Bright light. Noise. So much noise. And what was that clashing sound? It was almost mechanical. It didn't help make his head feel any better. Why did his head hurt again? Oh yeah, Yokai had bashed him with a pipe. But he wasn't in that lab, and he wasn't inside the portal. Where was he?
A crowd was cheering and he could feel the press of bodies close by so he opened his eyes. He'd been here before. Where was it again? Then the sound of a saw cutting through metal filled his ears and he realized he was holding something in his arms. A robot. Megabot. He'd done it. He'd reset the timeline. Now he just had to make sure he did it right. And, for the first time since he'd gone back in time, his brain didn't feel jumbled. Perhaps he had the Doctor's toxic serum to thank for that. He hoped to never need it ever again.
"Winner, by total inhalation! Yama!"
The crowd cheered and bets were exchanged. A girl with spiky hair walked dejectedly into the crowd, the remains of her severed robot in her hands. She still looked rather shocked she hadn't won. Hiro knew better, though. Yama didn't play fair.
"Who's next?" a voice boomed into the crowd. "Who has the guts to step into the ring with Little Yama?"
Crap! That was his cue! Hiro began to push his way through the crowd, hearing the sound of someone popping gears on another robot as Yama's hulking form grinned. Now how did it go again? Oh yeah. He pushed past the last few people, pasting on his hesitant look, which really wasn't all that hard. The whole situation seemed like something out of a dream.
"Can I try? I have a robot. I built it myself." Hiro's heart pounded as he waited to see how events would unfold. Would they go on as they had before, or would something change once more? He wasn't sure he could handle any more surprises.
The crowd seemed to laugh at him, like they were enjoying a really good joke at his expense. Well, he'd show them. What they didn't know would, well, take them totally by surprise. In fact, now that he thought about it, he was rather looking forward to it. One last time.
The long skinny lady who called the fights all but got in his face, her ceramic pot tightly lidded in her hands. "Beat it, kid. House rules. It's pay to play."
Hiro reached into his pocket for the small wad of cash he knew would be there. "Oh. Is this enough?" It wasn't hard to fake the innocent expression, not with the headache finally subsiding behind his eyes. Besides, he was an expert at this tactic. He knew exactly what to do.
"What's your name, little boy?" Yama grinned at him like a predator staring down an easy kill.
Well, that was okay too. Hiro already knew this fight's outcome. Why not play it up a little? Surely that wouldn't hurt. "Hiro? Hiro Hamada?" He was more than appropriately the scared little boy up against a giant, with only a small robot as a weapon against the hulking mammoth. He was a midget up against a god. And he knew he would win.
"Prepare your bot, Zero!"
Gingerly, Hiro moved to the vacated mat across from Yama, trying his best to imitate the man with his scare tactics, cracking joints with loud pops, only Hiro had to supply his own sound effects. And all the while, he maintained the deer-in-headlights look. Since he was still a bit disoriented from the restart, it wasn't hard to pretend.
Then the lady with her umbrella was announcing the fight and he stole a peek at Yama, eyes appropriately wide as he took in the man's confident grin. Okay. Play it easy. Let him win the first round. That's how you reeled them in, with a false sense of security. Then you went in for the big prize. And he did. He let Yama trounce his robot, cutting it apart like butter. It was super easy to do, especially knowing how his bot was made.
The look on Yama's face when he laughed at Hiro and his "broken" bot was more than enough incentive for the boy to offer another round, faking shock that he'd lost, then slyly offering a bigger bribe to allow the next fight. And the greedy Yama couldn't resist. He never could.
The lidded pot snapped as it closed, Hiro's roll of bills nestled up against Yama's like they were good friends. This was going to be way too easy.
"Fighters ready! Fight!"
After that, it was all over. Everything else was just for show. And when he totally destroyed Yama's saw-armed robot, he couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. It was short lived, of course, but it was still just as awesome as it had been the first time. He didn't even mind being tossed into the back alley, his robot being torn from his arms as Yama ordered his men to teach him a lesson.
His memory had come back much more quickly this time. And he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that before he'd gone to that particular bot fight he'd left his computer monitor turned on, directions to the fight on the screen as clear as day.
So, when Tadashi came speeding up on his red moped, he wasn't the least bit surprised. "Hiro! Get on!" his older brother called out, tossing him the spare helmet.
His brother's panic was obvious, though Hiro didn't share it. In fact, he felt rather amused. "Tadashi! Good timing!" He got on the bike as his brother shot off before Yama's men could lay a finger on him. Now that was a nice change from previous timelines.
"Are you okay?" Tadashi's tone conveyed all the fear and worry he'd felt in the original timeline.
Hiro'd been anticipating this question. And he couldn't help a euphoric smile as he answered. "Yeah." He even had Megabot back, which was totally awesome. The robot had come at his call.
But Tadashi wasn't satisfied. "You're not hurt?"
The smile turned into an all out grin. "No," he answered quickly, thrilled to realize it was true.
"Then what were you thinking, knucklehead?" Tadashi admonished as he raced towards the far end of the alley, where he had to turn around due to a chain-link fence blocking the way.
Hiro didn't mind the brief punishment of his brother trying to smack him from his position on the front seat. It was small compensation for the craziness he'd been through lately. And it didn't leave any lasting marks.
"You graduated high school when you were thirteen and this is what you're doing?" Tadashi looked up at that moment, realizing Yama's men were still after them. "Hold on!" he called out as he hunkered down to lower his center of gravity.
Flying into the air after going up the makeshift ramp had made it all worth it as Hiro called out in his excitement. It felt just like flying, which was the best sensation in the whole wide world.
"Bot fighting is illegal! You're going to get yourself arrested!"
But Hiro shook his head, more amused than anything. Dutifully, however, he informed his brother that bot fighting wasn't illegal, though betting on them was, albeit very lucrative. He even pulled out a wad of cash to emphasize his point as Tadashi continued forward. "I'm on a roll, big brother! And there's no stopping me!" The bravado was easy to fall into, just as it had been before.
But Tadashi pulled up short as a swarm of cop cars filled the gap leading out of the alleyways. "Oh no." Someone had tipped them off about the underground bot fight.
Okay, so that part wasn't so much fun. But, like before, they'd put him in a separate cell, away from the others. Only because he was a minor. It didn't even matter that they'd taken his money and his Megabot. He knew he'd get the bot back later. Of course it sucked that he was technically booked and put on probation and that Tadashi had to share his fate, but he knew it wouldn't last long. The money was of small consequence. It was only a part of his stash.
Then Aunt Cass came to get them. Even her reprimand wasn't so bad, though her pinching his ear didn't hurt any less than it had the first time. He couldn't help but feel amused at her speech about parenting; though he managed to show an appropriately chagrined expression, gulping at the face she gave them as she unlocked the café door. She'd missed out on some good money to bail them out. One day, he'd have to thank her for that. Just not today.
..............................
Upon returning to his room back at the cafe, Hiro flopped into his swivel chair and immediately turned to the computer. If he remembered correctly, he was at least supposed to pretend to want to go to another bot fight. It was a natural course of events, wanting to recoup the money he'd lost when getting arrested.
"You'd better make this up to Aunt Cass before she eats everything in the café," Tadashi admonished as he put his helmet away, ready to call it a night.
"For sure." Hiro answered with an air of distraction as he pulled up the location of the next bot fight. He knew his brother wouldn't like it, but he had to maintain the timeline.
Tadashi moved further into the room, perhaps a bit warily as he realized his brother was at the computer and only half paying attention. "And I hope you learned your lesson, bonehead."
Hiro turned away from the computer with a pseudo look of innocence on his face, with just enough of a hint of guilt to make his brother question. "Absolutely." He'd purposely left his monitor on so his brother could see that no, no he hadn't learned his lesson and yes, yes he was going bot fighting again.
"You're going bot fighting, aren't you?" The look of incredulous disbelief and hurt on his brother's face almost made Hiro pull back but he didn't. He couldn't purposely change the timeline.
The younger Hamada stood and headed across the room. "There's a fight across town. If I book, I can still make it." He grabbed Megabot from the small filing cabinet where he'd stashed him. He continued on the way to the stairs, only to be stopped by Tadashi grabbing his hoodie and admonishing him about doing something useful instead of being reckless. "When are you going to start doing something with that big brain of yours?" Hiro almost missed the look of concern his brother flashed him.
And, of course, Hiro had to retort in kind, using the exact same words he'd said the first time. "What? Go to college like you? So people can tell me stuff I already know?" He knew it was a low blow the second the words left his mouth and he mentally cringed. But it had to be said. Man, in retrospect, he'd been a total jerk.
Tadashi looked understandably shocked and distressed. "Unbelievable." He rubbed his face with his hands in despair. "What would mom and dad say?"
Hiro had to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat at this part of the conversation. He knew his next few words would be like a slap to his brother's face, and an insult to his entire family. He'd had a lot of time to think back on that conversation and had come to the conclusion that it really was as insulting as his brother had made it out to be the first time around.
"I don't know," he said in a devil-may-care tone, wishing he could omit this part, knowing he couldn't. It had been the part that motivated Tadashi to take him to his lab. "Th-They're gone. They died when I was three, remember?"
And Tadashi did not disappoint, looking suitably shocked, saddened, and disappointed all at the same time. Hiro had to quickly turn away in pretense of heading back to the stairs, but turned quickly around when his brother called out. "Hey."
Hiro turned in time to catch the helmet his brother tossed him, looking more than a little surprised and upset. Was this really how things had gone the first time? If so, it really did suck.
"I'll take you," Tadashi said as he walked past him, pushing affectionately against Hiro's head as he reached for his helmet hung on the wall.
"Really?" Hiro felt just as surprised this time around as he had the first time, and it showed. But he couldn't help but feel a small sense of thrill at the idea of having Tadashi saying he'd go along with things, even though he knew it was a false pretense.
Tadashi sighed. "I can't stop you from going, but I'm not going to let you go on your own." He flipped his helmet between his fingers like it was a frisbee, then headed downstairs.
"Sweet," Hiro replied with half a shrug as he followed his brother down the stairs.