So this is my first Astro Boy ff, so pardon if the characters turn out to be a bit ooc, but i'll try my best :o

im still debating if im going to leave this as a one shot or add to it. if i add to it, the scenes and/or POV's wont be in any order, unless i state so.

this oneshot is mainly just Cora's POV at the Robot Games, what she was feeling. I've wanted to read a oneshot/story like this but havent found one, although there's probably a story out there somewhere. but until i find one, i'll leave this story out here to fulfill my own needs ;D

anyways happy reading :o!

um... action? sure.

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Time seemed to freeze. She was overwhelmed with emotion, something she hadn't felt so harsh and brutal before. Hamegg had finally pointed out that he was a robot, and despite her feeling a bit angry at Hamegg for hurting her friend- cough - ex-friend, one emotion consumed her the greatest.

Betrayal.

She knew she had only known him for, what? Barely even two full days? But she had felt attached to him, something about him seemed to draw her - and the other orphans - to him. He was kind, funny and, dare she admit it, cute.

But nope. In a total of three measly words, he was nothing. He wasn't actually nice, or funny, or even cute anymore - because it was all an act. He was programmed to say those things, to be nice.

He wasn't real.

He didn't show true emotion.. he was only programmed to do so.

But before she knew it, and could scream out at the world for being so unfair, she was surrounding by hundreds of other people - all watching and waiting in an arena. She felt confused. Why? Because she didn't know how she felt about Astro inevitably being in the games. He was so tiny, almost a child; he wouldn't make it. She didn't know if she liked the idea of this or not.

He had lied to her, telling her he was human. But she also felt as if there was a piece of the puzzle missing.

Shrugging it off, she kept her stone cold glare on, not letting it slip.

After a couple of minutes, she could hear Hamegg announcing the beginning of the Games. She wasn't in the best of moods, so she didn't particularly listen to the first bit. Then her ears finally adjusted.

"-me to present, Astro Boy!" Hamegg said, while a small cylinder capsule-like-thing presented Astro, standing confused and slightly in shock, perhaps? Cora felt a wave of sympathy and pity go his way, but she immediately retrieved it back. He didn't deserve it, besides, he was only a robot. Robots came and went on a daily basis, why should this one be any different?

The crowd was immediately taken aback, and started to make disapproving noises at Hamegg - they thought Astro was a human, ha. But before the noises became too much, Hamegg addressed the situation.

"I know, I know." Hamegg started, circling around the arena in his hover cart. "You're wondering what a nice looking kid like that is doing in a place like this," he breathed, starting to calm the audience. Astro wondered around somewhat aimlessly, still looking confused up at the crowd. She'd noticed he was wearing some sort of metal red armor on his shoulders, accompanied by a red letter 'A' on his white shirt.

Then - it happened. Her sapphire eyes met with his chocolate brown, and his were pleading and sorry - as she could tell. But she kept up her stone cold glare and looked back down at her shoes, some disappointment flashing through her eyes.

"-that's a robot!" Ouch. Those words hurt to hear a second time, and she'd felt as if she'd been kicked in the guts. "From Metro City!" Hamegg didn't stop there, though, he kept going.

"Get this folks!" Cora didn't want to. "Astro personally told me he doesn't think much of our fighting robots..." The crowd broke into 'boo's' and hysterics, "Thinks we're all a bunch of sissies!" More boos. "Thinks we're all trailer park trash!" The crowd was about to jump down there and beat the poor kid - no, robot - himself. Then Widget spoke up.

"He didn't say that.." She said innocently, but it was enough to set Cora off.

"He didn't say he was a robot, either." She deadpanned, still not letting her glare fall.

Hamegg spoke up again. "This is what we've all been waiting for! A fight between the Surface... and Metro City!" Loud cheers rang through the crowd as the audience was getting excited.

"Let's get it on!" And with that, the first robot was released from the large metal doors. It was a large black metal robot, with spinning blades as hands. It's eyes were a scary yellowish-orangeish, which added to its threatening look.

Astro looked up at it, very warily. The metalic black robot came closer to him, and Cora sucked in a breath. He was so doomed. She thought.

"I'm not fighting." She barely heard him announce, but right as he said it, the opponent attacked. Astro dodged it, jumping back. This happened about three more times, and then suddenly - wait what?

Cora let out a small gasp. Rocket boots? How the hell did she miss that "tiny" detail? She stared in awe at the fire flaming from his boots, and then slipped her stone face back on. She watched as Astro flew on top of the opponents back, and said something (that she couldn't hear, with the crowd and all), then flew straight up towards the sky - only to be shocked (literally) by an invisible force, sending him crashing back to the ground. She winced, that couldn't have felt good. She flinched slightly as he barely managed to make it off the ground in time to dodge the next attack.

Then, Astro lifted up the opponent, and carried it up to the force field, electrocuting it - and sending it's head flying in the process. She barely heard Zane shout, "Go, Astro!" across from her - while the twins cheered. She noticed Hamegg looked at a loss for words. Good. Good to know she wasn't the only one.

Then the next round. This round wasn't much different. Opponent attacks, Astro dodges. Opponent gets tricked by Astro, Astro destroys opponent. Despite how much Cora still had a grudge for him, she found him quite... fascinating. He looked so vulnerable, yet he was so powerful.

At this point, Hamegg was getting angry. He sent out at least a dozen or more robots from all sides, marching straight towards the boy robot. Cora held her breath. She couldn't watch this... he was going to get destroyed.

And then this is the cliché part of the story where, no, in fact he does not get destroyed - because that "vulnerable" boy robot can kick some ass, and by the end of the very last battle, Cora is surprised she hasn't fainted from holding her breath too long yet. And when Astro finally rises from the destroyed and mangled robot pile, the crowd erupts into cheers. Cora doesn't show it, but she's maybe just a tad bit happy he didn't get mangled to death.

And then his chocolate browns meet with her blues once again, and this time she just looks down, still slightly crestfallen of his betrayal.

And then came the final round.

"And now," Hamegg started, adjusting his hat, "the final challenger! A robot so fierce, so powerful.. even I'm afraid to watch!" Cora sucked in a breath as she saw ZOG being lifted up to the arena from underneath. "I give you, the mighty... ZOG!"

Oh nononononononono.

This was not good. Not ZOG! Astro had practically brought ZOG back to life, he couldn't just kill him! And neither could ZOG, he couldn't kill someone who brought him back to life! This wasn't fair.

But then again, nothing is fair in the Robot Games.

She heard Astro announce, "I'm not fighting you, ZOG." She sucked in a breath, this couldn't end well.

She watched worriedly as ZOG began to slowly march his way towards the boy.

"I mean it! I won't fight." Astro deadpanned, ripping his armor off, as if declaring his statement. But ZOG still marched over, until he stopped in front of the tiny robot. ZOG started to move his hand towards the robot.

"Oh no..." She heard Widget whisper, curling in on her side. She saw Astro stay true to his word, he didn't fight back. Instead she saw him cringe a little in on himself - preparing for impact.

But instead of squishing him as flat as a pancake, ZOG instead just rubbed the top of Astro's head, and nudged his side with one of his metallic fingers. Astro smiled up at the large robot, and ZOG lifted him up into the air as if to say to the crowd, "The winner! The winner! Cheer for him."

Cora was slightly relieved, despite her still feeling betrayed.

She heard the audience cheer at the two victorious robots, making the arena ten times louder than it already was.

And then, Hamegg happened.

He looked pretty outraged that the two hadn't followed his directions, and he made sure to make that clear. He flew up to them in his 'hover cart'. "Oh great," He started, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "'I love you'!" He mocked the two robots. "Some big finale! I said fight!" he zapped ZOG with his gadget, catching the large robot off guard.

She let out a small gasp as she saw Astro try to fly towards Hamegg, but Hamegg was quicker. He zapped Astro, and the tiny robot fell to the ground beneath him. "I won't fight." He declared - once again. How many times did he have to prove himself in order to get Hamegg to listen? Instead Hamegg ignored him, zapping him another time, making Astro fall to the ground again, after letting out a small groan. "Fight!" Hamegg shouted at him.

What was up with Hamegg? Why did he hate him so muc-

Oh.

Well she was a hypocrite. Either way, hate him or not, the amount of times Hamegg was zapping him was unnecessary, Astro didn't deserve it.

...Did he?

She heard Zane shout from beside her, "Hey, that's enough!" He shouted down at Hamegg, attempting to defend the two robots.

And Hamegg had heard, too. "What's the matter with you?" He shouted back up, "They're just machines! They'll do what I tell them!" He retorted back up at the teenage boy, who was now standing up.

But Hamegg didn't stop there, he kept on talking.

"What? I'm gonna get embarrassed from a suited up hot shot from Metro City?" He asked to no one in particular, zapping Astro. "Some 100 years old bulldozer from New Jersey?" His voice was filled with rage, and he zapped the poor Astro again, still lying on the ground.

Stop! You're hurting him!

She mentally screamed, but then remembered he didn't deserve her pity.

"I don't think so! I'm turning you both off!" He zapped Astro for the final time, before ZOG had had enough and decided to take defense. He stomped his right foot, shaking the arena and simultaneously knocking Hamegg to the ground.

Hamegg tried to scurry away on his back as ZOG got closer and closer, but it wasn't any use. "Stop!" He screamed, trying to halt the robot. "The laws of robotics!" He went on, as ZOG lifted up his left foot, preparing to crush him. "You can't hurt a human! It's been that way for 50 years!" He said, cowering under the humongous foot above him.

No! Don't crush him! Cora immediately went wide eyed. Maybe Hamegg wasn't her biological father, but he was the closest she had. Where would she and the other orphans go if he... died?

Before she knew it, ZOG was talking. "I'm old school," he stated, and her heart plummeted in her chest. She closed her eyes, and she and Widget were suddenly grasping eachother for support. Hearing the loud gasps and screams from the crowd. Then Sludge spoke up.

He gasped, "Look," he said, pointing to the scene.

Cora allowed herself to look up, and what she saw bewildered her.

There was ZOG's metallic foot, and Hamegg. And in between both of them was Astro.

Astro!

He struggled to keep up ZOG's heavy foot from Hamegg's shivering body, but he managed it. The crowd was in shock with the sudden turn of events, and none knew what to do with the situation, only but to stare as it unraveled.

She saw Hamegg's mouth move as he spoke to Astro, in shock. She didn't hear what he had said.

She could tell her face looked of one of complete and utter shock and confusion, but she didn't care. His eyes met hers again, and all he did was stare. No symbolic message coursed through them, making her somewhat disappointed.

Then, as if the events hadn't already gotten crazy enough, a huge Metro City ship came flying down into the arena. The ship landed, and about a dozen of armed soldiers came running out of vehicle. They surrounded the edge of the arena and aimed their weapons at the crowd.

"What are they doing here?" She asked, standing up as she was now fully alert.

Her question was ignored as a tall lanky man came out of the skip accompainied by a short chubby man with a stone face.

She lanky man spoke up, "Seize the boy robot and secure the area." He ordered to the soldiers, who immediately took action. A close by soldier grabbed Astro's arm, "Hey!" he shouted but was ignored. But instead, ZOG took defense - again.

He lifted up some of the near by soldiers and shook them in the air, until Astro calmed him down. "ZOG, stop! Stop!" He shouted.

"Put them down," He ordered. His mournful eyes caught hers again, "It doesn't matter anymore."

Her heart broke at his words that she barely heard audible, but it broke nonetheless.

ZOG after hearing this, understood the robot boy and put the shouting soldiers down (not so gracefully, I must add).

The crowd started to go into hysterics, throwing the nearest trash down into the arena - mainly aimed towards Hamegg. Cora guessed that the audience was just mad that he couldn't get the last two robots to fight. Eh, whatever. She shrugged it off.

She was mainly staring at Astro, while also trying to comprehend what was going on. Why were they taking him? Where were they taking him? Who's the tall lanky guy bossing around orders? Why was he important enough to where at least a dozen soldiers and a ship from Metro City have to chase him?

Cora was confused.

She wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, or else she would have noticed Trashcan jumping down and attempting to attack one of the soldiers. Widget shouted, "Trashcan, no!" But the little robot kept trying, until he was kicked off by the heavy boot of a soldier.

Astro looked back as he was being pushed by one of the armed men, "I'm sorry," He said, looking up at her for the last time for a while, "I tried to tell you.." He finished, but Cora couldn't hear him. The audience was too loud and her ears didn't seem to want to be working. She didn't know what was going on.

She finally watched him get pushed into the ship, and then he was gone.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

okay okay this took me a few hours to write, idk why tho

anyway im probably (most likely) going to be making another chapter is Cora's POV so um... stick around for that? maybe? okay cool.

see ya next time :o