Open the Book: Robot Days

      Their little family had made their way once again to the kooky scientist’s big secret laboratory. Meepa slid along the known cold floor with his small forefins. Meepa was a Baby Tuskaninny who always came along for the ride, hoping his older brother would one day get that lucky zap. Their owner, Kimmy, had been taking his older brother Zoobu to be zapped daily for months now. Zoobu was currently a Faerie Jetsam, but he had always expressed that his real dream was to be a Robot, so Kimmy did her best to help make that dream a reality.

      “Ah, back again I see! Come now, let’s get set up,” the crazy-eyed Scorchio said as he started booting up his large machine. Meepa was always scared of it, but he enjoyed watching the lights that emitted from it. “As usual, I’ll have you go stand on that big red X on the floor. There might be a little pain, and of course, watch out for those stray beams of light,” the scientist droned his usual lines.

      Kimmy placed a red ball in front of Meepa. “Here, play with this for a moment while I help Zoobu get set up,” she said as she walked with the Jetsam.

      Meepa rolled the ball back and forth in front of him, waiting for the zap. Kimmy had promised them ice cream afterwards; he licked his lips at the thought and was eager for them to get going. The Tuskaninny accidentally hit the ball too hard with one of his rolls, and it escaped him. He heard the machine whirring, but still quickly chased after to retrieve his ball.

      “Wait, Meepa! Come back!” Kimmy shouted, but it was too late.

      ZAAAAAP.

      The light beams had vanished, and the smoke had faded away. “Well, that was unexpected!” the Scorchio said as he abandoned his machine. “Let’s take a look! Shall we?”

      Everyone turned to look at Meepa. He was no longer a light blue coloured Baby, with his big eyes and a small tuft of orange hair that sprouted from the top of his head. Instead, he had grown much larger than his previous size and sported a new shining green colour. He had wheels on the bottom of his torso, and his hair had been replaced by some kind of satellite antenna.

      “Wow! You’re a Robot!” Zoobu said excitedly as he rushed over to his brother. “You look just like that goalkeeper from the Virtupets team! You know, Goltron Mk I! That’s so cool! Maybe you could play in the Altador Cup someday!” Zoobu kept spouting on in excitement, but Meepa was feeling overwhelmed by it all.

      Meepa overheard Kimmy talking to the lab ray scientist. “Obviously, our intention today wasn’t to have Meepa zapped. Can’t we try again with Zoobu?”

      “Sorry lady, I’ve got a whole line going. Only once per day, you know the rules. You’ll just have to come back by tomorrow.” The Scorchio turned to Meepa and gave a mad laugh. “Feeling a bit strange?”

      “Come on, let’s go,” Kimmy said, dragging her pets out of the lab. They made their way back towards their home and still to the ice cream shop, like Kimmy had promised. Meepa didn’t say much as he was still trying to process what just happened. Zoobu was beyond excited about the result and was speaking enough to cover them both.

      They sat at a table and Kimmy brought them dishes of ice cream. “Alright Meepa, you haven’t said anything the whole way back. Tell me how you’re feeling.”

      Meepa looked at the bowl in front of him, filled with his favourite flavour of ice cream – strawberry. But right now, it didn’t seem so appealing. “Am I even able to eat this? This was all just so unexpected. I’m not prepared. I have no idea what it’s like to be a robot. Zoobu has done tons of research, but I don’t know anything. I don’t think I was ready to change.” He felt like he wanted to cry out of confusion and frustration, but no tears came from the metal behind his eye holes.

      The Faerie Jetsam was eagerly eating his chocolate ice cream, wiping away the mess from his mouth. “You can still eat food! Your body should convert it how it needs to be able to fuel your body. But hey, once we’re back home, I can help you test out some of your new quirks and help you adjust! I can also probably help answer any questions you have.”

      “I’m sorry this happened, Meepa. I know change can be scary. Let’s see if Zoobu can help you out and see how you feel once it’s all not so new. If you decide it’s still not for you, we can go buy a Paint Brush and change you to something else. How does that sound?” Kimmy asked.

      Meepa agreed to try it out for a bit first. They finished up their ice cream and made it back home. The brothers were out in the front lawn, testing some of Meepa’s new robotic traits. They found that his wheels were quite efficient with getting across different terrains, his hands could shift to create a damage-causing speaker or a defensive shield, his tail could be manipulated to cut items, and even the satellite antenna on top of his head could shoot a laser beam!

      Meepa giggled as he shot at another empty Neocola can with his laser beam. “Okay, I’ll admit, some of this is pretty cool. It does still feel a little weird being made of metal and wire though.”

      “I knew you’d like it! Just imagine when I get to be a Robot too! We can be the Robo Bros, routinely keeping peace by fighting crime and helping kind citizens!” Zoobu said while striking a heroic pose.

      “Robo Bros, huh? It does have a nice ring to it.”

      Just then they heard some mewing somewhere in the near distance. “A disturbance! The Robo Bros first case, let’s go check it out!” Zoobu said, flying off towards the sound without any hesitation.

      Meepa followed along just as quickly until they found the area where the mewing became quite loud. He looked around but couldn’t find a source, just a lot of thick brambles and brush. “Do you see anything Zoobu?”

      The Robot Tuskaninny found his brother standing with a Yellow Kacheek. I was playing here with my Schnelly when she ran off into the bramble there… She hasn’t come out, and I can’t reach her! She keeps crying, I don’t know what to do,” the Kacheek said with tears starting to build up.

      Meepa rolled over to the giant bush and gave it a closer examination. His eyes locked into the scene, and he changed his vision to be able to detect heat. Deep inside he could make out the Petpet, who seemed to be squirming around trying to break free. “I see her in there! Her tail looks like it’s stuck between some branches. We need to help her get out!”

      “I’m way too big to fit in there, and the vegetation is super thick. How will we reach her?” Zoobu said as he flew over the brush, trying to see if there was easier access from another angle.

      An idea flashed through Meepa’s head. “I got it!” he exclaimed as he turned out, facing his tail towards the tangled bramble. He used his tail to begin cutting through the branches. He snipped away so he had enough room to travel through, being careful not to get too close to the Schnelly. He found the crying Petpet, cutting the branch that had kept her trapped.

      The Schnelly was now free and ran out of the maze of greenery to snuggle up with the Kacheek.

      “Wow, thank you two so much! I don’t know what I would have done if you guys didn’t show up!” the Kacheek exclaimed as she hugged her Schnelly tighter.

      Zoobu flew back down to meet the Kacheek. “You’re welcome miss! The Robo Bros, at your service!”

      The Yellow Kacheek blinked at him for a moment. “But only one of you is a robot?” she asked quizzically.

      “For now! My time will come soon enough,” Zoobie said with a cheesy grin.

      The brothers walked home and retold the events that had just occurred. “You were great Meepa! Quick thinking out there. Great use of that heat vision! You being a robot definitely helped. I wouldn’t have been able to help nearly as quickly as you were able to. I would have needed to go back home to get supplies or call for additional help.”

      “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I feel really good about it. I’m glad we were able to help the Schnelly so they could be reunited.” Meepa thought about this and smiled. Sure, being a robot was still a bit of an adjustment, but he was slowly getting used to it. He felt unique with his new capabilities and saw how he could feel good using them.

      Kimmy met the air outside their home when they returned. “Hey boys! I heard from a friend that you two helped a Kacheek with her Schnelly. I’m proud of you guys for helping others. And Meepa, you took advantage of your robot parts to assist in the situation! How are you feeling now about your colour change? We could go pick out a new colour now if you’d like.”

      Meepa shook his head. “You know, it’s not so bad being a robot. I think I actually kind of like it!”

      “That’s great to hear Meepa!” Kimmy said as she hugged her Tuskaninny. “Zoobu, I also have a surprise for you,” she said as she pulled out a gift from behind her back. “After the way things went with the lab ray, I went and splurged and got a One-Use Robotification Zappermajig. I figured we didn’t need to leave it to chance any longer and could help get you your dream goal.”

      “Oh Kimmy, thank you so much!” Zoobu said as he flew up with joy. “The Robo Bros are in business!”

      Meepa was excited for his brother and was looking forward to the new journeys they could do together as robots. This wasn’t exactly how he had envisioned his life turning, but he was thrilled about the future possibilities that laid ahead of them.

     The End.