Chapter 3: SFIT Institution & Meeting the Team
Later, instead of taking his siblings to the bot-fight, Tadashi brought them to his school, the San Fransokyo Institution of Technology. "What are we doing at your nerd school? Bot-fight's that way!" Hiro exclaimed. "Yeah, why'd you bring us here?" Genji asked. Tadashi parked his scooter in front of the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab. "Gotta grab something." He said as he got off the scooter, took off his helmet and walked up to the building. "Is he being for real right now?" Kaiya asked. Hiro and Genji shrugged. "Come on, let's go with him." Kaiya said in defeat.
Later, Tadashi and his siblings walked into the school. "Is this gonna take long?" Hiro asked. "Yeah, bot-fights don't last an eternity, you know." Genji said. "Relax, you big babies. We'll be in and out. Anyway, you guys have never seen my lab." Tadashi said as he walked into the testing lab. "Oh, great, we get to see your nerd lab." Hiro said sarcastically. "Head's up!" A woman called as she sped past the triplets, startling them. She stopped her bike in front of her work place, picked it up and put it up on hanger. She took off one of the wheels, inspected it and tossed it back on as she walked away. As the triplets grew curious and started to walk towards the bike, they looked around and saw the other students at work on their own robotic projects. As they reached the bike, they saw what was holding the wheel up. "Whoa. Electro-mag suspension?" Hiro asked in awe. "Metal magnets? Durable." Kaiya said, tapping the magnet with her finger.
"Hey!" A voice said, startling them. They turned to see the biker woman staring at them. "Who are you 3?" She asked. "Uh, I'm…" Hiro tried to answer. "Gogo, these are my triplet siblings, Hiro, Genji and Kaiya." Tadashi introduced. The woman, named Gogo, took off her helmet, revealing her face to be Korean with black hair and a small purple highlight on her bangs. Hiro became flushed at the sight of her beautiful face as she blew bubblegum and popped it in her mouth. "Welcome to the nerd lab." Gogo said. "Yeah." Hiro chuckled awkwardly. Genji and Kaiya could tell that their brother's developed a crush on this emo girl. "We've never seen electro-mag suspension on a bike before." Hiro said as Gogo spun the wheel. "Zero resistance, faster bike. But not fast enough." Gogo said, removing the wheel and throwing it into the recycle bin, filled to the brim with wheels. "Yet. Cute robot." She said, before walking away. Hiro blushed as he looked at Megabot.
They turned and walked over to a burly African-American man. "Oh! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" He exclaimed, stopping the triplets from coming any further. "Do not move. Behind the line please." He said. The triplets walked back over the caution line they apparently unknowingly crossed over. "Hey, Wasabi. These are my triplet siblings, Hiro, Genji and Kaiya." Tadashi introduced. "Hello, Hiro, Genji and Kaiya. Prepared to be amazed." Wasabi greeted with a smile as he walked behind his project and picked up an apple. "Catch." He tossed the apple in between 2 poles, but it suddenly sliced into thin slices. "Wow." Hiro said in amazement as he, Genji and Kaiya each looked at one of the slices. "This is as thin as paper." Genji said. Wasabi flipped a switch and revealed that there were lasers between the poles. "Is that…laser-induced plasma?" Kaiya asked in amazement. "Oh, yeah. With a little magnetic confinement for, uh, ultra-precision." Wasabi said as he took one of his pieces from the right pole and carefully placed it on his work table. It was outlined for each carefully placed tool. "Wow. How do you find anything in this mess?" Hiro asked as he picked up a scope. But Wasabi took it back and placed it back in its place. "I have a system. There's a place for everything, and everything in its place." He said. "Need this." Gogo said as she rushed in, took one of his wrenches and took off again. "You can't do that! This is anarchy! Society has rules!" Wasabi exclaimed angrily as he chased after her.
Suddenly, the lights started flickering. "Okay, almost got it." A voice said. The triplets turned to see a Caucasian boy working on a small device. "Cool. Is that an arc reactor?" Hiro asked as he, Genji and Kaiya walked up. "Sure is. A miniaturized variation. With this, the electricity in this whole city can be powered while saving energy for about 10 generations." The boy said. "Or even something smaller." Genji said. "But what?" Kaiya asked. "Like my suit here." The boy said, gesturing to an armored suit. The triplets were amazed by this. "Whoa. What is this armor made of? Titanium?" Hiro asked. "Oh yeah. I made the armor from unused warhead missile alloys. I melted them down and made each part of my armor." The boy explained. "Nicely done with the power source, Metanite." Tadashi said.
"Yeah, I can see that." A girl's voice called from behind. Tadashi and the triplets turned around to see a Mexican girl wearing high-tech goggles, sitting in the far back. "What's up, Seer Shot?" Tadashi greeted, giving the girl, Seer Shot, a fist bump. "Good to see you, Tadashi. And you brought guests?" Seer Shot asked. "These are my triplet siblings, Hiro, Genji and Kaiya." Tadashi introduced. "Glad to meet you. Welcome to our little circus." Seer Shot greeted, shaking hands with the triplets. "Cool goggles. Those gear-mounted camera arrays?" Genji asked. "Si. With an automated zoom wired in, which I can see anything from afar. It really works out great for me because…" Seer Shot explained as she took off her goggles, revealing her left eye to be pure white. "…I'm half blind." The triplets were shocked to hear that. "Yeah, she was born that way. We all support her any way we can." Tadashi said.
Suddenly, an Indonesian girl grew out of nowhere. "Hi!" She greeted loudly, startling everyone. "Hey, Hornet. Still as sneaky as ever, I see." Tadashi said. "Sure am, Tadashi. And these must be your triplet siblings, right?" Hornet asked. "That's right. This is Hiro, Genji and Kaiya." Tadashi introduced. "Oh, it's so good to finally meet you guys!" Hornet exclaimed excitedly as she hugged each of the triplets. "Okay. A real friendly one. But how'd you appear like that?" Genji asked. "Check it out." Hornet said, gesturing to a high-tech belt around her waist. "A matter shrinker and expander belt?" Hiro asked. "That's right. Using special nano-technology, I can use this belt to shrink and regrow myself." Hornet explained. "That's so cool. That could be used to hop inside a machine and fix it from the inside." Kaiya said. "I know. And makes a crazy surprise maker. Like how I surprised you guys." Hornet said jokingly. "Yeah. She's smart and funny. A 2 for 1." Tadashi said.
"Oh, sacré bleu!" A male voice exclaimed in French. The Hamada Triplets walked over to a French Caucasian working on some kind of weapon. "Uh, hi there." Hiro greeted. "Oh, bonjour. You must be Tadashi's siblings, oui?" The French man asked. "That's right, Proud Dagger. This is Hiro, Genji and Kaiya." Tadashi introduced. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Proud Dagger said. "Were you having a problem with something?" Kaiya asked. "Oui, I've been trying to fix up my latest invention. It's an advanced form of weaponry, a futuristic sword with a laser blade powered by a crystal. But I think I have the wrong kind of crystal for it to work. Every time I think it's gonna work, the blade just shorts out." Proud Dagger explained. Hiro scratched his head as he took a look at the crystal. "There's nothing wrong with the crystal. You just have it positioned wrong." He said. "I do?" Proud Dagger asked as he took a look. "Well, sacré bleu! How did I not notice that? Should be a simple fix." He said. He carefully changed the position of the crystal and activated the sword for a test. The test was a success as a blue laser beam extended from the handle. "Zut alors! It works! Merci, young Hiro! You are a saint!" Proud Dagger cried as he thanked Hiro. "He's quite the talented guy." Genji said. "We all are." Kaiya said. "Oui. Tadashi told me so much about vous tous." Proud Dagger said. "Though, why does your weapon look like an old musketeer rapier?" Kaiya asked. "Because of my family. My ancestors were part of ze great musketeers. So, I wanted to create something that helps me carry their great legacy." Proud Dagger explained.
"Excuse me!" A tall blonde girl called loudly as she pushed a large metal ball along. "Sacré bleu!" Proud Dagger exclaimed as he and the Hamada Triplets got out of the way. "Coming through!" The girl pushed the big ball onto a platform. "Tadashi!" She cried happily as Tadashi and his siblings walked up. "Oh my gosh. You must be Hiro, Genji and Kaiya! I've heard so much about you!" She exclaimed through her loud music before pulling out her ear buds and kissed Hiro's cheeks, then Genji's, and then Kaiya's. "Perfect timing! Perfect timing." She stepped on a floor button and elevated the platform. "That's a whole lot of tungsten carbine." Hiro said. "I've never seen so much." Genji said. "How much is this whole ball?" Kaiya asked. "400 pounds of it!" The girl said excitedly. "Come here, come here, come here. You're gonna love this." She dragged them over to her chemistry set and prepared the necessary ingredients. "A dash of perchloric acid, a smidge of cobalt, a hint of hydrogen peroxide…" She then got a blowtorch and started heating her formula. "…super-heated to 500 Kelvin and…" She bottled the formula and sprayed a pink cloud all over the ball before pulling a switch and with a flash of electricity, the mixture sticked to the ball, in pink. "Ta-da! It's pretty great, huh?" The girl asked. "So…pink." Hiro said. "Very pink." Genji said. "Nothing wrong with pink." Kaiya said. "Here's the best part." The girl said. She walked up to the pink ball and tapped it with her finger, causing it to explode. "Whoa!" The triplets said in awe. The girl turned around, covered in pink dust. "I know, right?" She said as she took off her glasses. "Chemical metal embrittlement." "Not bad, Honey Lemon." Tadashi said.
"Honey Lemon? Gogo? Seer Shot? Hornet? Metanite? Proud Dagger? Wasabi?" Hiro asked. "I spilled wasabi on my shirt one time, people! One TIME!" Wasabi exclaimed angrily as he exited the lab. "What's with all the funny nicknames, Tadashi?" Kaiya asked. "Fred is the one who comes up with the nicknames." Tadashi said. "Uh, who's Fred?" Hiro asked. "This guy, right here." A guy in a big lizard suit said, surprising the triplets and making them scream. "Ah-ah. Don't be alarmed. It is just a suit. This is not my real face and body." Fred said, revealing his true face to the triplets. "The name's Fred." He introduced, shaking the triplets' hands. "School mascot by day, but by night…" He started spinning the school sign he was holding, pulling off some impressive moves. "…I am also school mascot." He said. "So, what's your major?" Hiro asked. "Bio-tech, maybe?" Genji asked. "No, no, no, I'm not a student. But I am a major science enthusiast." Fred said as he sat down on a couch. "I've been trying to get Honey to develop a formula that can turn me into a fire-breathing lizard at will." He explained, showing one of his comics with a kid turning into a fire-breathing lizard mutant. "But she says that's 'not science.'" He said. "It's really not." Honey Lemon said as she, Gogo, Wasabi, Metanite, Seer Shot, Hornet and Proud Dagger gathered around Fred. "Yeah, and I guess the shrink ray I asked Wasabi for isn't 'science' either. Is it?" Fred asked. "Nope." Wasabi said. "Well then, how about 'invisible sandwich?'" Fred asked. "Hiro, Genji, Kaiya." Tadashi called. The triplets turned around to see their older brother gesturing them to follow. "Imagine eating a sandwich, but everybody just thinks you're crazy." Fred said, pretending to eat a sandwich. "Just stop." Wasabi said as Gogo shook her head and Metanite pinched his temple.
Well, wasn't that awesome? Tadashi brought the triplets to his nerd school, San Fransokyo Institution of Technology. While they weren't too thrilled at first, they slowly felt their minds being changed when they got a good look at the robotics lab. As they looked around, the triplets met Tadashi's friends, Gogo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Fred, Metanite, Seer Shot, Hornet and Proud Dagger, seeing their different ideals and projects. Except for Fred, being the comic-obsessed mascot for the school. But where's Tadashi taking them next? Are there other friends to be made at SFIT? Leave a review if you want.