Cyberlantis

Chapter VI - The greatest gift

So, since the four friends had managed to rescue Nautica and take down Radia for good, with a lot of help from Molly and the runaway bots, you would probably think that things in Cyberlantis would start to get much better for everyone in the city, right?

Well, they did eventually, but for a couple of months after the night of the rescue mission, some very interesting things happened.

Some good and some not so good.

Firstly, Ryan was very quickly faced with dozens upon dozens of questions from many people who were left shocked by what they saw in the live broadcast that Radia had activated on that night.  Because the whole city had now seen Nautica and Ryan's extraordinary powers, Ryan realised that he could no longer keep it a secret and decided to just reveal the truth to everybody that asked about it.

Once the secret was out, lots of people gave Ryan support by telling him that he had done something good by taking down the cruel and monstrous cyborg that was Radia.  However, other people were not so happy with what he had done and were more in favour of The Huntress, who was soon introduced as the new ruler of the city of Cyberlantis.  

But, despite all of that, the most interesting thing that happened during these next months came in October 2088, when The Huntress very randomly announced that she was allowing all the runaway bots to become Sector Bots again under her command, alongside the current Sector Bots who were currently patrolling the city.

Almost all the runaway bots were very excited to hear this news, genuinely believing that The Huntress had truly had a change of heart, and decided to accept the offer, despite the news being very sudden and out of nowhere.  However, there were three runaway bots that still did not trust The Huntress and quickly declined, those three bots were Lee, Olivia and Jack.  This meant that Olivia and Jack would be the only two bots living at the campsite in the woods, something that the two of them did not really like the sound of.

So, to solve the problem, Molly made a deal with Ellie.

Molly invited Jack to come and live with her and her girlfriend, Emily, whilst Ellie offered to let Olivia live in her garage with Lee.  Both bots gratefully accepted and went on to do exactly that. Olivia was especially pleased about this arrangement as she would be able to be around Lee, who she had greatly missed for the last four years and saw as a very special friend.  

On December 26th, 2088, the day after Christmas, a thin sheet of gleaming white snow had descended across Cyberlantis as festive lights lined the city's streets beneath a clear and calm light blue sky.  Somewhere along a quieter network of roads on the outskirts of the main city area, Ryan was riding his holo-bike to Ellie's house to meet up with his friends as usual.  Nautica sat comfortably on Ryan's head during the journey, which by this point had become something completely normal for the two of them.

Ryan was wearing a large thick black winter jacket with green light up stripes on the sleeves and a furry ended hood, as well as a pair of internally heated boots, since the temperature outside had dropped massively in recent weeks.  When the two arrived at their destination, Ryan parked his holo-bike down the side alley as usual, but this time was much more careful about it in comparison to how he parked it on the night of the rescue mission.

As the pair re-emerged from the dark alley, they began to hear the muffled sounds of Christmas themed music that was blaring from inside the garage, growing louder and louder as they approached.  Ryan knocked firmly on the large garage door, then patiently waited for a response.  After a few seconds of waiting, the bottom part of the door began to glow with an illuminous pink burst of energy, before swiftly swinging up and open, releasing the rest of the sound from inside the garage.  Beyond the garage door, the interior of Ellie's garage had been beautifully decorated for the time of year with wireless fairly lights, long pieces of red and silver tinsel drooping from the ceiling and a Christmas tree that seemed to have been shoved to the side of the garage to make room.