WARNING the following chapter may contain heavy emotional subjects such as family issues, feelings of emotional abandonment, mother and daughters angst, and desire for forgiveness. Please be advised if you've taken the time to read this.

Date Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Time 6:25 PM

Location Wakeman residence basement

Mere seconds after pressing the red button on the central control panel, the XJ sisters slowly but surely began to whirr to life as their eyes flashed and shone. Jenny's smile grew brighter and brighter as she knew at this point she wouldn't be alone anymore,

but she also knew that the sisters would undoubtedly have a lot of questions to ask and would need a lot of time adjusting and figuring out what to do with them, but right now, jenny just wants her family back..and she's confident her friends will make the risk worth taking...

but even Tyler was having doubts about this, but he was determined to see it through too, as he just wanted to help jenny out, almost as if he himself knew what it was like to be an only child and with only his parents to look after him

And dr Wakeman, her daughter, still couldn't believe her mother would leave her sisters collecting dust in the basement. Sure they were prototypes, but still, if they were human, it would be a whole different story about being shut down and locked in the basement for decades...

and now, Jenny will fear her mother replacing her, and dr Wakeman will fear her daughter and her friends as well

the group of friends' thoughts were soon broken off by the sound of one of the XJ prototypes speaking out

"Oh....w...what happened?...." groaned XJ5 "oh...still here, huh...?"

Xj1 looked up at the group in front of her nervously, part of her wanted to barf oil, but by the same token, she felt as if she should keep calm and be grateful for being reactivated again alongside her younger sisters,

Xj 2 and 3 looked around their surroundings. It had been decades since they were deactivated and collecting dust alongside their sisters. They were wondering what had happened.

"Oh! Look! Humans!" Said XJ4, "and...mother...oh no..."

"Hey, don't worry about us!" waved brad to calm them down "we're friends!"

"y-yeah!" said tuck nervously but stayed calm. If the young child could warm up to jenny, he could warm up to her sisters as well "you don't have to worry!"

"I must agree," said xj8 monotonously, "these humans aside from our creator dr Wakeman are not a threat to us, least of all our newest sister, designated XJ9."

"oh thanks," nodded jenny, "but please call me jenny,"

"understood, jenny," nodded XJ8 displaying hidden emotions.

The more jenny looked at Xj8, the more she reminded her of her appearance when vexus and her nanobot made a she-hulk monster, and brad only thought it was just a phase most teenagers go through, and yet Tyler, tuck, and dr Wakeman were the only sane people that day...

"what? we all don't get a name of our own either?" sneered XJ6 jealously

"you pipe down!" snapped XJ4 at her older sister "we should be happy to be online again and be thanking the humans and mother for releasing us!"

"Yeah, you heard her!" said jenny joining her older sister."

"thank you all so much for waking us up!" thanked XJ5 in gratitude, "but how did you find us?"

"a noticed an only split-second open door down here," explained Tyler

"yeah, and after Tyler was training," added Jenny, "we barely talked mom into waking you guys up."

jenny turned a glance at dr Wakeman, who only looked aside in shame, not wanting to look at her daughter right now, who was quite angry at her deservedly so

"do you have anything to say to ms Wakeman?" asked Tyler.

"no..." sighed dr Wakeman, not expecting anyone to forgive her but hoping she could make amends which will be far easier said than done, "but I'm sorry..."

"'sorry'? Sorry is not enough to forgive you, 'mommy!' " snapped Xj6 "we've been locked up for who knows how long? just to see jenny, mommy's favorite, come out on top than any of us!"

"I know..." replied dr Wakeman, ashamed

"you say you know, and yet here we laid, forgotten, useless, expendable..." XJ7 "because my programming made by our mother has made me unable to feel anything else but eternal sorrow...and buried alive down here where I belonged..."

"I think you two need help" brad pointed out to xj6 and 7 that therapy might be in order for their unhealthy depression and unjustifiable jealousy over something that had done nothing to xj6 if there is therapy for them. then perhaps dr Wakeman can have that arranged with a few more courses in therapy classes

"and here I thought I was the only one who believed myself to be expendable to everyone..." thought Tyler in pity, almost having some inner turmoil and unresolved issues, "even after I became firebird and become somebody here..."

"girls, stop it, please believe me!! I never really meant to replace you all at all!" cried jenny with a sad look on her face "really, I never knew about you until now! mom never told me you were down here until my friends found this secret room!!"

"Yeah, don't blame your own sister for something she never meant to do in the first place!" cried Brad, knowing how sickening a sibling rivalry is

"Hmph!" huffed Xj6 in defeat.

xj1 nervously scooted towards jenny, hiding behind her leg jenny extended an arm towards her oldest sister and comforted her while XJ2 and 3 joined her

"and what does she have to say for herself?" sneered XJ4 subtly on the inside. She again feared deactivation by her creator's hand for being imperfect, because of a lack of faith in them, for being failed experiments.

"I...I am truly sorry..." sighed dr Wakeman to her creations, bowing her head in shame

"Sorry? Is that all you have to say for yourself for what you did to us?" Snapped XJ6 her feelings of naturally programmed jealousy overcoming her fear of dr Wakeman being the only one who can deactivate her and her sisters again "after all these years!?"

Dr. Wakeman said nothing. She knew this was all her fault and that she deserved this every moment of it...

"I know..." she whispered out.

"Maybe it's what we all deserve for all I know in my eternally lonesome existence," sighed XJ7. "I haven't even found any treatment worth trying.

"You know, sometimes and I still do, think the same way as you, young lady," said Tyler to XJ7. "but you just woke back up. Now isn't the time to be droopy and sad right now"

XJ1 nodded along with XJ2 and XJ3 for young they may feel, on the inside they feel grateful for their 9th series model and her friends' intervention

"you know what? They're all right! We should be grateful for being online again! this arguing isn't going to get us anywhere!" cried XJ4, happily raising a hand, "who's with them?"

"I must agree. The humans make an accurate point for this sorrow and bickering is ineffective and counterproductive for our celebration of being reactivated again." Acknowledged XJ8 strolling towards her new friends but made sure they would not be frightened of her

"Yeah, I'm with these guys right here," said XJ5 as she floated over Tyler "hey, what's your name, by the way?"

"I'm Tyler," he said, answering XJ5's question.

"Nice to meet ya, Tyler!" nodded XJ5 "from now on, we're all on your side along with jenny here!"

"wait, you really mean that?" asked tuck. "You don't think we're bad?"

"what? no way!" comforted XJ4 "we've wanted to be back online for a long time, and now we're on our way to being part of the family."

"and we have you all to thank for that!" smiled XJ5 as she looked at the others

as the XJ sisters and her daughter's friends converse, dr Wakeman took a moment to look at XJ7 and 6

"just maybe, with some courses on learning therapy, I could help you Xj7..." thought dr Wakeman as she listened in on the conversation, "as well as xj6's unbearable jealousy,"

"now...tell me, WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU ARE GOING TO DO!?" Tyler shouted, jokingly acting like a certain literal flaming hot head unleashing four titanic elemental gods of destruction,

the xj sisters looked at each other in confusion, unknowing what to do with their lives now that they had been released, but Tyler, jenny, and their friends know that things will be chaotic if they go outside to Tremerton right away, but they can't stay downstairs either as the xj sisters had sworn their loyalty to their youngest sister and her friends in gratitude for their freedom and so,

"WHATEVER HITS US!" the XJ sisters cheered XJ1 2 3 yelped cheerfully alongside them.

"...good answer!" smiled Tyler and his friends, satisfied.

"well, it looks like we've got a lot of work to do now," chuckled Brad

"We might need to sit down," pointed out jenny, everyone agreeing with her as they took a seat and started to talk about what will happen next for a few hours.

after everyone discussed the future with the XJ sisters, they all went home as dr Wakeman and jenny prepared a room for the prototype sisters in the basement there they shall live, and from time to time will they be allowed to go with Jenny and her friends at Tremonton parks of course

Afterward, time passed slowly that week, Jenny and her friends tried to handle this revelation as best they could, especially dr Wakeman,

However, the consequences of dr Wakeman's actions and our heroes' are irreversible.

But Jenny, she hasn't even said to her mother dr Wakeman ever since that day. In fear of being replaced by her own creator, she took refuge in Brad and tuck's house, where Tyler lived.

Brad, tuck, and Tyler suddenly felt and feared like this was like the tragic horror tale of Frankenstein all over again, except this time, tuck wasn't going to poke fun at it at all as the young kid warmed up to jenny ever since the day they met and watched her destroy an asteroid on her own.

Jenny answered her mother's emergency calls, however, and handled them on her own, as jenny's sisters were not yet ready to help, as they still needed time to adjust to the world and were still learning their ways, most of which emergencies didn't require firebird's assistance either in those circumstances, however. Still, they required the blue gladiator's attention every once in a while.

Often at high school, the signs of the fallout with dr Wakeman and her sisters being locked away in the basement for decades for being failed experiments in her mothers' eyes, for being imperfect...and now jenny fears being replaced, being deactivated, and being forgotten when she just wants to be human, despite the robot prejudice and her overprotective and overbearing mother, how could she do this to her daughter?...

Date Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Time 1:20 PM

Location Tremonton high

Tyler and brad would walk alongside jenny, trying to comfort her when two fashionable yet unfavorable faces walked behind her to prey upon her emotions even further while she was emotionally vulnerable.

"Well, well well. if it isn't dear old XJ9" brit crust in her mockingly British polish accent, "penny for your thoughts, robot girl?"

"yeah, there anything you wanna talk about?" chuckled tiff crust "how about how we look?"

"Leave her alone, you two," said brad looking stern.

"you heard him," snarled Tyler. He hated the crust cousins, for they were obnoxious unrelenting bullies towards jenny "she's not in the mood to deal with you two today. and neither am i"

"oh, what? you don't like that we're so close to your Robo friend?" taunted tiff crust, "or that she's just had something on her mind?"

"it's something I don't feel comfortable talking to you two about..." said jenny though part of her feels naive towards the crust cousins. Another aspect of her thanks to her friends couldn't deny the crust cousins are not to be trusted as friends "least of all, now leave me alone."

"Yeah, we'd like it if you let jenny hang out with us!" defended brad taking a stand. "now leave her alone. She doesn't wanna hang out with you at all."

"awww, doesn't ms XJ9 want to sit down with us, the big girls in this schoolhouse?" mocked brit, who then laughed along with her cousin tiff "most of the other peasants do."

"Yeah, why don't you all sit down with us, the biggest and most popular girls in school? the crust cousins!" persuaded tiff, who then wrapped an arm around Tyler and brad, trying to seduce them away from jenny "we'll make it worth you're while~."

"if you're so 'big,' then why are you two here bullying those who are not like you and bullying our 'robot' friend here who has a HEART?" countered Tyler shoving tiff away from him, only getting angrier, "unlike like you two, the crust cousins?"

"hey, now the offers still available to you gentlemen," said brit in her polish accent, putting a false gentlewomanly facade, "though we would very much appreciate if XJ9 the super zero here could-"

"NO!" snapped Tyler, brad, and jenny, having just about enough of the crust cousins' games, jenny calling upon every ounce of willpower not to draw her weapons on them.

the curst cousins dropped dead silent after that, especially after Tyler clenching his fists popped a couple of knuckles after giving them a death glare jenny and her friends said no more as they simply left on their way, leaving the crust cousins alone to their thoughts as they merely brushed it off and when back to their queen bee high school habitats

let the crust cousins beware, for they and any bully in Tremonton high would have to deal with jenny's friends with brad's stern talking and feel the blue gladiator's rage

You screw with jenny. You screw with her friends.

Date Saturday, September 27, 2014

Time 3:45 PM

Location brad and tuck's house

That weekend, jenny remained at brad and tuck, sticking to her decision. It was a nice change of pace, too, as dr Wakeman barely had any respect for privacy or boundaries, but that may come with the territory of being strict and overbearing, something Tyler would find quite unforgivable in a sense as if he himself had witnessed it in the past before he even came to Tremonton.

Tyler was on his way to brad and tuck's right now with his mother's blessing and permission.

"Guys, I can't thank you enough for letting me stay with you these past few days after school," said Jenny. "and for standing up for me. I just can't even talk to mom right now."

"I know, Jen, we're with you till the end," nodded Brad, and then the doorbell rang "it's the least we can do for ya."

"I'll get it!" Said tuck as he arrived at the door and opened it. "Tyler!"

"hiya, tuck!" Greeted Tyler, "Hi Jenny!"

"hiya Tyler!" smiled jenny half-heartedly. She was happy to see Tyler but her current depression made it hard for jenny to feel happy right now.

"How are you feeling?" asked Tyler, concerned for jenny alongside her friends

"I'm...fine," lied jenny. Anyone who had been through such ordeals would say things to bottle such emotions until they eventually destroyed them from the inside.

"no, you're not fine. We can tell jenny," said Tyler, not buying it for a minute,

"you sure you don't wanna talk about it?" asked brad

"Yeah, we're more than happy to hear you out," added tuck.

"it's...it's about mom again..." confessed jenny. "I just can't get over what she's done, my mom's usually such a parrot, but this? she never told me about my sisters and how much she wanted me not to fail her...to be perfect so she would not dismantle me and create a better robot to replace me..."

"but jenny, you don't have to be what dr Wakeman expected of you," said Brad

"but mom still locked away my sisters," scowled jenny, "and she never even bother making them better because of 'money' and then what?"

"yeah! Seriously! not cheap, she says," sneered Tyler in his thoughts "screw the money. All it does is create greedy monsters!"

"well...I'm kind of at a loss here," said tuck, "but still, I think dr Wakeman could have done much better with them somehow."

"still, jenny, it doesn't have to be this way with your mother," said brad trying to ease the tension between mother and daughter. "I'm sure dr Wakeman will come around."

"well, the worst-case scenario, I'll never see my mother again..." scowled Jenny, not sharing brad's optimistic appraisal of the situation, "so she won't do to me what she did to my sisters? So she'll leave me alone? And not invade my privacy? so I can be me?"

"jenny, slow down," said brad worried. "you don't have to see your mother right away if you don't to, only if you're ready to forgive her, if there will ever come a time."

"well... I just don't know how I'll even forgive mom for what she's done when I was on the verge of being replaced like my sisters and being locked away collecting dust forever..." sighed jenny as she looked out the window. Tears of oil escaped her eyes in sorrow and rage. "I just don't know. I kinda want to, but I don't know."

Tyler didn't know what to say at that moment. There are some people he himself can't forgive, and even if he wants to forgive, it's quite difficult to, especially when they do things behind your back and maybe planning to abandon and replace you at a moment's notice is the mindset of an unrepentant total perfectionist.

if dr Wakeman were like this all the time, then she would be no different at all from vexus at all

vexus would only care about completing her quest for universal conquest, one where the queen of cluster prime had extinguished all organic life for vexus had distained all organic life ever since she encountered it and sought to unite all robots under a single banner on cluster prime by any means necessary no matter how hypocritical they may be almost matching that of humanity worst dictators

there may be only one vexus holds dearly in her heart, and even then, she is not above gaslighting and putting on a false image to her army and troops that vexus was their undisputed monarch and treating them lower than dirt as long as it puts the robots in line with her universal domination

dr Wakeman's actions are almost similar to vexus as she herself would not place much faith in her creations even though their flaws give Nora every reason not to

but with this matter of family at hand, Tyler couldn't help but feel like he should help out nonetheless almost he himself was caught in almost too many of them before, he still has jenny and her friends to fight for right now, and their home against vexus and her followers

"well, just know, jenny," said Tyler, "that even though many people in Tremonton are against you for being different, there are still people worth fighting for. You still have a home worth fighting for."

Tyler, brad, and tuck all gathered around jenny and hugged her dearly. Brad and tuck's parents witnessed the whole thing but dared not ruin the beautiful moment before them.

"Thanks, guys..." smiled jenny weakly and accepted a hug from her friends around her. She wasn't ready to forgive her mother yet as it doesn't happen overnight but feels like jenny has all but taken the first step, one of many steps to forgiveness along with her friends.

Time 6:45 PM

That Night, Over at the Wakeman residence, Dr. Wakeman had certainly felt quite guilty over the past few days after that incident when Jenny and her friends confronted the doctor and reactivated the XJ sisters.

Remorse filled dr Wakeman's heart of the trauma she had unintentionally inflicted on her daughter. Nora's desire for perfection, lack of faith in all her other creations that proceeded jenny, and determination not to repeat a past mistake had nearly pushed the only family she had left...one that she created with her own hands.

The xj sisters too refused to speak with their creator. They hardly ever forgot those words from their mother, "because they are failed experiments" it mainly was Xj 4, 5, and 8 that heard this, but it still hurt all the same from being deactivated for decades.

at that moment in her workbench, alone in her lab, dr Wakeman let forth a waterfall of tears as well, one of sorrow and guilt

"what...what....have I.....done...?" Cried dr Wakeman as tears escaped her eyes relentlessly "my daughters...my own daughters...i...I never realized they...felt this way..."

She thought she was doing a great job being a mother to her children, especially jenny Wakeman. Alas, no parent can ever hope to be flawless and perfect, and those who seek to be, end up being overbearing, strict, and toxic to all those around them. Not even their own children would be safe.

"I thought I knew what was best for my children..." mourned dr Wakeman "oh, how wrong I was...it is as Tyler said I'm almost no different from vexus....why haven't I done anything about XJ9's...no...jenny's torment at school...WHY!?"

Nora Wakeman was right to question her actions for that week when jenny refused to speak with her, so too did the XJ sisters. Even though dr Wakeman kept them under control, they still feared their creator and were also just as angry as their youngest sister. XJ1 was even too frightened even to face her mother, dr Wakeman, and wanted to be away from her as much as possible in fear of being deactivated again and being left to collect dust forever for their failure to the defenders of humanity due to being prototypes, which jenny and Tyler carry that burden now

dr Wakeman never realized how much her creations had evolved

and while jenny herself may not be perfect as she can be reckless and a bit of a brat sometimes, there's also the fact that 50% of Tremorton practice racism against the young teenage robot for being different, for being a robot, and often quite ruthlessly as well with only her friends having her back no matter how many times she faces oppression from the ungrateful citizens even though the collateral damage in the process gives them a right to be angry sometimes

Dr. Wakeman may have strictly ordered jenny's existence to be secret to everyone, especially teenagers. Jenny felt so alone, but when her friends befriended jenny, that changed. In high school, Wakeman's fears were justified However, when jenny came under prejudice from the crust cousins, the popular but narcissistic don prima, and vice-principal razinski, who almost seems to represent the worst of the corrupt school systems in the principal division even though razinski had good intentions.

but it was ignorant and condescending of dr Wakeman not to intervene at all and NOT make it embarrassing for her daughter at all, and remain constantly overbearing and overprotective, only encouraging jenny to be a better hero

all of these factors would have driven jenny mad, become as bad as vexus and armageddroid and fulfilled the very prophecy that dr Wakeman was trying to prevent if not for her friends and the fact she has a home and people still worth fighting for

one could only push someone too far before they snap and seek eternal vengeance against all who wronged them

Jenny and the XJ sisters didn't fail dr Wakeman. Dr. Wakeman had failed THEM all that time.

from there, dr Wakeman realized she would have to make amends somehow for her behavior towards her robotic children no matter how long it takes

"i..I must somehow make things right with my children, " sobbed dr Wakeman. "I must try...no matter what it takes...."

after vowing to redeem herself dr, Wakeman, using the last of her emotional willpower, walked off to break, almost crying herself to sleep afterward, under the cold embrace of the night and under the pale shining moonlight, knowing that tomorrow and next week is a new day with hope

but forgiveness will either be given or must be earned by both sides of the argument, in that regard

As a new day of hope comes forward and with jenny and her sisters are still angry with dr Wakeman,

Are mother and daughters doomed to be broken apart forever to such hubris? By their own creator's hands?

author's note (WARNING this will be a long one but read if you want to anyways)

Well, everyone, this is it. sorry, I was a couple of months late writing this chapter

The XJ sisters had been fully reactivated at last, and their fight with dr Wakeman had also come with jenny's fight with her own mother/creator. it was pretty emotional for me to write it all, but considering dr Wakeman's strict misguided yet conscending actions in the cartoon of my life as a teenage robot, it was inevitable,

well, in this fanfiction story of the show anyways

I was pretty white-knuckled writing this chapter. and emotionally draining too, but it had to be done, so I pressed on writing this follow up chapter

Also, In this episode, I'm trying to introduce some hidden depths to Tyler/firebirds' character. I want to make sure our main character doesn't end up a flawless Gary Stu/mary sue and remind everyone that our hero is still human. that they have doubts, fears, and shortcomings like all of us we can still relate to (which hopefully I don't go back on, unlike many other media)

I'm hoping to set up a back story for Tyler's origins before he arrived at Tremonton and became firebird throughout this story without going full-blown batman (no disrespect for that backstory to all of you batman fans out there, please forgive me) that will also address Tyler's self-esteem issues on believing himself to be expendable to everyone that will hopefully be a relatable struggle throughout the story as our heroes continue to fight queen vexus and the cluster empire.

I'm hoping this all won't be a case of being unintentionally unsympathetic or wangst most of the time. If I did anything wrong with this sudden development, please let me know, leave your suggestions, and I'll re-edit some parts of this story to clear up continuity errors please.

Constructive criticism aside, I hope to get back in on the action in this story soon. One of my favorite parts of this story is writing the giant robot battles in this story though this doesn't mean the drama going on here will be over with a snap of a finger as that would just break the Aesop presented here.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter in how it explored the consequences of dr Wakeman's actions along with our heroes, and I'll see you all next time.