Chapter 3: Robotics Competition

(Solmonath 28, 56 / 10:59AM)

“Joseph! Joseph pick up!”

A woman ran through the city, wearing tight black sweatpants and a hoodie. Clutching her phone, she had the metal pressed firm on her ear, while scanning her eyes at the pedestrians she ran past.

“Come on! Please for the love of holy—”

“H-Hello? Mary? Is that you?”

“Joseph, it's Luke! Luke ran away!”

“w-WHAT??!!”

Her hands quivered the more she held her phone, the phone shaped like a slim rectangle. Continuing to run past the many crowds of people near her, she glanced at every male and female, and every beast-human to regular humans on her search.

“Damn it Mary! How could you let him go?!

“He must have escaped when I was in the bathroom! I’m sorry. Please help me find him!”

On the other side, Joseph placed his left hand firm on both his eyes, his palm blocking them from seeing. Leaning his head up, he still had the phone singing right next to his ear.

“I can’t right now! But have your phone with you! I may have to call you in a bit…”

“But—”

“I have to go, so just please look for him!

Hanging up, Joseph let out a long sigh, letting his mint breath escape from his mouth. Still having his fingers clutch onto the phone, Joseph stared at the popcorn ceiling.

—I hope he didn’t go to the downtown district…

________________________________________________________________________

(Solmonath 28, 56 / 11:52AM)

“Who invited him here?”

“Don’t know, let’s just continue planning this thing.”

Everyone continued to go along with their planning, leaving Luke to shyly glue his feet on the floor. Thinking they didn’t think much of him, Luke scratched the back of his head while scanning everyone in the building.

Luckily for him, it didn’t take too long.

“Hey Luke! You made it!

“F-Fred!”

Fred was only a couple of inches shorter than Luke, and both Fred and him were like a pair of sticks. Both looking to be average with facial appearances, Fred had silver hair, and wore a black miner helmet with glasses on top. As well as wearing a yellow shirt and blue pants, it contrasted to Luke’s all black clothing.

Both gave each other a fistbump, a man or even woman’s way of greeting someone they’re close to.

“Where were you?”

“Sorry, I was in the bathroom. Have constipation and all.”

“Similar to my mom…”

Letting out a soft chuckle, Luke and Fred walked toward the crowd huddling up in the center. Both their hands in their pockets, Fred tilted his head to the right, while staring at Luke.

“So how did you get here?”

“I just followed the address, no biggie. But yeah, I saw this really crazy person wearing nothing but a cardboard box.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…

Luke's eyes turned down the more he walked, while his right hand gripped onto a wooden object situated in his pocket. The tips of his fingers catching one or two splinters, Luke swayed his head slowly.

—Who was that crazy guy anyway? Why did he look afraid?

“And I also got this.”

“No way! A yo-yo!? Can I see it?”

“Sure.”

Luke passed the old wooden yo-yo to Fred, who snatched it like a fresh out of the oven hot-cake. His blue eyes sparkling at the sculpted wood, Fred’s fingers began rubbing the outer layers of the wood, making Luke furrow his brow.

“I don’t mind if you keep it.”

“I-I’m not going to—”

“You’re probably going to keep it Fred, so give it back to him.”

A boy walked up to them. Looking to be 16, the boy had brownish ginger hair, followed by a paste of freckles plastered on his cheeks. His hair was short but messy, and he had a cowlick on the back of it, but what got Luke’s attention was the boy’s pointed ears.

Sparkling his eyes, Luke pointed his finger at him.

“And elf!”

“Uh, yeah I’m an elf. What of it?”

As the elf was taken aback by the increase of Luke’s voice, he took two steps back. Lowering his hands to the height of his waist, Fred walked right beside the elf.

“Don’t worry, this is Luke’s first time seeing an elf.”

“Oh, good to know. Anyway, return the yo-yo.”

“Come on, when did I keep things to myself that I shouldn’t have?”

Luke scratched his lower chin with his nails, before placing his knuckles onto his right jaw. As if his brain replayed a montage of memories, all of them were the many times Fred “borrowed” things from Luke.

But for some reason, he couldn’t replay the montage of memories when he returned it back.

“Hey, do you still have those movie CDs I lent you borrowed?”

“I’m … still not finished watching them…”

“Didn’t you already finish watching them a year back?”

Fred remained silent.

The teen elf turned his look toward Luke, which made the 12-year old boy stand up straight.

“The name is Stanley, or Stan for short. Whichever works for you.”

“M-My name is—”

“Don’t worry about it, Fred told me all about you.”

Luke widened his eyes. The thought of being known to someone without introducing was a status of popularity, a status Luke never saw himself being. And right now, a teen four years older than him knew and acknowledged him like a pre-ordered friend.

“F-Fred told you all about me?”

“Mostly stories. About how you and Fred would start fires in chem labs.”

“That’s mostly Luke.”

“I just like chemistry, that’s all…”

The three of them walked toward the center of the crowd. One teen stood on top of a podium near the edge of the building, and looking to be the announcer, he wielded a megaphone. Raising the mouthpiece to his lips, he turned on the switch which blared throughout the building’s walls.

Which put everyone’s planning to a halt.

“Attention everybody! The Robotics competition will commence at 4 PM, so make sure your robot is already built by at least 3:30!”

Luke took a step back. Turning his eyes to Fred, he pulled out both his hands from his pockets, letting them rest motionless to his sides.

“What?! You never told me about this!”

“Don’t worry Luke, it’s just a competition.”

“It’s not that, it’s just my parents…”

“I mean, your parents are going to kill you for just leaving? At least make the most out of it.”

Luke curled his fingers into his palm. Tapping his right foot on the floor, he recalled the many promises and demands about the rules of the penthouse.

Rules he shouldn’t break, assigned by his mother and father alone. Being the perfect son, the perfect kid, he broke that sole rule, so what does he have to lose?

“Well … ok…”

The announcer placed down the megaphone onto the podium he stood in front of, noticing everyone had their eyes on him. Looking around the building, he took a whiff of a couple of people being fairly new here, as he laid eyes on Luke.

“For the rules! Everyone has to join a group to build one robot! However you plan, or lead, or what parts you use, it’s all fair game!

Raising his hands toward his hair, a pet baby wolf drooled on top of the teens head. Petting it, he let his fingers scratch and wrinkle out chunks of fur from its body.

Since there was no such thing as pet dogs, cats, or vice versa; wolves, lions, tigers, or bears were domesticated. Despite being friendly to humans, everyone questions once in a while how scary or mean looking they are.

Once Luke, Fred, and Stan heard the announcement, the three of them looked toward the scraps of metal on the other side of the building. As soon as the clock struck 12, the three of them, followed by everyone else, headed off to their workstations.

“I’ve never built a robot before.”

“Don’t worry. Me and Stan will help you out. But be warned, Stan can be a little …”

“Passionate?”

“Yeah … passionate.”

________________________________________________________________________

(Solmonath 28, 52 / 1:00PM)

The clock struck 1.

Everyone knew what they were doing in terms of planning. Defense, offense, support, the types of weapons; even mobility was an important thought.

But for Luke, Stan, and Fred…

“Why did you put yo-yos!?”

“Cause it looks cool.”

Stan and Fred butted heads, both of them inches away from their faces. Blood rushing into all over their cheeks and foreheads, their faces shone brighter than cherry tomatoes on a summer day.

“You’re going to ruin the robot!”

“As if the size was already going to ruin the robot!”

“It builds fear, you freaking idiot!”

The robot they were building looked the biggest out of all of the other groups. With the height reaching up to Stan’s knees, the body looked box-shaped, resembling a typical robot people would see in commercials.

Seeing the design laid out, Fred placed both of his hands on the back of his head.

“It’s not going to last out in the games!”

“You see the metal we’re using? It’ll tank it.”

“Hey Luke, what do you think?”

Both boys looked toward Luke, their eyes glaring at him. Making the metallic legs of the robot, Luke had his eyes focused solely on the metallic parts and surfaces of the—

Fred tugged Luke’s shoulder. Being pulled away from his zone, Luke’s nostrils flared.

“I was doing the legs…”

“This is important! Do you think yo-yos for arms is a good idea?”

“More importantly, do you think size matters in a robot?”

Both boys’ hands and faces were prickling with sweat, their cheeks reddened from the frustration seething out from their teeth. As the follicles of sweat rolled down their temples, most of it stalled directly onto their jawlines.

“How about doing both?”

“Really?”

“That’s your answer?”

“Or you guys could do neither … I’m trying to be moderate with your guys’ interests.”

Luke knelt down again onto the floor, continuing along with the metallic legs he was supposed to be working on. Inhaling a big chunk of the rustic air into his lungs, he pushed it back out silently, without making both boys notice his hint of frustration. For all he knew, he didn’t care if he won. The reason he came here in the first place was to hangout with Fred and his friends; that was all.

“Ok … ok … hey Luke, what are you putting on for the legs?”

“Well it can’t be worse than yo-yo arms.”

Luke pushed his lips up to the halfway point between his ears and jawline, as he showcased the metallic legs he worked on. Warming his face with a smile, his eyes sparkled while gazing at both Fred and Stan.

“I’ve decided to make the legs have an explosive kick. By combining fulminated mercury inside its legs, and with an extra switch, the robot could kick the mercury once released, which would pulverize the other robot. If our metal is hard and resilient, it’ll withstand the blast so … What do you guys think?”

““Never cook again.””

Luke opened his mouth wide open.

Clutching the metallic legs of the robot, his fingers tried to pry open the metal like an orange, but it only led the tips of his fingers to blister. Scratching the surface, he pinned his eyes low to the ground, sealing his lips with a puckered face.

His eyes darkened, he let out a mouse like voice meeped the area between them three.

“Then how about rocket legs?”

Both Fred and Stan placed their palms onto their eyes, swaying their heads repeatedly in frustration. Because of this, Luke replaced his pent up frustration with a pout, puffing his cheeks to enlarge them like a chipmunk.

“What?”

“Yeah, I think you should just assemble the robot…”

Both boys ignoring the pouting Luke, they returned to work on their respective stations, leaving Luke to be by himself. Letting go of the metallic legs he held, he looked at his friends, his eyes narrowing toward them.

Being treated like a little kid always triggered him for whatever reason. To him, he always got what he wanted, putting in no effort whatsoever to gain that benefit. Like a disease, it spurred and nestled itself into his very soul, eating away his spirit and emotions like a bunny-human in a carrot-eating contest.

And for the first time, he wanted to place his spirit, mind, and body into this robot building contest, but his ideals were too advanced; or childish.

—They’ll see … they’ll soon realize that rocket boots aren’t a dream! I could put more effort into it if they would let me…

Since he just wanted to have fun, he started to loosen up again quickly, subduing his feelings into his heart.