The Orb

R.C. stared intently at the metal green sphere in front of him. He wasn't sure what it was, but it definitely came from that C.A.N.. For all he knew it could be the robot equivalent to crap.

There was no doubt though, if the Union found out he had it, government agents would show up at his door.

He picked it up in his hand. Like the night before he could feel a vibration coming from within it.

He was running through a number of potential purposes the orb could serve, when suddenly, he was interrupted by a knock at his door.

Quickly, he hid the orb in his broken refrigerator and went to answer. When he opened it, to his surprise it was Milo.

"Sup?" R.C. asked.

Milo pointed to his van then gave a thumbs up.

"Oh yeah, you got a new van. Is that what you wanted to show me?"

Milo shook his head.

R.C. found it difficult communicating with Milo without Codea there to translate his sign language. Milo seemed to understand this. He pulled out a pencil and a notepad and began writing. The note he wrote was as follows:

I just got the new Nendo Swatch console and a ton of games with the bounty money I just got. You mentioned you play games the other day, so I figured I'd see if you wanted to hang out and play some games.

Deep down R.C. just wanted to be left alone so he could mess with the orb, but he could tell that Milo genuinely was trying to be his friend.

Despite not wanting to, he invited Milo in. He figured if he played a few games that would satisfy Milo and then he'd go home.

They hooked up the Swatch to R.C.'s T.V. and booted it up. Milo pulled out a game called "Murio Kart" and put the cartridge in the console.

They played several rounds of that and a few other games as well. Suddenly Milo got up as if something caught his attention. A few moments later R.C. could hear a loud tapping noise come from his fridge.

He knew right away, he had to keep Milo from opening it. He quickly thought of an excuse.

"Don't open that door! I... have a rat problem... There were like 3 running around my apartment so I... Trapped them in that fridge... Until the landlord gets an exterminator. If you open that door you'll let them out."

Milo seemed to buy that story because he just nodded and went back to playing. After a few hours he packed up his stuff and R.C. was finally able to get him to leave.

As soon as he shut the door behind Milo, he turned his attention back towards the fridge. He walked over to it and opened it, slowly... It was gone!

How the hell could it have moved?

His fridge was relatively empty, so there wasn't anything it could have rolled behind. He checked every crevice of the fridge.

*Rustle*

R.C. turned around. One of his kitchen drawers was partially open. He opened it...

"Guess it wasn't crap after all."

There sitting inside the drawer was the El Dew-pra Cabra... Only a much smaller one. It was big enough to fit in R.C.'s palm. He picked it up between his thumb and index finger.

*Knock* *knock* *knock*

R.C. huffed.

"Are you kidding me?"

He set the Mini Dew-pra Cabra on the counter and put an upside down water glass over it. He weighed the cup down with a piece of a broken ceramic plate he had laying around.

He went to answer his door...and of course it was Codea. She had a paper grocery bag in her arms.

"How do you and Milo know where I live?"

"Mr. Pipp gave it to us, so we could keep tabs on you."

"Of course he did… So, what do you need?"

"I just so happened to be in the area doing some grocery shopping... Oh and just so we're clear though, I didn't stop here because I wanted to."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure that's definitely the case."

R.C. had a sarcastic tone in his voice.

*Tap* *Tap* Mini Dew-pra Cabra was trying to escape its prison.

"What's that noise?"

"Ignore that it's just... rats."

"Okay then... anyways...When I was heading back home I realized I bought too many apples and I know I won't eat them all, so I figured I'd give them to you so they don't go to waste. Also I know you're broke and all."

She pulled out a few red apples from her bag.

"Alright Codea, I'm just going to stop you right there. Both you and I know exactly what you are doing."

Her face turned confused. Her cheeks became flushed.

"W-what do you mean?"

R.C. rolled his eyes.

"You're what the kids these days call a ‘tsundere’. You always act cold towards me when I'm around, but deep down you actually have a crush on me."

"W-what t-the heck are you talking about you idiot."

"You could have at least thought of a better excuse to come over. It's obvious you intentionally bought an excessive amount of apples."

She threw the apples in her hand as hard as she could at R.C.. He caught them.

"You know, you're a real asshole!"

"Alright if that's all you wanted to tell me, I'll be getting on with my day. Also just so you know, I'm keeping the apples."

R.C. closed the door in her face. She stormed off livid. Her face was still red. Deep down despite not wanting to admit she knew he was right.

R.C. went back to trying to figure out what he was going to do with his new pet C.A.N.. Hopefully he won't be interrupted again.