It Was Never You

Chap 1 "Alli's Brother's Death"

Alli's POV
It was about seven that evening and I snuck out to a bot fight with my bot. I watched a match and Yama’s robot sliced the other bot in half. “Oh boy,” I sighed.
“Who’s got the guts to step into the ring with Little Yama?” asked Yama.
“Can I try?” I asked. I walked to the front of the group. “I have a robot. I built it myself.”
Everyone started laughing. “Beat it kid,” said the woman. “House rules. You gotta pay to play.”
“Oh,” I sighed as I grabbed a couple dollars up. “Is this enough?”
“What’s your name little girl?” Yama asked.
“Alli,” I shyly stated. “Alli Malik.”
“Prepare your bot, Pixie,” Yama nodded.
We put our money in the bowl and I put my robot in the ring. I grabbed my controller. We started making our bots fight. “Come on,” I sighed. Yama sliced my bot in two. Luckily they were magnetic parts, so it was okay. “That was my first fight. Can I try again?”
“No one likes a sore loser, little girl,” Yama nodded. “Go home.”
“I’ve got more money,” I sighed pulling a roll of money out of my pocket. It could’ve been easily five, seven hundred dollars. I put my money in the bowl and so did Yama. I put my robot back together. “Alright, Megabot, destroy.” My robot’s faced turned from happy, to angry. I started fighting and I just sat there. I defeated Little Yama, in less than thirty seconds. I got the money. “No more Little Yama.” A motorcycle came out of nowhere. “Oh.”
“Allison,” Zayn looked at me. “Get on.”
“Zayn,” I smiled as I got onto the bike. “Good timing.” He put a helmet on me and started driving. My robot came after me and jumped. I grabbed him. “Yay.”
“You okay?” Zayn asked.
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Zayn started hitting me. “Then what were you thinking, knucklehead? You graduated high school when I did and this is what you do? Bot fighting is illegal. You’re gonna get yourself arrested.”
“Bot fighting is not illegal. Betting on bot fighting is.”
The cops stopped us. “Oh no,” Zayn sighed. They arrested us and threw us into a cell. I was in a different cell than my brother. Our Aunt Cassie got us out. “Hi Aunt Cas.”
“Are you guys okay?” Aunt Cas hugged us. “Tell me you’re okay.”
“We’re fine,” I nodded.
“Oh good,” Aunt Cas let go of us. She grabbed us by the ear and pulled us to the car. “What were you two knuckleheads thinking?!” We got into the car with her and she started driving. “For ten years, I have done the best that I could to raise you. Have I been perfect? No. Do I know anything about children? No. Should I have read a book on parenting? Probably. Where was I going with this?” We walked into our café/home. “I had a point.”
“Sorry,” Zayn sighed.
“Love you, Aunt Cas,” I stated.
“I love you too!” Aunt Cas practically yelled. “I had to close up early because of you two villains.” She ate a chocolate covered doughnut. “Stress eating because of you two.”
We went to our room. “You better make this up to Aunt Cas before she eats everything in the café,” Zayn sighed.
“For sure,” I nodded.
“And I hope you learned your lesson.”
“Absolutely.”
“You’re going bot fighting, aren’t you?”
“There’s a fight across town. If I book, I can still make it.”
Zayn stopped me at our bedroom door. “When are you going to start doing something with that big brain of yours?”
“What? Go to college like you? So people can already tell me stuff that I already know?”
“Unbelievable. Oh, what would Mom and Dad say?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “They’re done. They died when I was ten, remember?”
“Hey,” Zayn sighed as he threw me a helmet. “I’ll take you.”
“Really?”
“I can’t stop you from going and I’m not going to let you go alone.”
“Sweet,” I smiled. Zayn drove us to a college campus of technology. “What are we doing at your nerd school? Bot fight’s that way.”
“Gotta grab something,” Zayn sighed. We walked inside. “Okay.”
“Is this gonna take long?”
“Relax, Allison. We’ll be in and out. Anyways, you’ve never seen my lab.”
“Oh, great. I get to see your nerd lab,” I sighed.
“Head up!” exclaimed a girl that zipped passed me on a bike.
“Whoa,” I jumped back. I walked over to the bike. “Electro-mag suspension.”
“Hey,” said the girl in the helmet. “Who are you?”
“Gogo, this is my sister, Alli,” Zayn nodded.
“Welcome to the nerd lab,” Gogo replied.
“I’ve never seen electro-mag suspension on a bike before,” I smiled.
“Zero resistance, faster bike,” Gogo nodded. “But, not fast enough.”
I walked to a guy. “Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa,” the guy nodded. “Do not move. Behind the line, please.”
“Hey Niall,” Zayn smiled. “You know Alli.”
“Hello, Alli,” Niall smiled. “Prepare to be amazed.” He grabbed an apple. “Catch.” He threw the able at me, but it turned to really thin slices. I grabbed one. “There you go.”
“Wow,” I smiled. Niall turned a switched to make the laser visible. “Laser induced plasma?”
“Yeah, with little magnetic confinement for ultra-precision,” Niall nodded.
“Excuse me, coming through,” exclaimed a really peppy girl. She saw my brother. “Zayn! Oh my gosh! You must be Alli. I’ve heard so much about you.” She hugged me. “Perfect timing! Perfect timing!”
“That’s a whole lot of tungsten carbide,” I stated.
“Four hundred pounds of it!” she exclaimed. “The best part.” She popped it. “There we go.”
“Not bad, Honeylemon,” Zayn smiled.
“Honeylemon? Gogo?” I asked.
“Fred is the one who comes up with the nicknames,” Zayn smiled.
“Who’s Fred?” I asked.
“This guy right here,” said a voice to my right.
I turned and came face to face with a monster. “Ah!” I screamed and got behind Zayn.
“Ah, ah,” Fred nodded. “Don’t be alarmed.” He got out of the suit. “It’s just a suit. It’s not my real face and body. Name’s Fred. School mascot by day, by night, I’m also a school mascot.”
“What’s your major?” I asked.
“I’m not a student but a major science enthusiast,” Fred nodded.
“Alli,” Zayn called. I followed him to a room. “What do you think?”
“They’re cool,” I nodded. “What have you been working on?”
“I’ll show you.”
Zayn put duct-tape on my arm and ripped it off. “Ow!” I exclaimed. “Dude!”
A huge white walking marshmallow popped up. Well, it looked like a marshmallow. “This is what I’ve been working on.” He walked and bumped into a rolling chair. He picked the chair up and put it aside. He walked up to me. “This is a balloon, basically.”
“Hello,” the thing said as he held up his hand and waved. “I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion.” I smiled. “I was alerted for the need of medical attention when you said ow.”
“A robotic nurse,” I nodded.
“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” Baymax asked.
“Physical?” I asked. I looked at Zayn, “Or emotional?”
“I will scan you now,” Baymax stated. He looked me down and up. “Scan complete. You have a slight epidermal abrasion on your forearm.” He walked up closer to me. “I suggested an antibacterial spray.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I nodded as I took a step back. “What’s in the spray, specifically?”
“The primary ingredient is bacitracin,” Baymax looked down at his body as it popped up. His body is like a projector. “It helps.”
“That’s a bummer,” I sighed. “I’m actually allergic to that.”
“You are not allergic to bacitracin,” Baymax nodded. “You do have a mild allergy to peanuts.”
“Hmm, not bad,” I smiled as I held out my arm. Baymax sprayed my arm with his finger. “You’ve done some serious coding to this thing, huh?”
“Uh huh, programmed him with over ten thousand medical procedures,” Zayn nodded. He pressed a button that was on Baymax. The door open, and it was a memory chip. “This chip is what makes Baymax Baymax.”
I pushed the chip back in and walked around Baymax. I poked him and he was squishy. “Final?”
“Yeah, going for a non-threatening, huggable kind of thing.”
“Looks like a walking marshmallow. No offense, Baymax.”
“I’m a robot,” Baymax replied. “I cannot be offended.”
“Hyper-spectro cameras?” I asked. Zayn nodded. I face plated into Baymax’s belly to see inside. “Titanium skeleton?”
“Carbon fiber,” Zayn stated
“Right,” I smiled. “Even lighter. Fuel ejaculators! Where did you get those?”
“I machine them right here in house,” Zayn stated.
“Really?” I asked as I took a step back from Baymax.
“Yeah,” Zayn smiled. “He can lift a thousand pounds.”
“Shut up,” I nodded.
“You have been a good girl,” Baymax nodded. “Have a lollipop.”
“Nice,” I smiled as I got the lollipop from Baymax.
“I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care,” Baymax looked at me.
“Well, then, I’m satisfied with my care,” I looked at Baymax. Baymax went back to his red box, deflated, and the box closed. “Wow.”
“He’s going to help a lot of people,” Zayn sighed.
“What kind of batteries does he use?”
“Lithium ion.”
“Oh,” I sighed. A professor walked in. “Professor Callaghan.”
“Allison Malik,” Professor Callaghan stated. “It’s a surprise to see you here.”
“Just hanging out with my brother,” I nodded. Zayn and I both decided to go home because I didn’t want to go to the bot fight anymore. We went up to our room. “How do I get into the school?”
“Every year, the school has a student showcase,” Zayn smiled. “You come up with something that bows Robert Callaghan away, you are in. But it’s gotta be great.”
“Trust me, it will be,” I smiled. Zayn went to his bed and just sat there reading a book. I sat at my desk for about three hours and plopped my head down on the desk. “Nothing. I’m done. I’m never getting in.”
Zayn spun my chair around and had me facing him. “Hey, I’m not giving up on you,” Zayn looked at me. “Look for a new angle.” I looked at my Megabot. “Got anything.”
“I got it,” I smiled. I managed to finish making it in three days. I filled up twelve trashcans full of them. “I’m done!”
“Let’s go,” Zayn smiled. We took the bins to the school and put them in the back. “A lot of sweet tech here today. How are you feeling?”
“You’re talking to an ex-bot fighting,” I smiled. “It takes a lot more than this to rattle me.”
“Yep, he’s nervous,” Gogo stated.
“You have nothing to fear,” Fred smiled.
“Guys, I’m fine,” I nodded. We went to the stage. “I got this.”
“Next presenter, Allison Malik,” said a woman.
“Alright, sis,” Zayn smiled. “This is it.”
I got onstage with the headband and a mic. “My name is Allison Malik,” I sighed. “I’ve been working on something that I think is pretty cool. I hope you like it.” I got one of the pieces from my pocket. I put on the headband as well. “This is a microbot.” One of the guys walked away. I looked at Zayn and he told me to breathe. Aunt Cas was there too. “It doesn’t look like much but when it links up with the rest of its pals…” The other microbots came from the trash bins. They made a rectangular structure on the stage. “…things get a little more interesting.” The whole crowd started to join in. “The microbots are controlled with this neurotransmitter.” I took off the headband and the structure turned into a pill of nothing. I put it back on and it created the rectangular structure it had before. “I think what I want them to do…” the microbots made a hand. “…they do it. The application to this tech is limitless. Construction! What used to take teams of people working by hands for months or years, can now be accomplished by one person. That’s just the beginning. There’s transportation. If you can think it, the microbots can do it. You’re only limited to your imagination. Microbots!”
I took off my headband and got off stage. “Nailed it!” Zayn smiled as he hugged me. I put the mic down as well. “You did amazing.”
“Thanks,” I smiled.
Zayn friends came to hug me. “They loved you,” Honeylemon nodded. “That was amazing.”
“Yes, with some development, your tech can be revolutionary,” said a guy as he walked up to us.
“Allister Cray,” I smiled.
“May I?” he held out his hand.
“Stay away from her,” Niall nodded as he got be behind him. “I’m not letting you take her as another one of your science experiments.”
“Absolutely not,” Callaghan joined us.
“I want her microbots at Cray Tech,” Allister replied.
“No,” Niall replied for me.
“Wait,” I sighed as I stood in front of Niall. “You’re not kidding, are you?”
“Your microbots are an inspired piece of tech,” Callaghan nodded. “You can continue to develop them, or you can sell them to a man who’s only guided by his own self interests.”
“Robert, I know how you feel about me,” Allister nodded.
“Thank you but they’re not for sale,” I nodded.
“I look forward to seeing you in class,” Callaghan nodded.
We walked out of the building with Aunt Cas. “Let’s take the celebration back to the café,” Aunt Cas smiled. “Dinner is on me.”
“Aunt Cas, we’ll catch up,” Zayn nodded. “Okay?” Zayn and I went to the bridge. “Alright.”
“I know what you’re gonna say,” I smiled. “Did you like it?”
“Welcome to nerd school,” Zayn smiled.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for not giving up on me.”
An alarm started blaring. We ran back towards the building we were in. It was on fire. We ran closer. “Are you okay?” Zayn asked a lady.
“Yeah, but Professor Callaghan is still in there,” the lady ran off.
Zayn ran to the steps. I grabbed his arm. “Zayn, no,” I nodded.
“Callaghan’s in there,” Zayn nodded. “Someone has to help.”
Zayn went inside. His hat was on the ground and I picked it up. “Zayn,” I nodded. I was about to take a step but the building blew up. I landed on the ground, face first. I got up and looked at the building. “Zayn! Zayn!” I cried all the way home. I went up to my room and laid in bed. “He’s gone.” We had a funeral but I stayed in my room. It was a good week and a half, that I stayed inside. I didn’t do anything; I didn’t go anywhere. Aunt Cas came up to the room. “Hey Aunt Cas.” She brought me food and went back downstairs. “I’m not going to the university. I’ll think about it.” I threw the university letter in the trash. “I change my mind on this, maybe in the future.”