Astro was looking at himself in the mirror; since tonight was the first time he would go out with his friends in a long time, he wanted to wear something different: a red t-shirt underneath a green short-sleeve button-down, accompanied by black pants. In his opinion, he looked good, and in retrospect, he should have worn that outfit to dinner with Cora's parents; that would be for the next occasion.

Already dressed, he left his room and went to the living room; now came the good part, to see if Dad did not regret it at the last moment. If the doctor was paranoid before, now things were worse since the Duke's visit; he constantly called his son asking where he was, telling him to be back home before dark. And Tenma was even considering leaving the robot zombies to the cops; luckily, they didn't trust Tawashi. So when Astro told him that he was going out with friends, his father was worried but allowed him to go; that did not prevent the rest of the day were a little tense, with neither of them speaking to each other, perhaps because they knew that if they did, they would start an argument.

And now it was time for the truth, to see how things turned out.

As he went to the living room, he could hear his Dad talking with someone else.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea, Elefun; there may be more zombies out there."

"Come on, Tenma. Astro has been hunting zombies non-stop day and night; he deserves a break too."

"I know, but..."

At that, Astro entered the room; Elefun and Dad were having tea at the table.

"Hello, Doctor Elefun. I didn't know you were coming tonight."

"Well, Astro, someone has to make your father see reason," he answered, looking at Tenma.

His father made a face, and Astro couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

"Astro... are you sure you wanna go to the Surface? I've heard it's dangerous this late at night."

"It's funny you say that to a child with guns up his ass," Astro thought.

"Nonsense," Elefun intervened. "Tawashi has implemented a lot of security since we became one again. I'm sure you don't have to worry about Astro."

Astro smiled; he would always appreciate his support, even in things as simple as convincing his father. Tenma bit his lip and was about to reply, but Elefun spoke again.

"Astro, you better go; you don't wanna keep your friends waiting."

Astro nodded and began to walk towards the exit, his father was about to get up, but Elefun was faster and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, Tenma, it's been a long since we spoke as friends. It's always Ministry things; if the budget is over, if another prototype got out of control. It is time to talk about what's really important, friend: life."

In that, Elefun looked at Astro and winked. Astro smiled, returned the greeting, and then went to the balcony. Tenma tried to go with him, but Elefun kept stopping him.

"We have a lot to talk about, my friend."

"But... but..."

"Did I tell you that Yuko came to my house and recommended that I change the wallpaper in the kitchen? Can you believe it? I understand she doesn't like the Vintage style, but I hoped she could at least appreciate the effort."

Astro turned around and started walking backward; he couldn't help but be entertained by Dad's reactions; it was hilarious.

"But..."

Elefun took Tenma out of the room, and Astro jumped off the balcony and flew away.

...

At night, the streets of The Surface were illuminated by the neon lights of the advertisements and billboards; flying over, Astro thought that everything looked beautiful. His friends were waiting for him at a bus stop; Ken, Tama, and Shibugaki dressed similarly to him. While Zane, Sludge, and Widget wore casual clothes, Cora...seemed to be a mix of the two. Her outfit was the same as always, but the clothes were new, surely a gift from her parents.

Astro landed a few meters from them; the first to spot him was Ken, who smiled and waved at him.

"Hi, Astro! Here!"

Astro walked to them.

"Astro, good to see you!" Tamao told him.

One by one, they greeted him, shook hands, and complimented each other. Immediately Astro's spirits lifted; it had been so long that he had forgotten how good it felt to be with the seven of them. After the introductions, Cora led them through some streets.

"Please, don't leave the sidewalk; who knows the dangers of the Surface," she told the Sky Riders mockingly.

"Hey, remember that we helped Astro defeat Frankenstein," Shibugaki replied.

"Yeah, but the Peacekeeper was much worse," Zane contradicted.

"No, I don't think so," added Tamao. "Frankenstein was out of control."

"But the Peacekeeper was huge!" Sludge exclaimed.

"Why don't we ask Astro?" Widget suggested.

Astro just shrugged.

"I say the two were tough, and I appreciate everyone's help in both fights."

Cora smiled, the same Astro as always.

They advanced until they reached a huge tent; on the sides, it had searchlights announcing the show. The entrance was funny as it looked like a clown's face while the stairs were disguised as a tongue.

"Wow, that's an interesting design," Astro said.

The Sky Riders were also in awe.

"The show is so cool," said Widget, "wait till you see those robots stunt."

That excited Astro and the group began to walk inside, all eager for what seemed to be a spectacular evening. If only they had turned to look back, they would have seen that some drones, black in color, with mechanical arms at the sides, and with red eyes, were following them.

...

Before going to the arena, there was a candy store, where the twins bought some popcorn and a box of gummies; Zane a hot dog and some nachos, Cora a soda and chocolate, Ken and Tama decided to share a combo of popcorn, soda, and some sweets; and Shibugaki bought all of the above.

Astro found that quite interesting; to see how humans chose what food to consume, not to survive but for pleasure; since robots could not choose some flavor of energy or of oil, so to speak, they did not have that gustatory pleasure, so it was very curious to him how humans decided which food was delicious and which was not.

"Well, I suppose we could say that it's similar to when we are together," Ken explained to him after they had finished shopping; now they were walking to their seats, "let's say that chocolate generates the same feeling as when you are with us, it's nice and you enjoy it."

Astro nodded, Ken was gonna continue, but his look changed to a more serious, almost angry, one that worried Astro a little.

"And let's say that eating... broccoli, for example, is the same as when we met Rock."

Now Astro understood better; Rock had given him a bad feeling, but with Ken, he seemed to have generated real hatred, which was quite rare considering how quick the encounter had been; and that Kenichi was possibly the noblest person Astro knew, he was surprised to see him despise someone like that, he would have understood it from Cora or Shibugaki, but Ken... it was strange.

"Or maybe Rock is that bad."

Then he had a somewhat funny idea, if Ken was so good, maybe Rock was his counterpart, all bad, and that's why they clashed so much; they were opposites, and that's why they fought.

"Like the cores."

That gave him another interesting thought, did he have a counterpart? An opposite? He had to think about it because he didn't want Stone to have that benefit.

Ken quickly shook his head.

"Sorry, Astro, tonight is not to get angry... let's forget everything that has to do with Rock."

"Yeah, better." He didn't enjoy seeing Ken this angry at all.

"I hope that at least my explanation has helped you."

"Pretty much, Ken, thanks."

They smiled at each other and sat down, they were already in the arena, and it was quite large, surrounded by a circle of wooden stadium bleachers, with thirty-five rows, divided by four pedestals that had animal heads made of glass on top: a dog, a cat, a bear and a lion, which shone and spun around lighting up the whole place. Both Astro and the Sky Riders looked at the decorations and smiled; it was pretty cool to see all of that; it gave the feeling of spectacularity.

Cora smiled; her plan was working perfectly. She knew that the old Robot Circus would not fail; that was where Hamegg took them if they managed to deliver enough pieces for a week. It worked very well as an extra incentive since, in a place like The Surface, any distraction was good, and of course, it continued to have the same effect on Sludge and Widget, who stood up from their seats and shouted excitedly.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls of all ages! Welcome to the super-sensational-ultra-splendid, and ultra-mega-entertaining...ROBOT CIRCUS!" The announcer announced, a human wearing an elegant navy blue suit. "LET THE SHOW BEGIN!"

"I hope he pays them well," thought Astro.

The lights went off, only came back on, and it pointed directly to the center; there was a small robot whose joints looked like springs, while her chest and hips were round like her blue feet. And her hands were like white gloves, her nose was red and rounded, she had round glasses drawn, her hair was a light-blue afro, and she had round and yellow earrings in each ear. The robot stuck out its tongue, yanked on its earrings, and a sea of ​​bubbles spewed out of her hair and blew into the audience, eliciting whoops of excitement and amusement.

Next to her, another robot appeared, this one was on top of a wheel, his body had the shape of an egg, his head was round, with a protruding gray mustache, on his head he had a red hat and on top, it had small trumpets, just like in his ears. His arms were long and thin, and they were playing two cymbals. The robot twirled around the stage, jumped, and revealed that he had six other arms, each playing a drum.

His hat opened, and from there, another android came out; this one was thin as a scarecrow, and he looked very similar. He wore a black clown suit with white buttons and a large dark hat; his head was triangular. He somersaulted in the air and then landed, bowing as the little robot appeared and activated the bubbles again.

They served as a distraction because when the bumps dispersed, one more robot was on the scene; this one was large, tall, and muscular. His stomach and arms were reddish-brown, while the chest was gray; he also wore suspender pants; the garment was green and the strings red. The head was square similar to Frank's. His eyes were red glasses, and his hair was blonde. The robot was holding a metal rod in his arms, he opened his mouth, and a burst of fire came out.

As it disappeared, two more actors fell from the sky, arms outstretched and smiling, twisting their bodies slightly and landing three jumps before facing the audience.

The first had the physique of an adult woman, wearing purple shoes, a pink one-piece suit with a pink skirt. Her robotic skin was cream-colored, her cheeks were marked, and her hair was pink.

Her partner appeared to be a fifteen-year-old boy; he wore silver boots and red pants. His chest and arms were also silver, with robotic shoulder pads, and his hands were red. His hair was navy blue, two sides of his face were dark gray, and the rest a lighter tone. He had antennae for ears and wore a red cloak.

Those two had the most human look, their companions joined them, and they all posed victoriously for the spectators. The arena was filled with cheers, and Astro couldn't help but do the same; it was so exciting to see each robot use its special ability with the speed at which they did it and entered the scene; it was impossible not to be aware of something.

The whole gang was enjoying the show so much that no one noticed the drones that had followed them were above them. One drone spotted Astro and focused its lens on him.

"Remember, he is the target; destroy him at all costs!" their master ordered them.

With a sound, the drone accepted its task, then fixed itself on one of the pillars, tracing an easterly direction it would fall on top of Astro; not even he could survive with such a weight. With a noise, he indicated his companions to follow him; they all flew up the lower part of the column; in their fingers, they had inserted a chainsaw blade, activated it, and began to cut the metal.

Meanwhile, the kids continued concentrating on the show, unaware of the danger that was coming, luckily, Astro's super-hearing went into action, and despite all the fuss, he distinguished a very different noise. It wasn't voices or effects but that of a saw; Astro turned to see where the sound was coming from, and just in time because the column collapsed.

"LOOK OUT!" He yelled, alerting everyone, then flew off toward the pedestal.

He reached out with both arms and caught it before it crushed someone.

"Fuck!" The master told the drones. "We can't risk being found out, abort! Abort!"

With that order, the drones headed for the exit; there would be another chance to destroy Astro.

Panic spread everywhere; people stood up and shouted, and the actors left their performance and watched the wreckage.

"PLEASE, REMAIN CALM AND HEAD TO THE CLOSEST EXIT!"

Astro winced as he held the huge weight.

"It's heavier than I thought! I don't know if I can hold on!" He thought, directing more energy into his rockets to get it into place.

Cora stood up and saw that there were still many people in the range of the fall.

"We have to get these people out of here!" She said, everyone, looking at her and nodding.

They quickly began to show the masses the way out, as well as helping the youngest and the elderly to get up. The robots saw their efforts and joined them, carrying as many people as possible to take them to the exits.

Astro caught a glimpse of this and was relieved; at least if he failed, no lives would be lost. He began to push, and the column went toward its place of origin. When it was placed, Astro released it and flew toward the bottom; with the laser in his finger, he began to melt the metal so that it would stick to the base again.

Everyone in the stands had already been evacuated; the Collectors and the Sky Riders had already gone down and were running towards the exit, except Cora, who was looking that no one was left, checking even under the seats.

"Cora, let's go!" Zane yelled at him.

"I'm coming!"

The metal had been melted and was back in place. Astro sighed and wiped his forehead with his arm as if he had sweat; at that, he heard a screw snap; he looked up and saw that the dog head had come loose; it went forward and was going in the direction of...

"CORA!" He screamed.

The girl had not gotten out in time, and now the head was to crush her. She looked up and saw how the enormous light was heading towards her. She cried and, out of sheer instinct, covered herself with her arms. Astro flew towards her at full speed.

The robot in the red cape had stayed behind, along with the one with the wheel, and seeing that Cora was going to be crushed, he did not hesitate for a second to act. In one jump, he managed to reach the first row, then he jumped to the second, and so on, and when he got with Cora, the boy carried her in his arms and jumped back to the stage.

The girl cried in surprise when the boy took her, but soon was relieved when she saw she was out of danger. Cora looked around, surprised to see she was on the scene.

Astro managed to get in front of the head and catch it before it crashed. Unfortunately, a part of the light broke, and a piece flew out, hitting the robot on the wheel; he got out of control and began to spin erratically. The robot yelled in surprise; Zane grabbed him and led it out of the tent.

"Don't worry, buddy, you'll be fine."

"T... thanks."

"That was close," Astro thought, relieved. He flew over to go with Cora, who was barely recovering from the shock.

The robot was laying her down; she would be dizzy if she hadn't endured a fall from the city to the Surface, so that was child's play.

"Even so, I don't want to repeat that anymore." Cora thought once her feet touched the ground.

One of her hands got caught in something, so she yanked hard, taking a red glove.

Astro was heading towards them when he saw it... he had to stop and stare to make sure his vision wasn't deceiving him; Astro blinked, rubbed his eyes, and saw again; he wasn't seeing things.

The boy's hand... was human; the glove was on the floor. Cora had her eyes closed as she rubbed her forehead; the boy looked at her, then at the glove; he bent down and quickly took it to put it back on. Astro was surprised; why was that boy in a robot circus? And why was he posing as one?

When Cora opened her eyes, she saw her savior and noticed that he had blue eyes; she thought it was a cute feature.

"Thanks," she told him sincerely.

The boy smiled.

"You're welcome."

Astro landed near them and placed the head on the ground, he had many questions for the boy, but first, he had to see Cora.

"Cora... are you okay?" He asked as he moved towards her.

The girl nodded, Astro hugged her, and she wrapped her arms around him; it was short but comforting. When they separated, they were still holding arms; Astro looked at the boy.

"Thank you for that."

His silence made the boy understand Astro wanted to know his name; the boy raised a thumb, closed one eye, and smiled, showing his teeth; with great pride and confidence, he replied:

"Reno, my name is Reno."