Heavy Metal Noise

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Back in 1981 a Canadian studio released a film based on a popular adult comic book. I would certainly consider "Heavy Metal" to be a science fiction anime set to rock music. Some time ago I started to write a cross-over story putting Astro and the gang into the Heavy Metal AU. Here is the opening chapter, hopefully more on the way!

Heavy Metal Noise

Dr. O'Shay entered the house carrying what looked like a cylindrical metal device of some sort. It had a handle on the top of it, and glowing readouts and indicator lights on the bottom. The top portion of it was latched to the base by several heavy clamps. The professor quickly carried the thing into his office and then exited the room, locking it behind him.

His actions were not unnoticed by the five robot children and the one human boy that had observed him enter the house. As he locked his office, O'Shay first noticed the youngsters and quickly greeted them. “Konbanwa,” he said.

“Konbanwa, O'Shay Hakase,” Reno replied.

“If you don't mind my asking,” O'Shay asked, “What are all of you doing here? I thought that you were going to spend the night over at Reno's place, Astro?”

“We were, but that was before Atlas invited himself over and then Mars showed up,” Reno explained. “My apartment isn't that big and it quickly became a bit too crowed.”

The professor suddenly had visions of empty oil cans and pizza boxes scattered all over the living room and sighed. “Just pick up after yourselves please,” he said giving Astro and Reno a hard look into their eyes. “I've got to get back to the Ministry and finish some paper work. Keep out of my office please, I've left some sensitive equipment there that I will need to look at when I get home later.” He added, this time exchanging eye contact with Uran.

“Sure, no problem,” came a unified response from Uran, Astro, Reno, and Cobalt.

Dr. O'Shay then disappeared into the kitchen to make himself some instant Ramen in the microwave oven. He ate it quickly and then grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door again. “I'll be back in a few hours, please try and keep it down to a dull roar,” he said, “you don't want to disturb the neighborhood.”

Reno was already on the phone ordering a dozen half meter sized pizzas with various toppings. Atlas and Astro had already broken into the case of organic robot oil that Atlas had brought over with him, and Cobalt and Uran were busy channel surfing on the professor's two meter flat screen television receiver.

By the time the pizza delivery finally arrived, the group had settled down watching the episodes of “Robot Chicken”, and “Adult Swim” that Reno and Astro had downloaded earlier in the week from various Bit Torrent sites.

They were in the middle of watching a “Robot Chicken” parody of “Star Trek” when the television set suddenly lost sync and the picture started to 'buzz' with diagonal lines. Atlas got up and whacked the side of the large screen television with his fist, and it promptly exploded. Before Astro and Uran could yell at Atlas, the door to the professor's office began to glow with a bright green light.

“What the hell?” Astro thought out loud.

The group got up and cautiously approached the professor's office. The green glow got brighter and a loud whine started coming from behind the closed door, which sudden flew open on its own.

Astro, Reno, and Atlas entered the room to investigate, while the others stood just outside the office.

At that moment the professor opened the door the house and walked in. He dropped everything he was carrying and ran into the office which he saw was now open.

“I told you to keep out of my office!” O'Shay yelled.

“We didn't open the door, it flew open by itself!” Reno yelled back.

“What's going on in here?” Mars and Cobalt stuck their heads into the doorway to peek inside the office, while Uran stood outside frightened by the glow and the high pitched squeal.

The cylindrical device sitting on the professor's desk opened itself up to reveal a perfectly smooth sphere about 30 centimeters in diameter. The orb was now glowing with a bright green light and was emitting a high pitched whining sound.

“What is that thing?” Mars asked at the top of his lungs.

“It's an ancient relic the Ministry's archeology department dug up in Egypt in some tomb,” the professor said loudly. “I brought it home because I thought it would be safer here than at the ministry, we've had several relics stolen in the last few days.”

“Is this the Lok-Nar that you mentioned?” Reno asked.

“Yes, that was the translation of the inscription carved into wall where this relic was found,” O'Shay cried above the increasing noise being emitted by the glowing sphere. “We locked it into this protective canister because we thought it might be radioactive. It wasn't supposed to open by itself, it has an encrypted lock.”

“Maybe that orb has some A.I. of it's own!” Astro said.

“You may be right.” O'Shay replied as he tried to close the canister.
As the doctor grabbed the two halves of the container to try and close it there was an explosion of light. The occupants of the room found themselves falling through the air in as if a hole had opened in the ground beneath them. The world went quiet and dark and all each of the could hear was the sound of the air flying past them as they fell through the darkness.

Outside the professor's office, Uran stood trembling in fear as the others disappeared in a flash of light. The glowing orb floated out of the room and hovered in front of her. She backed away and stood against the far wall as the Lok-Nar cornered her. Uran fell to the floor and sat against the wall. She covered her eyes, but the sphere seemed to penetrate her thoughts, speaking to her and filling her mind with images.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The Pacific Perl bounced about though the turbulent air as the flak of AA fire exploded all around her. The B17's starboard outboard engine coughed and sputtered as flames shot out of two of its cylinder jugs. The pilot quickly pulled on the knob that activated the fire extinguisher for the engine, and then throttled it back to idle, setting the mixture to full lean to shut it down. He then pushed the throttles of the three remaining engines to full, and held left rudder to keep the plane flying straight despite the unbalanced thrust.

They were flying over Japanese controlled territory in the Philippines, their mission was to knock out air bases and destroy military supplies. The aircraft continued fly though the AA flak as they came upon their target. Enemy fighter aircraft came up from the ground to meet them, buzzing all about the squadron of bombers like angry bees. The gunners on both sides of the aircraft, along with the tail gunner and the one in the ball turret below and just behind the cockpit rapidly scanned about them, shooting at the Zero's that continued to barrage the battered B17 with armor piercing shells. One by one the Pacific Perl's crew were hit by rounds from the enemy, and fell silent.

The bomber was now over the enemy air base on the largest of the islands below them. The pilot handed off control of the aircraft to the bombardier who peered into the Norton sight, waiting for the right instant to hit the release button. The plane came over the target and the bomb bay doors opened. Tons of death rained from the skies as the fined torpedoes fell from the aircraft and nosed their way downward to the ground where they exploded.

It was now strangely quiet in the four engined plane. The sky around them was empty, the enemy had deserted them, the other members of their squadron had all succumb to the defenses of the enemy. The Perl was now the only plane in the sky above the smoldering ruins of the Japanese airbase on the island now several miles behind them.

Reno gripped the yoke tightly, his hands sweated inside of his leather gloves despite the freezing cold temperature in the bomber's unpressurized cabin at the altitude they were flying.
“It sounds deathly quiet back there,” he spoke to his copilot who had just evened up the power between the aircraft's three remaining good engines.

“You're right,” the young man in the right seat nodded, “perhaps I should go back and check?”

“Be careful,” Reno nodded as the copilot unstrapped himself to get out of his seat. “We must be pretty well shot up back there, I wonder what is keeping this bird in one piece.”

Reno watched as his cockpit mate headed towards the rear of the aircraft though the narrow tunnel leading out of the cockpit. He kept heavy pressure on the left rudder to compensate for the dead engine on the starboard side. Through the front window of the aircraft he saw a bright blue-green star getting larger in the sky, it appeared like a glowing ball, getting closer.

The second in command walked slowly through the bombers long fuselage. The body of the aircraft was full of bullet holes and larger voids caused by exploding AA rounds that it had flown through. The first crew members that he passed by were the two side gunners, both of them lying in pools of their own blood that had poured out from gapping wounds inflected by the enemy fire.

The bombardier's station was similarly gruesome, with that crew member slumped over his bomb sight. Part of his skull was missing, torn away by a large round that had penetrated the skin of the aircraft from above. He reached the rear of the plane to find the tail gunner leaning over his weapon as if asleep. The copilot gave the crew member a gentle shove and the man fell over to reveal a large gash in his trunk with his guts hanging out.

The cockpit officer heaved up a flood of vomit at the sight, and then started to turn back towards the front of the aircraft to report back to the pilot. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a bright green light approaching the plane from behind. The glowing ball passed through the top of the airplane and filled the fuselage with a bright green glow. Each of the dead crew members seemed to be encased by the light, and they slowly stirred, rising like zombies.

The co-pilot picked up his pace, almost running back towards the cockpit. He thought he saw movement inside of the ball-turret just behind the bombardier's station, and he peeked into the ball, hoping to find the man inside alive. Suddenly two of the new zombies came upon him and started tearing him apart.

Back in the cockpit, Reno heard the moans of the undead in the rear of the airplane. He locked the flight controls on a steady straight and level setting and made his way back to investigate. Just as he reached the door to the cockpit, two zombized crewmen came upon him, with intention of attack. Reno slammed the door to the cockpit shut and locked it, but the pounding from the other side told him that his position wasn't secure.

Reno opened the outer hatch to the aircraft and jumped into the cold night. He waited long enough to descend into denser air before pulling his ripcord. The canopy of the parachute blossomed above him and he felt the tug of the lines against his back. He saw an island below him, and he pulled on the parachute's cords to try and steer himself towards a dry landing. Reno looked up and saw the B17 drifting away in a gentle descent, the smoke still pouring out of the outermost starboard engine......

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Captain Dachi

Jetter Mars stood in the hallway mindlessly pacing back and forth. In his hands he fiddled with a small green marble that he'd picked up somewhere in one of the hallways of the space station. He stayed within earshot of the loud speakers mounted in the hallway, just outside of the entrance to the court room.

Atlas stood next to his attorney facing the judge. Behind them quite a crowd was assembled, almost the entire population of the space station had tried to crowd into the court room to witness the trial of the century.

“Captain, Dachi,” the judge began, after banging his gavel on the podium in front of him to quiet down the crowd packed into the back of the court room. “You are charged with 52 counts of treason, 47 counts of theft, 72 counts of assault, 17 counts of piracy, 27 counts of racketeering, 10 counts of smuggling and one count of jay walking. How do you plea?”

Atlas smiled. He had a look of perfect calmness on his face, and wasn't even sweating as he replied, “Not guilty, your honor.”

“What!” the defense attorney whispered loudly to him. “They've got you dead to rights! You need to change your plea to guilty and beg for the mercy of the court! With any luck we can get them to seal the location of your remains after they deactivate you and take you apart!”

“I've got an angle,” Atlas smirked.

“What do you mean, you've got an angle?” the lawyer asked. “What possible kind of defense could you possibly have?”

The judge ignored the side chatter between the defendant and his council as he again banged his gavel for order. “Call your first witness, Mr. prosecutor,” he yelled above the din.

“The state calls a Mr. Jetter M. Fisk,” the council for the state replied.

Mars entered the courtroom and walked towards the witness stand, just as he'd rehearsed during the past few days. He stood up behind the low podium next to the judges, still fiddling with the strange green marble, which now gave out a soft glow.

“State your name for the record,” the judge requested of him.

“Jetter Mars Fisk,” Mars replied in a timid voice.

Atlas pointed at the witness stand and with his left hand and poked his attorney with his right. “Him,” he said, “He's my angle. I paid him 35,000 Venusian Dollars to testify in my behalf.”

The prosecutor walked up to the witness stand and addressed Fisk. “Do you know the defendant, Captain Atlas Dachi?” he asked.

“Why yes I do,” Mars said in a meek tone as he nervously fidgeted, rolling the green marble between his hands. “Dachi is the kindest man I know, he wouldn't hurt a fly. He's the milk of human kindness, really.”

The green marble began to glow as Fisk played with it and his face suddenly twitched uncontrollably.

“He's never done anything illegal,” Mars continued, suddenly speaking in a different tone of voice, “unless you count the prostitution ring he runs!”

Atlas face palmed and bit his nails as Jetter continued his testimony.

“Everybody loves Captain Dachi,” Mars continued in a shaky voice that suddenly grew deeper, “Athough he did sell his own mother into slavery!”

Atlas slowly backed away from where he was standing as the crowd began to mutter. Mars was now sweating profusely. His body was now twitching violently and he suddenly seemed to swell to twice his normal size as his clothing ripped under the strain. “I'm going to kill you Dachi!”, he yelled as he smashed the witness stand to splinters with a double fist.

Atlas took off as Fish chased him, leaving the courtroom in shambles behind him. Now in the corridor, Atlas keep looking for a place to hid as the man mountain that Mars had become bounded after him. The captain opened a hatchway in the hall and slammed the door locked behind him seconds before the enraged Mars reached him. Mindlessly, Mars bashed his head into the wall, the entire space station vibrated from his rage. With a crash, the hulking monster slammed through the wall and cornered Atlas at the end of a long passageway.

Mars stood in front of Atlas, drool dripping from his mouth, his eyes red and burning with anger. Atlas slowly reached into his uniform pocket.
“Well, I guess you've got this coming to you,” he calmly spoke as he withdrew a large wad of cash from his pocket. “Five thousand, Ten,” Atlas slowly counted the bills. “Twenty five, Thirty, Thirty Five Thousand,” he said, handing the large wad to Mars.

Jetter took the bills from Atlas, and he suddenly shrunk back to his normal size.
“Good bye,” Atlas smiled as he pulled a lever which activated a trap door beneath Mars. Fisk fell through an airlock and out of the station. He floated away, the pile of bills drifting in orbit with him.....

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Uran tried to back away from the glowing orb that floated in front of her, but the blue ball only grew larger in size and its glow increased into a brilliant glare.

“I'm not finished with you yet!” the sphere yelled at her without making a sound. “You've seen how I can corrupt the Innocent, now I will show you some more of my powers!”

Again the strange object projected visions into Uran's mind as she sat frozen helplessly on the floor.


Cobalt was blasted through a wormhole as he fell between two planes of existence in alternate dimensions. Glowing galaxies, and interstellar dust swilled about his vision. As he fell, he felt himself being transformed. His thin slender body grew in bulk, his thin hair spikes became long horns. He felt his energy increasing to over a million horsepower. Finally he crashed into a plateau, on a mountain overlooking a temple by a long pool of glowing water.

On the edge of the pool, a beautiful blue eyed maiden with long golden curly locks of hair was being offered as a sacrifice to some deity in the turbulent waters. Her arms and legs were bound at the wrists and ankles with weighted ropes and she was held aloft above the water by two ape like creatures. A priestess, wearing a golden helmet and holding a scepter containing a glowing orb at its end motioned to the beasts to hurl their captive into the waves. As the screaming woman was thrown into the pool where she sank beneath the muddy water, the powerful being that Cobalt had become leaped from his perch above the crowd and dove into the pool.

Pluto grabbed hold of the maidens legs and propelled himself through the pool towards an underwater tunnel leading away from the temple. He rose up into a quiet pond and swam towards its edge where he deposited the mostly nude body of the unconscious female on the soft grass. He pressed his lips against hers and breathed air into her lungs. She coughed and awoke from her stupor. Pluto untied her bonds, “Are you OK,” he asked.

“Thank you for saving me,” the woman cooed, she leaned over and planted a kiss on the mighty robot's cheek.

“My name is Pluto, though on Earth I was known as Cobalt,” he said, “What's your name and where are you from?”

“My name is Sapphire, and I too am from Earth,” She said. “I don't remember how I was brought to this place.”


With his attention diverted by the girl, Pluto didn't notice the band of armed creatures that slowly advanced towards them, until he felt the point of a spear against his neck.

“On your feet, you two!” the leader of the ambush yelled, “You're coming with us.”
With his wrists bound together and attached to a chain by his waist to Sapphire, the two of them were marched across a wooded area towards a castle on higher ground. They were then released from the chains and Sapphire was taken away, while Pluto was ushered into a large room. Seated upon a throne was a young man in a toga wearing a pair of dark glasses. Pluto was pushed towards him by burly ape like soldiers carrying automatic rifles. Pluto stood some twenty feet from the throne, and looked up at the ruler who had ordered his capture.

“Just who are you and what do want with me?” Pluto demanded, “And what have you done with the girl?”

“My, aren't we brash?” the young man in the toga said. “My subjects call me Rock,” he said. “and your lady friend is safe for now, provided that you do my bidding. If you don't then both of you will die.”

“I think not,” Pluto snarled. He turned suddenly and punched one of the two armed guards behind him in the face and grabbed his weapon. Then before the second guard could fire his rifle, Pluto kicked him in the groin. He then turned and aimed the gun at Rock and pulled the trigger, emptying the entire magazine.

Rock was riddled full of holes by the several dozen rounds, but he didn't bleed a single drop. Within a few minutes all of the wounds healed.

“Really now,” Rock laughed at Pluto. “You see, I can't be killed so easily.”

“Very well,” Pluto sighed, dropping the rifle to the ground, “What do you want from me?”

“You will accompany several of my best mercenaries on a raid of the Queen's castle and steal the Lok-Nar from her. If you bring it back to me, both you and the girl can go. Otherwise, you die, she dies, everyone dies.”

“Sounds good to me.” Pluto said.


The group made their way to the queen's castle under the cover of darkness. After quietly creeping past the castle guards they found themselves deep within the inner chambers of the old stone fortress.

“You make you way to the Queen's private chambers,” the leader of the mercenary group instructed Pluto. “We'll enter the sanctuary where the priestess offers prayers to Olatek. The Lok-Nar must be kept somewhere between the two areas.”

They separated and went in their assigned directions. Pluto pushed the door to the Queen's chambers open and saw that it was dark and deserted. Hanging from a hook on the wall over the fireplace was the royal scepter, the glowing sphere of the Lok-Nar mounted in its end. Before he could grab his prize and make off with it the Queen entered the room with two of her guards.

“How dare you invade my privacy!” she yelled “Guards kill him!”

A half dozen of burly apes grabbed hold of Pluto and yanked him towards the door.

“Wait a moment, I have better plans for him!” the queen laughed.

The guards pushed Pluto towards the queen, and left the royal chamber.

“Come with me!” the evil woman beckoned. She led him into her bed chambers and closed the door behind them. “You will make love to me!” she commanded, pushing him towards her bed.

Pluto shrugged his shoulders and made the best of the situation. He laid down next to the queen, and stared into her eyes. He decided that she wasn't such an ugly hag and began to gently caress her.

Suddenly the door burst open and two of the guards ran in.

“Your majesty, someone has stolen the royal scepter!”, one of them yelled.

“You fiend!” the queen yelled slapping Pluto across the face. “You came here to distract me while your cohorts stole the holy Lok-Nar!”

Pluto battled it out with the guards, and made his way out of the castle. He headed back toward Rock's castle to free Sapphire. By the time he got there, Rock had made his way towards the temple and was preparing to sacrifice the woman. Rock now had the scepter that his soldiers had brought back from the queen's castle. Pluto now had to fight Rock's men to get to Sapphire. He looked up on the mountain altar where Rock and the Queen were fighting for control of the scepter. After freeing Sapphire from the chain that had her tied up to a large boulder, he grabbed a spear and wrapped the free end of the chain to it. High overhead the clouds were gathering, and lighting began to flash. Pluto hurled the spear towards Rock and the Queen just as a bolt of lighting struck. The chain became electrified as it landed, with the chain wrapping itself around the scepter. Both Rock and the Queen disappeared in a flash of light.

“Where do we go from here?” Sapphire asked.

“I don't know,” Pluto said. “It's too bad I had to destroy the Lok-Nar, I think that was our only way back to Earth.”

“I don't care,” Sapphire cooed, “So long as I'm with you!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Uran backed herself into a corner as the glowing Lok-Nar continued to torment her. “Look into me one last time, before I destroy this world forever! You cannot stop me, you do not yet realize that you have the potential to destroy me, and I shall not let you find the knowledge of how to do it.”
Again the glowing sphere grew larger as it overwhelmed Uran's mind.



In the valley beneath the great, silent volcano, the civilization of the Mentors had flourished since antiquity. Isolated from the rest of the world, they were ignored by the barbarian tribes that lived beyond the mountains. The mentors lived at peace, knowing that the pact they had made with the race of defenders who lived just outside of their valley protected them from the evils beyond their borders.

Then the blue meteor came streaking through the night sky, it crashed into the top of the great volcano, lighting up the horizon with a greenish glow.
The Barbarians who lived in the badlands had seen the visitor from space. They saw the glowing top of the volcano as a sign that it was their destiny to march into the valley and conquer it for themselves. The Trakian defenders hadn't been seen in many generations, perhaps they no longer existed, thought the barbaric tribe.

Astro watched the professor as he stirred the glowing water in the vessel. An image formed deep with the dark glass bowl, and Ochanomizu's face showed deep concern.

“What's wrong, Hakase?” Astro asked.

“Our time may be up,” the old man told him. “For centuries we have lived peacefully in this valley, protected by the knowledge that the Trakian defenders guarded our border from the Barbarians that would camp by our doorstep. Now the their tribe is gathering for attack, and we cannot defend ourselves from them.”

“Won't the Trakians come to our aid?” Astro asked.

“No one knows if there are any of them left,” the old man replied. “We must try to contact them.”

“I will go,” Astro volunteered.

“No,” Ochanomizu told him. “That is not the way to contact them. We must reach out with our minds and touch theirs.”

The old man and a few of the other elders joined hands in the middle of the large room. In the center of the large space, was the glowing glass image cauldron that the professor had been gazing into. Above it, in the center of the large domed ceiling of the chamber the stars could be seen through a crystal sky dome. Astro joined hands with the others and concentrated his mind to contact the defenders that he had no knowledge of. His mental energy rose above that of his peers, and it touched the mind of a young girl.

The Barbarians came by horseback. They used battering rams to knock down the gates at the outskirts of the valley, and they poured into the Mentor's realm. They burned and pillaged as they went, leaving death and destruction behind them. Plums of smoke rose though out the land as the evil horde approached the citadel where the elders barricaded themselves and prayed for the Trakians for deliverance from their enemy. Astro helped reinforce the blockades behind the great doors to the fortress, but it wasn't enough.

The enemy poured into the citadel, with swords drawn. Astro grabbed the professor and dragged him down into the basement unnoticed, while the bloodbath raged on above. The invaders set off bombs and the building crumbled. Believing they had killed everybody, the Barbarians left to further destroy the what remained of the Mentor's realm.


She felt the mental image searing the back of her mind. The cries of the people being hacked to death by the invaders. The Trakian genes in her blood had lay dormant since her birth, but now they rose to the surface and Zoran knew what she had to do. The pact with her race had been to defend the Mentors from the enemy, but the call had come too late. If she could not defend them, then her duty would be to avenge them. She had no choice. As the visions faded from her mind she felt a burning sensation on the left side of her neck, where a tattooed image of a sword suddenly appeared as if branded into her skin.

Zoran looked towards the sky and whistled. It appeared as a dot in the sky and grew larger as it approached her. Flapping its wings, the large bird swooped down and landed in front of the young girl. Zoran placed the saddle upon the avian's back, and put the bit in its beak. The bird bent low to allow her to mount upon its back. Zoran took the reins in her hands and pulled gently on them. The bird flapped and took off, as Zoran guided its flight. Ahead was the secret sanctuary where the members of her warrior race had prepared for battle in the ancient past. She guided the bird to a landing next to a giant statue of a female warrior dressed in the armor of a Samurai.

Zoran dismounted, and entered though a passageway beneath the statue. There, waiting for one of her defender race, were the battle accouterments that she would need. Zoran stripped off her clothes and donned the battle garments hanging in the sacred storage. She now wore the armor of a Samurai, made of Steel, leather, wood and silk. Hanging from her waist in its scabbard hung a large curved Katana.

The bird flew through the smoke, now rising from the burning ashes of the villages below. Zoran could see that the destruction of the Mentor's civilization was total. Surrounding the ruins of the citadel, the Barbarians were in a joyful mode as they tortured the few Mentors that they had left alive.

Zoran guided her avian down onto the scorched earth to land close to where the Barbarians leader had set up his camp. As she silently strode towards him, several members of the horde approached her, their weapons drawn. Zoran quickly drew her Katana from its scabbard and sliced the heads from both of them with one swift swing of the blade, and just as quickly returned the weapon to its sheath.

The Khan took notice of Zoran's approach, his metal right hand raised. “Trakian Bitch!” he muttered. Zoran drew her sword to strike at him, but the Khan blocked her thrust with his weaponized hand. The prosthesis at the end of his right arm contained a rotating blade and a pair of clamps. He locked onto the Katana and pulled it from Zoran's hand, and tossed it aside.

“Now you die!” the Khan laughed as he lunged at her with the spinning saw.

Zoran ducked away several times, but the Khan managed to slice into her skin leaving a gash on her waist, and forearm. The Khan knocked her to the ground and prepared to slice her neck with the rotating weapon when suddenly he was yanked back. The bird had broken free from the soldiers that had been attempting to capture it and bit into the Khan's ankle with its beak. The Barbarians leader cried out in pain, and kicked at the bird with his other leg.

Zoran broke free of his grasp and took hold of the wrist with the prosthesis. She wrestled with the Khan, and manged to push his own weapon deep into his neck. The Khan stopped his struggle as he quickly bled out. Seeing their leader die, the rest of the barbarians scattered like the wind.

Retrieving her sword, Zoran approached the remains of the Citadel. The bird pecked at a pile of rubble, revealing a buried entrance to a chamber below ground. Zoran followed the stairway down to find the buried bodies of the old man and the boy. Both were still alive, though bruised.

“Are you a Trakian?” Astro asked.

Zoran nodded. “I was summoned too late. I fear you two are all that remain alive.”

“You must destroy the meteor that landed in the volcano,” Ochanomizu said. “It was the cause of all this evil. If it is destroyed, our civilization will be resurrected.”

Zoran nodded. She climbed on the back of the bird and guided the avian towards the glowing top of the mountain.

“Your self sacrifice will not destroy me!” the Lok-Nar bellowed.

Zoran pulled the sword from her belt and held it above her head as the bird flew over the mountain. The Katana glowed brightly as lightning bolts flew from its blade striking the glowing sphere sitting in the caldera. Suddenly there was a titanic explosion as the mountain blew itself apart.




Uran backed away from the glowing sphere of the Lok-Nar. The green ball had started to crack open, spewing sparks. “NO! You have destroyed me!” The sphere cried out.

Uran ran from the house into the street, just as the building exploded and disappeared.
She carefully made her way back to where the professor's house once stood, nothing remained except a field of grass. No scorch marks, not a sign that there had ever been a house standing there.

Lying on the ground next to each each other were Professor Ochanomizu, Reno, Astro, Cobalt, Atlas, and Mars. They all groaned and opened their eyes. “WTF happened?” Atlas asked.

“Ditto on that!” Astro muttered.

“Same here,” Reno said.

“Uran, did you see anything?” the professor asked.

“What's that?” Cobalt asked, pointing skyward.

A large bird cried out as it swooped down and landed next to Uran. The girl robot approached the Avian and gently petted its neck.

“That bird seems to know Uran,” Mars said.

“Well, she does have this knack with animals you know,” Astro said.

Uran felt an itch on the side of her neck and scratched it. A tattoo mark had just appeared there, an image of a sword. She climbed onto the bird's back and flew away while her family and friends on the ground just stared upward, dazed.

The End