Battery Recharging…89%...90%...Restarting System.

Power Source Diagnostics…43%...76%...100% Power Source Online. Checking Parameters

Systems Check…25%...48%...70%...100%

Body Structure Diagnostics…24%...28%...65%...88%...100% Minor Damage To Visual Recording System. Minor Damage To Lower Right Torso. Major Damage To Upper Central Torso.

Com Systems Check…45%...79%...100% Hardware Not Found. Network Not Found. Communications Impossible. Switching To Personal AI.

Restarting System.

System Restarted. Scanning. Scanning Complete.

Warning: Error In Primary Hard Drive. Memory Unavailable, Switching To Backup Drive A.

Launching OS.

Welcome To Tanaka Systems, A Product Of Chao And Hakase Industries. Current Time Is 05:37:35 p.m. June 03, 2009 Plus Or Minus 3.569 Seconds. Current Location Unknown, Satellite Network Not Found.

He opened the covers over his ocular devices and registered green spots mixed with bits of blue before him. A quick check of his libraries revealed first that this was probably what is commonly known as a 'forest canopy', and second, his libraries were incomplete; much of his storage space had been damaged or destroyed, possibly due to the moisture that had collected on his damaged frame, which itself seemed to have been in this spot for quite some time if one were to judge by the moss that had grown on his external covering.

Basic plant life found on external layer. AutoRemoval initiating.

The electric shock that shot through his outer skin killed the moss that covered him almost instantly. He briefly wondered what had occurred to allow his creators to simply leave him here long enough to grow moss, and then wondered who his creators were. Something seemed to be wrong with his memory.

Scanning surroundings…scan complete. No hostile lifeforms detected.

He sat up and swayed for a moment before the AutoBalance system kicked in and he righted himself. Almost immediately a nearby squirrel dashed up a tree and chattered furiously at him from the end of a branch.

Scanning lifeform…scan complete. Healthy specimen of Sciurus lis. No threat detected. Image and video saved for future reference.

After brushing off the dead moss, he got slowly to his feet, trusting in the AutoBalance system to do its job properly. For a moment, he considered switching over to manual, but then the system kicked in and he stood up straight. Next, he spent several minutes scanning the area more thoroughly in an attempt to replace some of the valuable data that had been lost. Unfortunately, he was unable to put a name to most of what he saw, and was therefore forced to label the various objects as 'Unknown Deciduous Tree A' or 'Unknown Bush B'. Soon he had every nearby life form catalogued, along with levels of O2 and other similar information. With that done, he ran some simulations to determine what he should do next. First things first, he needed to contact headquarters. However, after several minutes spent with a variety of frequencies, his logic module announced that headquarters had either been overrun or simply ceased to exist during his time offline, as he detected no signals from them among the mass of signals his receiver detected. However, it was certainly possible that his transmitter was malfunctioning as well. A moment later, the emergency beacon that had begun transmitting when he had come back online abruptly cut out in a flash of static as sparks shot out from the side of his head, where the transmitter was located.

Transmitter offline, unable to contact headquarters. Moving to next item. Severe damage to outer skin. Suggested course of action: obtain clothing to hide damaged appearance until repairs can be undertaken. Suggested direction of travel: North Northwest.

He started walking.

Inoue Ai was a hard worker. Intelligent, motivated, and dreaming of a future in the theatre; and as the newest member of the Acting Club, she was doing her best, practicing every day in the woods with the wildlife as an audience and a stick as a prop. Today, she was doing her favorite play, Romeo and Juliet, playing each part in turn as well as she could, though her recollection of many of the lines was fuzzy at best. After a fantastic sword fight between Mercutio and Tybalt in Act III, she threw herself to the ground, mortally wounded.

"Courage, man! It can't hurt much," she said, her voice not unlike that of a teenage boy.

"No, it's not so deep as a well or as wide as a church door, but it will serve," she replied in a light hearted, yet more masculine, tone. "Look for me tomorrow, and you'll find a grave man." She grinned a cocky grin at an imaginary Romeo. "Plague on both your houses! Dogs, rats, mice, cats to scratch…uh…villains…" she consulted the script and frowned, scratching the side of her head as she sat up.

"What is this supposed to mean? It's so weird," she complained aloud to the empty clearing as she dropped out of character. She was so distracted by the script that what happened next almost surprised her enough to scream. Almost.

A crackling buzz echoed across the small clearing as what appeared to be a very large naked man stepped through the bushes on the other side. His skin was covered in rips and tears, and part of his face had been ripped and burned off to reveal a metal skeleton beneath, like something out of that old time-traveling-robot movie from the '80s. He was also covered in dirt and dead moss.

Ai scrambled back until she bumped into a tree as the robot-man approached to within six feet of her and stopped. He tilted his head downward with the accompanying whirr of servos and fixed her in place with his eerie robot stare.

"I need your clothes," he said in a monotone voice.

The girl blinked a couple times. "W-what?" 'Damn stutter...!' It always came back when she was nervous and not playing a character...

"I need your clothes," the robot repeated.

"W-w-why?" she asked, covering her chest with her arms.

"Suggested course of action: obtain clothing to hide external damage. I need your clothes."

Ai's jaw dropped as she thought about that for a moment. He wanted her clothes…to wear? The mere thought of the big robot man in her school uniform was just…absurd.

"I…don't think they would fit you," she said after a moment, looking at the three-foot spread of his shoulders and his ridiculous height; she was tall for a girl, but not that tall. The robot simply stood still for a moment, as if trying to process this bit of information. Another crackle of static burst out and it spoke again.

"I must obtain clothing."

"I-I…could help you?" she suggested warily. The robot paused again, this time for almost a full minute before he responded.

"That is acceptable. Obtain clothing immediately."

Ai took a deep breath to calm herself and rested her chin on her hand in thought for a moment, then circled the robot a few times to get a sense of his size, absently noting the way his head turned as he watched her. She noticed with an odd feeling of disquiet that his head could turn two hundred and ten degrees.

"I don't think I'll find anything your size in the normal stores…" she finally said. "Maybe the sewing club will have something. B-but hey, we don't even know each other's names yet. I'm Inoue Ai, what's your name?"

"Greetings Inoueai. I am Tanaka Unit 1125, currently running in autonomous mode."

"It's Inoue Ai, two words. Not 'Inoueai'," she said in mild annoyance now that she felt she had gained some tiny bit of control over the situation. "A-anyway… Tanaka-san, huh? Okay, Tanaka-san, you wait here. I'll get something for you and be back here in about an hour, okay?"

"Understood. Entering Sleep Mode." The robot suddenly slumped, but remained standing.

"Er…Okay," the girl said distractedly as she approached the still robot and gave it an experimental poke. It immediately whirred back to life.

"Sleep Mode: Cancel." Its head turned in that weird way it had, and its eyes focused on her face. "Greetings Inoueai. One hour has not passed. You have not returned with clothing," it stated with the occasional crackle of static, as if demanding the reason why.

"Ah…s-sorry, I was just testing something. Go back to sleep, I'll get your clothes now," she explained.

"Understood. Entering Sleep Mode." He slumped again, and she couldn't help but be weirded out by the whole situation as she left the clearing.

When Ai returned an hour and a half later, she found Tanaka-san in the same place she had left him.

"Hey, you still alive over there?" she asked. The robot man stirred when she called out.

"You are late," he stated simply.

"It took a while to find clothes that looked big enough…I had to borrow a jacket from the p.e. teacher," she explained as she held out the bundle she had brought along. The robot just looked at her in silence. "What, don't you know how to put on clothes?"

"Data not found. Much data was lost due to moisture damage. Perhaps data on 'clothing' was lost this way?" the robot suggested in its near-monotone voice.

The girl heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Okay then, hold out your arms, I'll help you put it on…"

Most of the clothes she had brought along were simply too small, but eventually she managed to get the robot man dressed. When she was finished, she stepped back to admire her work.

"Well, it's all really tight and Max-sensei will probably kill me if you rip his jacket, but I think you'll pass for a human if you stay out of sight and wear this hat. Oh, and keep your head down so people don't see your face," Ai said as she put a brown fedora hat on his head, messing up his hair and forcing it down so the hat would stay in place.

Tanaka-san buzzed for a moment before replying. "Thank you, Inoueai."

"It's Inoue Ai, two words, you know?" she repeated. "Anyway, come on. It looks like you got hurt somehow. I don't know anything about robots, but I do know a little about computers; I might be able to fix you up a bit. You can't stay in the dorms, but I know a guy who has a garage we could put you in. Does that sound okay?" she asked, her face brightened considerably by her smile.

"Understood."

Updated Author's Note 4/22/11: This is a minor edit of this chapter, but it's probably a good idea to read it anyway...though I guess you already have since I put this at the bottom of the page. Anyway, this story needed some editing and oh, I don't know, A CONCLUSION, so I decided to give it another shot.

(Original) Author's Note: This is a story occurring during the events of Still Waters 3, which is not yet published at this time. Sadly, it will not be updated regularly, but instead as I find inspiration. Many characters will appear in both stories, and this will mostly serve as an introductory story to Still Waters 3, so pay attention! :)