A/N: Here we go! I've updated the writing quality and aesthetic of this book.

Word count (estimated): 2.2K

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑰 ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:

Cheers and robotic jangles were heard distantly just beyond the bustling streets of San Fransokyo. You stood in the alleyways, surrounded by the "criminal" bot fight participants and spectators. With your own bot in hand, you ignored the others cheering and shouting around you. You already knew that the opposer was losing to Yama, but you looked up anyways. The challenger's bot was shredded to pieces.

Just in time to see the defeat, you thought, silently laughing to yourself.

"The winner," the announcer yelled, "by total annihilation, Yama!" She dramatically motioned to the fighter.

"Who is next?" Yama bellowed triumphantly, taking the prize money from the tray. "Who has the guts to step into the ring, with Little Yama?"

You watched, unimpressed, as many observers back away as if they were already defeated by his presence. You fidgeted carelessly with your bot and you couldn't help but roll your eyes.

"Can I try?" A voice was heard from somewhere within the crowd.

You look up again to see that the people have dispersed to make way for the challenger. A boy of around your age had stepped forward. You watched, wondering about his abilities, but not doubting them.

"I have a robot. I built it myself," he said, holding up a smiling, seemingly harmless bot. The crowd burst into laughter, all but you. You watched him intently, managing to catch a glance from the boy. You gave him a reassuring and sympathetic smile and received a small grin in return.

"Beat it, kid. House rules, you got to pay to play," the announcer scoffed.

"Oh, uh—" the boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of coins and crumpled bills— "is this enough?"

"What's your name, little boy?" Yama chuckled.

"Hiro." He smiled slightly. "Hiro Hamada."

"Prepare your bot, Zero."

Hiro stepped into the ring and they both put their money in the tray, setting their bots down. Little Yama stood firmly and Hiro's bot slumped over shortly after. The opponents then sat across from each other, Yama with a large thud and Hiro swiftly following. Yama cracked his neck to intimidate, and Hiro copied him by tilting his head and making the sound with his voice, instead. You stifled a laugh at that.

"Two bots enter, one bot leaves," said the announcer, holding a parasol between the two contestants. Yama smirked at Hiro past its edge, and Hiro raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Fighters ready? ...Fight!"

Little Yama immediately prepared itself, turning on its weaponry. Hiro's bot stumbled forward, waddling towards its opponent, only to be thrown into the air and sliced cleanly into three parts. The crowd started laughing once more, prompting Yama to reach for the cash.

"Th-That was my first fight, I... Can I try again?" Hiro stammered.

"No one likes a sore loser, little boy," said Yama, chuckling. "Go home." He had already pocketed some of the cash.

"I've got more money...?" Hiro said imploringly, holding up a fairly large bundle of cash. Yama smirked and placed the money back into the tray along with additional money from the both of them.

"Fighters ready? Fight!" the referee shouted, and the crowd roared once more.

You observed the two with attentiveness, your eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Huh. His bot's so similar to mine, surely he's got something in mind, you thought to yourself. With an advanced bot like that —and a huge amount of cash— surely he can't be a beginner.

Little Yama's weaponry sprang to life again, and Hiro's bot reassembled, just as you expected. You smiled and nodded approvingly.

"Megabot," he started, "destroy." His controller expanded and his facial expression shifted from innocent to malicious. His robot's face did the same.

He sure did play that innocent front well. A smug look was painted on your face. Smart kid.

Megabot leapt towards Little Yama, flipping and sliding all around. Yama struggled to land a single hit on Hiro's bot, let alone control his well enough to dodge the pending attacks. On the other hand, Hiro looked bored whilst fighting, toggling levers and triggers on his controller with a bored kind of ease.

Megabot decapitated Little Yama, first twisting off one robotic arm and using it to wrench the other one out of place. Throwing the limbs to the side, it snaked up the body to the head, repeatedly smacking the head of the machine. To end the fight, it popped that off the body, too. The remaining parts fell to the ground, revealing an astonished crowd and Yama. Megabot switched back to its smiling face, then bowed.

"No more Little Yama," said Hiro, simply and modestly. He began to take the cash.

"But... what?" Yama picked up the pieces of his bot only for them to fall apart more. "This is not possible!"

"Hey, I'm as surprised as you are. Beginner's luck." Hiro was stuffing the cash into his pocket as he spoke. "Do you want to go again, Yama...?" His tone faded to nervous whilst finishing his sentence.

"No one hustles Yama!" Hiro was shoved into the wall, and Yama snatched his bot.

Hiro clearly hadn't anticipated that his victory would lead to a fight. "Woah, hey..." he tried to begin to reason, but no other words followed.

"Teach him a lesson," Yama directed his gang as he walked away with Hiro's bot.

"Hey, fellas. Let's talk about this," Hiro said, chuckling nervously.

When the bot fight had ended and the crowd had dispersed in utter disbelief, you were left with your thoughts and the goal of trying to find this child prodigy. When you did, he seemed to be in quite a predicament. Oh man, this kid's gonna get it. Might as well help him out, you thought. You ran past the gang that had cornered him and grabbed Hiro's wrist, pulling him along with you through the alleys.

"Woah! What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm saving your life," you replied bluntly.

Just then, a man mounted on a motorbike drove beside you, slowing down to a stop at your side.

"Guys, get on!"

"Tadashi!" Hiro exclaimed, recognizing the man while you didn't. He hurried onto the vehicle. "Oh, good timing!" A helmet was placed on his head, slightly too big for him. You followed hesitantly but quickly after, sitting down behind Hiro. You wrapped your arms around his torso to keep steady, noticing him tense a little in response to your touch.

Further back, Yama held Hiro's bot as he watched you fade out of sight. "A-ha!" he shouted, looking at the overpowered bot in hand. Just then, it switched to its aggressive appearance and began to hit Yama in the face. Hiro then recalled it, and it slid to the bike and hopped into his grip. He looked back down the passage, smiling.

It was then that Tadashi spoke again. "Are you both okay?"

"Yeah," you and Hiro responded simultaneously.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Then what were you thinking?" Tadashi scolded Hiro, shoving him slightly. "Knucklehead!"

You reached the end of the alley and Tadashi made a quick turnaround. "You graduated high school when you were thirteen, and this is what you're doing?" he began, directing his words towards Hiro.

"There they are!" Yama yelled from further down the way.

"Hold on!" said Tadashi, veering to the right to drive up a wooden board serving as a ramp. You tightened your grip around Hiro.

"Whoo-hoo! Yes!" Hiro exclaimed, looking at your suspended figure in the glass's reflection. You followed his gaze and smiled at the reflection, too.

"Bot fighting is illegal," Tadashi went on. "You're going to get yourselves arrested."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Bot fighting is not illegal," he countered.

"Betting on bot fighting, that's—" you started, holding up your index finger to make a point.

"—That's illegal, but so lucrative!" Hiro said, finishing your thought as he took out a wad of prize money. "I'm on a roll big brother, and there is no stopping me!"

Suddenly, the motorbike screeched to a halt. "Oh no," Tadashi muttered.

Police.

Handcuffs.

Jail.

The cops had arrested you, Tadashi, and Hiro, taking you all to jail. Luckily for you, you and Hiro weren't thrown in with the other fighters —like Yama— like Tadashi was. You and Hiro shared your own cell.

You looked at each other and smiled sheepishly before returning to staring at the ground. Wait a second, were you blushing?

"Hey," you said, wanting to break the silence. "This, uh, probably isn't the best time to introduce myself, but I'm (Y/N) (L/N). You can call me (N/N or Y/N)."

"Hiro Hamada," Hiro said, shaking your hand.

"You were great out there, fighting," you complimented, "I also bot fight. I think our bots are really similar, actually. Magnetic-bearing servos?"

"Oh, yeah! That's cool, maybe we could have a match against each other. Then it's just down to skill. No betting, though," Hiro joked, playfully nudging your shoulder with his. "My brother doesn't really approve of me bot fighting, anyways."

"I can say the same about my sister," you said with a light laugh, breaking your eye contact. Boy, was she going to kill you. "She's just trying to be the protective older sibling that she is.

"Oh, uh, we should probably get going," you realized upon noticing the cops had unlocked the cell. After leaving it, you were escorted outside where your sister stood alongside a short woman.

"Hey, Kori..." you started, rubbing the back of your neck.

"Hi, Aunt Cass," Hiro and Tadashi greeted the other woman.

"Are you guys okay? Tell me you're okay," Cass said, engulfing them with an embrace.

"We're fine."

"We're okay."

A sigh of relief escaped her. "Oh, good."

Kori didn't even say anything to you. She looked at Tadashi, pointed towards you and Hiro, raised an eyebrow. Tadashi nodded as if to say, "Yeah, bot fighting." Then he motioned for the two of you to follow them into Cass' car.

"What were you two knuckleheads thinking?!" Cass scolded the brothers, grabbing them by an ear and dragging them into the car. You and Kori went in the back silently.

"For ten years, I have done the best I could to raise you," Cass rambled on as she drove. "Have I been perfect? No! But when I hear that you've been arrested? And then you drag... oh, I never got your name?"

"(Y/N)," you replied, only a hint of awkward in your tone.

"And then you drag (Y/N) into this mess, too!" She pulled up to a building, The Lucky Cat Café, and unlocked the door. She ushered you and Kori inside while the Hamadas trailed in after.

"Sorry."

"We love you, Aunt Cass."

"Well, I love you too!" She walked over to the counters filled with pastries and grabbed a doughnut. "I had to close up early because of all of this, on beat poetry night!" Cass glanced down at the doughnut she'd bitten into. "Stress eating, because of you! C'mon, Mochi!"

A cat jumped up and followed her into another room. Hiro had already gone upstairs and Tadashi just started to follow him up.

"This is really good!" Cass gushed, mouth full of doughnut. You and Kori proceeded upstairs after Tadashi. Hiro was seated at what you presumed to be his desk and computer, typing on a browser.

"You better make this up to Aunt Cass before she eats everything in the café," Tadashi warned Hiro as you approached the desk. You rested your hand on the back of his chair. Bot fighting website.

"For sure," Hiro responded, not taking his eyes from the screen.

"And I hope you two boneheads learned your lesson," said Kori.

Hiro swiveled around in his chair. "Absolutely," you said in unison.

"You're going bot fighting, aren't you?" Tadashi inferred.

"There's a fight across town," said Hiro, standing up from his place at his desk, revealing the website to your siblings.

"I bet if we book, we can still make it," you chimed in merrily. Hiro grabbed his bot. As you both headed for the stairway, your siblings dragged you back into the room.

"When are you two going to start using those big brains of yours?" Kori said imploringly, tapping your foreheads.

"What, go to college like you?" Hiro said, nudging his brother.

"So people can tell us stuff that we already know?" you added for good measure.

"Unbelievable," Kori and Tadashi sighed simultaneously. They looked at each other helplessly in hopes of finding an idea. They can literally read each other's minds. Kori's face lit up and she gave a smug look to Tadashi, to which he nodded.

"Hey," said Tadashi, tossing a helmet to Hiro, and then one to you. "We'll take you."

"Really?" you and Hiro said, masking our full excitement.

"We can't stop you from going."

"But we're not letting you go on your own," Kori stated in finality.

You smiled. "Sweet."