Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Just what is going on!?” Kansai exclaimed in frustration, kicking a rock on the road as the Go-Getters Club huddled around one another, some staying standing while some sat on a sidewalk despite the overgrowth around them. The setting sun showed them just how much time had passed, and it didn’t help that each member found themselves feeling completely alone in an empty Kagoshima.

“Those m-monsterous plants… and that creepy dog, too…” Chuko shook her head in disbelief, unable to help herself but to look around in her own anxiety. What if another one of those weird monsters shows up?

Vanilla almost covered her mouth. “So, does this really mean…”

“We weren’t hallucinating then? Because you all saw them too?” Pochi asked, looking up from the console in his hands.

“W-Well, yeah! Not like you could miss ‘em!” Kansai threw his hands up in the air, turning around to face the dark-haired boy, who’s eyes quickly glanced back down to his own console.

“It could be some sort of mutation?” Nyoro suggested, only partially to herself as she paced around. The other members of the club could tell how deep in thought she really was, since she wouldn’t stop pacing ever since they all met up again. “Perhaps it’s all from harmful chemicals. That’s a reasonable explanation, right?”

Pai tilted her head a bit. “While we were all sleeping in those pods…?”

“But we must’ve been asleep for such a short period of time.” Tattsun pointed out. “Is there any way a mutation could’ve happened that quickly?”

There was the sound of a quiet huff. No doubt about it, it came from Aniki, who had his arms crossed while leaning against the wall. 

Nyoro paused in her pacing, trying to think again, before shaking her head. “No… Not that I’m aware.”

There were a few moments of silence between the ten members before Pochi looked up from his console again. “Well, we can think about that later… Does anybody else have anything to report?”

“Well-” Jennu began, standing up from where she was on the sidewalk. “-we didn’t see a single train. None coming, none leaving… and the trains we did see are covered in this overgrowth.”

“Yeah, and there doesn’t seem to be any power in this whole area!” Chuko exclaimed. “So we can’t even have a light or something on!”

“The buses seem to be abandoned too…” Pai added on sadly, looking down at the ground.

“I tried all of the phones I could find, but none of them worked at all!” Kansai stomped his foot onto the ground. “Not even the radio helped us out!”

“Forget about getting in most of these buildings, either.” Aniki finally spoke up, his deep voice causing everyone to look at him. “The doors are mostly blocked up with vines or completely jammed in general.”

“And what about the police station?” Pai asked him. “Or the fire station?”

He shook his head, much to Pai’s disappointment. “They were free from much of the overgrowth, but unfortunately for us, they were empty. Not a soul in sight.”

“I was with Aniki when we explored the police station… not a sound came from the police radios, which is really worrying…” Tattsun gulped, hugging himself as he spoke.

“How could all of this have happened?” Vanilla asked, looking around at the group with visible concern. Unfortunately, none of the other members offered an answer for her.

“...So, we have nothing?” Nyoro finally spoke up after the long bout of silence. “No clues… Nothing to help us out… Nothing at all?”

“W-well, um… If it helps…” Mowchan took off his backpack, rummaging through it before pulling out a peach. “I did manage to find this!”

Nyoro walked up to Mowchan to get a better look. “..That’s a peach, Mowchan.”

“Mhm! I know!” Mowchan gave her a grin. “My bag is full of them, and there’s enough for everyone!”

Nyoro paused, about to say something before sighing. “..Thanks, Mowchan.”

“Well… a snack wouldn’t hurt, I guess?” Kansai shrugged. To the excitement of Mowchan, he began to pass around the peaches to everyone.

“So… what do we do now?” Pai inquired.
“I just wanna go home…” Chuko whined.

Aniki thought for a moment before letting out a mirthless chuckle. “I hope there’s a home to actually go back to.”

All eyes landed on him again. Chuko gave him a surprised expression. “W-What?”

“If Kagoshima is like this…” Aniki put his hands out, really putting emphasis on the area. “...What do you think Tokyo is going to be like? If Pai and Pochi are right, Tokyo’s been hit by a buncha’ meteors. Even if it wasn’t just a bunch of craters… would there really be anybody there?”

“B-But…” Mowchan tried to object, but his voice trailed off when he couldn’t offer a rebuttal.

“Y-You’re not saying that we might be the only ones left, are you? T-That everyone else is…” Tattsun didn’t continue on that thought. He didn’t want to.

“Well, we don’t know yet.” Aniki stated. “But I certainly wouldn’t be shocked if it were the case.”

“Now, now, let’s not freak everyone out.” Jennu interrupted. “We don’t know what it’s like in Tokyo. We can’t be quick to assume anything.”

“..What do you think it’s like in Tokyo then?” Pochi asked, his quiet voice surprisingly reaching to them all. “I can’t help it but to wonder what’s going on there…”

Pai paused for a moment, swaying back and forth for a few moments before speaking. “..Well, why don’t we find out?”

“Huh? And how do you suppose we do that!?” Kansai asked, just as surprised as everyone else was.

It seemed to click first with Nyoro. “..Wait. Don’t tell me.”

“You’re not suggesting that we all go check, are you!?” Tattsun exclaimed.

“Well, it’s not like we can stay around here forever!” Pai gave a cheery nod.

“But without any buses or trains, how can we do it?” Jennu asked.

“..You’re not seriously thinking that we will walk all the way to Tokyo, are you!?” Chuko gasped.

Pai put her hands on her hips. “Weeeell, I don’t see any other options right now, sooooo yes!”

“Are you kidding me!?” Kansai walked up to Pai, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Hellooooo, Earth to Paiiiii, Tokyo is, like, a billion meters away or whatever!!”

“One thousand, two-hundred kilometers.” Tattsun corrected.

“Whatever! Point is, that helmet must’ve hit you harder than we all thought if that’s the idea you come up with!” Kansai declared.

“Yeah, P-Pai, that’s kind of impossible…” Mowchan agreed.

“Aw, come on, guys…” Pai frowned, a bit disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm.

“Well, it is impossible, but…” Pochi paused for another moment. “There really is no other way… Besides, don’t you guys want to see Tokyo again?”

There was a moment of silence, perhaps for everyone to think, before Kansai sighed and let go of Pai. “W-Well… I would think it’d be better than staying here in a monster-infested Kagoshima.”

“Y-You’re kidding me, right, Kansai?” Chuko sounded as if she was in disbelief.

“...Well, for once, he has a point.” Nyoro crossed her arms. “Besides, staying here has no guarantee for help.”

“Hey, c’mon now, you’re supposed to be the logical one here, Nyoro!” The small girl squeaked out.

“Okay, fine, count me in with that plan too.” Tattsun reluctantly said, fixing his glasses as he did so. “I mean, it’s worth a shot, right?”

Pai grinned, excited to see that everyone was now becoming on board with this. She swayed around in excitement. “Yeah! I mean, it won’t be super bad if we’re all together, riiiiight?”

Chuko looked around, a look of shock on her face, before huffing, stomping her feet a bit. “Ugh, fine! If all of you are going to be so stubborn, I might as well agree to this plan as well!”

Pochi carefully stood up, looking at his silver and purple-haired friend. “What about you, Jennu?”

Jennu thought for a moment before smiling. “When in doubt, take the harder path… It’s a line from the Hosekizuka theater troupe that I know at heart. Does that answer your question?”

“W-Wait a minute, have you all gone crazy??” Mowchan asked. “W-Was there something in those peaches I gave all of you??”

“You’re disagreeing with the plan, Mowchan?” Pai asked.

Mowchan frantically nodded. “I can’t do it! There’s no way! I can’t possibly walk that far!”

“Weeeeell, we are going to go through Osaka, and from what I’ve heard, there’s a lot of tasty grub there!” Kansai said with a smirk. “But if ya’ really don’t wanna go there, I guess that’s fine then!”

“Wait, Osaka will have food?” A sparkle suddenly appeared in the chubby boy’s eyes. “I’ll go! I’ll totally go! Count me in!”

“Hey, I wanna go to Osaka too! I have something to take care of in Osaka anyways!” Vanilla cheered. “Osaka group! Osaka group!”

“So, that leaves…” Nyoro looked over at Aniki. After a few moments, all eyes were on the taller, secluded boy.

Aniki gave them an annoyed look. “I take my own path.”

Nyoro put a hand on her hip, giving him a look of skeptisim before Aniki looked away. “..It just so happens it’s the same way you’re all going, that’s all.”

“Gosh, you’re so full of it, big bro…” Vanilla gave a sigh before she just ended up giggling at the silliness of it all.

“Then, it’s settled then, right?” Tattsun looked around at the group. “We’re heading to Tokyo then?”

“Heck yeah!” Kansai announced. “It’s Tokyo or bust!! Go-Getter’s club..!!”

“HEY HEY OHHHH!!”

The cheer was almost unanimous in the group, an echo stretching out and bouncing throughout that area of Kagoshima. Aniki was the only one who didn’t cheer along with them, simply rolling his eyes at the cheesiness of it all.

“For now, we should find a place to rest.” Jennu suggested. “It’ll become night time eventually, after all.”

“But where will we go?” Pai asked. “All of the buildings are all blocked up, right?”

“How about we camp for the night?” Pochi suggested. “I mean, I’m sure we can find some more camping stuff somewhere, right? Besides, Mowchan always keeps a few things like that in his backpack, right?”

Mowchan nodded. “Yeah, but it’s c-certainly not enough for all of us..”

“So we have to go searching all over Kagoshima again?” Chuko groaned. “But I’m tiiireeeed! I don’t wanna go running around anymore!”

Pai thought for a moment. “Actually, I think I’ve seen something with tents as it’s display while we were all split up…”

“Really? Where did you see it?” Jennu asked Pai. Pai looked around before pointing down one of the roads.

“I think it waaas… down this one!” Pai eventually spoke with confidence.

“You think or you know ?” Kansai wanted to know, a bit of a skeptical look on his face.

“Um, yeah, I know!” Pai assured. “Everyone, follow meeee!”

Pai took a few steps forward in an attempt to lead the group, but was suddenly interrupted when the ground began to shake below her. The group was startled and confused at first until Aniki exclaimed. “It’s- It’s an earthquake!”

Chuko quickly held onto Kansai as they could all hear the building creak, some of the vines already snapping, and different stuff breaking a bit in the far distance. Aniki instinctively put his arm in front of the group. Jennu held on tightly to her sleeve, nearly crumpling the part of it up into a ball. Mowchan curled himself up, turning himself into a ball of iron to protect himself.

After a few more moments, the shaking stopped. It seemed like the earthquake was short lived, much to the relief of the Go-Getters Club.

“T-That was really, really scary!” Vanilla said, clutching the strap of her bag nervously.

“Is- Is everyone alright?” Tattsun asked, fixing his glasses as he checked his balance.

Kansai and Chuko looked at one another before quickly letting go, a blush creeping across both of their faces as Kansai spoke. “Yeah, I think everyone’s alright now…” He said, wiping his hands on his uniform.

“That was, like, really sudden and scary…” Pai fretted. “I wonder why that happened…”

“It’s… It’s over?” Jennu asked, looking a bit paler than usual. “The- The earthquake is over?”

“Yes, Jennu, it’s okay, the earthquake is over now..” Nyoro assured, placing a hand on her friend’s back and trying to give her a reassuring smile.

“We better be quick getting those supplies, Pai.” Kansai stated. “We don’t wanna be caught up in an earthquake like that again. We almost all drowned because of the last one we had to go through.”

“I know, I know, and–” Pai suddenly stopped. She heard something in the near distance, and it made her head turn. “..Do you guys hear that?”

“Hm? Hear what?” Pochi asked, before pausing. He could hear it too.

“It sounds liiiike…” Vanilla paused so she could listen. “..Creaking?”

There was suddenly the sound of wood splintering open. It startled most of the group, as it really sounded as if something wooden was broken into. Pai covered her mouth in surprise, staring in the direction she had heard the sound in.

“Wh-What made that sound?” Tattsun asked, with both a bit of fear and anxiety in his voice.

“I’m not too sure. All I know is that something sounded like it broke…” Jennu said, taking a few steps to get next to Pai, now also looking in the same direction that she was.

“Hm… Well, it won’t take long to check it out, right?” Pai asked.

“B-But w-what if it was caused by one of those monsters? W-We’d surely get attacked!” Tattsun stammered out.

Pai thought about it for a moment before smiling. “Then Mowchan can protect us!”

Mowchan took a step back. “What?? Why me??”

“You are the only one with that weird ability..” Jennu pointed out. “I’m still in shock that you were able to do that somehow…”

“Y-Yeah, and you protected Pochi from that weird dog thing, right?? So you can protect us again!” Chuko reasoned.

“W-Well… alright then..” Mowchan was still a bit hesitant, but he knew that the others’ reasoning was quite solid. With an optimistic look on her face, Pai leads the group forward, her steps airy and slow just so everyone can be sure to keep up with the lean girl. Like always, however, Pochi was in the back of the group with Aniki.

Eventually, Pai could spot something up ahead, not hesitating to point it out. “Guys, look! Over there!”

Up ahead, standing out from the rest of the tightly-knit buildings, was a broken open door. A few vines wrapped around the broken bits of the door loosely. It was one of the very few buildings that the kids, if they so chose to do so, could enter.

“Is that literally the only open door in Kagoshima or something?” Chuko asked, a  bit surprised in all honesty.

“D-Do you, um, think that maybe there’s something useful in there?” Mowchan asked, watching as Pai walked over and peeked into the building.

It looked like some sort of home. There were stairs that headed up to a potential second floor., but those were broken beyond repair, meaning that they couldn’t go up them. It looked strangely empty too, with really only a few cabinets, one of which knocked over onto its side and some dirty, almost moldy rugs on the floor, as well as a table with an old vase on it. On the right seemed to be another broken door on the wall. Vines and overgrowth was also in this house, stretching itself on the ceilings and walls. It seemed like some vines were responsible for the other door being broken.

“Do you think anyone could be in here?” Pai asked, carefully stepping into the dusty area with curiosity on her face.

“I doubt it, seeing how weirdly run-down this place is…” Kansai stated, following Pai with a few other members of the group. Some other members were hesitant about entering, with good reason.

“Wow, Kansai is right about something for once.” Aniki flatly said as he looked around, coughing into his hand a bit because of all of the dust.

“See? …Wait, hey!” It had taken a few moments for Kansai to realize that it was a dig at him. Aniki gave him a smirk, and the baseball boy retaliated by sticking his tongue out at him.

“Guys, I suggest that you be careful..” Tattsun warned. “I-Isn’t this technically breaking and entering?”

“Ah, don’t worry, Tattsun! We haven't broken anything yet!” Pai assured.

Pai was then startled by the sound of porcelain breaking. Attention had turned to Aniki, who was at the dust-covered table. Broken pieces of porcelain from a vase were scattered on the ground.

The delinquent smiled mischeviously. “Oops. My hand slipped.”

“Big bro, that was so mean!” Vanilla pouted, cheeks puffing up as she stared at her smirking brother with mild frustration.

“Aniki! Don’t you think that was a little unnecessary?” Nyoro scolded.

“C’mon, it’s not like it hurt anybody.” Aniki rolled his eyes, not seeing what the big deal was.

“It’s still not something you should’ve done…” The brown-haired girl sighed, crossing her arms and shaking her head to herself.

“Hey, is there anything that would need wires nearby?” Chuko suddenly piped up, squatting down and picking something up with her hand. It was a small, scrawny red wire. It seemed broken at both ends, as if cut off from something.

Pai kneeled down next to Chuko, as well as Jennu, who both looked at the wire that Chuko was holding. “I didn’t see anything that could need any wires around… Maybe it came from a light or something?”

Jennu carefully took the wire from Chuko. “Hey, Nyoro, do you know what this wire could be from?”

Nyoro walked over as Jennu stood up, examining the small scrap that Jennu held. “Hm… From what I can tell, it must’ve come from some sort of machine. What kind, I’m not sure though. Just some sort of machinery.”

“Wow, you’re so smart, Nyoro!” Mowchan awed, being obviously quite smitten with the taller girl.

“This is what happens when somebody’s father is a scientist, I suppose.” Jennu noted. Nyoro strained a small smile, a bit bothered about the mention of her father, but didn’t say anything about it.

“Where’d you get that?” Aniki asked, looking over at the small circle having been made by Chuko’s discovery.

“It was just near the broken doorway here.” Chuko pointed to a spot near the broken door inside the room. Aniki’s interest was piqued, making him walk over, glancing down at the spot before looking through the doorway. He could see some stairs going down, but it was just too dark. If it was anything like the stairs heading up, it could probably be broken.

Aniki shook his head disapprovingly. “Damn. There’s no way we can get down there. It’s way too dark for my liking.”

“W-Waaah!!” A cry echoed throughout the room, as well as a bump. The cry’s source had been Mowchan, who had tripped on one of the many vines scattered about the floor of the room. He had tumbled right into the tipped over cabinet on the ground, causing one of the drawers to open a little. A whimper escaped his lips. “O-Ouch…”

“Oh no, Mowchan!” Pai gasped, quickly hurrying over to check up on him. “Are you okay?”

Mowchan nodded, rubbing his arm a bit. “Y-Yeah, I think so..”

Pai helped her friend up, her eyes landing on the now uneven drawer. Carefully, she opened it a bit more before gasping in excitement. Her hand dove in before she revealed something that had been needed at that moment; a flashlight.

“Hey, you found a flashlight, Pai?” Pochi asked, seeing Pai nod happily.

“Do you think it still works?” She asked, examining the slightly dirty device for its on-switch.

Aniki sighed. “Only one way to find out. Hand it to me.”

The long-haired boy made a bit of a disgusted face when he got it in his hands, not liking how the dirt felt on his originally cleaner hands, but made no complaints as he managed to find and flick the switch. To his surprise, the light flickered on, and it stayed that way. Seems like it worked after all. To his satisfaction, he made the light source peer down the dark stairway.

The stairs didn’t seem broken at all. Just a few vines scattered about, that’s all. He couldn’t see what was in the room though, with the way everything was angled. “Well, this is better than nothing, I guess…” He sighed.

“Do you think we should go down there?” Chuko asked, a bit wary of the otherwise dark stairway.

“It doesn’t look too bad! Unless you’re just a scared chicken, Chuko!” Kansai teased, to which Chuko’s face turned red.

“Chicken!? I-I’m not a chicken! Nor am I a scared one!” Chuko objected, stomping her foot down, much to Kansai’s laughter.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to see what’s down there. Worst case scenario, there’s nothing there.” Nyoro reasoned, glancing over at Aniki. He caught her gaze and instantly knew what it meant. With a groan, he was the first to start to descend the stairs. He had the main light source, after all. It’s not like he had too much say in the matter.

Nyoro followed close behind him, placing her hand on the slightly dusty wall as she walked down each step. She quietly murmured to herself; “I wish the electricity worked… It would be a lot more helpful than just a flashlight.”

Once Aniki made it down all the way, he took a few steps forward before scanning his flashlight around. This place looked less like a basement and more like a storage area. Dust was settled on the area, almost like a blanket, mostly on various crates, shelves, and a few vines and fauna that stayed scattered about. A few groups of vines covered corners and sections of the walls. There were also a few boxes here and there, a few having been crushed by some of the heavy vines in the room. It wasn’t the biggest room, admittedly, as it looked a bit smaller than the room that was upstairs. At least it wasn’t as empty.

However, what caught most of the group’s attention was a small desk on the other side of the room, which held a boxy computer. The flashlight made the dusty, black screen glitter a bit, as if despite the fauna around it, it tried to show some sign of life.

Jennu couldn’t help it but to stare at the computer for a moment before looking at Nyoro. “Do you think that computer could still work, Nyoro?”

Nyoro stared at the computer too before walking up to it, Jenny following behind her. “I’m not too sure… My best guess is that it wouldn’t work because of the lack of power…”

She paused before looking at Jennu. “But it’s worth a try, right?”

Seeing Jennu’s nod of approval, she turned back to the computer, at first tapping some keys on the dusty keyboard to see if there would be any sort of response before pressing down on the power button right afterwards.

To her shock, the computer’s screen turned on, a new light dimly brightening up the surrounding area a little bit. The screen was still fairly dusty though, making Jennu take out a handkerchief before wiping the screen down just in time for the two of them to see the computer’s loading screen.

It was a white screen with a reddish pink X in the middle of it. It stayed there for a few moments before the screen switched to some sort of password screen. Nyoro glanced around the screen before seeing something in the top-right corner. A battery symbol. Was this computer being run on only batteries? It would explain why this worked despite there being no power in Kagoshima.

“The computer seems password protected.” Jennu noted.

Nyoro nodded, mumbling a “Seems like it…” before turning around to look back at everyone else. “Can anybody find a password somewhere? We could figure some stuff out with this computer, but it’s password protected.”

“And you think there’d be a password somewhere around here?” Aniki gave her a look, but when she gave the same look back, he sighed. “Alright, alright, we’ll go look around for one. Don’t get all cranky though if we can’t find it.”

Nyoro rolled her eyes. She wasn’t exactly fond of his pessimism, but he gets work done at the very least. Aniki scanned the flashlight around the room, mostly looking at a few boxes that weren’t crushed and some shelves. As the light drifted around, Pochi caught his eye on something. There was a pile of vines in the back of the room, and when Aniki had quickly scanned around the area without much thought, he had noticed something shiny glittering underneath.

Eventually, Aniki’s attention landed on a notepad on one of the shelves. Curiously, he picked it up with his free hand, beaming the light down onto it. Something was definitely written on it.

“Well, would you look at that? I think I found something password-like.” Aniki loudly announced, turning to look at Nyoro, who quickly walked over to him. He handed her the notepad, which she quickly swiped to look at it.

Right on the first page, something had been scrawled out in pen: “SH3P-H3RD”

It was certainly a strange code; not one she was exactly used to seeing. If anything, it looked like the word shepherd ... Was that the password? Or was this complicated version of the word the correct one? Nyoro, with the notepad in hand, returned to the computer while in thought.

As Nyoro began to type in the normal version of the word, Pochi found himself walking over to the vine pile. It was odd, that was for sure. Why was all of this fauna gathering in one spot? It was certainly not a natural thing, that’s for sure.

A ding came from the computer. The normal version of the word didn’t work. Acting quick, Nyoro typed in the more complicated word. Another ding came from the computer, only this time, it was a ding of success. The loading screen appeared again, but when it went away, Nyoro was surprised to not be taken to a desktop, but to a different screen that held different statistics.

Body Functionality: 56%

AI Functionality: 89%

Current Task: Offline

Status: Offline

Human Interaction: 0%

What kind of statistics were these? Nyoro couldn’t help but to wonder. Did these possibly belong to some sort of machine? If so, it had an AI of sorts and recorded… human interaction? It didn’t seem like it ever did though… All of this confused Nyoro, as did Jennu and Aniki, who were looking over her shoulders.

“What does any of… that mean?” Aniki asked, squinting at the screen in confusion.

“Yeah, I’m just as lost as he is…” Jennu confessed.

“Don’t worry, I am too. This is obviously for some sort of machine with artificial intelligence, which is astonishing within itself, but the only question is, what machine is it? Is it this computer?” Nyoro was mostly asking herself, trying to sort all of this in a rational and logical manner.

Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by a sudden scream of surprise. Jennu, Aniki, and Nyoro quickly whipped around to see Pochi falling down on his back, scooting away from the vine pile that he was so curious to look at before. He seemed to be in shock, perhaps almost even scared. “O-Oh my god…” Pochi stuttered out.

“Pochi, are you okay!?” Pai asked her and a few others running over to help Pochi up. The dark-haired boy didn’t speak at first, instead pointing over to the pile of vines in the back of the room.

“O-Over there- there’s- there’s something under there-” Pochi stammered, forcing Aniki to push his way to the front to shine the flashlight on it. Now everyone could see something at least metallic shining underneath it a bit.

“I-Is it another computer?” Mowchan asked, to which Pochi shook his head.

“No, I- I saw a face …” Pochi revealed, staying a bit frozen. “I swear, I saw part of a face!”

“It was probably just your eyes playing tricks on you, Pochi…” Aniki sighed, starting to walk over to the pile of vines. “Why in the world would you see a face?”

“W-Well, what’s actually under there then?” Chuko asked. “Is it just some random scrap?”

Aniki stopped, looking back at the other members of the group. “Do you guys seriously want me to pull back these stupid vines?”

“Aww, are you scared, big bro?” Vanilla teased playfully.

“It would e-ease at least some of our fears, Aniki…” Tattsun said, although it was obvious that he was mostly talking about Pochi.

Aniki opened his mouth to object before stopping himself and groaning. “Ugh, okay, okay, fine! Somebody else has to hold the flashlight then.”

“I will.” Jennu offered, to which Aniki handed her the flashlight, motioning for her to shine it on the pile as he got closer to it.

“This is so stupid.” Aniki complained, brushing and gathering the main hulk of vines. He could see something under it, but he couldn’t tell what it was exactly. He looked back at everyone for a moment as he brushed the pile to the sides. “You guys are probably scared of a little scrap meta–”

He stopped upon hearing everyone else gasp, a look of surprise on their faces, which made him look back at what he had just uncovered. What he saw made him suddenly jolt back. “Jesus, what the Hell is that!?”

The thing that had been uncovered looked… similar to a human. Everyone could tell that it wasn’t one though. It had fair “skin” and messy, orange hair. One of it’s eyes was an orange color. Parts of it’s skin were torn off, revealing something robotic and exposed, and these robotic parts was in full view on half of it’s face, one of it’s arms, and a part of it’s leg. The exposed area on it’s face didn’t have a proper eye, instead holding a small, rounded screen, but it showed no shine or glow. It’s normal eye actually seemed quite dull too. The whole thing seemed pretty lacking of life, staring off into nothingness with an empty look. It was clothed in white, but the white was darkened by dirt and dust, being torn and tattered for being down here for who knows how long. Even the black sneakers it managed to wear looked scuffed up and dirty. An antenna stuck out the side of it’s head, sticking straight upward into the air, although it did seem slightly bent and crooked in some places.

Out of all these curiosities and shockers, Nyoro managed to notice something; on the sleeve of it’s torn white shirt, there was a symbol on it. It looked like an X… and although dirtied, it seemed to be the same color of the one that was on the loading screen.

“I- I told you that I saw a face..” Pochi mumbled, nearly shrinking into that scarf around his neck.

“What the Hell is that!?” Aniki repeated, wiping his hands off on his pants in a bit of panic. Did he accidentally touch that thing when he pushed those vines away? He didn’t want to know.

Kansai squinted, leaning a bit forward. “It looks like some kind of weird robot… It looks super broken and run-down though..”

Chuko crossed her arms, a bit unnerved but still trying to act tough. “Y-Yeah, no crap, Sherlock… but what’s it doing here in some sort of dark, dingy basement?”

“I-It seems creepy…” Mowchan shuddered. “Maybe w-we should leave it alone? I-I don’t want to be dealing with… whatever t-that is…”

After a few more moments, Pai was the first one to step forward, coming up right next to Aniki to get a good look at it, although Aniki put out his arm to stop her from going any further. “You know…” She began before smiling a bit. “It actually seems… kinda cute!”

“C- Cute ??” Kansai repeated, gaving Pai a confused look. “Are we seeing the same thing here??”

“Well, it has a cute face and stuff! It’s like a kid our age, just a bit different!” Pai concluded, swaying side to side a bit.

“That is definitely not cute!” Kansai objected, much louder than before in hopes that his words could reach the ditzier one. “I mean, look at all of those broken parts and that weird antenna thingie! It looks like some sort of weird, like, uh…”

“You got nothing, do you?” Chuko sighed.

Kansai’s face became red. “I-I totally do! I just, er… forgot it now, that’s all…”

Pai huffed quietly before bending down, walking under Aniki’s arm much to his concern. “Pai, don’t get closer to the damn thing! It could be dangerous!” Aniki warned.

“Oh, you worry too much, Aniki! Besides, it doesn’t seem to be on anyways!” Pai assured before kneeling down to the robot, carefully running her hands through the robot’s hair. To her surprise, it felt so fluffy and real. Her eyes lit up in a sparkle. “Aww, it’s hair is so fluffy!”

Vanilla hummed in thought for a moment. “You know, I can see where you’re coming from, Pai! It is kinda cute! If it was fixed up, it would look like a kid our age, don’t you think, guys?”

Jennu took a step forward, the flashlight she held still beaming down on the metallic being before she looked over at Nyoro. “Are you seeing this, Nyoro?”

In awe, Nyoro nodded. “I do, but… I have no idea what it really is. Certainly does look like a robot though…”

Jennu paused for a moment before suggesting; “Do you think this is what the statistics were talking about?”

“Huh? Statistics?” Vanilla repeated, a bit confused.

“What are you on about?” Kansai asked.

Nyoro crossed her arms. “I found some strange statistics on the computer. It spoke about body functionality and even AI functionality.”

“You must admit, the statistics could be talking about this robot.” Jennu suggested. “It is the only other machine we see here.”

“So you’re telling me that this thing could have some sort of AI to it?” Aniki asked, a little bit freaked out as he walked over to the bot just so he could take Pai’s hand and make her back away with him. Pai didn’t object to this, but she did pout a bit from his worry.

“We don’t know for certain, although it’s something that’s possible, at the very least.” Nyoro stated, turning away and returning to the computer. Perhaps there was something she missed?

She placed her hand on the mouse, testing to see if it worked still. It still did, luckily enough for her. Perhaps it used the same batteries the computer did. Nonetheless, she noticed a sidebar on the screen, using the mouse to have it scroll down. There was just a bit more text that had been revealed.

Turn on R3Y-CH0?

[YES]

Nyoro paused, mostly just to take this new information in. What’s up with the mixture of numbers and letters? This one didn’t even look like a word. Instead, it seemed to be some sort of serial code. She bit her lip in thought, and after a few moments, she looked back at her friends. “I’m going to try and turn the machine on.”

“T-Turn it on??” Chuko was quick to express her concern. “Do you even know if that thing still works ?”

“Let alone that it won’t try to hurt us?” Aniki added on, giving the lifeless robot a bit of a glare, as if to intimidate it.

“There’s really only one way to find out.” Nyoro reasoned. “Besides, if it does happen to be dangerous, it’s ten against one. The odds are in our favor.”

“Nyoro has a point.” Jennu agreed.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Aniki sighed, a bit annoyed that nobody would exactly listen to him.

“P-Please, be careful, Nyoro…” Mowchan worried as Nyoro turned back to the computer.

Although at first hesitant, she clicked on the only option there.

Are you sure you want to boot up [R3Y-CH0]? Corruption at this time could be possible thanks to poor conditions.

[Yes]      [No]

Vanilla walked over to where Nyoro was, looking around her to look at the screen. “Corruption?” Vanilla read, before saying. “That doesn’t sound too good, Nyoro…”

Nyoro thought for a moment. Would corruption really be that bad? Not wanting to back out now, she clicked the Yes option.

Booting up R3Y-CH0. . .

Just a few seconds later, the screen on the robot’s face began to flicker, struggling for a few moments before it began to glow a dim blue. A sort of life appeared in the robot’s eyes as a faint whirring sound. The group close to the machine stepped back a bit as it’s stiff, shaky body began to move. It’s metallic limbs creaked for a moment, it’s joints having shown no signs of having been moving as of late as it lifted itself up from the corner it was originally slumped down into. The robot’s face was emotionless, still staring off in the distance, as if staring right through all of the members. Even so, Aniki held his arm in front of the group a bit, as if it was a protective measure.

Nyoro watched this where she was in awe before hearing a ding come from the computer, causing her to look back at the screen.

Body Functionality: 56%

AI Functionality: 89%

Current Task: Loading

Status: Online

Human Interaction: 0%

A green light suddenly came from the screen, a neon green grid projecting from it and lighting up the room a bit more.

“W-What the Hell!?” Aniki shouted, forcing almost everyone back and further away from the robotic child. “What is it doing!?”

“Aniki, you’re going to knock most of us over, calm down!” Jennu exclaimed, almost losing grip on the flashlight she held.

The robot looked around, letting the grid cover as much as the room as possible before the projection turned off, the screen returning to it’s normal blue. Nyoro began to approach it curiously.

“ Nyoro , what are you doing?” Aniki asked quietly. Nyoro ignored him as she walked right up to the robot.

“How… interesting…” She mumbled to herself before waving her hand in front of it’s face, as if trying to see if it would react.

Unfortunately for her, no reaction was made, it’s screen instead turning golden for a few seconds before starting to walk past her. Aniki tensed up for a moment, as it looked like the robot was approaching them with it’s stiff movements and a limp. However, it’s attention didn’t seem to be on the children, instead it stopped before turning, in fact heading towards the stairs out of the basement.

“H-Hey, where’s i-it going?” Mowchan asked.

Vanilla looked back at the computer, having heard a ding come from it just now.

Body Functionality: 56%

AI Functionality: 89%

Current Task: Protect Human Lifeforms

Status: Online

Human Interaction: 0%

“Protect human lifeforms..?” Vanilla repeated, a little confused. She turned around to look at the others, only to realize that they were following the robot up the stairs. “Hey, don’t leave me behind here!” She called out, quickly trying to catch up to everyone else.

Once on the main floor, the robot’s screen turned green again, projecting a grid as it seemed to scan the room, looking around as it did so. Once the grid covered all of the area, the projection went away, the screen going back to blue. It turned it’s body towards one of the only windows in the building, right near the broken front door. Slowly, it limped over, reaching it’s metallic hands to the tattered curtains before making the action to close them.

Then, it’s attention shifted to the door right next to it. Of course, there was no way it could close it. It turned around, seeing one of the dusty cabinets nearby before walking towards it.

“What is it doing?” Tattsun asked, watching the machine get to one side of the cabinet before it began to push it. It continued to do so until it was right at the doorway, blocking a bit more sun from coming in.

“Is it trying to trap us in or something?” Aniki quietly whispered, as if he didn’t trust that the robot couldn’t hear them.

Jennu shook her head. “I don’t think so. We can easily push the cabinet away if we wanted to.”

The robot seemed to look around the room again. It didn’t seem to find much of anything else, as it’s body then turned back towards the basement steps, starting to limp towards them with intention of going back down again.

“That’s… weird.” Nyoro quietly noted to herself, being the first to follow the machine back down. It certainly had weird behavior, that was for sure. What was it’s goal here exactly?

“Maybe it just thought the room was too bright up there?” Tattsun suggested.

“That’s essentially saying that it likes everything dark…” Jennu said. “Although, with the basement being this dim, it’s not like I can give too much objection to that theory.”

When everyone was back in the basement, they could see the robot attempting to open one of the nearby crates. With it’s stiff joints, however, it seemed to be having a bit of trouble with prying the lid open.

Pai put a hand on her cheek. “Should we… help it?”

As if to answer Pai’s question, Pochi walked over to the crate the robot was struggling at, gripping the lid before helping it to detach it from the box. Looking inside, Pochi found himself looking at various emergency supplies. Canned foods, bottled water, and even a few bottles of vitamins.

His attention was drawn when the robot opened another crate just as the other members got curious. He could see that in that crate, it had a few first aid kits and medications, even holding one or two sleeping bags.

“Woah, look at all of this stuff!” Tattsun fixed his glasses, picking up one of the first aid kits to examine it. These items were practically untouched from anything outside of the crates.

“We can totally use all of this stuff, can’t we?” Kansai asked, taking out one of the sleeping bags as the robot continued to open the crates. “I mean, it certainly will save us from scavenging!”

“We can take the stuff, but what do we do with that thing?” Aniki said, motioning quite clearly to the machine.

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to keep it around a bit longer.” Jennu stated, causing Aniki to give her a confused look.

“You’re kidding, right? We still don’t know if we can trust the thing!” Aniki argued.

“Aniki, it’s a robot. You don’t have to act like it’s some kind of war machine.” Nyoro sighed. “Don’t you think you should calm down a bit?”

“I’ll calm down a bit when I know for certain that thing won’t try to hurt anybody.” Aniki leaned up against a wall, looking over at the mechanical kid. It seemed like Pochi had continued to help it open up various crates.

“I’m sure you’re just being a bit paranoid, Aniki. It just seems like the robot is trying to help us!” Pai assured.

“If you say so, but if that thing tries anything, I’ll make sure Nyoro can’t even rebuild it.” Aniki growled, starting to crack his knuckles until Pai pinched his ear.

“Aniki, that’s not nice at all!” Pai scolded, a pout forcing her cheeks to puff up a bit.

Pochi glanced back at Aniki and the others for a moment before sighing, shaking his head before looking at Mowchan, who was in his own little group with Kansai and Chuko, who were helping him place the supplies into his backpack in an organized way.

The robot stopped once the final crate had been opened before it looked around the room once again. It began to limp to one of the vines on the wall before starting to try and tear it down.

“What is it doing now?” Kansai asked, looking up from Mowchan’s backpack. He watched as the robot did it’s best to tear down what it could.

“Aww, it looks like it’s making this place a bit better!” Pai giggled before trying to speak to the robot. “Hey, it’s okay, Mr. Robot! We don’t plan on staying here for long, so you don’t have to clean up!”

The robot, of course, didn’t respond nor react to her.

Nyoro thought for a few moments more. “All of this is very… weird. We’ve found nobody else in Kagoshima, there’s monsters crawling around on the surface, and now we found a robot that records human interaction out of all things…”

“So, even you’re stumped, Nyoro?” Pai asked curiously.

“Not stumped, just… still trying to figure out a lot of things, that’s all.” Nyoro said before looking back at the robot, who was still trying to clean off dust and clear out vines. “Especially with that odd behavior…”

“You mean with what happened upstairs, right?” Pochi asked, looking up at the clearly taller girl. “With it trying to block out most of the sunlight?”

Nyoro nodded. “Why would it’s first task be to block out all of the sun?”

Pochi hummed in thought, pulling out his console to play on it more. “Maybe Tattsun was right? It seems to like the dark so far… maybe it’s light sensitive?”

“Why do you think it has all of these emergency supplies?” Chuko took a can of food out of one of the crates. “I mean, whoever had to stock all of this must be some crazy apocalypse lunatic, right?”

“I mean, it worked out on our end, so I’m not complaining!” Kansai grinned. “Now we get all of this to ourselves!”

That got Nyoro to think of something, quickly looking at the robot, to the crates, and then back to the robot again with wide eyes. “..Do you think this robot could have data on what happened?”

“What do you mean by that, Nyoro?” Jennu furrowed her eyebrows a bit.

“Well, it’s found with a bunch of emergency supplies, it’s the only… humanoid that we’ve found since we arrived, it has a statistic specifically for human interaction.” Nyoro explained. “Plus, it seems to want to block out light with no real explanation. Something tells me that this robot could have something that could help us know what happened.”

A clicking sound was then heard. The robot had just activated a small switch, which had been covered by dust and the vines earlier. A few lights on the ceiling came to life, all of them that did work being attached by wires. One of the lights kept flickering, unable to stay on for too long. With the flashlight now being useless, Jenny turned it off.

“So, wait, electricity does work here??” Chuko asked, looking around at the lights that had just turned on and lit up the basement for the most part.

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up just yet.” Nyoro stated. “The computer worked purely on batteries- strong ones too, from what I know. These lights could just be the same thing. After all, no other bit of electricity works in Kagoshima.”

“Yeah, and some of these lights don’t look too… stable…” Tattsun gulped, mostly eyeing up the flickering light.

The robot had gone back to cleaning a few things up, even now pushing shelves against walls, as if trying to give the kids a bit more room. Nyoro watched this for a moment before deciding to check the statistics again on the computer, walking over and finally noticing what Vanilla had seen earlier.

“Protect human lifeforms?” Nyoro blinked in surprise. “Is this thing trying to…?”

“Did you find something new, Nyoro?” Jennu asked, beginning to walk towards her friend. Nyoro couldn’t help but to hear a slight crackling sound coming from above. Looking up, it was the flickering light. It seemed to be close to coming off what wiring was attached to it.

“Jennu, watch out!!” Kansai cried out, having seen it too. The sudden nature of it had caused Jennu to freeze. The wiring came apart with a snap and began to descend down onto the girl-

-only she was then shoved down to the ground. The light, instead, landed upon the metallic kid, arms out in front of it as if it had just shoved somebody. Electricity quickly sparked from the light upon impact, forcing the robot to jitter and convulse in place before the light finally turned off, dropping down to the ground as well as the machine, the screen and eye suddenly showing no life whatsoever.

Nyoro gasped, eyes widening before she heard a ruckus behind her. Turning back to the computer, she saw a bunch of various error messages pop-up because of the robot’s downfall.

“Oh no, the robot!” Pai tried to walk over to it, but Aniki grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to his side.

He certainly wasn’t going to let her get hurt. “Hey, that thing could be ready to shock you at any moment!”

“Guys, make sure that it’s at least okay! It may have some important data on it!” Nyoro spoke loudly, admittedly a bit panicked as she tried to get rid of all of the error messages.

Getting an idea, Pochi began to run around, looking through all of the crates before finding some rubber gloves. Hastily, he put them on before running back over to the machine, kneeling down so he can get a better handle on it. Carefully, he moved part of the light off of it before rolling it over to it’s back.

“Jennu, are you alright?” Kansai asked, helping the girl up.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine, I-” Jennu stuttered out before looking down at the lifeless machine. “I would’ve been toast if it weren’t for that thing pushing me- it did push me, right?”

“That’s what we saw! The moment it looked at you, it just ran towards you!” Tattsun recalled.

“How does the robot look?” Nyoro asked, finally clearing out the last of the error messages.

“It, um, looks fine, I think?” Pochi said, examining it a bit more before pausing. His eyes were on the X marking on it’s sleeve. He just stared for a few moments before biting his lip and glancing away from it. “U-Um, there’s no new damage on it from what I can see…”

Nyoro managed to get herself back on the statistics page, which had now changed quite a bit.

Body Functionality: 43%

AI Functionality: 5%

Current Task: Offline

Status: Offline

Human Interaction: Pending…

Only scanning through the statistics, she quickly scrolled down, seeing the option to turn on the robot again. Without a moment’s notice, she clicked the Yes option.

“Please work, please work, please work…” She quietly begged under her breath. This robot could be important to them all right now. They wouldn’t have the materials to repair it if they did damage it too badly. She can’t risk it being completely dysfunctional now.

Instead of it saying that R3Y-CH0 was turning on, a new pop-up appeared.

Are you sure you want to turn on R3Y-CH0? AI Function is below 25%, so this may cause issues. Proceed anyways?

[Yes]     [No]

Although hesitant for a few moments, she pressed the Yes option again, mostly because she was desperate to get whatever she could out of the machine. Then, she turned around, looking back at the group. “Stand back, everyone.” She warned.

Pochi could hear whirs quietly coming from the robot. He carefully set it down the machine, putting his hands up a bit, unsure what to do with them now. And with the closest view of what was bound to happen next; the robot’s eyes regained life once more, it’s screen glowing blue and it’s eye brightening up once again.

Except now, it blinked, and that changed everything.

Chapter Text

“Hey, it’s back!” Pai cheered, kneeling down so she could get a better look at the robot as it slowly sat itself up. Pochi noticed it’s much more… natural movements, tilting his head a little bit in confusion. It certainly didn’t move like that before, but maybe he was just imagining things?

“Is it in working condition?” Nyoro asked, turning back to the computer to see if anything changed. Luckily for her, it has.

Body Functionality: 43%

AI Functionality: 5%

Current Task: Pending…

Status: Online

Human Interaction: Pending…

“Um, I think sooo?” Pai said. “It doesn’t seem to be acting weirdly yet, I don’t think… I think that it’s fine!” 

“ Hooray .” Aniki grumbled in sarcasm.

Nyoro looked back at the robot as it carefully stood up, putting it’s arms out to balance itself, which it didn’t do before. Pochi and Pai stood up as well, with Pochi taking off the gloves he wore.

The robot glanced around at each one of the kids, as if examining them up and down. It was like it was trying to determine who was there. It’s mouth moved into a confused, and perhaps curious, frown as he seemed to note everyone that was here. It was a contrast to the usual monotone and empty look that it originally gave.

Pai took notice of it, unable to help it but to stare it directly in it’s face. Pochi couldn’t help but to stare as well, perhaps in a bit of awe instead of the confusion and curiosity. Jennu, meanwhile, crossed her arms.

“I don’t think it needed to do that before…” She said, a bit confused herself.

“M-Maybe it’s a new routine?” Tattsun suggested, fixing his glasses as he cautiously observed the machinical child.

The robot then locked eyes with Pai, giving her a bit of a confused stare. She tilted her head, which the robot then mimicked. Seeing this, she raised one of her hands, and a few moments after, the robot raised it’s own hand. A giddiness appeared on her face as she did a few more moments, watching as the robot continued to copy her actions, much to her excitement.

“Guys, look, it’s copying me!” Pai giggled, easily entertained by what was going on between them. On the other hand, the robot didn’t seem to know why it was even doing this, still looking confused.

“This is… Hm…” Nyoro’s voice trailed off into a hum. This certainly wasn’t expected. She walked over to the two of them, motioning for Pai to stop before stepping in front of the robot. Like she had done once before, she waved her hand in front of it’s face. Much to her astonishment, it reacted, looking up at her before mimicking the motion a bit. It was quite obvious that she didn't exactly understand the intent of what she was doing… But she was more shocked that it could possibly understand anything at all.

“This definitely doesn’t seem normal…” Kansai said what everyone was thinking. “Do you think that electricity messed it up or something?”

“I mean, it’s possible?” Nyoro bit her lip, trying to think. “The statistics on the computer did change after it was shocked and shut down… Plus, now the human interaction portion of it just says that it’s pending.”

“Pending? Pending!?” Kansai repeated, pausing before asking. “What’s that mean?”

“It means that it’s waiting for something to happen, you dummy!” Chuko huffed. “How can you act so annoyed when you don’t even know what it means?”

“I- I knew what it meant! I was just wondering if you did!” Kansai tried to argue, although it was quite obvious that it was a lie.

The robot looked around the room. The lights were on, the crates were open, the place seemed clean… It’s memory banks even have records of blocking out most of the sunlight… At least the humans were here, right? Yeah, this did seem like a small group of humans…

“Um… guys?” Pai looked at everyone else, but she could see the same surprised and confused look on every else’s faces.

“You guys can… understand it too?” Vanilla asked.

“Th-this shouldn’t be possible!” Tattsun exclaimed. “It’s not even saying a word, and yet–”

“--It’s like we can understand what it’s thinking.” Nyoro finished for him. The robot seemed to notice everyone else’s staring and looked a bit down at the floor, as if uncomfortable by all of this attention.

“Umm, hey, robot person?” Vanilla tried to ask. “Can you… understand us?”

Before the robot could answer, Kansai instead asked a question. “Do you guys think the thing could be, like, made by aliens or something?”

“I… Doubt that’s the case.” Pochi said, hesitating before fixing a part of the robot’s hair. “I’m not too sure how to explain this either, but…”

The robot glanced over at Pochi, at first confused at what Pochi was doing until it raised it’s hand up to try and fix it’s own hair.

“So, what do we do with it?” Pai asked curiously.

Kansai looked the robot up and down. “Well, we stick with what we wanted to do last time, I think! We’ll take it with us!”

“No way, we don’t know if this thing could be evil or something!” Aniki objected. “Who knows what it could do, especially if it’s acting all weirdly like this!”

The robot’s brows furrowed a bit, it’s attention now on the taller delinquent. That stung a little… Wait, stung? It paused, looking down at itself. That shouldn’t… sting . Not like that, right? Was it broken after all? Well, it was damaged but that was… a different type of pain. Something that it could feel? ..No, no, that’s impossible. It shouldn’t feel.

“Aw, come on, be nice, Aniki!” Pai gave him a bit of a pout before crossing her arms. “Besides, I for one think it would be a great idea to bring it with us! It seems fun to have a robot as a friend!”

“But Pai, it’s a robot. ” Chuko reminded her. “It could help us with a few things, but it’s not like you can form a bond with it.”

The robot stayed still, in it’s own thoughts before it turned around, now starting to limp towards the computer. The group could definitely see how it’s limp was now affecting it a lot more.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Pochi tried to ask it, following it with Nyoro by his side. Nyoro seemed just as confused as he was, and possibly concerned on what it could do with the computer.

The robot stopped, leaning it’s head closer so it can read the statistics on the screen. After a few moments, possibly of it reading, it stepped back in surprise, it’s face showing it so as it showed a mild sense of panic. Five percent?! Five percent!? How did it’s AI Functionality become a measly five percent? That was, like, really bad, wasn’t it?

It looked down at the mouse, although it had never used one before. In fact, it hadn’t even used a computer before. It’s not like it knew how it worked. A look of frustration appeared on it’s face as it realized this, having it’s hands at the ready without really knowing what to do with them.

Nyoro noticed it’s frustration and panic and panicked herself. “Ah, um, d-don’t freak out!” She tried to assure it, although she struggled to form any word whatsoever. She couldn’t believe she was trying to calm down a robot. “I-I’m sure whatever you’re freaking out about is not as big of a problem as you think it is!”

The robot deadpanned at Nyoro. Of course this was a problem! How is it supposed to function normally at five percent!?

“It’s only that low because you saved Jennu, remember?” Pochi glanced back at Jennu. “She would’ve been fried if you hadn’t pushed her out of the way.”

It paused before it suddenly towards Jennu, as if it had just remembered. It’s malfunction can wait, it was now more concerned about the human girl. Jennu noticed it’s concerned expression as it began to limp up to her.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’m alright. Not even a scrape thanks to you.” Jennu said, showing the robot her arms. “See? A scratch nowhere to be seen.”

That did seem to relieve it’s worry a little bit as it looked over her arms. It even took one of her hands to examine it, only to notice something purple on her nails. It put her hand up to it’s face a bit, trying to figure out what it was before looking up at Jennu.

“Oh, are you looking at my nail polish?” Jennu asked. “It’s used to decorate your fingernails, and if you really wanted to, your toenails.”

“Are we seriously explaining what nail polish is to a robot?” Aniki shook his head.

“It doesn’t seem like it wants to hurt us..” Pochi noted before looking up at Aniki. “I think we can take it along with us. Plus, maybe it knows what’s going on around here.”

“But shouldn’t this give us less reason to trust it? Let’s just leave it go, we don’t have time for this!” Aniki stomped his foot down a bit in annoyance.

The robot looked at Aniki once more, only this time in confusion, causing him to say; “Don’t give me that weird look!”

“We already went outside to look for people with no luck…” Pochi said. “All we really need to do is set up a camp somewhere.”

The confusion on the robot’s face quickly turned into panic. No way, they couldn’t go outside!

“H-Hey, calm down!” Mowchan stuttered. “Why c-can’t we go outside?”

Didn’t you know? The robot crossed it’s arms nervously. Going outside is dangerous!

“It’s not dangerous?” Pochi was now the one who was confused. “Other than those weird plant monsters and that dog monster, there’s nothing that can really harm us outside.”

Monsters!? It wasn’t even aware of any such thing as monsters !! Now looking stressed, the robot turned to the stairs, starting to run towards them and up, although almost tripping as it did so.

“Hey, get back here!!” Aniki was the first to chase after it, with the rest of the Go-Getters club quickly chasing after, following the slightly clumsy robot up the stairs and back to the first floor.

The robot went to the doorway, standing right in front of the cabinet before trying to push it so it would block the exit in full. However, it overstepped itself, tripping and causing the cabinet to go through the door, as well as itself. It was stunned for a few moments before realizing that it was almost outside. In a bit more of a panic, it suddenly pushed itself back inside, crawling away from the door, although more specifically the sunlight.

When it noticed that they were here, it scampered to it’s feet and forced itself to block the doorway itself. Whatever it was really scared about, it made it motivated on one thing: it definitely did not want them to go outside.

“What the Hell are you doing??” Aniki asked, a bit of venom to his voice, although he was just as confused as everyone else. He tried to step forward, but Pochi held his arm out this time to stop him.

“Aniki, please calm down..!” Pochi said, although he was hesitant to exactly go up against the taller male like this. “I- I think it’s just trying to protect us!”

“What do we even need to be protected from?” Jennu kept looking at the robot, watching it as it nervously examined the group. It didn’t exactly seem the confrontational type, that’s for sure.

“That’s what I wanna know too.” Aniki spat, carefully pushing Pochi’s arm away as he went over to the machine, trying to push past it. The robot grabbed onto his shirt, trying to stop him without having to injure him, but the delinquent was much stronger than it expected, being almost shoved to the side as the boy made his way outside, despite the robot’s failed attempts to grab him again.

Once Aniki was out in the street, he turned around and put his arms to the side with a smirk, almost quietly asking “ What are you going to do about it? ”

“Aniki’s perfectly fine, see?” Jennu motioned to him. “Why were you so, erm, worried about him going out?”

The robot went from instant panic, to confusion, to a bit of panic once again. That boy- Aniki, right? Wasn’t he supposed to be hurt? Why wasn’t he being hurt, why was okay? It’s databases said that the sun should be hurting him, it-

The robot looked back at the other kids, then to Aniki, and then turned around so it’s full attention would be on everyone else. It opened it’s mouth before stopping, as no sound was coming out whatsoever. Becoming a bit overwhelmed with emotions, it tried to motion with it’s hands to help emphasize what it wanted to say. They all had to understand that the sun was dangerous! There’s meant to be stuff with acid out there! It’s database doesn’t say where the acid is- maybe from the sun?? The point is that the sun and acid are bad!

Chuko blinked in confusion. “The- the sun??”

“There’s nothing wrong with the sun, nor nothing to do with acid out there…” Pochi assured, walking to the doorway before putting his arm out to prove his point. “I don’t know where you learned that the sun was dangerous.”

The robot then took his arm, quickly examining it, as if looking for injury, only to look astonished that no such injury existed. The robot stared in disbelief before looking up at Pochi. But the sun… and the acid… It didn’t understand, it’s meant to be dangerous out there! It’s database wouldn’t lie, right?

“It’s not dangerous…” Pochi reassured, carefully taking his arm out of it’s grip before walking out into the sun. He stood next to Aniki before looking back at the doorway. “See? Aniki and I are both fine…”

“If that’s what you’re so worked up about…” Nyoro began to walk out, the other members of the club starting to follow her. The robot just watched in disbelief and in shock. How were they…

“It’s not that bad, honestly!” Mowchan said, being one of the last to exit the building, turning back to give the robot a smile. “The sun actually feels really nice!”

The robot seemed hesitant, it’s screen turning green as a projection of a grid appeared, seemingly to examine the sunlight that was entering the room now. After a few seconds, the projection went away and it’s screen turned back to blue, the robot looking back at the other kids.

Pochi walked over, holding out his hand for it to take. “I’ll be right with you, okay? Just trust us.”

It looked down at his available hand, and although it still hesitated, it took Pochi’s hand. Pochi began to lead it outside, making the robot instinctively squeeze it’s eyes shut in fear. It thought something bad would happen, it’s body tensing up as it waited for some sort of burn or impact or some sort of pain.

But nothing came.

Slowly, the robot stopped tensing it’s body, cautiously opening it’s eyes instead. It was out in the sun, and it was outside, but it was standing right with the group, perfectly fine. Nothing bad was happening? Where was the injury? The acid? It was still a bit confusing, but it was learning that perhaps it’s heliophobia was a bit unwarranted after all.

“The sun isn’t all that bad, just kind of bright!” Mowchan said before pointing to the setting sun. “Just don’t look at it for too long or else it’ll hurt your eyes!”

Nyoro sighed. “You learned that the hard way, didn’t you, Mowchan?”

The robot looked at the setting sun for a moment, but followed his advice not to stare at it for too long, instead looking up at the sky. To it’s surprise, it looked… pretty. The blues, the purples, the oranges… It wasn’t like anything it had ever seen. From what it could remember, it knew nothing but dust and darkness. This was different. Perhaps this difference was… good?

“So now that you’re not scared anymore, maybe you want to head to the beach with us?” Pai asked, drawing the robot’s attention away from the sky. “We’re going to start a very big adventure tomorrow, so maybe you’d want to stick around with us!”

It thought for a moment. Well, it’s purpose was to protect human life, was it not? Leaving them all on their lonesome now would be counterproductive. It decided to give Pai a bit of a nod. It wanted to protect their campsite, if that was okay.

“Mhm, that’s perfectly fine! Just follow us, okay?” Pai smiled before she turned away, beginning to lead it and the group towards the beach.

Aniki stayed behind for a moment, watching the group move ahead of him. “I’m onto you, you weird cyborg thingie…” He growled under his breath before at last deciding to follow everyone else.

……

Tents were carefully set up along the beach, a campfire being set up right near the middle of it. The club members were scattered around the beach, some talking with one another and some just relaxing. The robot, however, was a different story.

It sat on the outskirts of the camp, facing away from everyone else as it did it’s best to try and scope out anything that could be dangerous. Even so, the machine couldn’t help but to be a bit distracted. A beach was quite foreign to it, so it’s hands carefully swept through and scooped up the grains of sand. It seemed to be everywhere, and it was a little weird to interact with. Not only that, it was looking up at the starry night sky.

Raising his hand up, it examined the sparkling dots that rested upon the dark blue. What were those little dots? It tried to grip down on one of them, but when it looked, nothing was in it’s hand. Looking back up, the dot had stayed where it was. It tried to swipe it away, but no, it didn’t even touch anything. Was it too far away? Were they dangerous ? A bit closer to those tiny dots was the largest white dot that it’s ever seen. It glowed just like the sun, only much calmer and it didn’t bring any sort of warmth in it’s light? Was it a different version of the sun? Shouldn’t it look at it either?

Not expecting any answers, it put it’s hand down, looking back at the grains of sand below it. It got everywhere, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t too worried about getting it’s clothes even dirtier. It shouldn’t matter, anyways.

“Hey.”

The voice caught it’s attention, and looking back, it saw that it had come from Pochi, who was coming up behind him. Nyoro was in tow too.

“So… Do you have a name?” Pochi decided to ask.

“It could know one, but I don’t think it’s a real name.” Nyoro said, recalling that small string of letters and numbers that the robot was referred to on the computer. “It looked more like an identification rather than, well, a name .”

The robot shook it’s head. It didn’t have a name, only a serial number. Robots aren’t exactly supposed to have human names, are they? Because robots are objects, and you don’t give objects human names.

Pochi shook his head. “I don’t think you’re an object. You’ve got feelings like everyone else here.”

It seemed to not like his answer, crossing it’s arms and looking a bit grumpy. It wasn’t supposed to have feelings. This had to be some sort of glitch or malfunction or, heck, maybe even a coding error! It has to be something fixable. Something that can hopefully be easily corrected.

“Feelings aren’t supposed to be something that should be corrected. They’re completely natural and are a good thing.” Pochi explained. “It helps you understand people and can even help you make friends.”

It’s grumpiness now turned into a sad realization. Understanding people and making friends… It never did that before. It never had to do that before. Could it even do that? Was it made to do that? Maybe it would help it towards it’s purpose? It certainly had a lot more questions than answers.

“We’ll figure that out eventually, okay?” Pochi gave it a reassuring smile before looking at Nyoro. “Any ideas for a name?”

“Well, if I remember correctly, the serial number it had was R3Y-CH0.” Nyoro said. “So maybe we can use something like… Reycho?”

The robot looked over at Nyoro. Reycho… Reycho, Reycho, Reycho… It thought over it for a moment. That… wasn’t a bad name, actually. In fact, it kinda like it.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Nyoro smiled. “I’m glad that you like it.”

Pochi nodded in agreement. “Reycho is certainly better than some sort of code.”

The machine, or now Reycho, managed to smile a bit. It did appreciate their kindness. “Come over to the camp when you wanna talk to us more, okay? I promise, most of us won’t bite.” Nyoro encouraged before turning around and starting to walk back to the camp.

As she did so, Pochi decided to sit down next to Reycho. “Hey, I saw that you were trying to grab at something before? I mean, at least I think so… Your hand was up in the air. Was there a firefly or something?”

Reycho gave him a confused look. It… didn’t know what a firefly was. Instead, it pointed up at the sky. It was trying to grab one of those sparkly little dots, but couldn’t grab one.

“Oh, do you mean the stars?” Pochi asked, looking up to where Reycho pointed. “Those are really far away, all the way up in the sky. If you somehow got close, they’d be really big and hot.”

Reycho paused for a moment, processing that. If they were so far away, why could they all see them? Was it because of how big they were?”

Pochi nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. They’re especially easy to see when it’s so dark too. They’re especially sparkly because of how bright they are, too.”

Although hesitant, it nodded, thinking it understood before pointing at the bigger dot. Was that a star too? Why was it so much bigger than the others? Was it because it was closer?

“That’s the moon. It’s not a star, just a big reflective rock in the sky. It reflects the light of the sun, which is a star, and sometimes it looks like it changes shape depending where the sun’s light hits it.”

It reflected sunlight? Does this mean that the moon was a weird mirror?

Pochi looked at Reycho, taking a few moments to realize that it was a genuine question. “Um… I mean… you could say that, I guess?”

Reycho nodded again before looking back up at the sky. It watched the stars above them glitter for a moment before eventually looking right back at Pochi. It had never seen the sky like this before. It hadn’t seen any of this before. Not that it remembered, anyways.

“Really? Were you just… in that basement this whole time?” Pochi had a bit of sympathy in his voice.

It nods. It thinks so, at least. It wasn’t exactly made to go outside. It’s an indoor robot made to protect humanity… It doesn’t remember being used, but that’s it’s purpose.

“Well, hey, now you get to hang out with us. That’s at least a bonus.” Pochi said, giving Reycho a warm smile. Reycho found itself mimicking his smile. It guessed that was true. It kinda felt nice to talk to people again.

“Heyyyy! Robot kid!” Vanilla called out, interrupting the two as she ran over to the both of them. She twirled around until she was right in front of Reycho. “Do you know what happened to everyone in Kagoshima? Like, why is it all overgrown and why nobody is in sight?”

Reycho shook his head, much to the disappointment of Vanilla. Unfortunately, it didn’t know in full.

“In full? So you do know something?” Vanilla asked.

Well, Reycho knew that humans had to be protected from the sun, or else they would get hurt. Plus, humans needed to be herded, but other than that, it had no idea what exactly happened to everyone around here.

“Herded?” Pochi repeated quietly, something clicking in his head.

“That’s weird, but it’s a bummer that you don’t know much else…” Vanilla sighed.

Reycho looked down at the ground. It’s sorry, it did wish it did know what was going on. It certainly did hope that everyone else was okay wherever they were, that’s for certain. Maybe other shepherds were taking care of them, but they couldn’t say for certain.

“Shepherds? You certainly have a weird vocabulary!” Vanilla giggled before swaying side to side. “As far as we know though, they’re most likely alive, and that’s, like, a really really good thing! Now we just gotta find them and bring them back!”

Vanilla paused when she saw something happening at the camp, calling out. “Kansai, we told you not to steal Chuko’s bow before!”

Being ignored, she sighed and looked back at the two. “Sorry, I have to go now! Maybe we’ll talk later!” A grin stayed on her face before she began to run back to camp.

Now that the two were alone again, Pochi looked around, as if making sure that nobody else was coming before leaning close to Reycho, his voice dipping down to a whisper. “Hey, um… Do you know anything with the name MAIK?” He asked, his face harboring a serious expression. “Or anything about it?”

MAIK… Reycho looked away, looking through it’s own database as it thought. The name sounded really familiar, but it’s database didn’t find anything too much yet. All it knew was that MAIK was… important? Yes, important… It’s also associated with a red X too if it remembered correctly… and that it was meant to help humanity like it was. After a few more moments, it looked back at Pochi. Why did he ask?

“Ah- um, I was just, uh, c-curious…” Pochi gave an awkward laugh before standing up. “A-Anyways, I think with that new name of yours, you should get yourself properly introduced to the rest of the Go-Getters Club. What do you think?”

Reycho paused before nodding, getting up itself and brushing some of the sand off of it’s clothes. It would be nice to get some data on the others.

Satisfied with that answer, Pochi began to walk back to camp, with Reycho following close behind. Unfortunately for them, Aniki was the first one to be close by, and he immediately noticed that the two were coming, shooting a dirty look at the robot, who couldn’t understand his suspicion and potential hatred.

“H-Hey, Aniki…” Pochi greeted, knowing that there was no way out of this conversation.

Aniki opened his mouth, wanting to say something before deciding against it, instead bringing up something else. “This city is huge, but there’s not a soul in sight. This whole thing is totally crazy, robot included.”

“It is a bit… weird, I’ll a-admit.” Pochi said, looking at the city in the distance of where they were.

“Let’s say there was some kind of natural disaster or war. That wouldn’t explain that we haven’t seen a single dead body, let alone where that thing came from.” Aniki motioned to Reycho.

“Um… It has a name now…” Pochi fidgeted with his scarf a bit. “It’s name is Reycho.”

“Aw, come on, you seriously named the thing?” Aniki groaned in annoyance before being interrupted by Pochi.

“We can talk about that later, okay?” Pochi requested, glancing back at the confused Reycho. “For now, let’s just talk about the situation at hand. That seems much more important to me.”

Aniki paused before sighing, stuffing his hands in his pockets and reluctantly doing what Pochi wished. “Come to think of it, our homeroom teacher wasn’t with us when we woke up in that amusement park. It’s like people just got.. erased.”

Reycho just became even more confused, mostly caught up on what was said earlier. Amusement park?

“It’s… a long story, Reycho.” Pochi stated. “But long story short, we were on a field trip to Kamukura until a meteor hit somewhere nearby. We were all knocked out and we found ourselves in an underwater amusement park, where we had to play a weird game of fate hosted by a weird robot- no offense to you, of course. The only reason we made it out of there was thanks to Aniki and a bit of luck.”

“I was just going to say, don’t give me all of the credit.” Aniki said, being quite blunt with his words. “I might’ve won the fate game and freed you guys from that sludge bot thing, but we all would’ve drowned if that submarine didn’t drop down.”

Drowned? That alarmed Reycho quite a bit. That sounds quite scary… they were all pretty lucky.

Pochi nodded. “Yeah, lucky is one way to put it…”

“Whatever, I don’t wanna think about that weird game anymore.” Aniki turned away, showing disinterest in the topic now. “Besides, I don’t think that thing needs to know any more than it should.”

Pochi sighed before starting to walk away. Reycho, of course, followed, but before it could ask any questions, Pochi simply said; “Don’t worry about Aniki. He can be a little stubborn at times. He’ll warm up to you eventually… I hope.”

Reycho nodded, taking one last look back at Aniki before the two were suddenly stopped by Vanilla. She seemed a bit worried, looking at Reycho.

“Hey, I’m sorry about my big bro, he can be a bit mean sometimes…” She sighed.

Reycho shook his head. No, it was okay, there was no need to apologize. He didn’t say anything wrong anyways, so it wasn’t bothered.

“Oh… Well, I think that’s good!” Vanilla got her cheerfulness back as she clasped her hands together. Her attention was then shifted to Pochi. “Aren’t you excited, Pochi? We’re all taking a trip to Tokyo tomorrow! I can’t wait!”

Wait- to Tokyo? Reycho took a step back in surprise. Wasn’t that, like, a long distance away? It didn’t know geography too well, but it knew that much!

“Tattsun says that it’s 1200 kilometers away… Which is quite the journey, isn’t it?” Vanilla asked excitedly before realizing; “Well, actually, we’re just trying to get home, so you can’t really call it a journey , can you? Oh well!”

Oh, yeah, that was definitely quite a bit away! Reycho’s surprise turned into concern. Would they be able to even make it that far safely?

“I’m sure that we will. If anything, Mowchan can help protect us.” Pochi paused before adding on quickly. “Mowchan is a long story too.”

“Anywaaaays-” Vanilla cut herself back into the conversation. “-before we go to Tokyo, I wanna make a quick stop to Osaka!”

“Osaka? Why there out of all places?” Pochi asked.

“Hm? Why?” Vanilla blinked before giggling. “Well, it’s a secret, okay? And a girl has gotta keep her secrets!”

“Um… whatever you say, Vanilla..” Pochi couldn’t help himself but to smile a little. Vanilla smiled back before walking away, possibly to talk to somebody else.

Reycho placed a hand on Pochi’s shoulder. What’s up with Mowchan?

“Hm? Oh, right, um, well…” Pochi tried to figure out a way to explain it. “Mowchan… actually has some weird special ability? That being, he can turn into metal whenever he curls up. It saved Vanilla and I before, which I’m really thankful for…”

Seeing Reycho’s confused expression, he shrugged. “I know, it’s confusing, but we don’t really know too much about it, y’know? I’m sure we’ll figure out more eventually though.”

“Hey, you two.” Nyoro approached the two of them. “What are you two talking about?”

“Oh, um, hey Nyoro…” Pochi gave a small wave. “I was just explaining to Reycho a few things.”

“I see… So it doesn’t know too much after all?” Nyoro looked a bit disappointed, a bit more so when Pochi shook his head.

“No, not much… but as far as it knows, everyone should be okay, right, Reycho?” Pochi asked, to which Reycho gave a nod.

Nyoro sighed. “Well, that’s good… Although, I am still a bit concerned… Especially because of the meteor we saw on the bus… It looked like it was dead set on Tokyo… I’ve heard before that a few dozen meteors hit the Earth every year, but they’re usually pretty small… But a meteor of that size? There’s no way that Tokyo could’ve…”

Her voice trailed off before she shook her head. “But I won’t believe it until I see it for myself, that’s for certain.”

Reycho thought for a few moments. It didn’t remember anything about meteors… Yet again, it was in that basement for who knows how long… If meteors really did hit the Earth, it certainly wouldn’t have known.

“It must be nice… Being oblivious to that sort of thing, I mean.” Nyoro commented, to which Reycho shook it’s head.

It really wasn’t. It crossed it’s arms a bit. It just made it wish that it knew more.

“Well, we’ll figure things out eventually, alright, Reycho?” Pochi assured, giving it a pat on the back before starting to walk away. Of course, the robot stuck by the boy’s side, almost like a small puppy.

“Oh, you brought the robot over here?” Tattsun asked, which of course meant that the two would have to engage with another conversation.

Pochi, however, nodded. “Nyoro and I gave it a name. Reycho, this is Tattsun. Tattsun, this is Reycho.”

“Reycho, huh… That’s not a bad name for a robot! Although I would’ve gone with something cooler, like Metalic Buster or Machinery Makoto!” Tattsun expressed as he fixed his glasses.

Reycho blinked in confusion as Pochi chuckled quietly. “I’m guessing those names are inspired by the show you watch, right?”

Tattsun nodded. “Yeah… Unfortunately, I am missing this week’s episode of Electro Rangers… It’s supposed to be recording, but I’m still disappointed that I missed it…”

Reycho titled his head. What were Electro Rangers?

“Wh- You don’t know the Electro Rangers?” Tattsun gasped.

“Well, that’s understandable, since Reycho was probably in that basement that whole time… Probably never interacted with a TV, huh?” Pochi asked the robot, to which it shook it’s head.

Tattsun cleared his throat. “Well, allow me to explain it! Electro Rangers is a superhero show that’s on every morning on Sundays. It’s about five differently-colored superheroes that work together to fight all sorts of evil! It’s meant for kids, but it has a powerful, philosophical theme underneath it! It’s truly ground-breaking, and it’s fans argue endlessly about what genre it actually is!”

“Didn’t you just say that it was a superhero show?” Pochi asked.

“Well, that’s what I believe that it is, but it’s really up to interpretation.” Tattsun elaborated. “I can explain more if you guys want me to!”

“Ah, no thanks… Maybe another time.” Pochi said, Reycho nodding it’s head in agreement.

“Oh, alright! If we all make it back to Tokyo safely, I’ll lend over my copies of Electro Rangers to you, Reycho- with me supervising you, of course! I’m sure it will be pretty educational!” Tattsun spoke with confidence as he fixed his glasses. Reycho could tell that he was certainly quite passionate about this show.

Pochi nodded before he walked away again. Reycho quickly followed, but stopped only when Pochi stopped. It seemed like he was thinking about something before looking back at Reycho.

“Hey, Reycho, there was something I forgot to mention… About that amusement park stuff…” Pochi said. “You see… We all got brainwashed back there.”

Reycho blinked in surprise. Brainwashed? What did that mean?

“Oh, well… At its core, it means to make somebody believe something vastly different than what they used to… And it’s usually done by force and with malicious motives…” Pochi explained. “We’re all snapped out of it, but… why would anybody want to do that anyway?”

Pochi paused, glancing over at Pai before looking back to Reycho. “Pai told us that there was some sort of mastermind behind it all… But she can’t remember who for the time being. I don’t get their motives nonetheless, though… Was it just for us to play that game? But that doesn’t make sense either, as we snapped out of it because of the game… None of this makes any sense, huh? Must be confusing to even listen to it.”

Reycho nodded. It seemed like everyone here got themselves in quite the complex situation, that’s for sure.

“Mhm, you can say that again…” Pochi sighed. “Maybe we’ll get some answers eventually, but for now, we’ll all just kinda clueless.”

The robot gave him another nod before looking around, spotting Mowchan at the campfire, who seemed to be stirring something in a pot above it. Pochi followed Reycho’s gaze before asking; “Do you want to see what he’s up to?”

With a nod of confirmation, the two made their way over to the cooking Mowchan. It seemed like he was in thought, making a slight humming sound to himself.

“Hey, Mowchan… What are you up to?” Pochi asked, snapping Mowchan out of his thoughts.

“Oh, um, I was just cooking something for all of us, that’s all…” Mowchan explained. “But, I was also thinking about what happened earlier today… With that new ability and all… I have no idea how that happened. The first second, I was thinking how I had to save you, and then the next, I felt, like, this weird… burning feeling from inside… And then the next thing I know, I can turn into metal.”

Reycho looked in awe. It certainly seemed unbelievable, but if it was true…

“I-It’s true!” Mowchan assured before curling up into a ball. Right before the robot’s eyes, Mowchan had completely turned metallic. It stepped back in shock before the boy turned back to normal, getting right back up again.

“See?” Mowchan smiled. “It’s a bit weird, but I think I’m getting the hang of it already!”

Reycho put its hands together, something that it had learned from Vanilla. That was so cool! Humans aren’t supposed to turn into metal, but the fact that he could and that he could protect his fellow humans with it was something inspiring to it!

“You really care about protecting people, huh?” Pochi noted before continuing on with the current topic. “Anyways, it is still weird, that’s for certain…”

Mowchan nodded before turning his attention back to the food he was making. “I’ll let you guys know when the food is ready, okay?”

“Can Reycho even eat?” Pochi asked, looking at the robot for some sort of answer, although it could only shrug. It didn’t know either.

“W-Well, um, if you want to figure it out… Reycho, was it?” Mowchan asked. “You can always try some of the food I make.”

Reycho looked into the pot, recgonizing the food that was inside. That was part of the emergency food back in the basement, wasn’t it? Why waste that on it? It doesn’t even need to eat anyways. Everyone else needs it more than it does.

“But food is so good!” Mowchan insisted. “We have plenty anyways, so we can always get some more if we need to! Food is such a luxury, too!”

Reycho thought for a moment. Well, if Mowchan insisted… just don’t give it too much, okay?

Mowchan nodded in understanding. “Alright!” He spoke cheerfully before his full attention was back on the food. Pochi motioned Reycho to follow before the two walked away, instead heading towards Chuko and Kansai, who happened to be quite closeby.

“Hey, is it just me, or is Mowchan going to make that curry spicy?” Chuko asked. “It’s going to be rough for somebody who can’t handle spicy things.”

She paused before quickly adding on. ‘W-Well, it’s no problem for me, but I might as well look out for everyone else!”

Mowchan, overhearing, turned around to look at Chuko. “O-Oh, don’t worry, I’m using the mild curry paste!”

Kansai snickered. “Ah, don’t worry about it, Mowchan! Chuko just likes being a baby about spicy stuff!”

“I already told you, I can handle it!” Chuko huffed.

“Oh, come on! The last time Mowchan made curry, I watched ya’! You barely touched a bit of your food!” Kansai teased.

Chuko crossed her arms, a red blush appearing on her face. “Hmph! Well, why were you watching me so much anyways, huh?”

“Because I’ve seen you pass out when eating Star Prince curry!” The boy simply laughed.

Reycho seemed confused before Pochi explained it. “Star Prince curry is known for being really mild. That means that there’s little to no spice to it.”

“That’s- That’s t-totally not true!” Chuko squeaked. “Don’t feed the robot such lies! I’m great with spicy things, and that’s that!”

Seeing how it seemed like nobody believed her, her face turned even redder as she stomped her foot down. “I do everything with chili peppers! I eat chili peppers daily! I take a bath using only chili peppers! I even go to bed hugging a chili pepper at night!”

“Yeah, and you’re short like one too.” Kansai continued to tease, causing Chuko to yell out in frustration as he laughed.

“I think we should get back to them a bit later.” Pochi chuckled before starting to walk away, but his attention was driven away when Pai gave the two a big wave. That being an invitation for the two to come over, Reycho and Pochi headed towards her.

“Heyyy! How are you liking the camp experience so far, little guy?” Pai asked Reycho. Reycho tilted its head at the nickname before deciding to brush it off. It was all very new still, it must admit, but so far, it seemed quite nice.

“Nyoro and I gave it a name, too. This is Reycho now, Pai.” Pochi introduced.

“Aw, that’s such a cute name!” Pai cooed before pausing to wonder outloud. “You know, is it right to keep referring to it as, well… an it ?”

“If Reycho wants to be referred to as something else, it can let all of us know.” Pochi reasoned, before looking at Reycho. “Do you wanna go by anything else? Like, pronoun or gender-wise?”

Reycho paused before shaking it’s head. Robots don’t need to go by gender or pronouns. It was an object, after all. Objects don’t have pronouns.

“You’re not exactly an object…” Pochi sighed. “We’ll definitely have to teach you out of that mindset.”

“Hm… well, until it wants to be referred to as something else, I guess I’ll be using it too!” Pai smiled. The ditzy girl paused for a moment before gasping. “Oh, right! I wanted to ask you something, Reycho!”

Seeing Reycho tilt it’s head, she asked her question; “Do you know anything about X’s in the sky?”

Reycho blinked. X’s in the sky..?

“When we escaped the amusement park and made it to land, we saw these weird floating structures up in the sky. They looked similar to X’s.” Pochi explained.

“So you don’t know about those?” Pai asked, to which Reycho shook it’s head at first. Although it then paused, crossing it’s arms to think. X’s in the sky… It seems familiar?

“Familair?” Pai repeated. “So do you know something about them?”

Reycho continued to think for a few moments more until shaking it’s head. It can’t find much, if any data on it at all. All it knows is that they definitely exist, but that’s about it.

“That’s so strange…” Pai swayed side to side a bit. “It almost seems like a UFO, although I’ve never heard of any UFOs shaped like X’s before… Plus, from what we saw, it was just… floating there. Nothing was happening with it whatsoever… All of this is pretty weird, if you ask me…”

Reycho nodded. This does seem to be a pretty complicated situation… Much more than what it was really prepared for. Yet again, it wasn’t exactly prepared for any of this.

“Well, don’t worry! I’m sure all of us will be able to handle whatever is going on!” Pai smiled. “We’re the Go-Getters Club, after all! We’ll get through this in no time!”

Pochi smiled a bit as well. “Yeah, you’re right, Pai… We’ll get to Tokyo in no time too.”

Pai nodded happily before seeing that Mowchan needed some sort of help. Wanting to be of some sort of assistance, she wandered over to see what she could do. Pochi looked around before noticing that Kansai seemed to be done teasing Chuko for now. Thinking maybe it was a bit safer of an influence, the two walked back to where Kansai was.

“You’re done playing with Chuko?” Pochi asked.

Kansai shrugged. “For now, I guess. Now I’m just, uh… Thinkin’, I guess.”

“Thinking?” Pochi tilted his head. “About what?”

“Just that stupid game of fate.” Kansai sighed. “Who was behind that weird game anyways? Pai said that she forgot because she hit her head, but…”

Kansai paused before looking at Pochi. “If what she said was true, with one of us being the mastermind… How could anyone be okay with that?”

Reycho’s eyes widened in shock. One of them as the mastermind? It looked at Pochi, he didn’t tell it about that!

“I didn’t want to freak you out…” Pochi reasoned, fidgeting with his scarf as he looked down at the sand. “Besides, we still don’t know completely if that’s really true…”

“We have no reason to not trust Pai and what she said unless she’s the mastermind and, well…” Kansai’s voice trailed off as he looked over at the girl in question, who had accidentally dropped a few things when trying to help Mowchan. “...Yeah, I don’t think she would be behind anything like that.”

“I’m not sure anyone here would want to be the mastermind.” Pochi said. “I mean, there’s no real reason to, y’know?”

“Well, at this point, we just don’t know!” Kansai groaned before looking at Reycho. “As far as we know, that thing could’ve been behind it!”

Reycho put its arms up. Hey, it doesn’t want any human to get hurt! That’s the complete opposite of what it wants to achieve!

“Hmph… yeah, yeah…” Kansai made a dismissive hand motion. He seemed a bit frustrated that he couldn’t exactly figure it out.

Pochi looked at Reycho. “I think he just needs to be left alone for a bit. Besides, we have one last person we should probably talk to.”

Reycho took a look around before it laid eyes on the last person they needed to go; Jennu. Pochi led the way like always, with Reycho sticking right behind him.

“Hey, Jennu?” Pochi spoke first, making Jennu aware of the two of them. She had been facing towards the ocean before, and she had to turn around to look at the two of them. “Can I ask you something?” Pochi couldn’t keep eye contact, instead opting to look down at her shirt instead.

“Sure thing, Pochi, and…” The girl’s gaze landed upon the robot.

“Reycho. It’s name is Reycho.” Pochi quickly cleared up before continuing. “Why did we camp here, exactly? The basement was just fine, and we wouldn’t have to get through the hassle of setting up all of these tents…”

“Well, the beach is certainly a new change of scenery. Besides, I reckon that it’s safer here by the shore anyways, with the monsters in Kagoshima and all.” Jennu reasoned. She looked back out at the ocean, a smile on her face as she reminisced. “I’m glad that we chose here though. This reminds me of when I used to go camping with my sister. We didn’t do it too often, and although it was a lot more luxurious than what we have set up here, it was… nice.”

After a few moments, Jennu’s smile wavered before simply shaking her head and looking back at the two. “Besides, it’s a lot less claustrophobic out here, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Ah, yeah, I can see that…” Pochi nodded, fidgeting with his scarf. Jennu then looked right at Reycho for a few moments, hesitating before sighing.

“..Reycho, right? I never got to properly thank you.” Jennu said. When Reycho gave her a confused look, she crossed her arms a bit. “The light in the basement.” She reminded it. “If you hadn’t pushed me out of the way, I would’ve been really hurt, or much worse… so thank you.”

Reycho smiled a bit before shaking it’s head. Jennu didn’t need to thank it, it was just doing it’s job! Protecting humans is what it’s made for, after all!

“About that, I have a question… Have you ever protected a human before?” Jennu inquired. “Like, have you ever seen a human before us?”

Reycho paused for a moment, thinking for a moment before shaking it’s head. It actually didn’t remember if it did. Nothing was in it’s memory banks though, so it doubts it.

“Surely, you had to be owned, let alone created by somebody…” Pochi mumbled, before realizing what he did and speaking normally. “Well, if you don’t remember now, that’s okay… Maybe you’ll find out eventually?”

Reycho nodded. It certainly hoped so, especially if it would benefit everyone else here. It did frown though. It wished that it would be more useful now than later… But if it really couldn’t be helped, they had no choice but to wait, right?”

“Basically, yeah…” Pochi nodded before hesitating. “..Do you think you’ll be good on your own?”

Huh? Reycho looked at Pochi. What did he mean by that?

“Well, I can’t stick by your side forever, y’know?” Pochi glanced over at the others. “Besides, everyone’s usually pretty nice… It may take some time, but I’m sure that you’ll be growing some sort of bond with them.”

Reycho looked at the others too. Growing a bond… As much as it sounded nice, was it really necessary? Humans… don’t form bonds with robots, right? They just use them when they need to.

“...” Pochi’s eyes were covered by his hair for a moment. “...I’m going to go sit down.”

Without another word, Reycho watched as Pochi went towards a nearby log and sat down on it. It could tell that Pochi seemed a little saddened by something… was it something it said? Did it make him feel sad? It couldn’t think too much on it, as it noticed Nyoro having knelt down to Tattsun, who seemed to have something in his hands.

“What do you have there, Tattsun?” Nyoro asked, watching as Tattsun stood up. With a prideful grin, he turned around to everyone, revealing a few pairs of walkie-talkies in his hands.

“Walkie-talkies, that’s what!” Tattsun said with a grin. “I found them in an electrical store while we were looking around for people! I thought these would be useful on our trek to Tokyo.”

“Wow, you really are the son of the Tatsukawa Electronics guy, aren’t you, Tattsun?” Vanilla teased, although Tattsun didn’t give her much of a reaction, perhaps too proud that he had found the devices in the first place.

Instead, Tattsun looked around the group. “There should be one for everybody… Can somebody help me pass them around?”

Reycho raised its hand up. It wouldn’t mind assisting the other in this task.

“Oh, you want to do it, Reycho?” Tattsun’s brows furrowed in concern. “Um… Alright then. Just be really careful with them, okay? We definitely don’t want these to break.”

Reycho nodded in understanding as Tattsun reluctantly handed a few walkie-talkies to the robot. As the robot just started, Kansai suddenly piped up. “Hey, wait a second, why does that thing get to pass them around?”

“W-Well… Reycho was the first one who volunteered, so it’s only fair that it gets chosen.” Tattsun tried to reason, although Kansai just shook his head.

“Oh yeah? Well, it’s still a robot, y’know?” Kansai crossed his arms bitterly. “It might’ve been useful with all of these emergency supplies and helped us out a bit, but are you seriously going to let that thing around walkie-talkies??”

“U-Um… Well…” Tattsun couldn’t get his words out in nervousness, looking over at the robot. Reycho had the technology cradled in it’s arms, and upon seeing Tattsun’s gaze, simple gave him a reassuring smile.

Kansai groaned, unsatisfied with a lack of answer, before walking up to Reycho and snatching one of the walkie-talkies out of it’s arms. “Gimme that!”

Reycho took a step back in surprise. It looked at Kansai with confusion and a bit of sadness. Did it do something wrong?

“You already act as if you can blend in around here. We only knew you for not even a full day.” Kansai huffed. “You’re not even part of the Go-Getters Club!”

“And who says that, exactly?” Pochi looked up, his gaze on the baseball player.

“Says me, that’s who! I’m the leader ofthe club after all!” Kansai looked back at the dark-haired boy, who just looked back down at the ground.

Nyoro shook her head, giving Kansai a disappointed look. “While I must agree that the robot is certainly a new thing for us… It doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be treated as fairly as the rest of us.”

“H-Hey, I never said that!” Kansai spoke quickly. “I just meant that if you don’t know somebody long enough, ya’ can’t trust them! Hell, I wouldn’t even be surprised if that thing was somehow connected to that game of fate!”

There was a moment of silent tension among the group from his suggestion. Reycho was unsure what to do- or, heck, what even to say. It’s not like it had to stand up for itself before. It knew that it had to be innocent, but to go up against a human? That goes against it’s purpose, doesn’t it?

“And what gives you that idea, exactly?” Jennu questioned, pinching the bridge of her nose a bit.

“Well, think about it! This is the first town that we washed up in and it’s the only human-like thing we find! Besides, a robot was ruling the game of fate, right?? Maybe those two are somehow connected!” Kansai suggested. “Besides, after one small shock, it changes to have some sorta- sorta personality ? Some sort of emotions? Gimme a break!”

Although still confused by it all, Reycho managed to shake it’s head. No, Kansai has it all wrong! It didn’t even know about the game of fate until Pochi told it! Besides, it could never hurt a human! It’s job is to protect humanity, why would it do such a horrible thing to hurt them?

“Hey, don’t gimme that protecting humanity spiel!” Kansai stomped his foot down. “That could all just be a bunch of baloney!”

“Now, hold on just a second, Kansai.” Nyoro stepped in, putting her hands in front of both Reycho and Kansai. “When I looked at those statistics, I remember that it’s task, before getting shocked, was to protect us. It could be hard-written into it’s code.”

A bit frustrated that it seemed like nobody believed him, Kansai turned to Pai. “Pai, come on! At least you gotta help me out! I know that you said that it was somebody in this group, but I refuse to believe it!”

Pai was a little surprised to be put on the spot, but she placed her hand on her cheek as she thought. “Well… I could’ve been wrong… But on the other hand, maybe I wasn’t…”

Kansai growled, as that didn’t help him much at all. However, one other person did speak up in his favor.

“I think Kansai’s wrong about the game of fate stuff, but I still say that we can’t trust it so easily.” Aniki stated, giving Reycho a bit of a glare. “It could still be dangerous.”

“You two are so tense about this! Give Reycho a bit of a break, would you?” Vanilla sighed, a little upset at both of their aggressiveness towards the machine. “After we all decided that we would take it with us to Tokyo too…”

“Reycho has done nothing wrong so far. In fact, it saved Jennu, gave us most of these supplies, and even helped us set up and do a bit of work for us.” Pochi said, finally standing up from where he sat. “I think it’s a bit unfair to go against him like this. Is all of this a bit weird? I must admit, yeah, it is… But we have no real reason to suspect Reycho of anything.”

“Y-Yeah, Pochi’s right!” Mowchan chipped in. “Reycho’s been nothing but helpful this whole time!”

“I have to agree with Pochi too.” Tattsun admitted. “As much as I’m still hesitant about… Well, everything , I trust it enough that it won’t go and hurt anybody…”

“Even if the mastermind behind the game is in this group, getting them all tensed and riled up is certainly not the path to go down.” Jennu stated.

“I agree with Jennu here. Besides, getting everyone else freaked out about it is also not a smart idea.” Nyoro sighed. “I thought even you would know that, Kansai.”

Kansai opened his mouth to object, but with nobody else but Aniki by his side just barely , he instead sighed. “Hmph… Fine then… I guess I’ll just leave it at that… J-Just remember that I’m in charge here!”

The boy then pointed to a green and golden badge on his chest. “With this badge, this means that I make the calls!”

“But a simple badge doesn’t give everyone power…” Tattsun pointed out, but that seemed to rile up Kansai again.

“Yeah, it does!” Kansai objected. “Only true leaders can wear it, and that’s the real deal!”

As Kansai continued to ramble on, to which Reycho couldn’t exactly keep up itself, the beach was suddenly, albeit temporarily, covered by a soft purple light. It caught the robot’s attention quite easily. It confusedly looked down at the and, at first thinking that the light had come from there.

“Hey, are you listening to me, Reycho!?” Kansai’s voice forced Reycho to look back at him. Reycho didn’t respond, instead hearing Vanilla gasp. It looked at her and saw her gaze was up at the sky. Following it, Reycho saw…

…The X in the sky…!

It was a blackish, maybe greyish color. Purple light emanated from it, at least bright enough to be seen from where they were. Was this what Pochi and Pai was talking about? It wasn’t sure, but Reycho did know one thing; it definitely seemed very familiar.

“What… is that thing?” Vanilla asked quietly.

“Maybe it’s a new kind of airship..?” Pai suggested with the same curiously quiet tone.

“I don’t think so… It’s… um…” Pochi squinted, trying to get a better look at it.

“What are you guys looking at?” Aniki asked, looking up at the sky in confusion.

“Huh?” Vanilla looked back at her older brother, a bit confused.

Reycho looked at Aniki as well before pointing up to the X. That thing! They were looking at that!

“The sky? Why are you guys looking at the sky?” Mowchan asked, and much to Reycho’s surprise, it was genuine confusion.

“But…” Pai looked between the X in the sky and the others of the group for a few moments. That’s when the robot noticed it too; it, Pai, Pochi, and Vanilla were the only ones who seemed to be acknowledging it.

Reycho looked at Pochi in hopes for answers, although was surprised to see Pochi staring right back at it. It seemed like even Pochi didn’t have a clue about this either.

“Does this mean that…” Vanilla’s voice trailed off.

“Can… Can you guys not really…?” Pai’s gaze settled back at the X in the sky.

“...See what we do?” Pochi had looked back at the strange thing too, tilting his head a bit as he did so.

Reycho found itself bawling it’s fist up a bit in frustration. It’s gaze looked up the X for a moment, eyes locked on it with multiple new feelings inside of it. It… It didn’t get it. Why was everything so… So complex like this? Why could nobody else see it when they could? Why couldn’t it be prepared for any of this?

Within a moment’s notice, it watched as glitch marks covered the side of their vision. It’s blue screen turned a bright turquoise as everything was starting to fuzz out. It’s eyes widened, placing a hand on it’s head as it looked down.

“Hey, Reycho? What’s wrong?” Reycho could hear somebody ask, but it couldn’t fully tell who it was. Instead, something felt like it was pulled into it’s memory bank and right into it’s vision.

Bright light. Sand. Being carried. Something’s carrying it. Going down towards the sand. Turn it’s head. It did turn it’s head- it- it didn’t know why, but it looked back and could see something close and it could see the X and-

It blinked. Suddenly, everything was back to normal. Reycho was back on the beach, right at the camp with the other members. It’s screen was back to normal too, back to the blue shade it was meant to be.

“Reycho? What happened? You seem a little distressed…” Nyoro noted. Only now did the robot realize that everyone was looking at it. Reycho didn’t even realize that it had looked distressed. But that vision… No, that… That memory … It made them feel… Panicked? But that wasn’t supposed to happen, was it? For the memorybank to suddenly throw something like that out there for it to see? Was it glitching out more than it thought?

Without giving anybody any sort of answer, it looked back at the X in the sky. Why did it have to be there, and better yet…

Why did it come from it?

Chapter Text

“Kansaiiiii, hurry up! We can’t wait all day, dummy!”
Chuko’s voice rang throughout the camp. The rising sun had created light scattered throughout the shores, and now the club was working on packing everything up again. They had to get to Tokyo, after all, and that would certainly take a while. They weren’t the only ones that were working on clean-up, however, Reycho was doing it’s best to help everyone out as well.
“I told ya’ already that I’m doing stuff!” Kansai practically shouted back from the other side of the camp. “Besides, I’m the one handlin’ tents here!”
“Reycho’s is also handling tents too. Why don’t you ask it for help?” Jennu asked, to which Kansai gave a bit of an annoyed huff.
“I don’t need help from a robot!” Kansai shook his head. “I can handle this all by myself, it doesn’t gotta up-stage me!”
“Wasn’t it your idea to bring it along so it could help us?” Jennu placed her hand on her hip, looking down at the boy with a brow raised. A red of embarrassment and frustration spread across his face.
“I-I mean… It was, yeah…” Kansai’s confidence faltered for a moment before his doggedness returned. “W-Well, it’s not like I was expecting, that’s all! Can you blame me for that??”
The taller girl simply sighed. “You wear stubbornness with pride, don’t you, Kansai?”
Taking it as a compliment, Kansai gave Jennu a grin. “Damn right!”
Reycho had just rolled up another sleeping bag as it glanced over at the two conversing. Admittedly, it was in a conversation of it’s own, but it found it interesting to watch as other humans talked with one another. Could you blame it? Seeing how expressions and emotions change easily fascinated it.
“So, let me get this straight, Reycho…” Vanilla’s voice brought it’s attention back, looking at the kids who were with it, Vanilla and Pochi. Vanilla placed a finger on her cheek, thinking. “You saw that weird X thing in the sky too… and then you remembered something weird?”
“I thought you didn’t know anything about the weird Xs…” Pochi said, to which Reycho nodded. Yeah, it didn’t, that’s the thing! But when it looked up at that thing, it’s vision started to glitch out, and the next thing it knew… it was like some sort of flashback.
“And you came from it, right? That’s what you said you thought was happening, right?” Vanilla swayed side to side, trying to think all of this through. “This is, like, super weird…”
Pochi glanced down at the sand for a few seconds before reconnecting his contact with the robot. “You also said that you were being carried, right?”
Upon seeing Reycho’s confirmation, Pochi continued. “Do you… remember who carried you out?”
Reycho paused to think before shaking it’s head. No, it’s still too blurry. All it recalls is that something was definitely carrying it to the beach.
“So you weren’t in the basement forever after all! Do you think you were made by whoever is in those X thingies and then placed down here?” Vanilla wondered out loud, to which Reycho could only give an uncertain look. It was too early to tell. Heck, it didn’t even know it had come from one of those things until last night!
Pochi paused for a moment. “..Hey, maybe something’s wrong with your memory bank?”
Reycho and Vanilla gave Pochi a surprised look. The robot crossed it’s arms a bit nervously. Something wrong with it’s memory banks? Why would Pochi suggest such a thing?
“Well, it was a glitch that caused that memory to return, right? Maybe there are more memories that you don’t have access to for whatever reason?” Pochi reasoned. “Plus, being shocked that hard yesterday, it would probably mess up any system… We already know that you didn’t just walk away unscathed.”
Reycho hesitantly nodded. Yes, with these weird emotions… It’s definitely a major glitch, that’s for sure. It didn’t like the thought of it’s memory being messed with though. That meant that it could know something that would be useful to everyone here, but…
“It’s alright, Reycho. It’s not like you’re trying to hide things from us intentionally.” Pochi assured, before hesitantly adding on. “B-Besides, um… we don’t exactly know that yet, y’know?”
“Yeah, Pochi’s right!” Vanilla cheerfully assured it. “None of us will get mad at you for just remembering something, y’know? Well, there’s big bro, but don’t worry about him! He’s grumpy with everyone new!”
Pochi glanced across the camp at the delinquent boy in question, who was trying to help Pai with a few things. Of course, Pochi couldn’t help to notice the glares he was giving the robot. “...Er, sure. Grumpy is… o-one way to put it.”
“I’m sure big bro will be nice to you eventually, Reycho, it’s just… umm…” Vanilla paused, trying to figure out how to word it properly. “He has a bit of trouble trusting people, especially strangers. Don’t take it to heart, okay?”
Reycho nodded. Don’t worry, it won’t, especially since it didn’t have a heart to take it to.
That made Vanilla giggle. “No, silly! I meant it, like, metaphorically and stuff!”
Ohhh, metaphorically. Reycho thought for a few moments more. It metaphorically has a heart?
“Mhm! With morality and stuff! That’s what it means, I think!” Vanilla chirped.
“When we say stuff like that, we basically mean it in an emotional or moral sense.” Pochi tried to elaborate. “It’s hard to explain it more than that.”
“You’re so smart with words and stuff, Pochi. I’m surprised that you don’t like to speak more often!” Vanilla noted. “You would be, like, a great science-speaker or something!”
“Science-speaker isn’t a job, Vanilla…” Pochi deadpanned.
“Hey, guys? Are you almost done over there?” Nyoro called out. Reycho motioned that they almost were before picking up the sleeping bags it had rolled up before heading over to Mowchan. It placed the things down next to the shorter boy, who gladly thanked it as everything was being wrapped up now.
Of course, this had been interrupted quite quickly as Kansai made his voice known a little too much, with the boy practically yelling. “That’s what I’ve been sayin’!”
All eyes reflected on him, it seemed like a little dispute was happening between Jennu and Kansai.
“Fukuoka’s the busiest freakin’ place in all of Kyushu!” Kansai stomped his foot down, not caring about the sand possibly messing up his sneakers more than it already did. “Going there is a no-brainer! We could find somebody, and as the leader, I say we go there, ‘aight?”
“W-Wait, how do you k-know that?” Mowchan blinked in surprise. “I-I thought you failed social studies…”
“Aw, c’mon, Mowchan! Even I know a thing or two about Fukuoka!” Kansai pouted.
“He probably only knows that because it’s got a baseball team.” Vanilla giggled. “He’s a real fan of those kinds of sports, although baseball is, like, really his favorite!”
Jennu sighed, shaking her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “I told you already, Kansai, our goal is Tokyo. The best route to take is to go through Oita, get across the waters to Ehime, and then we can get through Shikoku.”
“That still doesn’t explain why we can’t go to Fukuoka!” The boy stuck by his beliefs, much to Jennu’s annoyance.
“It’s because Fukuoka would be way out of our best path.” Jennu pointed out.
“Usually, I would agree with you, Jennu, but for once, I’m with Kansai on this,” Nyoro confessed. “Our goal isn’t just to go to Tokyo. We also have to figure out what happened to it, and with Fukuoka being such a busy place, we’re guaranteed to find at least something or somebody there, right?”
“Nyoro’s right. Besides, thinking about it, we don’t exactly have to walk all the way to Tokyo.” Tattsun fixed his glasses as he thought about the situation. “If there’s an adult there, they can take care of us as we all figure out what’s going on.”
“Yeah, so obviously Fukouka would be, like, the best option, right?” Chuko asked. “Because if we find people there, the police or whatever can take us to Tokyo!”
“So findin’ an adult is the best first choice here!” Kansai stated with pride.
“But… What if we don’t find anyone there?” Pai asked. “There’s a chance that it could be empty like Kagoshima is…”
“Well, there’s an even bigger chance that we do find somebody!” Chuko crossed her arms. “Besides, it’s better than going to Oita. That thing is, like, way in the boonies!”
Reycho tilted its head in confusion, to which Pochi quickly explained: “Boonies is an area that’s away from a town or city. Chuko’s essentially saying that Oita is too remote and out there…”
“Hey, woah woah woah!” Pai gasped. “Who says that you can slander Oita like that?”
“Oh, wait, aren’t you from Oita, Pai?” Pochi asked.
Pai nodded with a small smile on her face. “Mhm! While not exactly my hometown, I live with my dad there! And for your information, Oita City is very trendy! It’s the capital of Oita Prefecture for a reason!”
“Trendy? Are you serious?” Kansai gave her a bewilerded look.
“Mhm! It even has lots of traffic lights!” The girl said it with such glee and pride. Nyoro opened her mouth to say something, but the look of such happiness made her decide against it. Even so, nobody else exactly spoke up for Oita. Pai looked around, a bit surprised but also slightly saddened. “H-Hey… Don’t tell me Jennu and I are the only ones for Oita…”
“U-Um, I am, it’s just… er…” Mowchan hesitated.
“Oita is… Well…” Vanilla fidgeted, not wanting to say it outright.
“Um… Sorry, Pai, I can’t lie to myself… Oita isn’t exactly the most exciting place to go…” Jennu sheepishly admitted.
“Aw…” Pai looked down at the ground, a bit disappointed, although she did earn a pat on her back from Jennu.
“Well, it’s decided then, right?” Chuko asked.
“Yup! We’re going to Fukuoka!” Kansai answered.
“Hold on, we never implied that we gave up on Oita!” Jennu exclaimed.
“I-I’d much rather take the shorter route…” Mowchan confessed. “I-I don’t really like to walk too far that much…”
Kansai paused before smirking. “But Mowchan, Fukuoka’s got tasty things, like udon, motsu nabe, and spicy cod roe!”
“I-I… Well…” That certainly made Mowchan a lot more hesitant about his decision.
“Don’t forget about tonkatsu ramen!” Chuko added on, a smirk appearing of her own.
“T-Then I’ll go with Oita.” Mowchan decided, much to Chuko and Kansai’s surprise.
“What!?” Kansai exclaimed.
“B-But all of the food there!” Chuko whined. “Come on, Mowchan!”
“I-I’m sorry, it’s just that I don’t l-like tonkatsu ramen a-at all!” Mowchan squeaked.
“I wanna go to Oita too!” Vanilla added herself more into the conversation. “Oita is kinda famous for their hot springs, so it’d be nice to take a dip and get my skin really, really smooth!”
Vanilla, unfortunately, was ignored and Chuko stomped a bit, glaring at Mowchan. “As if Oita would have anything else better!”
“I-It’s not my fault I don’t like the smell of tonkatsu pork broth!” Mowchan stammered. “Fukuoka is, like, the home place for it! That smell might be everywhere!”
“As if the hot springs there would smell any better,” Nyoro muttered.
“Hey now! I thought we wouldn’t slander Oita again!” Pai pouted.
“What about the Fukuoka Dome? Aren’t you guys curious to see that?” Kansai asked, a frustration in his voice. Reycho felt itself getting worried over all of the tension.
“Only you would want to see that because it’s a stadium,” Jennu stated bluntly. “The only dome I’d want to see is the lava dome on Mt. Takasaki.”
“W-Well, there’s also a famous video game company in Fukuoka!” Tattsun piped up.
“I don’t think we can even play any video games right now, Tattsun!” Vanilla sighed.
Pochi took a few steps back as an argument began. He, Reycho, and Aniki were the only ones who weren’t exactly involved with it. Reycho looked around at everyone, concerned and with worry on it’s face.
Pochi noticed this after a little bit. “A-Ah, don’t, um, worry about this…”
Reycho looked at Pochi. Don’t worry about this?? But they’re all against each other!
“Arguments are natural between friends. Besides, their opinions have merit and passion to them,” Pochi noted, fidgeting with his scarf.
Reycho shook it’s head, not agreeing too much to the first part. Arguments disrupt everything and they only cause anger and sadness. Humans shouldn’t have to struggle with such emotions like that. Besides, it already technically witnessed three arguments now; one in the basement, one last night, and now right here.
“Sometimes negative emotions are… necessary.” Pochi made eye contact for a moment, but when Reycho gave him a strange look, he strayed away from it. “I-I mean… all emotions are necessary if you think about it. What’s so great about happiness if you don’t have sadness? Highs without the lows, y’know?”
The robot crossed it’s arms, giving it a brief thought. All of this was way too confusing for it right now. It just doesn’t get it.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure that you’ll understand one day,” Pochi assured, trying to give the robot a small smile before the ground began to shake a bit below them.
It caught the club quickly off-guard, as it was a lot more violent than what they had experienced the first time around. Reycho was the most panicked though. What was this!? Why was the ground shaking!?
“W-What’s going on!?” Kansai exclaimed.
“T-This might be another earthquake!” Nyoro gasped.
“There’s no way! This one is way too aggressive for that!” Aniki pointed out, holding onto Pai so she wouldn’t fall.
A burst of sand came out from nearby. Vines and thorns, as big as most of the kids in the club, climbed out from the sandy hole that was being made. A long, thick stem stuck itself out, a dark purple flower blooming right on top of it. In the middle was a giant eye, which stared down at the group with malicious intent.
“I-Is that a plant monster!?” Pai’s eyes widened, taking a few steps back in fear.
Vanilla was quick to hide behind Pochi and Aniki. “T-That’s one giant plunger!”
Reycho took a few steps back too, instinctively putting its arms out in front of everyone and getting them to back out. It certainly never saw something like that before and didn’t like it. It was scary-looking and as far as it could tell, it was definitely dangerous.
“W-What should we do??” Tattsun asked, already shaking like a leaf, and with good reason to do so.
“Can we even run from that thing??” Aniki’s gaze stayed on the monster, with aggression and a bit of fear in his voice.
“Only one way to find out!! Everyone, run!!” Jennu shouted. With panic and vigor, everyone began to run across the beach, crying out as the monster let out some sort of roar, slowly trying to rumble after the small group.
“P-Pochi, put me down!!” Chuko screeched, now in Pochi’s arms as the group attempted their escape.
“T-There’s no way you can keep up w-with us!” Pochi tried to reason, although it’s not like he could talk much at the moment anyway.
“W-Where the Hell are we even going to!?” Aniki shouted as the group ran away from the shore.
“Go to Kagoshima!!” Nyoro loudly answered. “It could be too big to follow us around there!!”
Reycho did its best to run as fast as the other kids, although it was a bit hard considering the limp in it’s step. Nonetheless, it didn’t do badly when it came to running, albeit being near the back of the group. However, it forced itself to stop when it heard a sudden cry. Turning around, it could see Pai in the sand, having tripped on herself. She tried to stand up, but it seemed like a vine had managed to wrap around her ankle.
“A-Ah, h-help!!” Pai cried out, struggling with the vine as the monster got closer.
“Pai!!” Kansai shouted, starting to try and turn around towards her, only to be stopped by Jennu.
“We have to keep running, there’s no way we can help her now!” Jennu exclaimed.
“What the Hell, we can’t just leave her to be destroyed by that thing!!” Aniki growled, obviously quite pissed that Jennu had said that.
“Do you really think we can fight that thing?” Jennu hissed quietly. “Even if Mowchan has that iron ability, there’s no way even he can defeat a monster that size!”
Pochi watched a blur of white run past him as he held Chuko, but it took him a few moments to turn around to see who was running in the opposite direction:
“R-REYCHO!!”
Reycho was running full speed towards Pai, and although it’s limp hindered it a bit, it still had the determination to run and help the poor girl who was struggling so much. Many possibilities were racing through it’s database, and although it didn't know what it was doing itself, it only knew that one thing was certain; there was no way it was going to leave Pai behind.
It had to protect her.
“R-Reycho!” Pai reached her hand out to it, which only fueled it’s determination more. Reycho was going to reach out to her as well if it didn’t hear a new rumbling coming from the monster, diverting it’s attention away from her in fleeting moments.
Vines wrapped around a part of the sand nearby, wrapping around something until the monster pulled out a giant boulder that had been buried. With a grumble and roar, the flower’s eye locked onto the vulnerable girl. It’s vines raised, raising the boulder up and behind it. It took Reycho a few moments to realize what was going to happen, which forced it’s panic to spike. Flashes of a bright turquoise began to glitch in it’s vision. A blue-type of light started to sparkle from it’s arms as it felt that same pulling feeling it felt last night. Something was rising from it’s memory bank, but it kept running. It kept moving. It refused to stop now.
The plant jolted itself forward, the vine throwing the rock toward the sprinting robot and the stuck Pai.
Red room.
“PAIII!!” Aniki shouted, fear in his voice as he forced himself to move forward as if he were hoping that it wasn’t too late.
Projectile. Training.
Pai let out a scream in fear, putting her arm up as if that would do anything that could protect her from the large rock. It could crush her. It would crush her.
Somebody’s there. Somebody is shouting at it.
Reycho runs past Pai, making it a few feet right in front of her.
It remembers. It remembers what that person shouted at it.

“ACTIVATE BUDDY SKILL PROGRAM!”

Pai had squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for an impact that had never come. Although hesitantly, she opened her eyes, which quickly widened at what she was seeing.
Reycho was holding the boulder.
It was struggling for a few moments, it’s heels dug down into the sand as it’s back bent over slightly. It’s arms pulsated with turquoise light as it’s determined look glared right at the rock it was trying to hold. After a few seconds and a turquoise sparkle in it’s eye, the boulder, albeit awkwardly, was lifted above it’s head. It almost lost it’s balance, taking a few steps back before managing to carefully hold the piece of Earth in it’s hands.
“Wh…What…?” Vanilla’s eyes sparkled in awe, observing from a distance like most of the group.
“Wh-What the Hell..?” Was all Aniki could muster, frozen where he stood, body tensing up just in case.
With super strength like no other, Reycho gritted it’s teeth before deciding to give the plant a taste of it’s own medicine. It reeled itself back for a moment before taking a bit of a running start until it launched the stone toward the monster like a catapult. The monster lurched back, but could not do anything as the boulder hit it right in the eye. Even with it’s giant size, the monster could not uphold the weight of the stone in that area, forcing it to bend over with the weight. The vines scratched and struggled to get the stone off, but it was in vain as the pressure and awkward bending made the stem on it strain until it broke open. No fluids had come out, but the monster was now broken. All it could do now was to sink back into the sands it came from as the club watched both it’s defeat and Reycho’s victory.
Reycho took a few struggling breaths as if it could feel the burning sensation of pressure and weight that whole time. It’s vision began to clear itself up a lot more as the turquoise lights it had harbored dimmed down and disappeared. Vanishing with it’s light was it’s temporary strength, forcing it down onto it’s knees.
“Reycho!” Pai gasped, getting up as soon as Aniki managed to free her from the vine that had trapped her. The delinquent reached his hand towards her before sighing, knowing that it was no use as he stood up. The other club members were running towards them as well. Pai kneeled down next to Reycho, placing her hand on it’s back with a worried expression. “Are you okay, Reycho?? You just lifted that huge rock!”
Reycho stared down at the sand, trying to center it’s attention and focus itself a bit before lifting it’s head up. It stared at the rock for a moment before it’s gaze switched to look up at Pai. It… He was fine. Just a little distorted that’s all.
Pai continued to stare at Reycho a few moments more before a huge grin swept across her face. In an instant, the robot was nearly tackled in a tight hug, the girl affectionately keeping him close.
She squealed in happiness. “Aaa- Reycho!! You saved me!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”
Reycho blinked. She didn’t have to thank him! Of course, he would protect her, that’s his purpose.
“What in the world was that, Reycho!?” Chuko exclaimed right as the group arrived. “How in the heck did you manage to not only stop a boulder but also throw it back and defeat a whole monster with it!?”
“T-That was…” Nyoro was stunned for a few seconds. “Can… Can robots exhibit that amount of strength when they’re so small?”
“I… definitely don’t think so…” Pochi looked down at Reycho, who was still being tightly held by one grateful Pai. “Reycho… how did you do that?”
Reycho paused, allowing Pai to let go of him. He… activated a program, he thinks?
“Huh? Program?” Pai tilted her head as she stood up, holding out her hand for Reycho to stand up. Of course, he accepted her offer.
Once on his feet, Reycho brushed himself off a bit. He had glitched out again, he thinks, and that made him remember something else. It had something to do with a program called the Buddy Skill Program.
“B-Buddy Skill Program?” Mowchan repeated. “What do you think that could mean?”
“It could be something that could be harmful,” Aniki muttered with a bitter tone of voice. “You all saw how it lifted that boulder. Whatever this program is, it certainly makes it stronger than us.”
“Big bro, you’re so paranoid. Don’t say that as if you think Reycho is going to hurt us!” Vanilla pouted.
“Yeah, and Reycho saved Pai,” Pochi added. “There’s no way any of us could’ve helped Pai with that vine and got out of the way of the boulder in time.”
“You’re not wrong, Pochi…” Jennu sighed. “So… Thank you, Reycho. Looks like we owe you one. Again.”
“Again?” Kansai looked up at Jennu. “Do you mean because it saved you back in the basement?”
Jennu nodded. “This is the second time it has saved our lives. I’d say that it’s logical to give it something in return eventually.”
Reycho shook his head. Really, nobody has to do anything for him. He’s a robot, after all, and this is his purpose. He’s meant to protect human life!
“Well, we’ll all still keep it in mind..” Pochi gave Reycho a bit of a smile.
“Do you think we’re all safe now?” Nyoro inquired, still slightly on guard after what had just happened.
Pochi gave a nod, looking back at where Reycho had crushed that plant monster. “D-Definately… even I probably wouldn’t want to come back after that…”
“Yay! Now we can all head to Oita!” Pai cheered.
“You’re kidding, right?” Tattsun raised an eyebrow. “No, no way, Fukuoka is the place we’re going to!”
Before another new argument could start, Aniki stepped in. “Alright, alright, how about we just vote on it?”
“Vote on it?” Vanilla repeated, slightly confused.
“You mean split into groups and see who has the most? If so, that sounds good to me!” Kansai huffed. “Oita people on the left, Fukuoka people on the right!”
“Wait, what about the people who… don’t know who to vote for…” Pochi’s voice trailed off as he and Reycho watched the group form into two separate groups without the two.
On the right, Kansai, Chuko, Nyoro, and Tattsun stood. Four people, with the motivation being Fukuoka is the best place to find adults.
On the left, Jennu, Pai, Mowchan, and Vanilla stood. Four people, with the motivation being that it’ll be the shortest route to go down.
That left Pochi, Aniki, and Reycho on their lonesome. Pochi looked between the two, a little bewildered at how easily the group split themselves up, although yet again, they all had strongly expressed their opinions earlier.
“So, Pochi? Aniki? Which group are ya’ going to?” Kansai asked loudly, clearly giving the spotlight to the trio who hadn’t voted… er, well, minus the robot.
“Didn’t Aniki previously say that he was going his own way?” Chuko asked, her arms crossing as she looked over at the taller delinquent.
“I was, but I guess I can change my mind.” Aniki sighed. He paused before glaring at Reycho. “I’ll go to whichever group doesn’t claim the thing.”
“Aw, that’s so mean, big bro!” Vanilla scolded. “Do you really not want to be around the one who saved two lives in less than two days?”
“Aniki…” Pai could only say his name with disappointment.
“So since we won’t get Aniki’s vote right away then…” Chuko looked over at Pochi. “You gotta choose your group then!”
“Um… well…” Pochi hesitated. It was quite clear that he was uncertain about his own choice. He saw both the pros and cons on both sides, so he couldn’t figure out which path would be better.
“Hey, Pochi, you’re going to choose Fukuoka, right?” Nyoro suddenly piped up, putting her arms behind her back as she got a little closer to Pochi. “I mean, Fukuoka is a beautiful city for adults. So, you know what I mean, right?”
Pochi’s body tensed up, a red blush instantly spreading across his pale face. “I… err… erm… I…”
“We can go together, Pochi,” Nyoro suggested.
Pochi continued to sputter and malfunction, fidgeting with his scarf nervously, as if he wanted to bury himself in it. Nyoro giggled, simply watching Pochi squirm for a few moments before he then exclaimed. “O-Okay, I choose Fukuoka!”
“Great! That means it’s five votes against three!” Nyoro chirped.
“Actually, it’s five against four!” Vanilla corrected.
“Hey, no fair! You used your charm, Nyoro!” Pai pouted slightly.
“All’s fair in love in war!” Kansai smirked.
Jennu shook her head, sighing. “That’s… You’re not using the saying correctly.”
“Then there’s just Reycho and Aniki!” Chuko stated, looking at the two expectantly.
Reycho glanced at the two groups before shrugging. He didn’t mind whichever group he could vote for. As long as he helps them, that’s all that matters to him!
“Great, so we have one who doesn’t mind and the other who doesn’t want to be in the same group as one…” Jennu sighed.
“Why do you have to be so stubborn, Aniki?” Pai asked herself quietly.
“Well… Reycho can go to us.” Pochi suggested. “I-I mean… If it doesn’t matter in the end…”
“Then I’ll vote for Oita,” Aniki said snarkily, heading to the Oita group.
“Anikiiiii!” Pai went back to being chipper. As much as she was disappointed, she liked to have him by her side. Nyoro motioned Reycho over, so he went over to the Fukouka group.
“Then it’s settled! A crushing victory for the Fukuoka group!” Nyoro said happily.
Jennu frowned. “Yeah, but…”
“You got some sort of problem? I’m the leader, and what I say goes! Besides, we got the most votes anyway!” Kansai grumbled, stomping his foot down stubbornly.
“For once, Kansai’s right. We have the majority.” Chuko confirmed.
Tattsun fixed his glasses proudly. “We did this the most democratically possible way.”
Kansai caught onto some of the Oita group’s hesitant and doubtful stares, which only made him more frustrated. “Fine then, do whatever ya’ want!”
Reycho’s head turned to look at the baseball player as Pai’s eyes widened. “What?”
“We’re gonna go to Fukuoka no matter what!” Kansai huffed.
Mowchan began to fret. “A-Are you saying we’re going to split up?”
Kansai hesitated before simply saying. “Well, if you don’t come along, that’s what’ll happen!”
Reycho began to panic. Nonono, that’s not what any of them agreed on! They did this vote under the notion that they’d be together, right? What’s the point of the vote otherwise? They couldn’t split up anyway, what if something happens to the other group?
“Hey, Reycho, we didn’t do anything wrong by voting this…” Tattsun said, misinterpreting Reycho’s concerns.
“Yeah, the Oita group are the ones being selfish!” Chuko added on, which didn’t ease the robot in the slightest.
Jennu opened her mouth to say something, but Aniki cut her off. “Maybe it’s for the best.”
“Then it’s… settled.” Kansai gritted his teeth slightly as he turned away. “See ya.”
He began to walk off from the Oita group, the others in the group starting to follow… all except a slightly saddened Pochi and a panicking Reycho.
Pai frowned, whispering a “Sorry guys…” before she turned around and began to walk away, the Oita group trailing after as Aniki gave one last glare.
Reycho reached his hand out to the Oita group, but Pochi took it instead. “They’ll be okay… They have Mowchan. Mowchan will protect them, okay?”
Reycho gave Pochi a distressed look, to which Pochi sighed. “I know, I don’t like this either, but… what choice do we have?”
Reycho couldn’t answer as the duo heard Kansai call out to them. “Hey Pochi, Reycho! What’re ya’ doing!? You chose Fukuoka too, right!? Let’s go!!”
Reycho glanced back at Pochi, who only gave a solemn nod. Still holding hands, they began to catch up to the Fukoka group.
Vanilla looked back, watching Pochi and Reycho go after the others. “Pochi… Reycho… Why did we have to…?”
Unfortunately, Vanilla got no answer from the others.

…….

Days have passed since the group split up. The six kids- or, well, five kids and one robot, found themselves near lines of stalls, all empty and full of overgrowth. The sun shined warmly on it all as their voices echoed out within the empty area. They had made it to the Fukuoka area, that’s for sure.
“Look’s like… no one’s here.” Pochi was the first to say it.
Tattsun nervously glanced at the others. “We passed through so many cities and haven’t seen a single person…”
Reycho paced around nearby, not fully listening in to what the group was talking about. If anything, he was more worried about the Oita group. He had been for days… What if they got hurt? Or worse? What if Mowchan couldn’t protect them after all? There were too many “what ifs” and no answers, and that made Reycho feel anxious. He hated this feeling. Why did it have to be so strong..?
Chuko mumbled and grumbled to herself before yelling out. “Argh! Kansai! This is all your fault! You said that we’d find people in Fukuoka for sure!”
Kansai looked away, hat tipped down slightly with a tinge of guilt on his face. He stayed quiet, which made Chuko slightly worried.
“H-Hey, what’s going on with you? Where’s your usual snarky response to me?” Chuko asked.
Nyoro looked down. “Something is telling me he might be regretting splitting from the Oita group too…”
That seemed to bring the spark back into Kansai. “Y-You idiots! I wouldn’t regret it for a minute!”
Tattsun looked over at the stalls. “Aw, if Mowchan were here, he’d be so happy right now… I mean, you know how he loves food stalls like these…”
“It’s a lotta shops, but nothing to eat.” Kansai rubbed his nose on his arm, his stubbornness returning. “I’d be more like torture if ya’ ask me.”
Tattsun paused. “Yeah, maybe you’re right…”
“Anyways, who gives a crap about them?” Kansai continued. “There’s no point stayin’ around here anyways, so let’s just get moving.”
“Get moving? But where to?” Chuko looked around again. “Where else is there to go?”
“All we can do is head East,” Kansai stated. “Remember, we still have to get to Tokyo, yeah? So come on, let’s go!”
Even if some of the group was hesitant, Kansai began to lead the way as others followed… all except for Reycho.
Chuko noticed this first, instantly turning around to see the robot still pacing. “Reycho, come on! You don’t wanna be left behind!”
Pochi frowned, stopping along with the group. “He looks worried sick… he has been ever since we split up.”
“C’mon, that was days ago! Besides, Mowchan’s with ‘em, they’ll be fine!” Kansai waved his hand dismissively.
“I doubt our current reassurances work… Maybe it’s because of that programmed task of his?” Nyoro suggested.
“To protect humans, yeah?” Pochi hummed a bit. “Hm.. I guess the uncertainty of what’s going on with everyone else is what’s making him so anxious.”
“Like an instinct… Maybe there’s a way to ease him?” Nyoro suggested.
Pochi thought for a moment before looking at Tattsun. “You still have the walkie-talkie, right?”
Tattsun nodded, a bit confused. “Yeah?”
Pochi offered his hand. “Mind, uh, giving it to me for a moment?”
Tattsun, still puzzled, handed it over. Even Kansai was a bit bewildered. “You want to contact the others already? They might think we’re weak!”
“Pochi, from where we’re at, I’m not sure the walkie-talkie could reach where they are,” Tattsun informed.
“I know,” Pochi said. “But… just trust me, okay?”
Pochi looked over at where Reycho stood. Reycho had been staring down the road they just came up off. The gamer took a few steps forward, placing the walkie-talkie near his face before clearing his throat. “Oh, Jennu, you’ve contacted us?”
That got Reycho’s attention, perking up and turning around to look at Pochi with curious excitement.
“Yeah, yeahhh, we’ve been fiiine…” Pochi kept glancing back at Recyho. “And how have you guys been?”
“What in the world is he doing?” Chuko whispered.
Nyoro smiled a little before whispering back. “I think easing Recyho in his own way.”
“You guys have been doing great? That’s wonderful to hear…” Pochi said. “Oh, wait, you guys are breaking up now… Try and contact us later, okay? Bye…”
Pochi let the walkie-talkie down from his face, allowing Reycho to scamper over. What was that?? Was that the group in Oita??
Pochi nodded. “Uh, yeah… they said that they were okay and safe…”
Really? Really!? Reycho was both relieved and ecstatic. Oh, that was wonderful news!
“I know… But we gotta try and catch up to them, okay? We still have ways to go…”
Reycho nodded. As long as they were okay, that was good! So he can continue going!
Pochi smiled a bit. “That’s good… c’mon, everyone else is waiting.”
Reycho paused, looking at everyone else before looking sheepish, followed by Pochi’s side as the group continued to move on…

……

“Are we able to rest soon?”
Nyoro was fixing one of her heels, which were admittedly starting to feel like they were killing her. “I’ve just about had it for walking for the day.”
“Why are we even taking this stupid mountain path anywaaaays?” Chuko whined, just as grumpy, if not grumpier than Nyoro was. “We could’ve just followed the coast!”
“Like we had a choice… it’s what ‘leader’ Kansai decided…” Tattsun sighed, trying to clean his glasses.
“On the map, the mountain path seems shorter… Maybe that’s why he chose it?” Pochi suggested. “No offense to Kansai… he’s not one to think about elevation or anything…”
“I swear, sometimes I wonder how he survives without a brain!” Chuko huffed.
Reycho, who had been examining the landscape, had his head snap over. The wording made him fret. Kansai was missing his brain?! Was he okay!?
“He’s not really missing his brain, Reycho, it’s just a way of saying that somebody… isn’t the smartest,” Nyoro explained.
“Yeah, he’s full-blown stupid.” Chuko pouted.
Reycho mimicked Chuko’s stance, putting his hands on his hips. Isn’t that a little mean? He’s not stupid! Plus, he seems to be having fun!
Indeed, Kansai was up ahead, trying to wave everyone else to catch up. “C’mon, hurry up! The air’s fresh! Feel it, feel it!”
Chuko groaned as she began to walk again, with everyone else following to catch up to Kansai.
Tattsun let out a sigh. “I wish Jennu and Aniki were here…”
“Those two always helped keep Kansai under control a bit…” Pochi noted.
Chuko was quick to add. “And we don’t have any ditzes in this group either… and for once, I mean that as a bad thing!”
“Mowchan would’ve lightened the mood by now…” Nyoro stated, a bit of sadness in her voice.
Reycho stopped in his tracks, looking back at where they came from. All this talk about the other humans made him miss them too… He really hoped they were okay…
Pochi had stopped as well, hesitating before patting Reycho on the back. “Hey, it’s okay… I’ll, um… I’ll try and contact them again soon, okay?”
Reycho looked back at Pochi. That would be nice… Yet again, he did feel a bit bad. A robot shouldn’t be expecting these sorts of favors from a human.
“It’s fine, really… I’d be good for the rest of us anyways…” Pochi reasoned, starting to walk again, with Reycho following again.
Once they had caught up to Kansai, he seemed to notice everyone’s expressions. “What’s the matter? W-Why’s everyone looking so down all of a sudden?”
With no real response, Kansai quickly spoke again. “Hey, hey, do you know why the chicken crossed the road? To get to the other side!”
Kansai erupted into laughter at his own joke, although he was the only one who found it funny. Everyone else still seemed fairly down… except for Reycho, who was now just confused about what in the world that was.
“That was one of Kansai’s lame jokes…” Nyoro explained to Reycho. That stopped Kansai’s laughter once he realized what she had said.
“Lame!?” He repeated. “Whaddya’ mean lame!?”
“That’s one of the most basic jokes I’ve ever heard…” Tattsun deadpanned.
Chuko scoffed. “Forget basic, that’s the ancestor of all jokes.”
“Pfft, that’s rich! You guys don’t know what humor is, that’s all!” Kansai claimed.
“Kansai, I’m not sure now’s the time to…” Pochi’s voice trailed off, his gaze looking more towards the sky.
“What do you gotta say now?” Kansai asked, clearly annoyed.
Pochi stuttered over his words for a moment before pointing. “Look up at the sky!”
Reycho followed everyone else’s gazes upwards. Tiny dots of white were falling down, drifting to the grass below them. The robot blinked as one of these dots touched his nose, almost instantly melting on him. For a brief moment, it felt cold.
“This is… snow?” Nyoro raised her hand to feel them, clearly a little surprised.
“It can still snow here!?” Kansai asked, fixing his hat a bit so the snow wouldn’t land on his face.
“It shouldn’t! It’s July 31st!” Chuko exclaimed. “This is snow in the middle of summer!”
Tattsun looked at Kansai. “Did Kansai’s joke break the weather?”
“It did not!” Kansai stuck his tongue out a bit.
“This shouldn’t be possible…” Nyoro was trying to think this through. “How could it be snowing in the middle of summer?”
“What if.. What if it’s the end of the world!?” Tattsun was quick to panic before Chuko managed to pinch his arm. “Ow! Hey!”
“Don’t be stupid! It can’t be! It’s not like this snow can kill us!” Chuko crossed her arms.
“It could be with you since you’re so short.” Kansai snickered.
Chuko gasped. “Say that again and I’ll kick you in the shins!”
Kansai bent down. “Sorry, couldn’t hear you from down there!”
This made the small girl even more flustered. “Why you little–”
“Guys- guys, I suggest you look back up at the sky!” Nyoro gasped, pointing upward. “Look!”
Reycho looked up with everyone else, and his eyes widened once he saw something falling up ahead… It was much bigger than snow. Much, much bigger. In fact, it looked like…
“A girl!?” Kansai stepped back, rubbing his eyes before looking again.
“That can’t be…” Nyoro was flabbergasted.
Kansai nearly shouted at Nyoro. “Well, what else can it be, because that certainly ain’t no snowflake!!”
Without much thinking, Reycho bolted from Pochi’s side, heading towards where the girl was falling from. Her descent was slow, almost ethereal, but a human was still a human. If something had happened, he had to help!
“Reycho, get back here!” Chuko squeaked, hurriedly following after, meaning everyone else scampered along as Reycho forced himself to a halt right under where the girl was falling. He tried to figure out where exactly she could land before holding his arms out, allowing the black-haired, mysterious young lady to land into them. Whatever was helping her float almost let go of the girl, throwing the robot a bit off-balance, but managed to keep a hold of her.
Her eyes were closed, and Reycho shifted her just a bit so he could feel her cheek. She felt cold, but nothing close to hyperthermia levels… Not yet, anyway, and even that hypothetical thought worried him. Was she unconscious? Asleep? He couldn’t tell.
“Is she alright, Reycho?” Nyoro made it to Reycho’s side first. He nodded to answer. She seemed to be alright, no injuries as far as he could see…
“A girl just came from the sky! A GIRL just CAME from the SKY!” Kansai wasn’t taking this mystery too well.
“Well, you don’t have to shout it into our ears, you giant doofus!” Chuko scolded.
“This… is certainly strange…” Pochi mumbled quietly to himself.
Reycho carefully sat down, still holding the girl, almost protectively. He was worried, but he also couldn’t figure out if anything was, well, actually wrong. He looked at the others, hoping for some ideas.
“Okay, okay, maybe we can just let her lie here?” Chuko suggested.
“What!? Are ya’ crazy!? We can’t just leave her here!” Kansai snapped.
Chuko stomped her foot down. “I never said that, dummy!”
Reycho quietly huffed, not liking the idea of just leaving a human behind. It’s his job to protect humanity, and since this girl’s a human, he’ll protect her too!
“Don’t suggest we keep her until she wakes up…” Tattsun said, not expecting the sudden stubbornness from the mechanical being.
Reycho was going to protest, but he felt movement under him. A little startled, he looked down, seeing the strange girl open her pastel blue eyes. She’s awake! She’s awake!
“Don’t get excited, you might scare her…” Pochi warned hesitantly.
Visibly dazed and a little confused, the odd girl looked around before her eyes landed on the robot holding her. Her gaze softened a bit on him, but it took her a moment to speak. “...Who are you?”
Reycho panicked a small bit, unsure of how to introduce himself at all, and nearly shrunk back a bit away from the curious girl. Thankfully, Kansai stepped in as his hero. “Let’s start off with me instead, hello, I’m Kansai, leader of the Go-Getters Club! I like ice cream and takoyaki, I hate broccoli and green peppers, I love baseball, I–”
“Don’t overshare with a stranger!” Chuko quickly stopped his babbling.
Reycho let go of the girl, allowing her to sit on her own. She looked him up and down before quietly gasping. “Oh my…! I don’t believe normal people look like that…!”
“That’s Reycho… don’t worry, he won’t hurt you… in fact, he was the most worried about you…” Pochi helped introduce Reycho, which he visibly looked relieved for. Reycho nodded a bit. He had been very worried… Was she okay? She wasn’t hurt, was she? Did she feel pain anywhere?
The girl shook her head. “No, no, I’m not hurt at all… Forgive me for my gasping, I just wasn’t expecting a, um… cyborg?”
“Reycho’s a robot, but Pochi’s right, he won’t hurt anybody!” Kansai assured her. “Pochi is the one who introduced him, by the way! And that’s Nyoro and Tattsun!”
\ Chuko cleared her throat, to which Kansai sighed. “And the one being super-duper nasty right now is Chuko!”
“Nasty?! You take that back!” Chuko didn’t like that as her intro, and it showed.
“And we’re all the Go-Getters Club!” Kansai continued before pausing. “Well… Not all of it… we split up a while back, so the rest of us are somewhere else.”
“Ohhh, I see, I see…” The girl nodded, putting her hands together politely.
“So, who even are you?” Chuko decided to ask bluntly.
“Right, how rude of me not to introduce myself, I’m sorry… I’m… um…” The girl’s voice trailed off the more she tried to think. “Uh… who am I again…?”
“Eh? You don’t remember your own name?” Kansai was taken aback.
The girl shook her head. “Actually… I can’t remember… much of anything…”
Reycho panicked, getting closer to the girl as he began to check her head. She didn’t look like she had bumps or anything anywhere, so it didn’t look like she had a concussion, but he was still dreadfully worried!
“Ah, it’s okay, I told you I’m not hurt…!” The girl tried to assure the anxious robot. “I don’t know why I can’t seem to remember anything though…”
“Not even falling from the freaking sky?” Chuko grumbled.
“Falling from the sky?” The girl repeated, confused before giggling. “Well, that’s a bit of a silly joke.”
Reycho shook his head. It wasn’t a joke! She really did come down from the sky!
“Yeah, what he said!” Kansai agreed. “You just floated down here like a leaf!”
“Guys, she has amnesia, of course, she wouldn’t remember falling down here…” Nyoro sighed. “Plus, would any of you believe us if you suddenly woke up and we said you came from the sky?”
“After seeing this, I may consider it…” Pochi stated. “Anyways… Now what do we do?”
“W-Well, we still have to make it through the mountain, it’s still snowing, and I’d rather not freeze just standing around, thank you very much!” Chuko stammered out.
“We still have the mystery girl with us though…” Nyoro pointed out.
Kansai crossed his arms. “Well, who says she can’t come with us?”
Reycho got a bit happy about that. The more humans, the more he can protect them and herd them! He was totally on board with keeping her!
“You make it sound as if we’re more like pets than humans…” Tattsun sighed. “But I suppose it’s better to bring her with us than to leave her alone here…”
“What do you think?” Nyoro asked the girl, who visibly thought for a few moments.
“Well… I’d like that very much… so thank you…” She softly smiled at the group, much to Chuko’s discontent, who grumbled a bit quietly to herself.
“Now, we better keep going,” Nyoro stated. “We don’t want this snow to get any worse.”
Although the group began to move again, with Reycho sticking by the mystery girl, Chuko spoke up loudly. “The snow is piling up so quickly already!”
“Maybe if you weren’t walking so slow, it wouldn’t!” Kansai retorted snarkily.
Chuko scoffed. “Yeah, because I can control the weather all of a sudden!”
The mystery girl fretted. “Let’s all try and stay calm, Ms. Chuko…”
“Don’t act as if you control me!” The shorter girl snapped. “Even more so since you’re still some random stranger!”
That did make the girl look away, partially dejected. Reycho did his best to comfort her with an awkward pat on her back.
“Actually, she has amnesia, right?” Tattsun asked. “And she doesn’t remember her name… what do we call her then?”
“I suppose something would be better than referring to her as a stranger or a random person…” Nyoro agreed, putting a hand on her chin as she thought.
“How about Flour, since most of her is white?” Chuko butted in.
“I mean… most of her is white, but what else is…” Kansai hummed a bit. Chuko almost seemed offended that he was seriously considering it for a moment.
Reycho, too, ended up thinking before raising his hand up. Pochi looked over at him first. “Hm? You have an idea, Reycho?”
The robot nodded. Well, Yuki means snow in Japanese, she came down with snowfall, and they were all in a snowy area… why not give her the name Yuki?
“Yuki is a cute name…” Nyoro mused. “What do you think?”
The mystery girl hummed, putting her hands together. “Yuki… Yuki… It sounds so very charming!”
“I-I think it’s charming too!” Kansai quickly said. “It’s pretty too!”
Chuko rolled her eyes. “Says the guy who wants to go with Flour.”
“S-shut up!”
“That was some good thinking, Reycho…” Pochi complimented.
Reycho rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. It was nothing, really! He just thought it would be a fitting human name considering the circumstances!
Tattsun looked up at the sky. “The snow might get worse… we better hurry to get off the mountain before nightfall.”
“Yuki, you can stick with me, I’ll keep you safe!” Kansai offered with a grin.
That made Yuki smile as she quickly caught up to the boy. “Well, alright! Thank you, Mr. Kansai!”
Reycho lagged behind slightly at first, a bit unsure of how to feel letting Yuki away from him, ending up back at Chuko and Pochi as the others went on ahead.
“Augh! I am so angry at them right now!” Chuko stomped her foot down, creating a marking in the slowly rising snow.
“Why are you so mad, Chuko? Did they do something wrong?” Pochi asked. Reycho tilted his head, also a bit confused.
“N-No! I mean, yes! I mean- i-it’s nothing!”
Pochi shook his head. “It doesn’t sound like nothing,” He responded but only got Chuko’s whines in response. After a few seconds, he suggested. “Maybe you’re just… hungry?”
“Hungry?” Chuko repeated. Reycho nodded after a moment. That would explain the irritability, right?
Pochi unzipped his small fanny pack, searching around before getting out a small snack bag. “Maybe this can help you feel better… Sorry, I know it’s not much.”
Chuko hesitantly snatched the bag, reading the label and catchphrase on it. “‘Karamucho, so spicy it shouldn’t be this good’??”
Pochi nodded. “Yeah, Mowchan gave me it back in Kagoshima, but I was never, uh, hungry for it, I guess…”
“Of course, he’d give you this…” Chuko mumbled. Reycho was a bit concerned by her expression. Was something wrong with this… Kara-moocho?
It seemed to click with the boy. “Oh, wait, you can’t handle spicy foods, that’s right… You can give that back, I forgot you–”
“I-I can handle it! I’m not a baby!” The small girl quickly exclaimed, holding the bag close to her chest.
“Well, in that case… you can go ahead and eat it…”
Chuko hesitated, looking down at the bag she was clutching. Pochi paused before speaking again. “Don’t force yourself if you really don’t want it…”
Reycho nodded. It could hurt if she tries!
That got her all riled up again. “Spicy food is my favorite, I can handle this!”
Pochi quirked an eyebrow, which made Chuko pout. “D-Don’t believe me?? I’ll show you! I can bet you that I can eat this whole bag within minutes!”
Quickly, Chuko tore open the bag, starting to stuff some of the spicy chips into her mouth. Reycho tried to stop her, worried about her choking, but she quickly turned away from him when he tried to step closer, not allowing him to try and slow her down. Although only after the first swallow did she stop, her face started to turn a bit red as sweat began to appear on her face. Pochi gave her a knowing look, while Reycho only got more concerned. Was… was she okay–
He was cut off by Chuko letting out a bit of a yelp, suddenly gasping and almost dropping her bag of chips as she fanned her mouth, panting from the spice. “W-Water- I need- I NEED WATER!!”
Quickly, she ran past the two, bolting over to the others up ahead, who seemed to be waiting near some ice. Pochi didn’t seem too concerned, simply sighing. “I told her so…”
Reycho looked at Pochi, still all fretful and panicky. When Pochi realized this, he quickly reassured him. “D-Don’t worry, she’s fine! She just has a bad spice tolerance… she’s too stubborn to admit it though… She’s not sick or hurt.”
Reycho was hesitant, but relieved. That was good… he was worried she had gotten herself hurt!
“She’ll be alright once she gets something to drink… C’mon, let’s catch up to her and everyone else.” Pochi motioned Reycho to follow as he started to walk forward. Reycho began to do the same but did pause a bit when he heard something. Looking to his left, in the distance on the mountain, he could see a small rush of snow going down the mountain.
The robot felt an unnatural chill run down his spine. Why did he have such a terrible feeling all of a sudden?
Before he could think about it more, he heard a sudden commotion of gasps and cries, as well as the whooshing sound. When he looked up ahead, there had been a flicker of light, and that made him panic. Quickly, he forced himself to run over, nearly slipping and sliding on some ice when he got close enough.
Reycho met with the group all stepped back. Chuko was covering her mouth, her face much less red than it was before. On the ground was a pile of water, and almost everyone was staring at it in shock. Still, the first question he asked was if anybody was hurt. Was everyone okay? What happened!?
“Chuko, d-did you really…” Tattsun glanced back and forth between the shocked Chuko and the water puddle.
“That… That was a fireball!!” Kansai exclaimed. “That had to have been! There’s no other explanation for it! It had to have been a fireball!”
Reycho did a double take. A what?!
“Ms. Chuko, I didn’t know you were a monster!” Yuki gasped in amazement. “That was so cool!”
“I am not a–” Chuko coughed a bit, a bit of smoke coming out of her mouth before it seemed to disappear before she continued. “--a monster!”
Reycho fretted again, going back to Chuko’s side. Was that smoke!? Was she okay?? Could she breathe??
“I’m fine, I can breathe!” Chuko stated. “It’s just an icicle was gonna fall on everyone, and all of a sudden, I shot a fireball out of my mouth and melted it!”
Humans can’t just– just spit out fireballs! Reycho was astonished. This was all so strange!
Chuko stomped her foot down in response. “How do you think I feel!?”
Nyoro hummed, eyes squinting at the shorter girl before her. “Maybe this has something to do with Mowchan’s ability?”
\ Reycho looked back at Nyoro. How did that relate to Chuko?
“Considering Mowchan can turn into iron, I suppose it could’ve been possible that somehow, Chuko gained an ability of her own…” Tattsun theorized. “Although, this is still all very odd…”
“Whatever the case, I think we all owe Chuko a huge thank you…” Pochi stated. “Without her, who knows what would’ve happened.”
Tattsun gulped. “I’d rather not think about it…”
“Thank you so much, Ms. Chuko! You really saved our lives!” Yuki cheered, clapping her hands together.
Reycho even ended up hugging Chuko. Thank you, Chuko! Thank you for protecting everyone!
“Ack! Let me go, Reycho! This is embarrassing!” Chuko squirmed as she protested.
Kansai snickered, hiding his smirk behind his hand. “C’monnn, let him show you a bit of affection!”
“You’re not the one getting squeezed!”
After a few moments, Reycho put Chuko down with a huge grin. Chuko put her hands on her hips with a pouty look, acting to be angry with him. She wouldn’t admit that she wasn’t, no way!
“With Chuko’s new fire thing, we’ll get down the mountain in no time! If anything, she can just melt the snow!” Kansai confidently proclaimed, stepping in front again. “Let’s get a move on!”
Suddenly, Yuki interrupted. “Hey, before we do…”
Pochi glanced over. “What’s the matter, Yuki? You seem… nervous.”
Reycho nodded, getting concerned again as he stepped over. Was she feeling unwell?
“No, no, not that, it’s just… does anybody hear that?”
That caused a hush over the group, each one looking around and listening. However, Pochi was the first to hear it. “Is that… rumbling?”
“Maybe it’s just me, but it sounds like it’s getting louder!” Chuko’s voice spiked up. Indeed, the sound was starting to become louder, and Reycho could feel the vibrations picking up in the ground. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Without waiting for permission, he began to run up ahead.
“Ah, Mr. Reycho! Where are you going??” Yuki called out.
“R-Reycho!” Pochi was the first to run after the robot, and everyone quickly followed behind.
Reycho managed to get to a snowy slope, surrounded by various snow-covered cliffs and ice caves. The vibrations were much more intense, and he could see the source coming in the distance:
An avalanche, barreling right down the slope.
Reycho nearly froze, eye-widening in realization of the danger that was coming. What terrified him even more were the footsteps stopping behind him. Whirling around, to his horror, everyone had followed.
“W-What is that!?” Kansai yelled, his voice echoing where they were. Reycho put his arms up as if trying to block them from going any further, but even he knew that wouldn’t do anything when the snowfall was coming down quickly.
“What’re we all standing around for!? RUN!!” Chuko was the first to book it, and everyone else followed, including the robot as they began to make their way down the slope.
Any chance of ending a crevice or cave was smushed when snow would fall down and block any entrance they came across. The snow was only getting faster and faster, and it was them against the elements.
Reycho didn’t want this to happen. He didn’t want them to die. He didn’t want the humans to suffer in the cold. No, he– he wasn’t going to let that happen! He wouldn’t, no matter what!
Sparks of turquoise flashed in his vision, blue sparks coming from his arms and legs as he began to move faster, snatching up the first person in front of him, and scooping them up in his arms.
Kansai flinched, still in a panic. “Reycho, what are you–”
He was cut off by his own scream when Reycho chucked him upward, nearly tumbling as he landed on a snowy cliffside, away from the avalanche’s rage. The baseball player barely had any time to register it as Chuko was the next to be thrown up with her own shout.
With each person Reycho passed with the incoming snow, he was picking them up and throwing them up to safety, right down to Yuki and Pochi, which he narrowly managed to throw together. The snow was soft enough for their slide as they rolled across it once landing.
“Is– Is everyone alright??” Nyoro exclaimed, quickly panicking as she stood up to help her friends up as well.
“I’m fine, but what about Reycho!?” Kansai shouted, managing to peer over the cliff to see the robot still running down the slope, the snow still catching up to him. Yuki quickly yanked Kansai back in time as the snow passed by, barely reaching the cliff’s edges, like a rushing river of pure cold powder.
Chuko yelled out, hoping Reycho could hear. “RUN, REYCHO, RUN!!”
Reycho looked back, the snow flood close behind. Just a little further- a little further-
But one rock was all it took, making him trip and tumble, and within moments, all he felt was cold snow. It pushed and tossed him, his gravity and weight shifting out of his control, and for a moment had even felt himself falling for a moment. Reycho couldn’t see anything but white. He couldn’t hear anything except the loud rushing of slosh around him, all rumbling and raging loudly. The pressure against his head became more and more before–
SNAP.
Reycho felt as if something disconnected, but he could barely comprehend it before finding himself suddenly stopping with a loud, booming thud.

…….

“Reychoooo? Reycho, where are you!?”
Pochi’s muffled voice. It made the robot blink.
Reycho shifted, being buried under heavy snow, but still forced himself to start digging. For once, his metal hands felt coldly numb, but he kept going. The humans, they needed him, he had to make sure that they were safe. Still, the pressure weighed him, and he never dug up from the snow before. It was all new to him, and nothing was part of his database for it… But he kept digging, clawing at the snow before a peak of light.
With one hand, he reached up out to the surface, trying to grasp at something to get him up, only for his hand to slip down into the snow again, making the hole he made partially bigger. He tried a few more times, making the sinkhole partially bigger before he heard Kansai’s voice. “Wait, there’s movement over here!”
With a few seconds of footsteps, Reycho could see the figure of Kansai. “Aha! Found him!”
Quickly, he took Reycho’s hand, starting to try and pull and tug Reycho out of the snow. Chuko and Yuki quickly made their way over, helping the best they could before the three managed to hoist Reycho out of the dense pile. Reycho quickly shook himself off, but snow still stuck to his skin and hair a bit.
“Reycho! There you are!” Nyoro spoke loudly with relief as she came over.
Pochi went to Reycho’s side. “Are you alright, Reycho?”
Reycho gave a nod. It’s systems felt a bit cold, but he felt fine? Although something feels… disconnected.
“Disconnected?” Yuki repeated. “What do you mean, Mr. Reycho?”
Chuko scanned Reycho for a moment before gasping. “The antenna!”
Nyoro’s gaze shifted before her eyes widened. “Chuko’s right, your antenna is gone!”
Reycho was confused for a moment before reaching up to the side of his head. What before had an antenna proudly sticking up from his head… now was snapped metal and wire. His eye widened a bit as he felt a small spark come off. It snapped?! How did it snap!?
“It must’ve been because of the avalanche! I’m surprised you haven’t broken anything else, Reycho…” Tattsun gulped a bit worriedly.
“Speakin’ of, that was dangerous of you, Reycho!” Kansai stated. “I mean, what the Hell!”
“All of us were worried that we could’ve lost you after you had saved us…” Nyoro added on.
Reycho glanced away for a moment before shaking his head. You shouldn’t worry about a robot! He was just doing his job!
“W-Well, don’t do it ever again, dummy!” Chuko scolded.
Nyoro nodded. “Agreed. From now on, never try and risk your life like that again.”
Reycho tilted his head. But… he doesn’t have a life?
“Do you really believe that, Mr. Reycho…?” Yuki’s expression became a bit of a sad one. Pochi glanced down at the snow, fidgeting silently.
The robot paused, thinking. Well… yes? Robots don’t have a life, only a purpose. His purpose is to protect all the humans. To protect real life.
“And you’re not real life?” Chuko asked.
Reycho found himself a bit surprised when he realized he didn’t have a proper answer. He crossed his arms, brow furrowing a bit. No, he couldn’t be… he had emotions and thoughts, but that didn’t mean he was real life… right?
Nyoro hesitated before speaking. “How about we continue down the mountain? We shouldn’t stay in the snow for too long.”
He glanced up before nodding. He’ll help everyone along, it’s the least he can do!
“Are you sure you’ll be able to do so in your state, Mr. Reycho?” Yuki inquired.
Reycho gave a nod before putting on his best smile. No need to worry about him. He’s just doing his job!
It didn’t seem to comfort Yuki too much though as she gently took his arm before starting to walk with him, everyone starting to follow. Reycho gave her a confused look. He can walk fine on his own, why was she helping?
“Dude, you just came down with a huge avalanche! Of course we’d want to help!” Kansai stated with a bit of a grin.
“Yeah, even Chuko was about to cry from worry…” Pochi chuckled a bit, which made Chuko quickly sputter out in her defense.
“I-I was not! I simply had snow in my eyes for looking for him! I-I wouldn’t cry over anything!”
“Even that one time when we watched that movie about sentient cats?” Nyoro teased.
“S-Shut up!” Chuko stomped her foot a bit into the snow. “That’s different, and you know it!”
That managed to get a giggle out of everyone. Even Reycho cracked a bit of a smile. He was doing his job if everyone was happy, right? That’s what he thought, anyways… how he hoped he was right.
\ “W-Whatever! I’ll remember this the next time we all watch a movie together! I’ll be the first to catch somebody crying, you’ll see!” Chuko added.
“Oh, Ms. Chuko…” Yuki sighed playfully. “How energetic you are.”
She then paused for a moment, humming in thought. Reycho caught her look easily. Was something wrong?
“Well…” She hesitated for a brief moment. “I believe I have remembered something?”
“Really?” Pochi perked up a bit. “What was it, Yuki?”
“Y-Yeah, what is it??” Kansai stepped a bit closer, both eager and anxious.
Yuki paused. “I remembered… that I wanted friends before.”
“Huh? Really?” Chuko asked. Yuki gave a nod.
“Yes… I always wanted friends. Fun, crazy, and caring friends… That’s what you all are to one another.”
“Of course we are! We’ve been together for a long while now!” Kansai said with a smile. “Would be weird if we weren’t, haha! Besides, you’re our friend now too, remember, Yuki?”
Yuki seemed surprised. “Am I really..?”
Pochi nodded. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t be… You’re nice and polite… You seem to care about others… I think you’d make for a very great friend.”
“I agree! Maybe I can introduce you to Electro Rangers!” Tattsun offered.
Nyoro shook her head. “Your cartoon can wait for now, Tattsun, but I’m sure she appreciates the gesture.”
Yuki giggled a bit, quickly nodding. “I do, I do!”
Then, gazes shifted to Chuko. She stepped back a bit. “W-What? What are you all looking at me for?”
“Well, Chuko, don’t you also want to be friends with Yuki?” Pochi asked.
“W-Well, I…” Chuko put her arms behind her back, becoming a bit flustered. “I-I never said anything about…”
She looked around again before making an exaggerated groan. “Fine! But don’t get the wrong idea or anything! I’m just doing it for all of you, n-not because I want to be friends or anything!”
“That’s perfectly alright with me!” Yuki assured before looking at Reycho. “And you?”
Reycho looked back for a moment before his gaze went to Yuki again. Does she mean him?
Yuki nodded. “Mhm! You’re part of this group too, aren’t you? I know it must be a big favor to ask after you saved me and everyone else here and had to be rescued yourself… But, I’d still would love to be your friend, Mr. Reycho!”
Friend… but robots aren’t–
“Who cares about all that robot junk?” Chuko butted in.
“Yeah! I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s still weird, but after you saved our butts for the third time in a row, maybe I misjudged you a bit, Reycho.” Kansai confessed.
Seeing the looks of disbelief, Kansai raised his voice. “What, I suddenly can’t admit when I’m wrong??”
“You’ve never done that before. I can’t wait until the others hear about this.” Nyoro stated.
Tattsun sighed. “I should’ve known that the snowy mountains would’ve made him go insane…”
“Hey, am not!” Kansai huffed before continuing. “The point is if Yuki can be part of our group, why not you? It’s, like, mystery with mystery!”
“What do you say, Reycho?” Pochi asked quietly. “Would you… like to be our friend?”
Reycho thought for a moment. Robots weren’t supposed to have friends, but… maybe having a few wouldn’t hurt… After a few seconds, he nodded with a smile.
“Yay! Mr. Reycho is our friend!” Yuki put her hands together, visibly excited.
Kansai grinned too, bumping his chest twice before giving Reycho a thumbs-up. The robot tilted his head, a bit confused at first before Kansai spoke again. “That’s our salute! Might as well know it now that you’re with us, ya’know?”
“It means no matter what, we’re good to go with anything,” Nyoro elaborated. “And deep in our hearts, you’ll always be with us.”
“Even if we’re separated…” Tattsun’s voice trailed off at the end.
Reycho glanced down at his own hand, balling it into a fist before gently tapping his chest, mimicking the motion before giving a thumbs-up just like Kansai did. Kansai nearly cheered. “Alright, that’s the spirit, Reycho! Can’t wait for everyone else to see what you learned!”
“Speaking of everyone else, we better hurry,” Nyoro stated. “I can see a proper way down the mountain, and nightfall is quickly coming.”
Reycho nodded, and as everyone made their way once more, the robot looked down at the sky, feeling the snow land on his skin. It still felt cold, but for a brief moment, it felt nice… It felt nice to be cold when he wanted to be. But even with this frigid ice… He felt a bit of warmth inside of him as well. Maybe one day, he’ll figure out why.