Button laid his head down on the desk and groaned. Class had been stretching on for the past... half-hour? Forty-five minutes? He really didn’t know at this point. The teacher's ramblings on algebra were enough to put a boy to sleep, sometimes.
…Okay, all the time. Sue him, it’s not like this stuff was useful.
Finally, the long-awaited bell rang, and the class erupted in a frenzy of people packing up and getting out the door. It was the end of final period, which means…
“Hey, man! Wait up!”
Button turned, grin already on his face. “’Sup, Squeak. Any big plans today?”
“Firstly, stop calling me ‘Squeak’,” said Pipsqueak, catching up with Button and slowing to his friend’s pace. “Second, none on my end. You?”
“Well, I heard that Steel Spark’s going to be livestreaming a robotics competition hosted by Reploid Industries, so… wanna go watch it?” offered Mash as they walked down the school’s hall to the front door.
His friend shook his head. “I have no idea what is with you and robotics,” he sighed. “It’s all so… complicated. Just goes right over my head.” He mimes a plane flying over them. “Whoosh.”
Button snickered. “Not like it would ever be able to hit, with how tall you are.”
Pipsqueak mimed a blow at Mash, and the two of them laughed as they exited the school.
Canterlot Middle squatted behind them in all its concrete glory as they walked down the street, bantering and trading jibes like friends are wont to do. Cars passed silently on the road, and tree leaves rustled in the light breeze. With the sun shining overhead, only obscured by puffy white clouds in long intervals, it was a perfect day.
Which, like all perfect days, was easily disrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing in Pipsqueak’s pocket.
“Hold on a minute,” he asked, pulling the phone out and activating it. “Yeah, hello? …Oh, hi sis. Why are you…? Wait, what? Why? … Okay. Okay, fine, I’ll come home. Doesn’t mean I like it though, me and Button were going to hang out after school. …Yeah. Bye.”
Stopping the call, he looked at Button and shrugged helplessly. “Sorry, bro, gotta go home. Sis is the only one home again, and she’s being… well… herself. See you later.”
“See ya!” Button called out as his friend turned down the nearby street and began sprinting home, before his expression relaxed. Honestly, those anxiety issues she has have gotten in the way of a lot of hanging-out times. Button really didn’t understand why she was so clingy, especially to Pipsqueak, but… he shrugged. She was nice enough that you couldn’t give her any sort of heat over it. And considering the times she’d let him hang out over there… honestly, Button wished sometimes he was a little older.
Turning back down toward a shortcut to home, his thoughts turned towards robotics-more accurately, toward the company that had come to dominate robotics for the last twenty years. Reploid Industries had started all that time ago with three guys in a garage, and had quickly expanded into the leading producer of robots and computers in the industry. To some, their meteoric rise seemed almost magical. Button idly wondered about what it was like, designing the first PC that didn’t fill an entire room. Silver Spark, Mapping Road, and Twisted Cable… their names dominated the industry. Too work under them, to see into their genius…!
Clack
Looking down, Button Mash saw a blue, hexagonal device with what looked to be a face, beneath a red jewel-like protrusion on the side facing up right at the edge of the path, where his foot had accidentally kicked it. He bent over and picked it up, wondering about the object’s purpose. The heck was this? Some sort of communicator thing? No, there wasn’t any place to speak into it or speakers. Dismissing it for later investigation, Button stuffed it into his pocket and continued walking home. Mom’d be irritated if he took too long, considering those incidents last year.
-[-0-]-
Dinner had been good like always; say what you will about Mrs. Mash, but she was a great cook for Button, his dad and herself. Button was quite sated, hunger-wise, as he walked up the stairs to his room and closed the door, removing the device from his pocket as he did so.
“Alright, let’s see what you are,” he muttered as he tossed onto his desk and began searching for his toolkit he got his last birthday. It was right under his bed, like usual, and Button was soon set up with screwdriver and pliers to discover what it was.
Frustratingly, the device didn’t seem to have any screws in it, or any slots or... anything, really. It seemed to be one seamless piece of inert metal in an interesting shape. Heck, even holding it up to his ear and shaking it revealed no moving parts inside-at least, nothing that made noise.
After an hour of poking the object, Button dropped the screwdriver he’d been using to poke it with a clatter. “What are you…?” he asked, picking the object up and staring it at every angle. Maybe if he stared at it hard enough, it would reveal its secrets…?
“…Eeh, whatever,” he finally shrugged, tossing the object onto the desk where it bounced a bit before settling so that the gem was facing toward his bed. “I’ll figure you out later.” It was getting late, and last time he stayed up after his bedtime his mom had been really irritated with him.
Turning back to his bed, he took a step toward it before noting that his bedposts were flashing red with reflected light, oddly enough. But… nothing in his room could do that… unless… Spinning back on his heel, he saw the red gem on the thing had begun pulsing with red light. Button stepped closer, cautiously, one hand reaching out to touch it.
As his fingers brushed the object’s surface, the object suddenly glowed a bright blue from all over and shot into the air, spinning around and reorienting itself so that it faced an extremely surprised Button. “Biomatch detected… confirming Biomatch… confirmed. Chosen One of Biometal Model X detected and Recognized,” the item chirped. “Hail and well-met, young… warrior…?”
The object that had seemed to identify itself as a Biometal seemed to realize that Button Mash hadn’t done anything except stare with his mouth slightly agape. An awkward silence ensued.
“...You know, I wasn’t expecting my newest Chosen to be a literal child,” it finally muttered.
Author's Note
Heyo!
So, I made a thing. It's the first time writing such a thing, and thus... it's probably awful. Tear it apart at your leisure, because I need the feedback. I am that new.
Anyways, have fun!
