#3 Mini-Maximum Fun Time

It was a sunny day in June when Mini-Max awoke from his charging station. He blinked a few times as he scanned the comic book and pop-culture memorabilia packed space that was Fred's room.

"How peculiar," he wondered out loud. He then jumped onto Fred's bed to confirm it was unoccupied as he searched for clues to Fred's location. His scanners fell upon the red and white circular table in front of the tv, where a piece of paper laid waiting. After a few quick flips, the small robot landed on the table and read the letter.

Hey Mini-Max, I didn't get a chance to tell you last night, mainly because I forgot until Heathcliff reminded me this morning, but my mom scheduled me for my dentist appointment today. Bummer for sure and I don't know when I'll be home, so hope you have a fun day without me. We'll try to do something later I promise.

XOXO,

Fred

Mini-Max blinked a few more times as he gazed around the room and contemplated his new found free time. "Let us see what human things I can excel at today," he proclaimed loudly as he returned to Fred's bed. The tiny defender of justice then laid down flat on his back and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. After 10 seconds of faux-sleep, he opened his eyes and rose from the bed. "Another glorious day to be lived to the fullest," Min-Max cheerfully declared while striking a confident pose. "Now, I must put on today's garb!"

The small robot then moved to Fred's clothes drawer, where inside he found Fred's standard cargo shorts and red kaiju shirt, both of which were far too big. "Hmmm. Perhaps I should start a little more my size," he pondered while beginning to search other drawers. After a few seconds, he found the socks and exclaimed, "Aha! Victory!"

Mini-Max proceeded to pull a pair of white socks out and put one on each leg like long stockings, followed by rolling them down to fit tighter. He then fished a hat out of the top drawer and placed it on top of his large, round head; it was still a little big for him and kept trying to slip in front of his visual sensors. With a quick adjustment, the blue-green monster hat was secured on his head. He paused to admire his minimalist outfit and stated, "This works for someone who is not modest. Now for sustenance." The miniature robot then crossed the carpeted room as he headed for the kitchen. Once past the sliding doors and over the freshly cleaned floors, Mini-Max slid into his destination to prepare his "breakfast."

In the kitchen, the miniature robot found the place empty and bathed in morning sunlight. He then made a quick jump onto the counter by the stove and opened the cupboard to find a bowl. After removing a blue china bowl, Mini-Max took a few steps to a cabinet with food and grabbed the box of "Sugar Punch" cereal. He proceeded to pour the cereal into the bowl and put the box up before fishing a spoon out of the pull-out drawer below him. With a small, controlled jump, Mini-Max managed to land on the kitchen island without sliding around and sat down with his dry meal. (He did not see the purpose in adding milk to the cereal just for it to get soggy).

"Now for a fortified breakfast as proclaimed on the colorful box," he announced out loud to no one. Mini-Max then began to lift his spoon and put it to his nonexistent mouth as he pretended to eat, causing cereal dust/crumbs to stick to his white head. After a couple minutes of dipping his spoon into his bowl and making the occasional "crunch" sound, the small robot stood up and declared, "The most important meal of the day has been conquered." He then made a series of calculated jumps to gently place his bowl of (somewhat) intact cereal in the sink before wiping his face clean.

"What to do now?" he pondered to himself as he placed a hand where his chin would be. "If I were an ordinary human, frivolity would be the next course of action," he deduced while raising a finger for effect. Mini-Max proceeded to jump onto the floor and decided to put his new sock-stockings to use as he gathered speed and started sliding across the polished, tiled floor.

"Weeeee," he exclaimed as he skated along. He did zig-zags, figure 8s and spinning rapidly in place, which made him need to fix his procured hat every few minutes. For his last stunt, the tiny robot decided to try for longest slide. After making a brief run, Mini-Max then did a small jump and began his journey across the floor, letting his momentum carry him as he sailed 15 ft away from where he started. Once he stopped moving, he remarked, "This low level of friction is fun!"

Now finished with his indoor skating activity, Mini-Max moved on to what his best friend would likely do next: play video games. Before going back to his room however, the defender of justice went to the kitchen to microwave popcorn as that was often paired with gaming. After making a hot bowl of butter lovers' popcorn, he finally returned to Fred's room and prepared for his gaming experience. Once the tiny robot found the remote control for turning the TV on and the controller for playing the game, he proceeded to load in "Kaiju Slam Royale." He had seen both Fred and Hiro play it before, so he had some knowledge of the fighting moves and combo attacks.

"My virtual enemy shall taste bitter defeat," he proclaimed while balling a hand into a fist in determination. Mini-Max then cycled through the avatars and selected "Monstyr," a red frog-looking monster with yellow blotches on his back and green eyes. A moment later, Monstyr was faced with his opponent Manster, a light blue-colored monster with four arms and purple spikes on his back.

START!

Next thing he knew, Mini-Max's opponent charged at his character and delivered a double upper cut, causing Monstyr to lose several health points. "Well played fictitious foe, but have a dose of my 8-bit fury!" The tiny robot then made his move by jumping into the air and delivering a body slam, followed by some rapid kicks. Despite his small hands on the full-sized controller, Mini-Max was able to perform attacks by keeping his left hand on the joystick and his right hand over the other buttons. He also had the controller right on his lap so he could use his robotic reflexes more efficiently. With a swift swivel of the joystick and some button pushing, Mini-Max was delivering a 10-hit combo, causing his opponent to lose 20% of his health.

Manster roared in returned and started firing spikes from his back like missiles. Mini-Max then pressed the jump button to dodge the attacks one by one before retaliating. The miniature robot proceeded to make Monstyr launch his frog tongue at Manster and slap him several time with it. "This is effective and unhygienic," he noted to himself. After a few more minutes of back and forth attacking, Monstyr emerged victorious with still 72% of his health intact.

"VICTORY IS MINE!" the small robot shouted as he got up and did a small victory "Cabbage Patch" dance. He then stopped and turned towards the screen as it was flashing a message: Replay or New Battle? "Hmmm…while the prospect of redoing a battle to perfection is tempting, daringly facing the unknown is what I live for!" A split second later, Mini-Max was seated again and eagerly hitting the "New Battle" option. He decided to keep Monstyr as his avatar as the next challenge was setup. For the new opponent, he would be fighting Mosster, a plant monster with tree trunk-like legs and arms as well as green tendrils hanging from every other part of his body.

START!

Taking what he learned in his first fight, Mini-Max was better equipped to deliver swifter attacks and avoid the vines that Mosster launched at him like whips. Within a couple minutes, Monstyr emerged the victor again and only having lost 12% health this time. "A splendid fight and once again, I have proved my superior hand-eye coordination skills," the diminutive hero stated. He proceeded to face the TV screen again to select "New Battle" for the second time.

Mini-Max continued to play the game using "Monstyr" and was winning every battle; however, by the time he got to his 18th fight, he found himself starting to feel off. "Hey, why does my chest want to glow angrily at me?" he slurred in confusion as he saw the low battery symbol appear on his chest. "Why don't humans have to deal with their bodies interrupting their fun time," he incoherently grumbled. "I guess I got to go get some zap-zap," he sighed. Mini-Max then saw the bowl of neglected popcorn to his left.

"Gasp! I need to finish my crunchy buttered popcorn stuff before nappity-nap sleepity-boop," he exclaimed as he reached for the bowl. In an effort to "eat" it, he leaned back and poured the popcorn all at once where his mouth would have been, causing it to spill all over the couch and making his hat fall off. "Empty bowl means I did good," he told himself as he started to wobbly stand up. "I go get charged now," he loudly proclaimed again to no one.

The miniature robot jumped onto the floor and began to haphazardly walk to his charging station by Fred's bed. As he went, he would start leaning himself off course, leading him to overcompensate in the opposite direction. "Who made the ground so uneasy? Am I on a boat?" he groggily wondered as he continued to lose power.

Just as he was almost to his charging station, he noticed Fred's bed again. "There's a place to take a nap," he commented as he forgot his true destination and clumsily jumped on top. "Snuggly," Mini-Max quietly remarked as he closed his eyes to sleep. Everything was quiet in the room for almost 10 minutes until the doors whooshed open for the return of Fred.

"Hey Mini-Max, I'm back! Good news, I only had 2 cavities this time and the dentist gave me these stickers with my new toothbrush," the comic book fan announced as he entered. When he was met with silence, Fred looked around the room and noticed the TV on as well as the popcorn strewn about the couch. "Mini-Max," he called as he walked further inward. He then spotted his robotic best friend, asleep on his bed and went "Awww."

He proceeded to scoop Mini-Max up and place him on his charger, followed by removing his socks once he was propped up. "Looks like someone had a fun day," Fred remarked as he tossed his socks back in the drawer. The young man then went to his couch and swept away some of the popcorn so he could sit down.

"Since Mini-Max got the game all warmed up for me…" Fred trailed off as he grabbed the controller and hit "New Battle" option. He briefly turned his head back to his robotic friend and gave him a warm smile. "Get charged up soon buddy. I want to hear all about your…Hey!" Fred said as he quickly focused back on the game, where smacking sounds could be heard. "No fair! I wasn't ready yet!"

Until Mini-Max would wake up, the only sounds to come from the room would be "Kaiju Slam Royale," Fred's excessive grunts while playing and the occasional crunch from him eating the definitely unsanitary popcorn.

NOTES

I hope you enjoyed Mini-Max navigating the mansion on his own. ^_^ I figured he'd be curious when left to his own devices and he's taken some personality traits/habits from Fred over time. It was a lot of fun writing the low-battery mode Mini-Max part because we rarely got to see it in the show, but was certainly entertaining to watch. The next story will have Globby learn a new ability. ;)