Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A young 3-5 TKO and his mother, Carol, sit in a clearing in the woods.

“Just keep your eyes closed and your mind quiet, Theo. and don't move.” TKO sat beside his mother, almost immediately feeling pins and needles after sitting still for two seconds, and it didn’t help that a passing fly had landed directly on his nose. The little boy growled and tried to slap the fly, but had hit his face instead. His mother, who had started this meditation activity in hopes to calm her son down, noticed this.
“This stuff’s pretty hard, huh?” TKO, on the verge of frustration tears, nodded.
“Well, the path to greatness is long and hard. Even boring sometimes. But there are no shortcuts. Sometimes, you just have to stay…” Carol grabs the fly from the air with her eyes closed and continued.
“Focused.”
“Woahh!!” TKO, wanting to follow in his mothers awesome footsteps, sat still and tried his hardest to focus, no matter how uncomfortable it made him.

————————————

As Rad and Enid wrapped up a fight with a Shannon and a Darrel, TKO was recovering from being thrown against the wall. Enid glanced over at him and walked towards the boy as Rad was using his levitation beam to shove robot parts in the trash.

“Hey TKO! you good, lil guy?” Enid came to a stop as TKO got up.

“Urgh.. I don't get it.” TKO looked down and held back tears, ignoring the lump in his throat. “I’ve been training really hard, but I'm not powerful. Not like you- or- or rad.” Enid ruffled TKOs hair in response.
“Hey, power ain’t everything, mop head. You’ve got your own heroic qualities like..” Enid paused, causing an awkward silence “..like.. Being cute and angsty! At least you're cute.”

Rad walks up to the two, chuckling.
“This hero thing takes time. I wasn't always this powerful. Oh wait, yeah I was.”
TKO grumbles as Radicles continues.
“You’ll catch up to us one day. Or not.” Enid looks over at Rad, disapprovingly.
“Dude.” Before the argument could continue, Mr Gar walks up with arms crossed.

“Good work, employees! I will now praise your acts of heroism one by one! Enid, great foot-eye coordination, as always. Radicles, adequate job of clearing the debris. TKO, er.. Good hustle. There's a spill in the soda aisle.” As Gar handed the 6-11 year old a mop, he stared at it disappointed.
“Oh.”
Holding back tears, TKO cleans up the spill and starts to take out the trash, mop in hand. As TKO shakily dropped the trash bag into the large garbage bin out back, he spoke aloud.

“Good hustle. Urgh..i-i don't WANT a good hustle. I want POWER!” TKO threw his mop out of anger, but a nearby shadowy figure across the ditch caught it. TKO covered his mouth.
“So its power you want?” TKO Ignored the man's response, mainly because he was scared, but pretending not to be.
“Urm.. y-you can’t be back here.”
“Never mind that, I have a solution to your oh-so terrible… setback.”
“W-what?” TKO, now with his attention graphled, took a step forward, but stopped himself from taking another.

“Locked up tight within you is more strength than all of your little friends combined, and I have the ability to show you the key.” The Shadowy figure held out his Purpley-gray hand towards TKO.
“Really?” TKO had already hopped over the ditch, but stopped.
“Wait. I have no clue who you are. Why should I trust a shady guy like you?”
The shadowy figure, now a bit frustrated, took out a (Modified) POW card.
“Of course. Take my POW card, and I'll take yours.”
The two traded POW cards, and TKO looked up after seeing the level of the man in front of him.

“Woah, a level 8? ..you must know a bunch about power.”
“In fact I do… TKO.”

—————————————————————

The unknowing father-son duo sat in a clearing of the deep forest across from Gars Bodega.

“You see, TKO. the key to unlocking your true power.. Is your anger.”
“..my anger? Er.. PSH. I'm always angry.” TKO crossed his arms and closed his eyes, hoping this came off as “cool”
“There's always more anger if you look in the right place. Close your eyes, and I'll show you.”

As TKO keeps his eyes closed, he feels his surroundings change. Once he opens them, he sees a very light red glowing figure in a cage, along with a blue one.
“W-what are these?”
“THAT is your anger. The key to your power but first you must- did you say ‘these’..??”
TKO heard the man speak from outside his mind, but he stepped towards the cage, a key appearing in his hand. As TKO ignored the man, he unlocked the cage. The red figure stepped out and joyfully grabbed TKOs hand. The blue figure stayed in the cage, taking a step to the side to make room for TKO. Just as he noticed this, the red figure gently herded TKO into the cage, much like his mother would. The red figure gently closed the cage, and closed its eyes, the eyes that seemed unattached to its head.

“Hey- what are you-?” Before TKO could finish, the large black screen lit up with his surroundings, and the red figure disappeared.

“Oh wow, I spent so much time in that cage!” TKO heard his own voice, but.. More jovial. Less raspy.
“What is this!?” The shadowy figure yelled out, seeing that he had awoken SOMETHING, but definitely not anger.
“YOU, mister shadowy figure. You are a bad guy!” Before “TKO” Could yell at the villain more, he ran into the shadows, dissatisfied from this outcome. The new “TKO” heard the Boxbot alert from the bodega, and he ran, or flew to help.

——————————————

Meanwhile, Enid and Rad are facing off a darrel bot.
“Miss me, Losers?”
“No, we didn't miss you. We HIT you. Multiple times.” Enid chuckled as she made a fire ball just to kick it around on one foot.
“Good one, Enid! Hey TKO, you get that?” Rad looked over beside Enid, where TKO would usually be standing, only for him to be missing.
“TKO?” Rad called out, but Enid simply shrugged in response. The Darrel interrupted the interaction by growing in size.
“I won't even need to pull my punches, ‘cos once this cannon on my chest charges up, it's Bye-Bye Bodega!”

While both employees were panicking, sprinkled with the beeping of the cannon charging up, A red beam of light wrapped around the darrel and pulled, slicing him every which way.
“Aw man-” Before the darrel could finish his griping, his circuits fried and bits and pieces started falling to the ground, as a strangely well-groomed TKO stood there, letting his fists steam and crackle with red energy. His head was down, with a small smile on his face.

“Woah, that was awesome!” Radicles ran up to the jovial little boy, and enid followed suit.
“..That's putting it lightly. How’d you learn how to do that, TKO?” The boy looks up, with an unrecognizable look on his face.
“I'm not TKO. Call me KO!” The boy skipped away towards the bodega, leaving the employees absolutely gobsmacked. Any trace of angst or eyeliner was gone.
“Is he.. serious?” enid questioned, but not like she would get an answer.

For the rest of the day, the teens closely watched “KO” intently. He was like a whole different person. He didn't gripe or grumble when he mopped. He would help customers instead of losing them in the aisles like a police chase. He had wiped off any eyeshadow or mascara, and his long hair was kept out of his face with a red bandana. He was wearing a *white* tank top, with *pink* leg warmers. No skulls, no spikes. Just happiness. The teens were absolutely bewildered.

Guess this is how he is, now.

Chapter Text

“KO” was being driven to the plaza by his mother, who was quite concerned.

“Listen.. -KO- i’m a bit concerned. ..did something happen at work yesterday that… affected.. You in some way?”
KO kicked his feet and smiled. Usually, he would blast metal music and sigh to himself out the window, but he was listening to his mother intently.

“Nope, I'm okay!”

“Do you.. Maybe.. want to listen to your favorite band..?” Carol put a CD in the deck and turned it up, being thrashing metal music. KO was a bit disturbed by the loudness, but he nodded. He still liked the music, after all. Carol looked at her son, the light in his eyes, the light-colored clothes, heck, his nametag had a *Smiley-face sticker* on it. Soon enough, the two arrived at the plaza. KO rushed over to the bodega. Carol had never seen her son be THIS excited to go to a job since his first week.

Something was wrong.

—————————————

Enid and Rad sat on the saggy green couch in the employee break room, spotted with unidentifiable stains, the two to their own entertainment. Enid was attending to a playlist on her phone, while Rad was hiding a Magazine titled “Tips And Tricks For Cats Weekly” behind a larger magazine titled “X-TREME SPORT!!!!!” when a very jolly boy burst in.

“I'm here to clock in!!” The little boy beamed with his sharp teeth, the only thing that hasn't changed. The two teens exchanged glances and stood up.

“Listen, TKO, why are you being like this?” The boy looked up, but frowned, something familiar in this bizzaro-esque TKO.

“My name is KO.” KO sighed, right after enid had spoken like he was waiting to correct her as soon as she uttered the first syllable of his alters name.

“Right. Sorry. But seriously, why are you being so.. Weird??-” Enid was about to say another sentence before Rad shoved her out of the way by her cheek.

“-And how did you do those mega cool moves yesterday???” KO looked as if he was thinking, but he was interrupted by Enid shoving back, Rad pushing Enid, and the two started fighting.

“I. ..am going to dump the mop water from yesterday!” KO walked off before the two squabblers could regain their senses.

————————————

“UGH!” TKO yelled again as the growing bruises on each of his shoulders stung with each slam into the bars. The blue glowing figure kept trying to comfort him, but it was fruitless. TKO fell to the ground and wiped his tears, still looking at the large screen in front of him, displaying the other TKO, “KO” walking to the ditch behind Gars to dump his mop water.

“I'm NEVER gonna get out of here… Snf..” The blue TKO sat down next to the regular one.

“Who even are you..??” The Blue TKO blinked, and repeated what TKO said, like a tape recorder.

“-you..??”

“Huh?”

The Blue TKO tilted its head along with the Regular TKO.

“Huh?”

“Are you copying me..?”

“-copying me..?”

“Don't do that! stop! I don't like this, okay?”

“Are you- -okay?” TKO wrapped his arms around his knees.

“No. I'm stuck in this cage, and that other guy is taking control, and YOU’RE copying me!” The blue TKO thought for a moment and started rattling the cage while looking at TKO.

“What are you doing? It's not going to work, whatever it is.” TKO put both his hands beside him.

“Don’t- -stop- -taking control,”

————————————————

KO clapped the dust off of his hands, gently placing the now empty mop bucket next to him. The shuffle of leaves alerted his attention. His eyes trailed up to see Shadowy Figure, smiling. KO raised his hands into a battle stance, red energy crackling from his fists.

“What are you-”
“KO, was it?”
“Yeah, but-”
“You see, I'm not a bad guy, KO.”
“What do you m-”
“I’m just like you, even.”
“Can you stop interrupting me!?”

The headscape cage creaked ever so slightly with his anger. Just as KO was about to give Shadowy a piece of his mind, Rad walked around the corner.

“Hey, er, KO, you alright back here?” The little boy's bubbly demeanor returned as he turned around.

“I'm alright! ..did you need anything..??”

“Well I never got an answer to my question. "How did you do those awesome sick moves yesterday against that darrell?”

“Oh, well I don't know how to explain it. I just kinda.. Did.” Just as KO finished his sentence, a boxmore bot fell from the sky. Each employee ran front and center, ready to fight, when a Raymond emerged from the box, shooting light pink rose petals into the sky just for them to dance through the air all while he posed dramatically. Rad leapt forward to fight him, but a red rope-like energy cracked through the air, tripping him, causing Rad to faceplant. Enid chased Raymond down, kicking fireballs in his direction as he laughed.

“Oh, I thought you wanted to dance!” Radicles lifted his upper body from the concrete as KO ran up to him.

“I'm sorry Rad! So many things were moving at once and I panicked!”

“KO! You embarrassed me in front of-” There was a slight bit of red in the aliens face at the idea of looking dumb in front of raymond, but Radicles finished his sentence, one of the pink rose petals falling from the sky blew into his face. Rad plucked the petal off of him and growled, just as Enid destroyed the Raymond bot. Enid walked over, bouncing a fireball on her shin like a soccer ball.

“What was that about?”

“*KO* decided that the best battle strategy was to trip up his teammates!” Rad yelled at he stood up, crossing his arms.

“Dude. chill. There's like a million boxbots to fight, this one wasn't any different.”

“It was *SO* different!”

“How? How was one of the disposable hive-minded bots any different then the other *five* we fight in a day.” Rad crossed his arms, frustrated because he had no answer.

“..I'm sorry, rad. I just-” KO tried to apologize once more, but the alien pointed at the little boy in protest.

“STOP being so.. So.. NICE!” Rad continued. “Urgh.. if your *sooo* powerful, i challenge you to a power battle!!”

“..i never said i was-”

“DUDE. what's your damage?”

In the headscape, with each flinch of guilt or anger from the outer KO, the cage creaked ever so slightly and grew in size. By now, there was a good bit of walking room. TKO sat on his knees, staring at the screen from the inside of the cage.

“Urghh.. This is just *Perfect.* He's ruining my life!!” TKO clutched his hair, pulling it in stress. The Blue TKO just kept fiddling with the lock.

TKO watched as the outer KO began fighting Rad, while Enid protested. The battle eventually escalated as Rad hopped roof to roof trying to avoid the now very determined little boy, who was floating and emitting a red stream. Rad was in deep shit, he had made the mistake of underestimating this boy. While KO had an extensive deck of moves, like power punching, floating, electricity blast, among other things. but Rad could only levitate the already floating boy and throw him against the ground, which really only stunned him.

Enid ran towards the dojo frantically, seeing as her yells for them to stop barely even reached them.

The now quite angry boy chased rad around the plaza, even jumping off of the lakewood plaza sign at one point. Meanwhile, in order for TKO to avert his gaze from his life falling into shambles, he looked over as the Blue version of him kept fiddling with the lock of the cage.

“Well, until we get out here.. the other one, the one out there? ..he said his name was KO. so.. You have a name, right?”

The blue one looked over and lowered his hands from the lock.

“-have a name,-”

“Right.. Right, i forgot you only repeat me. Um.. Yes or no, can you say your own words?”

“-say- -own words? -no,- -only repeat- -until- -out here..”

“..right. You're kinda like a VHS. like a tape recorder or something-”

All three boys, even the two in the headspace were snapped out of their separate activities by the voice of their mother.

“TKO! What are you doing!? I thought you were turning over a weird new leaf, but now I know for a *FACT* that something happened to you!” Carol put her hands on her hips while she yelled out for her son, concerned for his safety and mental well-being. Her son, now standing on the bodega sign, was conflicted. He felt horrible for causing all this destruction, but for the last time..

“My Name is KO!-” KO fell to the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of the head scape cage, which had now broken open. TKO stepped out, leading the blue one with him, and as soon as he stepped out, he went from a blue silhouette to a replica of TKO, with half-up half-down hair tied up with a blue bandana. He smiled, happy to have a tangible body.

“You-” TKO looked over, his new friend now with a face, but the blue TKO raised his hand.
“Not important. KO, you just cause a lot of problems.” TKO and blue TKO crossed their arms, but to their surprise KO burst into tears.

“I'M- I'M SORRYYYY!! I JUST- I WAS SO EXCITED-” the TKOs exchanged worried glances, and the Blue TKO kneeled down.

“Woah woah. C-calm down. Call me.. PKO.” KO nodded and TKO followed his newest ally, PKO in kneeling, but he was a lot less sympathetic towards the snotty KO.

“I- i was just so excited to be out of the cage.. I just wanted to have a bunch of fun and help a lot of people..”

“Er.. i'm not really good at this sort of thing. PKO.. can you.. Eh..”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“...thanks. Yeah. Thank you.” TKO thanked somebody, a step in the right direction.

————————————

TKO was surrounded by his friends and family, worried about him. They immediately loosened up when his purple eyes were prevalent.

“TKO, are you..-” TKO interrupted his mother by hugging her tightly.

“Woah, kiddo, your gonna- crush me-..” TKO released his mother and wiped his eyes.

“I… I'm really sorry. There were these.. Weird kids who looked like me- and a cage- and a blue one of me- and- and-” TKO teared up, trying to ignore his idols and friends around him

“Woah.. woah, it's okay TKO. you can explain later. You need.. Hugs!” and with that, everybody gave TKO a TIGHT hug. Just before he ran out of breath, everybody pulled away from the hug.

“Alright TKO. go wait in the car while i sort out the.. financial.. Mess.” Carol sighed, handing TKO the keys so he could unlock the car and turn his music on. As TKO buckled himself in, he looked at himself in the rear view mirror, he realized one of the main flaws in his appearance. TKO yanked the red headband off. He contemplated tearing the fabric up, but something in him stopped it. He neatly folded it and set it in his pocket. As soon as he turned his music up, Carol sat down in the drivers seat and shifted the gears.

Never had she been so happy to hear her sons loud music.