Greetings, Medafighters! I am here with a minor introduction. This story is based of a previous one I'd written under the same title. After years of inconsistent updating, I decided to start from scratch. Here is the new version! Enjoy.

Welcome Back

The sun was out, heating up the pavement and shimmering off the road. A gentle breeze was drifting through open winds and brushing against the trees. The quiet was shattered as a bell rang out allowing the school doors to be thrown open, releasing hundreds of boys and girls into the yard. Lingering behind the crowd, Jessie lugged her bag across the ground. Several textbooks weighed the poor bag down, making it hard to throw over her shoulder, thus forcing it to be dragged along the dirt. Another student caught up to her, accompanied by a small, red robot.

"Need a hand there, Jessie?" Nick chuckled.

Jessie turned around, glaring at him slightly. Nick shrugged, motioning toward his small robot, who was holding his backpack. Jessie sighed, lifting the bag as best she could into the arms of the small robot. The machine winced, leaning back at the weight and tittering as it tried to rebalance. Nick and Jessie watched anxiously, expecting the small robot to completely fall over. Eventually, it caught its balance and returned to a somewhat upright potion.

"Sorry…about that," Jessie whimpered. "Thank you, Electro."

Electro, the small CAT-type Medabot, gave a slight nod. As a CAT-type, he had a long tail and robotic ears, which tilted every now and then as it picked up noises. Mostly red, it did have little blue spots on its ears, making it slightly different than the standard CAT-type. His bright, yellow eyes showed the amount of pain he was in carrying the load, but he nodded anyway. Jessie groaned slightly, looking away with an awkward smile.

"So," hummed Nick, looking over at Jessie as they walked. "Is today the day?

"Not yet," groaned Jessie, slumping slightly. "My dad says Medabots are waytoo expensive these days." She stood up straight, waving a finger. "When I was your age, I saved up my allowance for years to afford one and even then, it was an outdated model."

"He say that often?" grinned Nick, laughing.

"What type do you think I should get?"

"You? I'd have to say something strong and fast. Maybe a CAR-type, though some of the newer models are expensive so you'd probably have to go for an old gen 3 model. Maybe even a gen 2."

Jessie groaned, pulling at her hair a little. Everyone she knew had a Medabot. It was practically a requirement to have one or more but the time they were her age. Even Nick had Electro, sometimes even his father's Medabot on standby. She sighed, relaxing a little.

"My dad said the old KBT-types were really something to see."

"I can't believe even your dad doesn't have a Medabot," mentioned Nick. "I mean, when he was a kid they must've had some good ones. I know lots of adults who kept their childhood bots."

"He said he had one," Jessie pointed. "Every time I ask about it though, he acts like he's got memory loss or that he has something else to do."

"Kinda lame," shrugged Nick.

They arrived at a double story house. Painted with white and little hints of blue, it was perfect image of a homely environment. The only sign of disgruntlement was the torn-up flowerbed out front, which looks as though someone had started to plant, got frustrated, tore everything up and then left it that way.

Jessie dragged the bag off of Electro, who gave a minor sigh of relief. Nick and Jessie exchanged waves as Jessie headed up the steps and Nick continued down the street with Electro. Opening the door, Jessie felt the serenity of home life settling in. Everything was quiet. Being quiet, her mother obviously wasn't home. The smell of smoke though meant her father was home. With a sigh, she threw her overloaded backpack onto the couch. This alerted the man in the kitchen, who emerged with a goofy grin. He was quick to leap forward and hold his daughter in a tight hug. Jessie groaned, looking away.

"Where's mom?"

"Out getting a scoop," her dad shrugged, moving away. "Apparently, there's a rumor about a strike going on near the plant. She decided to get a head start."

Jessie collapsed on the couch, slumping into the pillows. Her father leaned against the back, holding up his head with one hand. She tilted her head, looking up at him. He groaned, quickly leaving the couch.

"Don't…" he whimpered, moving back toward the kitchen.

"But dad!" gasped Jessie, jumping up and leaning over the back of the couch. "Everyone has a Medabot! Everyone but me!"

"I used to say that all the time when I was your age," he mumbled. "My parents would say the same thing I'm saying you," he turned to face her. "No, Medabot until you're older."

"But, dad!"

"No, buts!"

Jessie slumped down the couch as her father returned to the kitchen. The smoke wasn't bad enough to set off the alarms yet which meant she had some time to herself before school work. Leaving her bag on the couch, she tiptoed around the kitchen to the stairs leading to the basement. It was her quiet place, one that her parents didn't often go. They would send her mother's Medabot to get her from the basement.

The basement light was broken, meaning the only actually light that came in was from the small window near the back. She had a flashlight set at the end of the stairs so as to move about unhindered. There were several old pieces of furniture littered about, obviously forgotten by her parents. She had rearranged the chairs and some old boxes around to form a small fort, topped with a blanket. She'd had this fort set up since she was little, eventually changing it around to grow in size or height. Recently, it wasn't tall enough for her to simply walk in, forcing her to crouch to get in.

Inside was a few pillows and blankets, making it a nice place to take a nap. A few pages and books were pulled out of their boxes so as to give her something to do while she waited for supper. Recently, she had pulled out a few of her parent's old wedding photos. They smiled in every picture, joined by their friends and families…and their Medabots. She knew her mother's Medabot, Brass, but the one beside her father was unknown to her. In all her childhood photos she'd seen, it never showed up.

Leaving her fortress, she stepped up to the stack of boxes she'd been going through. Digging through them, she found one in the back, covered in more dust than the others. It was slightly smaller than her but surprisingly heavy, making it somewhat difficult to pull out. Nonetheless, she managed to pull it over to her fortress' entrance. Rubbing her hands together in anticipation, she gently tugged at the top of the box.

"Ms. Jessica!"

Jessie looked up sharply, slamming the box shut, though it hadn't opened all that much to begin with. Brass stepped lightly down the stairs, using some of her scans to be able to see in the dark. Jessie shoved the box aside, racing toward the stairs before Brass could see what she was doing.

"Brass, what's up?" Jessie stumbled, trying to look as casual as possible as she leaned against the wall beside the stairs.

"It is supper, Ms. Jessica," instructed Brass, waving a hand. "Your parents are waiting."

"Thanks, Brass," nodded Jessie, slipping around Brass carefully. "Can't believe mom and dad make you come down here for them. They scared of the dark or something?"

Brass watched her climb up the stairs quickly. The Medabot glanced down into the darkness, seeing the flickering light of day diminish. Something felt off but not in a bad way. It was like a new energy was emerging, something she couldn't quite identify. Deciding not to dig too much into it, she climbed up the stairs to join the family.

What could be in the box? Why is Jessie's father so against Medabots? Find out next time on Medabots!