The bright white sunbeams of the early morning sun broke through the ebony black storm clouds, the thin rays of light piercing the ominous midnight black sheet that clung to the sky like lances of purifying white light.

Yet despite this however, it was still dark outside and the rain and thunder had yet to part ways. Great sheets of it hammered the ground of the forests and the small, rustic village . While the thunder roared ominously in the distance, it's bellow echoing across the forest like the bloodthirsty cry of a great, terrible, beast.

All the while the thin, spindly wisps of lightning crackled and zapped in the dark sky, lighting up the darkened land for only a matter of nanoseconds before vanishing back into the extremely heavy, torrential rain.

However, despite the constant, seemingly unending storm. The people of the village didn't need to worry, they could shelter themselves under the warmth of their humble, rustic abodes. The warmth of their homes providing shelter from the storm and allowing them to rest in peace, without having to deal with the wide, horrible world that lay outside their doors.

However, one little fox didn't have such a luxury.

The alleyway was extremely ominous when it was dark, the long shadows from the buildings stretching to envelop the entire area in darkness, like a shroud of pure midnight.

And inside of the large, looming skip bin, the tiny fox lay. Curled up tightly under the thin piles of ragged, torn up newspaper, his little stomach rumbling with an intense, aching hunger. He hadn't been able to eat anything for nearly an entire week and be able to keep it down for long.

Most of his attempts at trying to keep himself from starving to death were often met by the harmful "food" he consumed to violently upset his sensitive little stomach and he would violently retch it up, making him even more hungry and taking up more of his energy, sometimes to the point where he would just collapse in the street and wake up with a new series of bruises, cuts and welts.

He whimpered to himself, tears building up in his eyes, curling up tighter to try and ease the pain in his stomach and across his body. He was shivering from the cold as well and he sometimes let out small sniffles and coughs, meaning that he had to not only deal with starvation, but a chest infection as well.

His ears were flattened against his skull and he shook uncontrollably, he just wanted to feel warmth once again… to be embraced and loved by someone. To be more than just the neighbourhood freak who people would just snigger, laugh at or violently beat.

"I wonder where my Mummy and Daddy are?" he thought to himself, he didn't know where they were…or why they had gone.

All he knew was that they had left him in the alleyway when he was a tiny baby, but deep down…the toddler knew the answer, they probably just despised him and wanted to get rid of him as quickly as possible in favour of a more normal kid.

The very thought of it caused the boy to shake even more violently, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks, while he sniffled and spluttered while he quietly cried to himself at how miserable and cruel his life had been.

However he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a loud clang from outside, making him yelp with fright. He didn't know what it was or dare he say it who it was…but something arriving in the alley only meant one thing usually…pain and misery.

But he was a curious child, he needed to know what had made such a disturbance. So he slowly rose to his knees, making sure to clutch his most likely broken shoulder, to avoid straining and hurting it even more.

He peaked through the small gap in the skip bin, trying to see out into the nearly pitch black alley, his ears pricked up trying to pick up any noise coming from the alley, as he looked out from the miniscule gap he saw something…off.

It was one of the dustbins that littered the dingy alleyway…yet it was on it's side, the metal cylindrical shape lying on the cold, soaked, concrete floor. Spilling it's foul smelling contents onto the alley floor, said smell offending the little toddler's nose making him gag in disgust.

However…he then heard a voice coming from behind it…it was posh sounding, yet something was bizarre…it sounded metallic almost, as if it was coming from some sort of robot. Irritation laced it as it spoke in a clearly angry tone.

"Oh smooth sailing Cubot! Now look what you've done! We are supposed to infiltrate the village, not draw as much attention to ourselves as possible!"

The little fox curiously watched out of the gap, wanting to know who this stranger was, but he was also hesitant; His history with strangers was one of violence, rejection and abandonment so he didn't want to make his presence know to these people.

He then heard a second voice, this one was profoundly less posh and spoke with almost a sort of southern sounding tone, this one was metallic sounding as well and sarcasm laced it as it responded to the first voice,

"Oh really? I never knew that Orbot!"

It was a fascinating thing to listen to for the toddler, however something happened…he had been holding up the lid of the skip bin but without even realising he had let go of it. It crashed back down letting out an impossibly loud clang which frightened the kit from not only the noise…but the fact that those voices…they would certainly have heard it.

"What on Earth was that?' he heard the voice belonging to the one called Cubot say.

The toddler immediately cupped his hand over his mouth, trying his very best to muffle his increasingly rapid and terrified breathing. But it was to no avail, they had certainly heard what had happened and it wouldn't take them long at all to find him.

His ears flattened themselves against his skull as he saw the heavy, iron lid of the skip bin be lifted. Somewhat brightening the darkness in the skip bin and the little fox let out a frightened whimper and tightly squeezed his eyes shut, while he backed up against the rusty iron walls of the bin.

The toddler then heard the voice once again, small little droplets of rain pelting at his grimy unwashed and unkempt fur.

"Is that…a kid?"

The tiny fox then began to violently shake, he knew what was coming next and he tried his best to tense up, awaiting the agonising pain to begin, but he then heard the voice speak to HIM this time in a somewhat calming tone,

"Heh…Sorry little guy, didn't mean to startle you. But what are you doing out here in a time like this all by yourself? Are you lost?"

The toddler didn't reply, the small, frightened ball of dirty, unwashed fluff only shaking even more. He wouldn't be lured into any false sense of security these strangers were given him, he knew that people he had never seen before would only just hurt and torment him.

He then heard the voice speak again, once again employing that sympathetic tone to the small boy.

"Hey…it's ok I'm not going to hurt you!"

But the toddler wasn't buying it, he had seen what strangers would do to him…He would always be lured into thinking that they were not going to hurt him and that they were "his friend" and then what next ladies, gentlemen and non-binary viewers? They would beat him mercilessly, on occasion to the extent where the little boy would pass out before the beating had truly ended.

He knew where this was going and he wouldn't be manipulated like he had been in the past and he made this known to the stranger,

"Yes you are…" he whined sadly, burying his face in his knees while he tried his best not to cry.

His little heart began to beat harder and faster as he tensed up, he was panicking and he knew it, but he needed to calm down…he had to calm down, it'd only make the inevitable beating feel even worse.

"Hey…kid. No I'm not, I'm not going to hurt you, why are you even here by yourself?"

"Because it's the only place where I won't be hurt by everyone, I do-…I don't have anywhere else… you're just going to hurt me like everyone else so go on! Just get it over with…"

The little fox heard the voice then whisper a few words towards the one called "Cubot." confusion laced in the voice's words. Then he heard the voice speak to him in once again a calm and sympathetic tone,

"What no! Why would I do a thing like that?"

But the little fox knew what was coming, he didn't care any more. he knew they were just going to end up throwing him down, beating his tiny body and hurting his little heart even more. So he shakily emerged from the tiny ball he had curled himself up into and cried at them,

"STOP LYING TO ME! YOU ALWAYS DO THIS AND PRETEND TO BE MY FRIEND! A-A-" the tiny kit lowered his head, tears spilling down his crusty, dirty furred cheeks.

'And then you just remind me that I'm just a freak..." he whispered, his little voice hoarse from all of the crying and from what was quite likely a chest infection.

The toddler then heard the two voices whisper to each other, probably just to insult him, increase the size of that rapidly growing rift in his heart and then just violently use him as their plaything, leaving him with more wounds to deal with.

He then curled up into a ball against the rusted, garbage stained back wall of the skip bin, hugging his knees and quietly crying to himself, however…he then felt something cold and metallic touch his thin, weak arm and his fear kicked into overdrive.

His heart began to beat even more furiously, pumping blood and adrenaline through the toddler's malnourished and battered body and his breathing became rapid, ragged and sounded like small gasps for oxygen.

"NO! NO! GET AWAY!"

The toddler shot up, completely disregarding the sharp, stabbing pain in his shoulder and tried to rapidly escape from the skip bin, his little legs kicked as he fell out of the bin. Landing with a thud, the feeling of his already damaged tiny body violently slamming against the concrete sending pain belting through his body and the little kit cried in pain.

However before he could even attempt trying to get to his feet, he suddenly felt two metallic arms wrap around his midsection gently, he cried with frustration and attempted to squirm out of the hold and run.

Run as far and as swiftly as his thin, tiny, little legs could carry him where he could hopefully hide until these strangers went away…but the hold wouldn't break, it only increased in strength.

He frantically kicked, squirmed and cried out in distress, tears streaming down his face while he screamed at the strangers to let go, all the while he heard the one called Cubot yell at the one holding him in place.

"For Chaos's sake calm the kid down!"

"Oh really Cubot? Last I remembered I never had to deal with a frightened, homeless toddler before!"

"He's a fox right? Do the thing Orbot! Do it now!"

"Ok! Ok! I'm doing it!"

The tiny kid then felt something…odd, he could feel one of the cold metallic hands reach behind one of his ears, and gently scratch the sensitive area around it. He was expecting to feel white hot pain in mere moments when it first started but it felt…weirdly comforting, like all of his internal pain…all of his anguish, his fear, his anxiety…It felt like it was all melting away.

He then heard the voice soothingly whisper to him,

"Hey…shhhhh…it's ok kid, it's ok…"

As the bizarre movement continued…the toddler's squirms became less frequent…his paranoia and fear filled adrenaline seeping out of his tiny malnourished body and it didn't take long for his energy to sap completely and he collapsed into the arms of the stranger. A low purr resonating from the youngster's vocal chords.

The voice then whispered to him soothingly and calmly,

"There…is that better?" before he gently set the toddler down in front of him, letting the youngster see who had been comforting him and the toddler looked up nervously.

It was a robot, one with a steel endoskeleton, a spherical head coloured vermillion red and dark grey, with a luminous blue voice box and eyes, it's hands were reinforced as well and were the same shade of vermillion as the machine's head and the same could be said for it's joints.

The toddler then turned to see the other stranger…the one called , "Cubot" he was in many ways like the one who he was sat down in front off, but like his name suggested he had a mustard yellow cube shaped head and body.

Then, the robot very gently placed one of his red hands upon the fox's good shoulder and kindly asked the boy, his voice filled with sympathy and kindness,

"So…do you want to tell us why you're hear?"