Prequel

Note: Astro Boy is the property of Tezuka Productions.

Part One

Tamao Ume road his new ten speed bicycle through the unfamiliar neighborhood. He was just a little too short for the racing bike; even with the seat, handlebars and pedals adjusted all the way inward to accommodate his diminutive height. He managed to remain in control of the machine, but he felt unsure of himself. The seven year old had just received the new bicycle as a present for his birthday the week before, and he couldn't be kept off of it ever since. This was the furthest he'd ridden from home thus far, and he was very proud of the 'big boy' bicycle.

Tamao didn't see the broken bottle in the road before it was too late. He swerved to try and avoid hitting it, least he puncture a tire. His front wheel did manage to avoid the danger, but his rear wheel ran over the glass shards and popped with soft "BLAT". Tamao lost his balance and the machine fell out from under him. Both rider and bicycle now lay in a heap in front of a fancy two story house with a wide porch. The fall bent the rim of the rear wheel, and Tamao now sported a bruised left knee.

Sitting on the front porch were two siblings busily engaged in a game of Chinese checkers. The boy looked to be about Tamao's age, the girl perhaps two years younger. The brother had dark brown hair which was combed in an unruly fashion. He had one large lock of hair hanging over his forehead, and two other locks sticking out at odd angles. His sister's hair was also dark auburn in color, with two bangs sticking up, and a lock hanging down as well. The boy looked up and saw Tamao trying to get up from his undignified position on the ground.

"Do you need some help?" he asked, getting up from his seat and walking down the path from the house toward the street.

"Yeah, I guess so." Tamao sighed. "I'm still getting used to this new bicycle, and now look what I've done to it. My dad will kill me!"

The boy took a quick scan of the machine and smiled. "No problem, I can fix it for you. Oh, by the way, my name is Tobio, and that is my sister, Urania."

"Thanks, Tobio. My name is Tamao." he said, adjusting his glasses and baseball cap.

Tobio ran into the house and returned with a small tool kit, and a hand operated air pump.
"My dad is a genius scientist who builds robots and stuff. He got me my own tool kit, and I can fix anything!" Tobio bragged.

Tobio quickly removed the rear wheel from the bicycle. He pried the tire off of the wheel and removed the punctured tube. Tobio then pumped some air into the tube until he heard the telltale sound of air hissing from it and located the damaged site.
"I've got a patch kit, and the tube and tire aren't too badly torn." He said. "I can fix it good enough for you to get home at least."

"Aw, you've got a boo boo on your knee." Urania cried. "Let me get you a band aid and some onkment!"
She ran into the house and quickly returned with a first aid kit. Urania squirted some first aid cream onto her finger and rubbed it over Tamao's knee. She then put an over sized bandage on it.
"Don't I make a good nurse?" she asked.

"Thanks!" Tamao said. "That feels better."

Tobio quickly patched the tube and reassembled the tire. He pumped it up until it was rock hard to the touch, and mounted it back on the bicycle. Tobio then pulled a pair of pliers from his tool set and readjusted all of the spokes on the wheel until it ran true without any wobble.

"Gee thanks!, you're really a good mechanic." Tamao gleamed.

"Thank you, and you you're very welcome!" Tobio smiled.

Urania hugged her brother. "Isn't my big brother the greatest!" she giggled. "Hey, how about being a third for Chinese checkers?"

"Sure, why not?" Tamao said. He wheeled his bicycle up the path and took an empty seat on the porch by the table where the game was set up.

"Want to see my robot design drawings?" Tobio asked his new friend. "I'm going to be a famous robot scientist just like my father some day."

"Sure!" Tamao said. He followed Tobio into the house while Urania started to set up the checker board for three players.

"Here, what do you think?" Tobio said proudly handing his artwork to Tamao.
Tobio had drawn several large monster robots that looked like they were over ten feet tall. One of them sported huge horns sticking up over its head that made it look even bigger. He also drew a smaller robot that was about his size. He drew it flying across the page, powered by rockets in its arms and legs.

"Wow, I like that little one the best!" Tamao said.

"I designed him to look a bit like myself." Tobio said. "He has all sorts of secret tricks built in, like machine guns in his rear, lasers in his fingers, and he is as strong as Superman!" I call him Atom.

"Nice!" Tomao said.

"Hey you guys, come out here. The checker board is all setup now!" Urania yelled.

The two boys came back out to the porch and sat down at the table. After playing a few rounds of checkers with his new friends, Tamao realized it was getting late and that he needed to get home.
"Sorry guys, my parents will get worried if I don't get home soon", He said.

"Sure, Tamao. Nice meeting you, stop by anytime!" Tobio replied.

"Bye!" Urania cooed.

Tamao hopped on his bicycle and road off just as a brand new automobile pulled into the driveway.
"Hello Son!" smiled the car's driver as he stepped out.

"Hi Dad!" both siblings cried in stereo.

"Tobio ran up to give his dad a hug, and Urania just blew him a kiss.

The man was over six feet tall, thin, and well dressed. He had a bushy head of hair and an equally curly beard. He sported a prominent roman nose, and dark piercing eyes. Dr. Tenma, was the current head of the Institute of Science, and a leading robot engineer. Father and sun walked hand in hand into the house, and Urania followed.

"About time you got home, Uma!" Hoshie Tenma huffed. "You're a half hour late, and dinner has been ready for some time now!"

"Sorry dear. I had to approve the final plans for the new 'Peace Keeper' project."

"All you ever think about are your dumb robots!" Hoshie yelled. "Why don't you pay some attention to your daughter? Whenever you are home, you spend some of your valuable time with your son, but poor Urania here always gets left out. If it weren't for me, she'd be an orphan! I swear, one of these days, I'm going to leave you with Tobio and run away with my dear Urania!"

The next weekend, Kenichi Shikisima was flying his new R/C plane in the park. He had been learning how to control the model plane, but was still a bit lacking in his skills as an R/C pilot. The plane kept banking left, as Kenichi tried to bring it in for a landing. If flew just over Tamao's head and bounced off of a tree snapping off a part of the left wing. Tamao jumped off his bicycle and picked up the remains of the aircraft. He saw the boy with R/C transmitter running toward him.

"Gee, I'm sorry!" Kenichi said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"That's OK, it missed me by a good margin." Tamao said. "Here is what's left of the plane. By the way, my name is Tamao." Tamao handed the broken model back to its owner.

"Hi, I'm Kenichi. Boy, I spent a whole week building that plane, and now I have to fix it. I'm not sure I can ever get it to fly straight and level." He sighed.

Tamao thought about his new acquaintance, Tobio, and the kid's tool set. "Hey, I know someone who might be able to fix it up."

Kenichi packed up his R/C equipment and put it into the saddle bags on his bicycle. The two boys then hopped on their machines and Kenichi followed Tamao over to Tobio's house. Tobio was lying on the patio floor, drawing. He looked up as the two boys arrived.

"Hi, Tamao! Who's your friend?" He asked.

"My name is Kenichi. Tamao said you might be able to fix my R/C plane." Kenichi held out his hand in greeting.

"Sure, let's see it!" Tobio said.

Kenichi took the broken aircraft from his saddle bag and handed it to Tobio. The brown haired boy ran into the house, and soon returned with a box full of stuff. He looked at the broken plane and tried to fit the pieces together. There were some ragged edges where some bits of balsa wood were missing, and Tobio carefully cut some new bits from pieces of wood he found in his supply box. Soon Kenichi's airplane was pinned to the floor of the patio. It had been pieced back together and the newly glued joints were setting.

"The epoxy will take about an hour to cure fully, then you can try to fly it. I think your wing spar was warped, I reset that straight. The plane should fly good now." Tobio said.

Kenichi had been watching Tobio work on the model. "Wow, you are sure handy! How did you learn to do stuff like that?" Kenichi asked.

"I watch my dad work in his lab sometimes. He's a robot scientist." Tobio said proudly.

"Hey where is your sister today?" Tamao asked.

"My mom took her shopping for some new clothes for school" Tobio said. "I'm here by myself till my dad gets back. He had to run into work for a few hours."

"Gee, that sucks." Kenichi said.

"Want to play some checkers?" Tobio asked.

"Sure" Kenichi said. Tamao nodded his head in agreement.

Tobio set up the Chinese checker board for a three way, and the friends played a few games. Dr. Tenma's car pulled into the driveway, and Tobio's dad walked up to the porch.

"Hi son! Sorry I had to leave you alone for a few hours. We had a small emergency over at the IOS that couldn't wait till Monday."

"That's OK dad. Hey, meet my new friends, Tamao and Kenichi."

Dr. Tenma waved hello at the boys as he entered the house. He had to carefully step over Kenichi's plane that was still pinned down to the floor, with the glue curing. After a few minutes, Uma Tenma returned. He had a funny look on his face, and shook it off.
"Hey, can I join in with you guys playing checkers?" he asked.

"Sure, Dad. Pull up a chair!" Tobio smiled.

The four of them played checkers for a few hours until Tamao and Kenichi had to leave. By that time the glue on Kenichi's plane was set up solid, and Tobio carefully pulled out the pins and handed the aircraft back to his new friend. The two boys left on their bicycles and father and son sat together on the porch. Uma pulled Tobio close to him and gave his son a hug.

"Want to go out for dinner, Tobio?" His father asked.

"Sure, but what about Mom and Urania?" Tobio asked.

"I guess they will be staying at the mall until it closes and will eat at the food court. Why don't we go to a restaurant together, just the two of us. Your choice."

"Can we have Sushi?" Tobio asked.

"Certainly." His father said.

They sat at a table in Tobio's favorite Sushi restaurant. The boy nervously eyed a strange man who sat at a table on the other side of the restaurant. He wore a dark cloak and a ribbon tie. He had a large scar on his face, and part of his skin was discolored. Sitting next to him was a girl about Tobio's age, with four bows in her hair.
"Don't stare at people!" Tenma said. "It isn't polite!"

They placed their orders with the waitress.
"It will be ready in about 20 minutes." She said. "We are a bit busy tonight."

Dr. Tenma looked his son in the face and waited till he had the boy's attention.

"Tobio, I need to tell you something. You know that your mother and I have had our little arguments."

"You mean fights don't you?" Tobio said.

"I guess it sometimes looked that way." His father sighed. "Anyway, she left me a note in our bedroom that I saw when I came home from work today. I know she told you that she was going shopping with your sister. Actually, she ran away from home today. Your mother had been threatening me that she would leave us, and take your sister with her. Today, it appears that she made good on that threat. I guess it's just the two of us now, Tobio. I'm sorry. I know you loved Urania."

Tobio didn't digest the information right away.
"What do you mean dad? When are Mom and Urania coming back?"

"Never. Your mother told me she couldn't live with us anymore. She told me that I was not a good father to your sister. She also said she knew that I cared about you, and that you would want to stay with me. So she took your sister and left. I don't know where she could have gone. I'm sorry, I guess it might be my fault." Uma sighed, resting his face in his hands, covering his eyes.

Tobio slowly started to cry. "Mom! Damn you Mommy!"

The food arrived, father and son slowly ate in silence. Uma paid the check, leaving a good sized tip. The two of them walked home arm in arm.