Fan Fiction: Jaunting

[CommanderEVE]

I'd like to see your story Sparx!

Well it's in a bit of a mess and I haven’t finished putting the story up, because the tread died.

http://www.astroboy-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3279

[stoogefreaky]

If I was done with my story I would like you to read it, Dannavy85. Maybe you could tell me what parts don't make sence or something. I'm not done with it and I wouldn't show you yet. I'm going to need help from people anyway, like Dr. Robert Jarvik. I'm hoping what I'm writing will be a movie that I will direct. So this isn't something that I will post on the forums.

[dannavy85]

Sure, i'll read it : )

[CommanderEVE]

I can't wait, stoogefreaky. What is it about? By the way, dannavy85 tell what you think

[dannavy85]

Throwing away the ease of a short flight, Astro walked through the tall wooden gates that separated the modern world and walked into the Ginza where sword wearing Samurai wandered from place to place passing by street artisans, craftsman and noblemen, all actors of course. He passed by an exchange machine and replaced several 1000 yen bills for their 18th century counterparts, metal and wooden plugs adorned with the symbols of the Tokugawa Shogun ate. No modern things in this ginza, no PSPs, computers or DVDs. Astro stood more than 30 minutes studying parchment paintings at one outdoor shop. Real paint, real handworks, things you’d never find at a Sotetsu Joinus department store. He picked one, a Samurai in a dancing swordfight with a dragon, and patted the cardboard tube as he strapped it to his back pack.

Back to the camera again. Astro walked down the dirt street snapping pictures as he went, taking notes when someone told him a piece of history, sampling food, then he wound up browsing through a china shop. One tea set caught his eyes and he was carefully studying one of the cups when a face popped up from behind the merchandise rack and almost made him drop it.

“Ah hah! My fierce rival shows himself! Prepare to be defeated!”

Astro gulped then smirked. “Tamao! What are you doing?” Astro looked over Tamao’s costume get up and giggled. “Naruto? Mind telling me why you’re here?”

“I thought I told you. Me and some of the kids from school are in Chibitsu for the Regional Anime Gathering of Dedicated Outrageous Loyal Suites.”

Astro pursed his lips. “Uh…Rag Dolls? Sounds hilarious.”

“Hey! Don’t mock our fandom. So what are you doing?”

Astro placed the china cup back on the shelf. “Oh….just moving around. Doing nothing in fact except sight seeing.”

Tamao gasped. “You ran away from home?!” He pointed to the overloaded backpack. “Astro! It’s not that bad at home! I know things get tough at times, I always thought you.”

Astro covered Tamao’s life. “Do you always get melodramatic? I’m taking a vacation. We robots do take them once in a while you know.”

“Well….I didn’t expect to see you taking a vacation here though. You know, the South Pacific’s nice…”

Astro huffed. “It’s nice here too and I don’t have to tire myself out flying all over the place anyway. You better catch your pals outside before they leave you.” Astro pointed at the crowd of kids getting onto a bus and waved as Tamao ran to catch up. The robot boy was soon back browsing for a tea set and finally found one he thought Zoran might like.

It was an hour later when Astro found a place to sit again and enjoy another can of Peach Cobbler drink. He dropped his red moon boots on the ground and leaned against an old trail marker, part of a long vanished toll point where travelers of the Tokugawa Era had their paper scrolls stamped and their bundles searched. He spent the time looking down from the hill and using his magnification eyes to find other interesting places to go.

Just as a thought, Astro rolled off the marker and walked around the trail waving his hand back and forth like a metal detector. He stopped to re-calibrate the magnetic field coming from his palm and re-scanned the ground. Every place he heard a ping, he marked it with a slip of paper.

He was soon sitting back on the marker with several items he’d dug up. A piece of a sword hilt, a few Tokugawa coins, a shrine ornament and…

Astro held the rusty cylinder in his hands and examined it. He tried to be ginger given its fragile condition but it fell apart leaving a pile of iron dust in his hands and with a sudden surprise…

A few nuggets of pure gold.

Izuki Prefect Museum

The curator looked at each nugget under a microscope and hummed. “About 20 Troy ounces. And you say it was in an iron container?”

Astro sat backwards in a chair resting his chin on the back. “Uh huh…it was 5 inches tall and so rusty it just turned into powder.”

“Well…it might have been a smuggling tube. Gold smuggling was very common during the Tokugawa era, it was also a quick way to bribe customs guards at the checkpoints. Anyone’s honor could be corrupted with the right amount of gold.”

The curator looked at Astro and smiled. “You know you don’t have to turn this in, thought it is a historical artifact you legally own it.”

Astro pursed his lips. “I….wouldn’t have any use for it, I’ll probably loose it going home and I’m not programmed to keep historic stuff.”

“Well….I can compensate you for the donation to the museum.”

Astro smiled. “Ok….fair enough!”

Astro laughed to himself as he stood studying a suit of Samurai armor, what a strange request, seven cans of Peach Cobbler drink and money for the local Seven 11 store, the man must have thought him a little weird. Astro looked at his watch, what for when he knew the time at an instant? Still it was another thing of habit he’d fallen for, like eating.

He didn’t have to make trips to the bathroom nor did he even have to eat. Logically the food offered no value at all save one. His “father”, his builder had endowed Astro with an insatiable craving for food, call it a defect, call it curiously strange that this little powerhouse of atomic energy didn’t let a day pass unless he’d cooked something or he’d sat patiently watching a cook prepare something to be gobbled. His friends likened him to that hilarious cartoon dog who, after eating a treat, would hug himself, make funny noises then smack his lips as if wracked by seizure. Nothing was safe not sushi, tempura, ice cream or hot dogs. It was a primary school rumor that Astro once, instead of beating Atlas in a fight, beat him at wolfing sushi. Both robots, it was said, wracked up 10,000 yen bills in a single grudge match sitting. Now he was walking out of a Seven 11 smelling the steam rising from a plastic square plate of Teriyaki Chicken and Curry rice tempura.

He found a place to sit…if briefly…before doing a speed wolf, his chop sticks a blaze of flesh brown movement as every rice grain and every bit of chicken….vanished. He satisfyingly licked the juice from his fingers, grabbed his backpack and walked towards the small local service trolly for the ride to the Youth Hostel and a night’s rest.

[dannavy85]

International Youth Hostel
Ghibu

It was evening and dark outside when Astro walked through the door, flashed his membership card to the desk clerk and found a small empty partitioned room to drop his backpack. He pulled out a Cobbler drink and slowly sipped it as he walked into the main lounging room. The visitor population tonight was surprisingly light. Two Japanese girls were having a back and forth with an obvious sounding and very loud British boy, a girl who sounded Indian and a younger Dutch teen. Three boys were huddled and playing around a Nintendo Wii game, looked like a cross between a Godzilla-like Donkey Kong on steroids chasing a punk rocker Link character down a city street. A few others were prone on mats reading books or playing pocket video games.

Astro walked over to a lone boy playing Tetris on another television. “Hi.” He said smiling as he grabbed a pillow and sat. “I’m Astro.”

The boy replied in Russian. “I am Alexi. You are a robot?”

Astro looked at himself. “Ehhh…Actually I’m a walking juice machine.”

“You make a joke!” Alexi said as he gave Astro a controller. “I would ask you to play with me but you’d soon beat me. I am from Kalindagrad.”

“Metro City near Kamakura.” Astro replied as he shook Alexi’s hand. “So what’s stuck you here?”

“Parents. They have come for their wedding anniversary and dropped me off, crash course in learning something while they’re free to frolic. You?”

“Ran away, I’m usually plugged into a switchboard to control Ginza lights in Tokyo, boy will they be angry.”

Alexi snorted. “You are such a funny liar.”

Astro scratched his head. “Actually…I just decided to get away for home for a weekend. I always wanted to see more of where I live. You go all over the world and find out you never go beyond 50 miles around your own house.”

“You ever visited Russia?” Alexi asked. “You want to have fun, come to Kalindagrad. Stay with my family for a week you’ll consider seeking asylum in Siberia.”

Astro smiled. “I’ve been to Baroshikova. Have a girlfriend there named Niki.”

“Robots having girlfriends?” Alexi said wondering. “My father thinks that when robots are able to last seven seconds on a raindeer’s back, it will be a historic achievement. He is old fashioned, thinks the best robot is one who can pop the top of a can of borst.”

Astro giggled. “You up for some marathon Tetris?”

“I warn you.” Alexi smirked. “I am school champion of Boris Yeltzin Middle School. I do it by spiking opponents soft drinks with Yodka. You…..I pull a Boris Spatzky. When you not looking….I give you monster wedgie.”

Astro shot a stream of Cobbler drink over the television set and winced as he laughed. “Thanks!”

“My pleasure.” Alexi nodded.

11pm

Astro sat on a very small stool and poured a wooden bucket of water over his head to wash away the thick layer of foam soap he’d washed himself with. He sat with a wash cloth playing with his toes and whistling before he walked over to one of the large oak soaking tubs and climbed into its warm wet embrace.

Closing his eyes and sinking up to his chin, Astro canceled out the multiples of electronic and natural sounds until only the light rustling of the bushes and the sound of rain from a passing squall brought something of a mindless, thoughtless fog flowing through his electronic brain.

It was suddenly violated by a Splash of water in the face! Astro shook his head and wiped his eyes as Alexi flopped around the other tub. “Hey cut it out! That’s not for swimming.”

Alexi stopped. “It’s not?”

“Here in Japan these tubs are for soaking to relax the body. You wash on the stool on the floor. To just jump into the tub is very disgraceful.”

After washing, Alexi sank into the tub and leaned against the side. “Tell me? Do you wish you were human?”

Astro lightly slapped the water with his hands. “Yeah…but you have to do with what you’re given I’ve been told. There’s advantages to being a robot.”

“You never rust?” Alexi said smirking.

“Flying for one.” Astro said with a raised finger. “Humans can’t flap their arms fast enough. Then there’s body parts, ever seen a human pull their eye out?” Astro reached up and popped one of his eyes from its electrical plugging socket. “Can a human do that?” He pulled his right arm out of its connector and kissed the elbow. “Humans can’t kiss their own elbows you know.”

Alexi was rolling as Astro sat on the edge of the tub. “And let’s see a human stick their butt into outer space without a space suit.”

“All right! You bust my sides!” The Russian boy said laughing.

“I want to be human-like though. Human’s don’t know how much fun they have. What’s the most fun robots have had? Calculus? Picking up steel beams all day only to end up plugged into a recharging outlet for the rest of the afternoon? Uh uh….not me.”

Alexi smiled. “I sometimes think we would be better off with robots in charge of everything. In Russia they practically do everything, even the cars and school buses are automatic.”

Astro pursed his lips. “You think it would be better? I don’t. Humans would become fat slobs and lazy-chair dwellers. The doctors and undertakers would be getting rich. No fun, no freedom, no risk, no challenges? Uh uh…a life with robots controlling everything under the 3 laws of robotics would be worse than any dictatorship. I’m too small to be a politician, to young to be a dictator and I have too much fun to waste time with mountains of paperwork…uh, uh.”

“I never heard any robots saying such things!” Alexi said surprised. “Those I know are happy to become politicians and have important roles in society.”

Astro smiled. “It’s not a bad thing to want to do something important like represent people but the temptation to go to far? I know robots who think humans are all the problem and that we robots should run the earth. I know some real human bigots who want us robots to take a smelter bath. It’s a nasty tight rope to walk.”

“So…you are perfectly happy?” Alexi asked.

“Well…there is one thing I hate. Tic Tac Toe. I hate Tic Tac Toe, I get so frustrated trying to play it? I end up torching the paper pad. Tic Tac Toe….” Astro looks around. “Sucks.”

Both boys stared at each other then laughed and splashed in a crazy water fight. It ened when Astro used his arms like a water spray pump and drove Alexi out of his tub, out of the room and into the screaming laughter of some girls down the hall outside the bathroom. They both spent the next hour cleaning up the mess.

1230

[stoogefreaky]

Astro eating is cool. I also like the tube part when Alexi jumps in and Astro tells him not to do that.

[dannavy85]

The comical manga enlisted a light chuckle as Astro used a dull blue hue from his eyes to illuminate each page as he was curled up in the communal sleeping room where other visitors were laid out on futon mats next to him. Alexi had said goodnight a half hour earlier, his lightly snoring form moving under the cover of a thick blanket as Astro stuffed the manga back into his back pack and wrapped himself up. It was raining again outside, a slight breeze added to the soothing symphony by ringing the wind chimes outside the building. Astro set his internal radio to pick up a Japanese station that played soft 80’s music and slowly de-energized his systems to stand by. He was out like a light till early dawn.

Yesuka Dam
7am

The morning was cool and the sun was just starting its crawl above the horizon when Astro dropped his back pack and stacked his clothes on top. Yesuka Dam was nestled in the upper Yugi highlands above Izuki and controlled the run off and flow of the Hanku River that rolled through Izuki from the Japanese Alps. A road bridge spanned across the upper river section of the dam which formed a deep but small fresh water lake.

Astro stood on the beach kicking his legs, running in place and rolling his arms around to bring the hydraulics to life. He stood still for a moment moving his fingers around and changing his face from the normal placidity of an innocent child to that of a mischievous little devil planning to do something bad, he was all grins, smirks and streaks of devilish confidence…

Then he exploded. It began as a fast run along the edge of the water and turned into a blur of color and the long streak of flames erupting from the pair of afterburners from the powerful baby jet engines in Astro’s legs. He flew lower over the lake and into the woods at a speed so fast that dirt, branches, leaves, pebbles and twigs were kicked up behind it leaving a dirty brown rooster-tail in their wakes.

He weaved around the trees, twisting and rolling his small body in bends and angles that would have torn airplanes to shreds. He streaked up the side of one tree, burst through the forest canopy and rolled towards the bridge over the dam. He timed the landing right, skidding on one of the rail fence tops till he fell off and flipped head over feet into the lake below. He came out with a burst of spray, flew over the dam and bounced back and forth along the rock walls that made up the river gorge below. It looked like a pinball gone insane as he caught the rocks with his feet and hands and pushed off towards the next point. His last bounce aimed him back towards the bridge and there he was doing barrel rolls over the top and under the bottom. It finally ended when he walked on his hands on one of the railings whistling and singing to him-self.

He knew if the Doctor ever got wind of this crazy stunt, he’d be grounded. He pushed off the rail, flew back to his back pack and took off again back down to Hanku and the small train station. Once he was sitting on the platform waiting for the next train, Astro dug through his bag and found Alexi’s address in Russia. He had to take up the offer to visit the next time he had a weekend to himself.

Ikibukaro

Astro stood comparing two collared anime shirts…”Emperor Leo? Yugi-oh…” He looked back and forth, pursed his lips, screwed his face around and finally picked the black, blue and red color swirled one with a Tachekoma police robot from Ghost in the Shell hanging behind him. He stopped to pick up two new plastic pencil pads from a trinket rack, a copy of Newtype and two mangas before dropping his yen on the counter and walking out of the store.

Ikibukaro was a big industrial suburb of Tokyo, mostly dotted with car factories and electronics firms but there was a zoo, a large botanical atrium and a science museum to pass the time. Or Astro could just go back to the train station and try flipping a coin to another small town far up the line.

[dannavy85]

The deer wanted another hand full of corn and it made its demands clear enough by head butting Astro in the back and almost pushing him off his feet. “Hold up!” Astro snorted as he pulled out more corn from his pocket. “Here…chase it.” He snorted as he threw the corn over the deer’s head. It gave Astro time to vault over the fence. “They should call it a mugging zoo instead of a petting zoo.” He said as he walked along the trail and came to the monkey park. He watched the various kinds of monkeys run along the floor or playing over the trees and started to mimic them, obviously in passing Astro had missed the WARNING sign “Do Not agitate the Monkeys”. He also missed the fact that the fence had no capping at the top. He didn’t notice anything till a monkey scaled the fence with his back pack in hand.

“Hey!” Astro yelled as he jumped up and snatched the slings. “Stop that!” He soon got into a tugging match with several monkies on one side pulling him off balance. “Let go of it!” Astro demanded. He was at a serious disadvantage of course, his limitors to prevent innocents being injured by his potential destructive power gave the advantage to the monkies and over the fence Astro tumbled.

There he was, chasing the monkies all over the cage, through the trees, at one point the frustrated little bot was acting more monkey than the monkies. At last he bounded back over the fence and stood frowning at the mess his misadventure turned into. Astro started taunting the monkies though as he pulled a Peach Cobbler drink from his pack. “Hah! You didn’t get my drinks! Hah! Hah! Eat that you primitive dorks!”

Astro wasn’t laughing anymore when a zoo keeper snatched him by the wrist. “I saw that! Come with me.”

Doctor O’Shay was almost laughing or trying not to laugh through the vid-phone as the Zoo keeper ranted about getting some satisfaction.

“They grabbed my bag!” Astro pleaded. “What was I supposed to do, sit there and bargain with them?”

“They wouldn’t have bothered you if you didn’t stand there taunting them. It’s on the security camera.”

“Make him sweep out the elephant cages!” Zoran could be heard yelling behind the doctor.

“Thanks Zoran!” Astro groaned.

The Zoo Keeper smirked. “I don’t think you did this maliciously. But next time don’t antagonize the monkies and don’t go into the cages. Actually I should make an example out of some one, we haven’t been harsh on any violators.”

Astro pulled his hand back fast as the sharp teeth almost nailed his fingers. “Yipe!”

“That’s just Mimi’s way of saying hello.” The Zoo Keeper said with a smile as Astro gingerly lifted a fish from the pail and almost slipped on the slick concrete trying to escape the fast sliding black seal as she slid across the floor and snatched the fish on the fly.

“That’s a hello?” Astro asked as the seal waddled back and pushed him in the chest.

“I think she likes you.”

Astro softly patted the seal’s head and pulled out another fish. “What’s…..3 times 5?”

Mimi clapped her flippers 15 times.

“Cool….can she do homework?” Astro asked smiling.

“As long as you can pay her in fish I can’t see why not.”

“How bout it Mimi? You can go to my classes and I’ll sit at home playing PSP.”

The seal snatched the fish pail and waddled away. “Oh…..kay. Obviously I can’t pay you enough.”

“Perhaps you’d consider coming back during a show Astro? Maybe play a clown?”

Astro grabbed his backpack and smiled. “I guess I could during the summer if you’ll write off the rest of my punishment?”

The Zoo keeper smirked. “I can’t get you to clean the elephant cage?”

Astro shook his head. “I’ve done plenty of dirty things risking my life…I’m not about to do it for fun.”

[stoogefreaky]

It's so funny with the monkey scene!