Destiny (Anime Style)

Chapter 2: Hard Work

"LEAAAAH!" a mysterious female robotic voice yelled from behind.

"I'M RIGHT HERE!" Leah yelled back while waving her hand, after which the owner of the mysterious female voice finally showed itself, only to reveal it was a tiny weird-shaped levitating droid.

"Oh, finally! I found you! I was worried you might have died!"

"Don't worry. I'm fine, Cybel. But the ship is not" Leah muttered in a worried voice. "I have no idea how we are gonna get back to the city now"

"Well..."

Both Leah and the tiny female droid called Cybel kept on talking about many things while, on his side, Ravi couldn't help but to feel puzzled at every single word that was coming out of their mouths. The blue-haired boy really didn't know what was going on.

"By the way, who's him?" Cybel asked after noticing the human boy at one side.

"Oh well, he is... Actually, you haven't told me your name yet" Leah told Ravi.

"I'm Ravi Azarov" this last one bluntly replied with a confident grin. "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but it would be better to continue this conversation in another place"

"You have a refuge?" Cybel asked the human boy.

"Something Better"

And so, Leah and Cybel followed Ravi all the way back to his small bunker/home, only to then startle in complete disgust at the dirty and terrible mess that lied inside.

"You live here?" Leah asked with a weirded out expression.

"Yeah! Why? Is something wrong?" Ravi replied with innocence.

"No. It's just... a bit dirty. That's all"

"Mmm? You think so? It looks fine to me" the bluenette boy added while getting comfortable over his hammock. "Okay... So, I would like to know about before. What was all that about guardians and a city?"

"You... you are kidding, right?"

"Why would I joke about that?"

"Mmmh? Do you really have no idea? How long have you been living here?

"Well... I'm 16 years old, so... for 16 years maybe?"

Leah's expression immediately changed after hearing that. A boy who lived in that desertic wasteland for 16 years and survived by himself. She never imagined something like that could exist at all.

Supposedly, everyone who lived outside of The Last City were either trying to reach it, or part of their own independent colony. However, they all shared at least one thing in common: everyone knew what The Last City and the guardians were.

"You know? I'm gonna turn 16 this year, so we are basically the same age. How did you do it?" Leah asked with a troubled expression. "How did you survive here by yourself?"

"That doesn't matter. I try not to think too much about it" Ravi bluntly replied, almost trying to change the topic.

After that, Cybel approached Leah. "Hey! Can I speak to you in private?" the droid whispered into the young girl's ear, only to then back up a bit from Ravi along with her. "You haven't forgotten what's important, have you?"

"Yeah, I know..." the young girl replied. "We need to find a way to repair the ship, but we can't leave him here, can we?"

"Leah..."

"I'm a guardian now... well, sort of. But the right thing to do independently of me being a trainee or not, is to help him. We should at least put him up to date. It's just not fair that..." Leah stopped mid-sentence and then jumped a little in surprise. She felt something behind her and when she turned around she found no one else than Ravi staring and touching her butt with curiosity.

"Uhh? How weird" the human boy muttered while rubbing his hand around with innocence, almost as if he didn't understand what he was doing. "Yours is actually a lot squishier than mine"

Just as Ravi said this words, the young human girl instantly got all flustered and red. "WH-WH-WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, p*****t?!" she screamed while kicking and sending Ravi flying backwards.

"ACK!" this last one groaned after landing on a pile of trash just scattered around. "Ouch! What was that for?!"

"HOW C-COULD YOU ASK THAT?! Y-Y-YOU JUST TOUCHED ME... TH-THERE!"

"Eh? You mean your butt? Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were sensitive there. What do you have? An injury of some kind?"

"I'm not... sensitive there... And I don't have any injury of any kind!"

"Huh?"

Cybel noticed something quite surprising just then. "Hey, Leah" the tiny droid once again whispered to the human girl. "I think this guy doesn't just not know about the city and the guardians. I believe he also knows almost nothing about human history and social interactions"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Leah asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Think about it. If he is 16 years old, and he really lived here by himself for 16 years, he most certainly hasn't met a single human being apart from you. And that was just an hour ago!"

Leah's anger instantly disappeared, only to be replaced with a longing expression. "So, I'm the first person he ever met?"

"Most probably yes"

The human girl stared at Ravi with sadness. She certainly wanted to help him somehow, but there was also another big problem: the ship was still broken.

"Anyway" Ravi continued with a smile as he stood back up. "I believe you said something about repairing a ship? I can help you with that"

Both Leah and Cybel looked surprised. "You can repair the ship?" the droid asked.

"Well, maybe. I know a couple of things about technology. In fact, there's a secret project I've been working on that may just help a lot" Ravi added with a confident expression.

"Wow! That's awesome!" Leah claimed with a smile. "You heard that Cybel? He can help us go back home!" She then turned to face Ravi. "What do you say? You wanna come with us? I'm sure you wanna leave this place, right?"

"Well, you are not wrong hehe... In fact, I've been waiting for a chance like this one. I'll be able to leave this place and explore... YEAH!"

Ravi couldn't help but to shiver in excitement as Leah smiled, softly, at his reaction.

"Anyway..." the boy continued. "If we are gonna do this, we should start as soon as possible or those 'four-arms' are going to take your ship for themselves"

"Four-arms?" Leah asked, a bit puzzled.

"Yeah! You know, those four-armed creatures, with four eyes and knives"

"Ahhh... you mean the Fallen"

"Fallen?"

"Yeah!" Cybel added. "That's their true name"

"I see... pfft... hahahaha..." Ravi began laughing.

"What's wrong?" Leah asked once again.

"Oh nothing. It's just that, there's so much stuff I don't know. I'm really excited now!"

And so, that's how it began...

...

...

...

There was a lot to do before the ship was repaired, but Ravi, Leah and Cybel worked together despite that. Ravi as the brains, and Leah and Cybel as assistants.

The human girl actually had to change into some more comfy and junky-looking clothes, like the ones Ravi was wearing, in order to work properly. And only 2 days later, the ship was already looking a lot better, though they still had some work left to do while still having to keep an eye for the Fallen.

"Wow! It's looking great!" Leah claimed very happy while resting over a rock.

"Yeah... it looks great. But that doesn't mean it works" Ravi stated with seriousness. "It's happened to me before. Almost every time I try to fix or build something, It goes wrong at the very end"

"But, you did successfully repair a ship before... right?"

"Not really. I repaired a couple of TVs... and a motorcycle, though it ended up blowing up; but I repaired lots of toasters and cell phones too... haha..."

"You are... kidding, right?" the young girl asked while hiding her concern with a fake smile.

"Nope" Ravi bluntly replied as Leah couldn't help but to start worrying for real. Maybe letting the blue-haired boy repair the ship wasn't the best choice after all. Maybe these last 2 days had been a complete waste of time. However, just as her concern incremented, Ravi startled her with some words he happened to say next while smiling. "But, that's part of the experience, isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"That's just how it is. I survived my entire life through persistence and hard work. And that's just what science requires"

Leah found herself touched a bit by that comment. "You really like this, don't you? All this mechanic and electronic stuff"

"Yeah, I do. But you know, there isn't much you can do if you are an 8-year old kid in the middle of nowhere. So, I spent most of my time just exploring, experimenting, and trying out everything that came into my mind with the garbage I could find around"

"But, was that really enough to learn about electronics and engineering?"

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that" Ravi finally claimed, only to then pause for a long time before finally getting his hands dirty again. "Well, it's time to get back to work"

"Yeah, you're right"

"By the way Leah..."

"Ah?"

"What do you think about my new friend?" Ravi asked with a grin while raising his hand, carrying a medium-sized rat on it.

"EAH!" Leah jumped from fear.

"Pfff... Hahaha... I somehow knew you would get scared... Hahahaha..."

"You... you can't be serious!" the young girl lectured him with annoyance. "Put that thing down! You don't know where it's been!"

"Huh? But it's so cute. Why don't you pet it a bit?"

"Of course not! Just... put it down!"

"Oh, come on! Don't be like that. Here, I'll help you a bit"

"No, wait! Ravi!" Leah finally yelled as the bluenette boy began chasing after her with the rat in hand.

Meanwhile, Cybel, who had been watching them for some time now, couldn't help but to take a very long sigh at such childish display of attitude. "Human Teenagers" the droid finally muttered in a tired voice.

And so, they kept working on the ship...

...

...

...

However, it didn't take long for something else to happen...

Someone was watching them from afar, another tiny droid to be precise, just like Cybel. "This could be it!" the unknown droid claimed in excitement. "Maybe he's my guardian after all! Yeah, it has to be him! Never before have I felt so driven to a human as I feel right now"

The tiny droid finally decided to say 'hello'. But just then, before he couldn't even approach the pair of humans, another group of Fallen appeared from behind, catching and imprisoning him in a cage.

"HEY! NO! LEAVE ME! GGH! HELP! GUARDIAN! HEEELP!" the unknown droid yelled, desperately.

And at that moment, both Ravi and Leah heard the tiny droid's voice and headed towards it. On her side, the human girl immediately took out her daggers, letting out her light-blue lightning powers once again while, on the other hand, Ravi did what he could to free the tiny droid from its cell.

"Hey! You are another ghost!" Cybel claimed as the other tiny droid finally broke free.

Simultaneously, Leah kept fighting the Fallen and after a while, Ravi joined her too. Together they were able to beat them with ease. Though the question of how the blue-haired boy was able to help still remained, given that he supposedly knew nothing about martial arts.

"I didn't know you knew how to fight" Leah said in surprise.

"I don't, but it doesn't matter" Ravi bluntly replied with a grin. "I just analysed the situation and looked for an opening" He then turned to look at their new robotic friend. "And you are?"

"Oh, hi! Thanks for saving me" said the droid in a well-mannered way. "I don't really have a name, so..."

"You don't? But, everyone has a name, right? Even droids"

"Well, yeah... but I still don't have one because..."

"Because you don't have a guardian yet" Cybel interrupted. "And you expect our blue-haired friend here to be it, right?"

Leah was surprised, but Ravi didn't really understand what those words meant.

"This is great!" the young girl claimed, happily. "If a ghost came here looking for you, it's because he senses a great potential in you!"

"A great potential?" Ravi asked with a puzzled expression.

"Yeah! It means you can wield the light. And that means you can be a guardian!"

The bluenette finally found himself surprised. "Me? A guardian like you? I don't know"

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" the tiny new droid asked, a bit nervous. "I... I was driven here by you. I sensed a lot of potential in you. When a ghost chooses a person, it's because that person can be a guardian! A protector of the light! Don't you think that's amazing?!"

"He didn't know what a guardian was until 2 days ago" Cybel bluntly stated.

"What? You can't be serious!"

"It's true" Leah added. "We found him first 2 days ago and there were lots of things he still didn't know. Like... intimacy" she added while blushing and remembering how the bluenette touched her butt a couple of days ago.

"Anyway, we better continue this at the bunker. Seems like a sandstorm is about to occur" Cybel finally claimed, after which they all agreed and returned together to Ravi's home before it got too dark.

Surprisingly, a sandstorm did occur. And while in the bunker, the group continued their little discussion. "Well, personally speaking, I don't think this guardian business is what I want" Ravi stated in a tired tone.

"It's because of what you already had planned, isn't it?" asked Leah with a troubled expression. "You told me you wanted to explore, and you fear that if you become a guardian, you won't be able to do it"

"That's right. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to leave this place. I even tried a couple of times, but didn't get far enough. I always ended up coming back. But, if I repair the ship, I may be able to go even further, experience new things. I shake from excitement by just thinking about it!"

Ravi's wish was really pure and understandable. After all, to live his entire life isolated from everything and everyone surely didn't sound enjoyable at all.

"I'm not saying being a guardian is bad" Ravi continued with quite the convinced expression. "It's just that, it's not what I want"

"Ravi..." Leah muttered in a longing tone.

"Well, I suppose I can't force you to be a guardian if you don't want" the tiny droid said, disappointed, only to then request another thing from the young boy in a shy voice. "Can I ask another thing though?"

"Uhmm... sure. What is it?" Ravi asked, a bit puzzled.

"I want... a name"

That's right... That's what the tiny droid wanted... And both Ravi and Leah, as well as Cybel, couldn't help but to startled in surprise but also... in tenderness.

"I've always wanted a name... and I wanted my future guardian to be the one to give it to me. I know you don't wanna be it, but I can't wait any longer!" The tiny droid approached Ravi, anxiously, and with quite the eager voice he finally claimed "Please, give me a name, Ravi Azarov!"

"Hehe... you can call me Ravi" the bluenette replied with a grin. "So, a name, huh? Well... how about..."

The tiny droid was excitedly waiting, but Leah and Cybel were a little worried, and not without reason. With what little Ravi knew about the world, he would surely come up with an absurd name. And unfortunately, they weren't wrong.

"Wire" Ravi finally claimed, innocently

"Wire?" Both Leah and Cybel asked at the same time.

"Yeah... I chose it because of how tiny you look little buddy" the young boy added while facing the male ghost.

"Is that really the reason? Don't you think it's kind of ridiculous?" Cybel asked while sweat-dropping.

"Yeah, it's ridiculous... But, it isn't the only reason. The absence of a mere wire can be the cause of many failures in any electronic device, you know? They are so tiny, often forgotten... and yet so important"

Leah found herself shocked after hearing those words. She didn't think Ravi was capable of saying such emotive and... caring... things. And the little ghost was inevitably touched after hearing it too.

"That's why I chose that name for you little buddy. I bet you'll be really important for our team despite how tiny you are!" the young boy finally claimed with a big smile.

"That... that means... I finally got a name!" Wire joyfully claimed. "Yeah, I got a name now! Leah, Cybel... My name is Wire!" He sounded so happy while floating around, like a puppy who just got a new toy.

On the other hand, Ravi and Leah just kept on looking at the cute male droid for some more time, until Cybel finally intervened. "Well, you and Wire can keep talking later. For now, it's better if we concentrate on repairing the ship" the female droid said, bringing back the serious mood.

Everyone agreed, even Wire who still knew very little about the plan. And so, the next day they kept on working and doing tests.

...

...

...

"One of the engines is broken" Cybel stated while looking beneath the ship. "If we don't find another engine, we'll never get out of here"

"But, I don't get it" Leah added, confused and concerned. "The engines were fine yesterday"

"It must've been the sandstorm" Wire added. "According to my predictions, there will be another sandstorm in about 6 days from now. That's just what the meteorological pattern of this area shows"

"He's right" Ravi confirmed with his arms crossed. "Sandstorms occur almost every week in this area. That means we need to repair the ship during the next 6 days, or it will be even worse"

Everyone looked worried and a bit unmotivated. But then, they all decided to focus and gave some ideas on what to do next.

"How about we steal a ship from the fallen?" Wire suggested.

"That's impossible" Cybel firmly replied. "The Fallen in this area are very crowded. We would die before defeating half of them"

"How about travelling by feet then?" Leah asked. "Ravi didn't get far, but that's because he was alone, right?"

"Not really" Ravi stated. "It was more a problem with the resources. There weren't enough for me, so there surely won't be enough for both of us"

Everyone just kept on thinking of different useless solutions, until Ravi finally came up with possibly the only option they had left at that point.

"No... Forget about all of that! We'll repair the ship before the 6 day limit!"

"But how?" Leah asked with concern.

"Remember the secret project I told you about?" the young boy asked with a confident grin. "It's not finished yet, but if we work together, we can complete it and use it to repair the ship in less than 6 days. I'm sure of it!"

Everyone looked in disbelief, but there wasn't a better idea, so they just went along with it.

Ravi's top secret project turned out to be just what they needed... A special engine he had been working on for some time. More potent and less energy consuming. After 2 days of work, they finished the engine, and after 3 more days, they managed to replace the shattered one with the new one and do some tests. Nothing too dangerous though.

In the end, the moment of truth came, the time to make it work.

"This is it, right?" Wire asked with doubt.

"According to Ravi, yes it is" Cybel added. "The issue is whether or not he's right"

"It will work" Leah claimed with determination. "We all gave our best after all. I'm sure it'll work"

The young girl especially had a totally different look from how she first arrived there. She was a complete mess: dirt on her face, worn out clothes, and a bit disheveled.

In any case, when Ravi finally appeared, he approached the ship and got ready to turn it on from below. "Let me tell you all something to remember" he began with confidence as Leah and the others listened to him, carefully. "If whatever you are trying to accomplish doesn't go well on the first few tries, it doesn't mean it's impossible to achieve. One has to face every obstacle and find the proper solution to make a clear way. Trying and failing until you succeed... is just another way of saying that you have to work hard without backing up" As he finished saying this, he turned on the engines... and the ship began floating.

It was incredible... The ship really was repaired. Not as good as it was before crashing, but completely functional nonetheless.

Leah raised her head in amazement while watching her vehicle take flight. All of their work really paid off. And then, as her gaze turned to the blue-haired boy next to her, she smiled, softly, while watching him take a seat on the ground from how tired he was.

"Hehehe..." Ravi began laughing, slightly. "Today is the 2nd of february of the year 4052. Only 16 years, huh?" He then raised his head and said one last thing while looking at the sky. "Finally, I'll be able to explore the world"