working on it now." Jet informed. Astro took a slight glance around the room, looking at the ruined table cloths and turned over chairs.
"I guess you all were-"
"Freaked out of our minds?" Jet finished. "Yeah."
"I'm sorry we couldn't get here sooner, just something came up-" Jet smiled and put a finger to the young robot's lips.
"Shhh, stop it! You're here, you're ALL here!" Zoran smiled and leaned over to Astro's shoulder. "Besides, if the side tracking was THAT major, then-"
"Astro died." Ember explained. Jet's eyes grew wide. She shot up.
"WHAT?"
"Bill, pass the tool please." Tenma nodded and passes what Z was pointing at. The smoke was gone and only glitches snapped when Z pulled on a certain wire. Things seemed to be going well...well, seemed to be. After a few agonizing moments, all the lights suddenly went out. Shane went back into panic mode. "ITS NOT WORKING! WE'RE ON OUR LAST LEGS!"
"Can it, Shane!" yelled a female scientist from the back of the crowd. Tenma leaned down close to Z, her forehead drenched with sweat and a scowl on her face. Tenma knew that scowl. Z could do it. He knew she could. "You're doing great, Z." Out of small grunts, she managed,
"Thanks, honey..."
Capt. Sheikh smiled.
"It's good to have you two together again." Tenma smiled up at him. With a few more bangs of the screwdriver, Z wiped her forehead and slid out from the ground, jumping to her feet. "That should do it." She said with a grin. Tenma placed a hand on her shoulder and they waited...
"What's going on?" Cora asked Jet. They all looked around franticly.
"The lights!" Zane cried. "WE'RE ALL GONNA D-"
FLASH!
Suddenly all the lights snapped back, sending relief through everyone's veins. Zane cleared his throat. "AHEM, err, I wasn't...panicking..." Sluch gave him a shove.
"YESS!" all the scientists cheered as they felt the ship start to rise. Astro smiled and Zoran leapt off her seat.
"WE SAVED IT! WOOHOO!" the kids went into a small celebration, punching their fists in the air. Ember just remained her quiet self, folding her arms over her chest. "Thank god..." she mumbled.
BEEP! BEEP!
They all jolted around to see Hamegg's car park up next to the glass window. "Rose!" they all ran up to her, opening the window and helping her out carefully.
Z's ears pricked up at the sound of the car horn. She looked to Tenma. "Bill, Rose!"
"Go see if she's okay." He ordered. She nodded quickly and raced into the main area, the scientists following close behind.
"Oh, thank you dears..." the old woman praised. Jump leapt out from the front seat and pounced up on Zoran. She laughed and tried to block all his licking.
"*giggle* S-stop it!"
"BARK! YIP! BARK, BARK!" Zoran frowned and knelt to the ground so they could see eye to eye, away from the others.
"What?"
"BARK! RUFF! RUFF! BARK!"
"Uh-huh, radio..." Jump lifted his paws up as he continued.
"RRRRRUF RUF! BARK! YIP!" Zoran's eyes widened.
"WHAT?"
"Zoran, what's up?" Cora asked, walking over. Jump licked her nose as she stood, her face stricken with horror.
"Astro!" she yelped. Astro looked to her.
"Yeah?"
"Jump just spoke to me about-"
"Oh no, you do NOT want advice from dogs. Never ends well."
"But Jump is being SERIOUS! He heard something on the radio about Black!" Astro's eyes widened.
"Black? You mean that guy you killed?" Ember asked.
"He's not dead..." Zoran whimpered. Z ran up to Rose, hugging her tight.
"I'm okay!" she laughed. Z smiled. As everyone piled back onto the main room, Astro shot his head up to Tenma.
"Dad! Turn on the T.V!"
"T.V? Why?"
"Just do it!" with a nod Tenma walked over to one of the switch panels on the wall and flicked it on. Suddenly a large flat screen T.V over head flickered on, showing the news. The BRAKING, news. Everyone's attention snapped to the reporter.
"People are saying this is WORSE then the Peace Keeper! As you can see this huge robot is terrorizing the city nonstop!" they all gasped as they saw the environment around her. The black robot was smashing its arm into buildings, trampling over cars and destroying everything in its path. "The police force are trying to over come it, but it seems to be protecting its self with a force field! Mr. Downs, the chief officer, believes it to be Black, the man in which was though to be killed almost a few days ago!"
"SEE? SEE! It is Black!" Zoran yelled, jumping up an down and pointing to the screen.
"There is no sign of the city's hero Astro Boy yet, but some say even if it was here, it wouldn't be able to do much to help."
Astro frowned for a bit, noting that the reporter always seemed to call him an 'it'. But he soon turned to Tenma.
"Dad! I have to help!"
"Me too!" yelled Zoran, shooting her hand in the air. "Me too!"
"Astro NO." Z said, stepping forward. "You heard, that thing has a force field, and its destroying things, and its just too dangerous!"
"Mum," Astro said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be fine. I've done this sort of thing before."
"But you're not doing it alone this time." Cora said, walking up with the others.
"Cora, I know you want to help but-" Cora swiftly put her finger to his lips.
"You can't stop us man!" Zane perked up.
"Plus," Cora said, leaning in. "You OWE us..." Astro pushed her hand away.
"What? How do I OWE you anything?"
"Oh, just CHEATING at school, LYING at school, REJECTING us at school, BEING A PAIN IN THE-"
"Okay! I get your drift..." Cora smirked and turned to the others.
"In the car guys!"
"WOO!"
"WE GO KICK SUM BUTT!" Astro laughed as he watched them all squeeze into Hamegg's car. With a hum of the engine, the car soon started to float away. Astro smiled and ran up to fly after, when he was stopped by his dad. He looked up to Tenma.
"Just...just don't let this fight end like the Peace Keeper..." he said. Astro gave him a hug.
"I won't, I promise. I have too much to live for." Tenma smiled as they faced each other. "Onward and upward?" Astro grinned at his old motto.
"Onward and upward."
With that, he lept off of the Whale Ship, zooming after the car.