The wind brushed through your hair rather gently as you stood in the middle of a small garden. In front of you was a little hill. This place...it seemed... odd. You've never been here before, yet it felt so familiar.
You stared at the empty space with a nochalant expression. Something was missing. Something was supposed to be here. Where was it? Your eyes widened when a hole in the ground began to form, ruining the lush green grass. You went to take a step forwards, but a sudden weight in your arms stopped you momentarily, making you look down.
In your arms was the body of a child. You couldn't make out their face. You furrowed your brows. No, it wasn't that you couldn't make it out. You simply couldn't remember what they looked like. Why would you need to remember in the first place? You had never met them before. Yet...
"Why do I feel...bad?" You whispered down to the child. The child didn't respond, their body only hung in your arms.
"€¶∆}¥!" Your eyes widened and you turned around to see a man. Just like with the child, you couldn't make out his face, but you could see the movements of his mouth and...tears? You furrowed your brow at this. Just what was happening?
Before you could see any more, your settings changed. You now stood in the room where you first woke up. Except everyone and everything was there. The faceless dolls were lined up along the walls nicely and all of the scientists bustled around the room. You sat on the bench patiently as people ran around you. You couldn't feel anything. You had absolutely no idea what was happening. Was this...really a dream?
Someone appeared before you and rested their hands on your shoulders. They then pushed you back. Without wishing to do so, you raised your arm and everything went dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The summer cicadas buzzed throughout the night, emphasising the summery atmosphere for Japan. The soft snores that emitted from the orphanage was the perfect cover for anyone to sneak inside.
The metal door slid open almost soundlessly as a tall figure entered the building, their coat hanging behind them weightlessly. The stranger crept around the stray balls, bats and murder toys and stopped in front of the door leading into a seperate room.
The hinges on the door squeaked slightly as the stranger opened it, making them falter slightly. Once they confirmed that nobody else had awakened, they continued towards the bed in the centre of the room.
The faint bit of moonlight that shone through a gap in the curtain illuminated your face, giving the stranger a clear view of your location. Once by the bed, the stranger reached out to you.
Without a single sound, they rested their hand on your chest. The crease lines on your chest then lit up and lines of light outlined the stranger's hand. The stranger then pulled their hand away as the hatchet flew open. The stranger cracked a small smile and reached forwards.
"There we go. Now let's get you fixed up." They muttered under their breath and fiddled with your power source. The faint blue light illuminated the stranger's face, casting a shadow over their eyes.
Your hand twitched and the stranger gently closed the hatchet on your chest and stood back. They then looked you over once more before brushing your hair out of your face.
"Sleep well, Y/n, for you are something extraordinary." They whispered before leaning back. They wrapped their coat around their body and exited the room without another word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your hand twitched and soon enough, the voices of the outside world flooded your senses.
"Ugh, this is ridiculous! What's taking them so long!?" That voice belonged to you-know-who.
"Calm down, Cora! You can't just expect them to wake up to the sound of an alarm." Zane replied. Your eyes twitched and you peaked an eye open. Everyone was facing away from you as they talked with one another. You could practically see the anger rolling off Cora in waves.
"Ooh, when they wake up, I'm going to give em a good beating to the head with my wrench for making us worry!" She snapped. You sucked in a sharp breath, making the closest person turn towards you. Sludge's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something when you raised a finger to your lips, issuing for him to be quiet. You then snapped your eyes shut as Astro turned towards you. He frowned and approached you.
"Y/n, please wake up soon... It's been two months..." He whimpered. Your eyes snapped open and you shot upwards, surprising everyone in the room.
"TWO MONTHS!?" You cried. Everyone gaped at you and stared at you in bewilderment. You realised that you had blown your cover and gulped. "U-uh,"
"Y/n!"
"Please don't hit me!" You squeaked and shrunk back. Cora reached for her wrench but Astro pushed passed her.
"Y/n!" Your eyes widened as Astro dove for you and engulfed you into a tight embrace. You blinked in confusion and turned your head towards him. You then slowly reached up and rubbed his back.
"What's wrong? Why is there water coming out of your eyes?" You asked. Astro laughed and leaned back as he gave you a teary grin.
"Dummy, they're called tears. You were gone for so long, I started to get worried. You...slept in way too much." He whispered. Your eyes softened and you smiled gently at him. You then brought his head to your chest and rubbed his back soothingly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sleep for so long." You apologised. Everyone in the room smiled at you and surrounded your bed. Without warning, Cora's wrench hit you right in the head. Everyone gasped as you fell back onto the bed in a daze.
"Y/n!"
"Cora! They just woke up! Why would you do that!?" Zane cried as Astro checked to see if you were still functional. Cora smiled to herself and rested her wrench on her shoulder.
"Oh they'll be fine. It's what they get for making us worry." She stated. You whined and held your head.
"Ow, I wish I had stayed asleep." You complained. Cora laughed and grinned at you.
"Sure sure. Welcome back to the living. Now that you're awake, it's time you got out of bed. Go on, walk!" You pouted at her demanding manner and pulled the blankets back. You then pushed yourself out of bed and rested your bare feet on the ground.
Everyone watched as you stood up. You then wobbled slightly and fell forwards.
"Woah!" Instead of landing on the floor, you landed in a pair of arms. You blinked and looked up to see Astro's smiling face. He closed his eyes and chuckled at your flustered expression.
"Caught you." He teased. You opened and closed your mouth while slowly nodding. You then sat back and gave everyone a lopsided grin.
"Guess I need to learn how to walk again." You joked. Everyone in the room laughed as you pulled yourself up and used Astro's arm for support. Astro guided you towards the door and pushed it open with his foot. The rest of the gang followed the two of you out into the open room.
The moment you exited the room, you were tackled to the ground by a group of children.
"Y/n's awake! Y/n's awake!" They all cried out with happiness and joy. You gave the five children a bewildered look while the rest of the children in the orphanage crowded around you. You forced yourself into a seated position and smiled at the giggling brats.
"Hey guys! Have you aged?" You joked. The kids gasped and started to look each other over for any wrinkles.
"I dunno, have I?"
"I think I see a grey hair!"
"What!? I'm not old!" Cora rolled her eyes and slammed her wrench against the wall, silencing everyone.
"Ignore them! You're all still young." Her loud voice boomed across the orphanage. Everyone gave each other unsure looks before going back to their previous fun. You blinked at the sudden change in atmosphere and pushed yourself up. You then wobbled slightly before regaining your balance. You declined Astro's help this time and walked in a circle a few times. You then smiled to yourself and jumped up and down in glee.
"There! Now I can walk again." You cheered. Both Zane and Astro ran up to you and swung their arms around your shoulders, bringing you forwards. The three of you laughed together and the others joined the three of you. You were quite happy to say the least. Even the weird dream you had did not seem to bother you now. You would think about it later.
"Hey Y/n, let's go play fetch with trash can!" Zane suggested. Astro shook his head and took your hands into his.
"No, I want to introduce them to someone first." He revealed. Everyone, including you, gave him a curious look.
"Who are you going to introduce them to?" Cora asked. Astro smiled and stepped outside.
"I want them to meet ZOG." You blinked at him and cocked your head to the right curiously.
"ZOG?" Astro hummed in acknowledgement.
"Yep! He's the one who revived me when I was shot down, remember?" Your eyes widened in realisation and you smiled brightly at him.
"Oh yeah! I remember now!" You exclaimed. Astro chuckled at your expression and began to drag you outside. Everyone else followed closely behind, wanting to see their old friend. You skipped behind him happily. You were always eager to meet new robots! Especially those who could think and feel just like you.
Your group walked along the dirt path for about ten minutes. All the while you were chatting your gob off to which everyone, even Cora, enjoyed. Although Cora's sense of enjoyment was short lived when your chatting became consistent, leaving no room for others to talk.
"Argh, shut up!" She snapped and whacked you across the back of the head with her hand. You gasped and held the place she hit you with a pout. Astro sweat dropped and looked forwards. A large smile was then placed on his face when the sight of a golden giant could be seen in the distance.
"There! ZOG!" Astro called out as he ran up to the old robot. You looked his way and your eyes widened. Sitting on the centre of a grass field was a giant golden robot with graffiti all over his body. He was huge! You stared at ZOG with admiration as he and Astro conversed. Astro was going most of the talking while ZOG said a few things here and there.
You ran up to the giant robot and threw yourself onto his arm, bringing his attention to you. The amount of excitement you were feeling at that moment was indescribable, you could barely contain your giggles as you swung back and forth on his arm.
"Wow, you're so big! Hey hey, can you fly? Astro can! I can't, but I want to! Can you do anything? Can you?" Your questions fired rapidly at him, giving him barely any time to answer. Cora was about to beat some sense into you when Astro beat her to it.
He flew up to you and rested his hand on your shoulder and gave you a small smile. You looked down at him and blinked.
"Y/n, give ZOG time to answer. Why don't you introduce yourself first?" He suggested. You brightened at his idea and nodded your head.
"Yeah! Good idea!" You jumped off ZOG's arm and stepped back, giving him a full view of you. You smiled up at him. "Hi, my name is Y/n! And I'm a robot just like you!" You exclaimed. ZOG seemed to smile at you and reached down to you. Your eyes widened as he brought you into his hands and held you up to his face.
"Hello, Y/n. My name is ZOG." He said. You felt your heart jump at how low his voice was. Your eyes then shimmered with fascination.
"Wow, so COOL! How can I go that deep?" You asked with a tint of hope in your voice. ZOG merely stared at you while everyone else laughed. Cora decided to be the one to break it to you.
"Y/n, ZOG was programmed to have that voice. You weren't. So, sorry to break it to you, but it's not likely that you can-"
"Hey guys, I figured it out!" You exclaimed as you fiddled with your neck. Both Astro and Zane tell to the ground with laughter while the others stared at you with wide eyes. Your excitement and that voice certainly didn't match it was just too funny. Cora hung her head low in exasperation. You were just too much to handle.
ZOG's eyes halved with a bright look in his eyes and he placed you onto his shoulder. You sat down on his left shoulder right beside his neck and giggled.
"I like your voice. Let's play, ZOG!" You exclaimed. The older robot nodded in agreement and stood up, making you wobble slightly. Astro had his arms ready to catch you in case you fell. However, his older friend seemed to have different ideas.
You squealed with glee as ZOG threw you up into the air and caught you again.
"That was so fun! Again!" ZOG complied with your wishes and continued to throw you into the air, each throw getting higher than the last. At first, everyone watched the both of you happily, even wanting to join in at some point. But when they saw how much higher you were getting, their laughter was soon replaced with looks of concern.
Astro's eyes followed your falling figure with a great amount of concern and he clenched and unclenched his hands. ZOG caught you in his palms once again and laughed.
"Hah hah hah hah, higher?"
"Higher!" With one great swing, ZOG threw you into the air. Everyone watched with gaping mouths as your figure disappeared into the sky. They then waited ten minutes before turning towards each other.
"They're...not coming down, are they?" Zane guessed. Cora pressed her lips into a tight line.
"Nope." Without wasting a single second, Astro bent his knees and shot off into the air. How high had you gone?
You stared up at the cosmos with a twinkle of fascination in your eyes. Since when did it turn to night time? Behind you, the sounds of rockets came closer and closer to you. You turned around and smiled at Astro's closing figure.
"Astro! Are you seeing this? This looks amazing!" You exclaimed and pointed up to the starry cosmos. Astro opened his mouth to say something when he saw the sight before him. His eyes widened as the stars reflected through his big brown eyes. He had never tried using his ability to fly up to space. Not even when fighting that giant alien.
"Woah..." You grinned ecstatically at him and turned your attention back towards the stars. You then turned towards the sun and your eyes widened.
"Woah, is that the sun? It looks so big." You breathed in awe. Astro nodded and rested his hand on your shoulder.
"Yeah, it looks a whole lot bigger out here." He pointed out. Whilst you were burning the sun's image into your retinas, Astro's grip tightened on you and he turned you towards him. "Come on, we'd better head back." You smiled at him and nodded.
"Okay." Astro grabbed a tight hold on you and faced towards the earth. He then activated his rockets and pushed himself towards the blue lively planet.
On Earth, everyone stood there patiently as they waited for your return. Zane glanced down at a watch he didn't know how to read while Cora's patience began to wane. Her foot almost dug into the ground at the rate she was tapping her foot.
"Mmmmmm, where are they? They're taking way too long." She grumbled. Zane gave her a small shrug and peered into the sky. ZOG focused his gaze on the glaring sun and pointed towards it as two small figures came into the distance.
"Up there." He spoke. Foolishly, Cora, Zane, Widget and Sludge looked into the sun. Both you and Astro landed on the ground and smiled at everyone as they regretibly turned away and rubbed their blinded eyes. You jumped up and down and raced towards the group with gusto.
"Guys, we just saw the stars! What was that place?" You wondered as you spun around with your arms stretched out before you.
"That was space." Astro answered your question. You stopped spinning and glanced in his direction curiously.
"Space?" Astro nodded and pointed towards the sky with his index finger.
"Yeah. Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction." He explained. You furrowed your brows and cocked your head to the side in confusion.
"Hah?"
"Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be apart of a boundless four dimensional continuum known as a spacetime." Astro continued and began to pace around you whilst saying so. Question marks began to appear over your head as you tried to take in his explanations. But no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't understand a single word he was saying.
Cora rolled her eyes and flicked her bangs out of her eyes with a shake of her head.
"Dummy, don't over complicate it for them. They've got a small brain." She stated and gave you a swift flick to the head. You frowned and rubbed the sore spot on your forehead. "Basically, space is just an endless space that has no molecules for anything. The only stuff that can be created there is stars and planets. What we're on right now is a planet called Earth. Gravity is what makes it all happen pretty much. Without it, we'd be floating everywhere." She summarised.
You stared at her agape and clapped.
"Woah, you actually know stuff!" You exclaimed. That comment earned you a good hard smack right up the head. You grunted in pain and held your sore nogin. Astro quickly rushed over to you and examined your poor head while Zane gave Cora a look.
"Careful! They just woke up!" He scolded. Cora huffed and turned in the other direction.
"Oh whatever. They need to watch their mouth." She snapped. You lowered yourself slightly and slumped. Why did she have to always beat on you? In the distance, the sun began to set, signalling the end of the day. Everyone turned towards the sun with wide eyes.
"Oh, it's time to go home now." Sludge solemnly stated. Beside him, Widget nodded in agreement. A frown was brought to Astro's face as everyone prepared to leave. He then turned his head towards you and watched as you said your goodbyes to ZOG. How had time passed by so quickly? He wasn't ready to say goodbye yet.
Astro clenched his fists and tensed his jaw. You gave ZOG a comforting smile and waved to him.
"Bye, ZOG! I'll come and visit!" You exclaimed. ZOG's cheeks lifted up into a smile and he nodded.
"I look forward to it." You internally squealed at how low his voice sounded. It was soothing in a way. ZOG turned towards Astro and gave him a small nod. "Take care, friend." A smile played at Astro's lips and he beamed at the larger robot.
Everyone stood back and watched with warm smiles as their large friend walked back to the centre of the field where he would rest. You raised your hand and waved to him.
"Bye bye!" ZOG shared one last smile with all of you before closing his eyes and going to sleep. Astro let out a hefty sigh and scratched the back of his head.
"Well, I guess it's time to go home now." He admitted. You nodded in agreement and skipped towards the group.
"I had heaps of fun, today." You admitted and beamed at everyone. Cora crossed her arms over her chest and leaned on her left foot.
"Yeah, now we have school." Your body froze in mid-jump and a cold shiver ran down your spine.
"Oh, school..." Astro blinked at you and raised a curious brow at you.
"What's wrong? I thought you liked school." You pressed your lips into a tight thin line and swallowed.
"Well, I do, it's just that..." A disturbed look crept up onto your face and you shivered. "I don't even want to imagine the amount of homework I'll receive." Everyone stared at you in a perceuliar manner before they bursted out into laughter. Astro walked up to you and patted your shoulder with pity.
"I'll help you finish it all, buddy." He offered. You sniffled and nodded.
"Yeah..." After this fiasco, everyone made a turn and decided to head on home. After all, there was much more from where this came from. Yes, much more.