Luna's Story: Chapter 2 Friends

The next day as Cody and Frankie were walking to school Luna ran up to them, her face bright with excitement.

“Hey! Cody! Frankie! Wait for me!” she cried.

They stopped and turned, waiting for her to catch up before continuing to walk.

“That was fun! Yesterday was wonderful and I can’t wait to visit you again.” She said excitedly.

“Be sure to ask your dad this time.” Cody smiled.

“I did, I thought today we could check out that tunnel, you could tell me why it was closed up in the first place.” She grinned.

Cody and Frankie stopped walking before glancing nervously at each other and caught up to her.

“Uh today?” Cody asked, confused.

“And do you mean go INSIDE the tunnel?” Frankie asked, also confused, and worried.

“Of course! And don’t friends visit and explore every day?” Luna asked.

Frankie seemed to understand and smiled.

“Well sometimes, but you need to ask first, or be invited.” She explained.

Catching on Cody continued on for her.

“Yeah, it’s rude to assume and act without asking about those kinds of things.”

Luna looked at them as they each explained, looking more and more confused.

“Wait, I have to ask for permission to come to your houses still? And ask to explore?” she asked.

When they nodded she scowled, clearly not liking the idea.

“But that’s such a waste of time! Why can’t we do what we like and not waste it constantly asking questions for permission?” she scowled.

Again they looked at each other; they had never met any other student with such little regard for rules.

“Uhh yeah, but it’s for safety-” Cody began to explain.

“Safety is boring! I used to not be able to do anything at all before Ethy…I mean Myra left me with Mac.” She scowled.

Cody and Frankie were really confused but the sound of the bell ringing distracted them long enough for Luna to run off ahead of them.

In class things were tense between the two islanders and Luna, she would scowl at her papers and when she erased she practically burned holes in her paper. It continued like that all day until lunch and when they tried to find Luna she avoided them at every turn.

“M-maybe we can ask her dad to explain?” Frankie panted as Luna ran from their view.

“Y-yeah, w-we’ll visit her house tomorrow.” He puffed.

_@_@_@_@_@

After school Cody and Frankie sent messages to their parents telling them they were going to visit Luna and then went to the Town Hall to look into the records. It didn’t take long to find Luna’s address and they immediately went to visit.

Luna’s house was in the suburban area of the island and when they knocked on the door Mac answered it almost immediately.

“Cody? Francine? Welcome, are you here to visit Luna?” he asked, wiping motor oil and wash fluids from his hands.

“Uh actually we’re here to talk to you, we have some questions.” Frankie explained.

“Luna has been avoiding us and we feel that you can help us out.” Cody added.

Mac blinked in surprise before gesturing for them to come inside.

“You might have to move a few boxes to sit, we still have not managed to settle in entirely yet.” Mac explained as they helped him move boxes off of an old recliner and a small couch.

Once they sat Cody began to explain first.

“What we wanted to talk about was a conversation we had with Luna earlier today. At first she was really excited to visit our homes until we told her she had to ask permission each time.”

“She became upset and told us she found safety boring and said something about somebody named Ethy then changed the name to Myra and said she left her with you.” Frankie added.

Mac blinked in surprise before looking sad and turned, going towards a box filled with photos and pulled out a single frame and handed it to Frankie.

“Myra is my adopted daughter, Ethy must have been the pet name Luna had given Myra. You see several months ago Myra disappeared after work and didn’t come back for several months, when she did come back she came back with Luna. Both explained they were sisters, Myra had gone to find her birth family and had found Luna. She asked me to take care of Luna, she was grown and had a job elsewhere and hoped I could help her like I had Myra.” He sighed, sitting as he explained.

“I don’t know much from Luna’s past but from what she’s managed to tell me she was not raised right and it’s my job to correct that, to help her get on the right track and learn what she needs…but if she is anything like Myra was she will be quite the challenge.” He sighed.

“What do you mean ‘a challenge’?” Cody asked.

Mac leaned back and closed his eyes, as if remembering.

“Myra was difficult, very intelligent, but very stubborn and often took risks she didn’t need to take.” He explained.

Frankie and Cody looked at each other before nodding at Mac and standing, Frankie handing over the picture to Mac.

“Thank you for the story and for letting us come over.” Frankie said.

“You helped a lot and we will be sure to help with Luna, with your permission of course.” Cody said, smiling.

Mac smiled and nodded.

“That would be wonderful, I always wondered what Myra would have been like if she had had friends like you.” He smiled.

Both children smiled at each other before Mac led them out of the house and they went towards the fire house as Frankie sent her father an update.

“So we didn’t find out much but we did find out what we might need.” Cody began.

“We know she’s stubborn but if we need to be stubborn to help her and her dad we will, it’s what friends do.” Frankie ended, grinning at him.

Behind them Luna frowned at them from her bedroom window, bits of oil and solvent on her hands before she turned away and picked up a small robotic head and began to tinker with it. A moment later a knock on her door made her turn and scowl at the door, as if willing for it to open. A moment later there was another knock and she scowled deeper before calling out, slipping a sheet of cloth over her work.

“It’s unlocked.” She called.

Mac opened the door and walked towards Luna, holding a small box in his hands.

“This came for you.” He explained.

Luna scowled at it before turning and uncovering her work and began to tinker with it again.

He waited a moment before setting the box in front of her and putting a hand on her trinket, forcing her to stop.

“Your friends stopped by-“ he began.

“I would hardly call them friends,” she growled.

“I only knew them for a single day.”

Mac sighed and pulled back his hand but instead set it on her head, startling her.

“Friends are people who care about you, Luna, yes they are still deciding but they are beginning none the less. Things like this don’t usually happen instantly it takes time to develop.” He explained.

Luna scowled and pushed his hand off of her head but he simply moved it to her shoulder.

“Books and equations with assumptions and inexperience never mix well, everything has science but everything also requires experience. Please try, otherwise you’ll end up alone.” Mac tried.

“I won’t be alone.” She growled.

“Will you?” he asked before removing his hand and heading to the door.

“Oh and don’t forget your package.” He smiled then closed the door behind himself.

Luna frowned and looked at the door before looking at the package before pulling off the wrapping and opening it, inside were two smaller boxes, one purple the other blue. A note lay across them, waiting. She pulled out the boxes and read the note as she did, she recognized who had sent it immediately and smiled.

Had a feeling you would want to see what you’re made of and what you’re not. Enjoy.
-Ethy

Luna grinned and reached for the blue box before hesitating then moved to the purple one and opened it, her eyes widening as a low purple glow lit her face. She reached in and pulled out a glowing fragment of dark energon, she had read about it in Myra’s notes and she grinned at it gleefully before glancing at her robot and smirked wider.


The next day at school Luna walked into class with a proud smile before sitting and smiling as she waited for class to begin.

Cody and Frankie watched her, hopefuly, but when she didn’t respond to either of them they looked at each other before leaning towards her.

“Luna? Are you okay?” Frankie asked.

Luna ignored her and pulled her backpack onto the desk and opened it, pulling out her work when something inside hissed and growled.

Startled Cody watched with Frankie as a metallic cat climbed out and sat at the edge of the desk and began to groom itself. Instead of two eyes it had a simple V-visor and only began to purr when Luna pet it.

“L-Luna? Why is there a cat in your bag?” Cody asked.

“She is Not a cat, THIS is Lynx, my companion.” She smirked.

Frankie looked at Cody before shrugging and leaning towards Lynx curiously.

“Is she programmed to imitate just a cat or does she have other purposes?” she asked when Lynx suddenly turned and hissed at her, arching its back as Frankie recoiled in surprise.

Once Frankie had returned to her original position Lynx relaxed and continued to groom herself.

Cody and Frankie looked at each other, flabbergasted when the class was silenced as the teacher walked in and Luna stuffed Lynx back into her bag.

“Alright everybody, today we move onto the subject of what gains we have from supporting the Rain Forest-” he began.

Cody and Frankie looked at each other nervously, they could tell something that day would not go well.


At lunch Luna simply pulled out Lynx and it kept Cody and Frankie from approaching Luna and they were forced out of reach.

Frankie scowled at the prowling cat as it groveled, pacing the boundaries it had placed around Luna as she practiced with the basketball.

“I’m tired of this, Luna can shut us out all she wants but I’m not going to give up without a fight.” Frankie snapped.

“What are we going to do about her cat? If we go too near we’re likely to get more than a few scratches from those steel claws.” Cody said nervously as he watched the cat’s metal claws retract and emerge with each step.

“Don’t worry Cody, a quick zap of EMP should shut down that feline fatale.” Francine grinned before aiming her watch at the cat and pressing a button.

Immediately the cat stiffened and fell to its side, unfortunately Luna seemed to freeze and stumbled back before falling onto her rear, as if shocked too.

Surprised Frankie and Cody rushed up to her as she rubbed her head dizzily.

“What was in that EMP?” Cody asked, frightened as they crouched by Luna.

“Nothing! It was only supposed to affect machines!” Frankie said nervously as she waved a hand in front of Luna’s face.

“Luna are you okay?” she asked nervously.

“I-I y-yeah, but…what was that?” she groaned, scowling as she rubbed her head and they helped her stand.

“An EMP, but it’s only supposed to affect machines.” Frankie said nervously.

Luna suddenly looked surprised before looking around and smiling nervously.

“O-oh..uhh it must’ve affected my ear implant too, that’s probably why it hurt.” She said nervously.

“Ear implant?” Frankie asked, looking at Cody in concern.

“Y-yeah, I’m an inventor, it’s uhh for phone and radio signals…it must’ve let off a shock when it was hit.” She said nervously.

Frankie and Cody looked at each other in confusion before Cody shook his head and turned to Luna.

“Right, okay, but we need to talk to you.” Cody said.

Luna blinked confused but said nothing as Frankie started.

“One, stop avoiding us, we want to help you and we want to be your friends, but avoiding us and disregarding our rules and beliefs is NOT helping.” Frankie pointed out as she pressed her point by entering Luna’s space before retreating.

“And we want to help you, if you’ll let us, because we’ll only keep trying, no matter how many robot cats you make.” Cody further explained before crossing his arms.

Luna blinked in surprise before looking at the two islanders that stood there, firm and unbreakable.

“Wh-…but I only just met you.” She stammered.

Cody and Frankie glanced at each other with grins on their faces before hugging Luna, startling her further as they all fell to the ground. After a moment Luna began to giggle then laugh as her new friends just grinned at each other.

_@_@_@_@_@

After school Cody and Frankie went over the rules of the firehouse with Luna, they were like many normal house rules. No running in the house, clean up what mess you make, be respectful and etc. Luna explained Mac had spoken to her about the rules and she explained the only rules she used to know was ‘obey or stay in your room’. She explained she used to be in a military like family and had never even left her house until Myra came and took legal action and rescued her. That fact seemed to help Frankie and Cody better understand why Luna had difficulty with rules.

“Too many rules is bad, I get it, but some rules are meant to stay unbroken like don’t touch open wires or run in the street, it’s just logic and easy to follow.” Frankie giggled when she stopped Luna from crossing a street without a crosswalk.

“I understand…I guess I just have to make it a habit.” She sighed then smiled.

“So…exactly why was that tunnel sealed off? I read there are tunnels all over the island and people frequent there.” Luna asked before elaborating why she was curious.

“A while back Doc Greene, uh Frankie’s dad, accidentally activated a subwoofer that was left in the tunnels, it caused a lot of cave-ins and Frankie ended up needing a cast.” Cody elucidated.

“Yeah, many of the tunnels are still unstable, including the one at the firehouse, but I know one that was declared stable several weeks ago near the cove, we could explore that!” Frankie added.

“Really? We will…I-I mean CAN we go visit after school tomorrow? With my dad’s permission?” Luna asked after quickly correcting herself.

“Sure, but I’ll have to meet you there. My dad is planning a short line of tests and I wanted to give him a hand.” Frankie explained.

Luna looked at Cody.

“Sorry, I’d go but we’re having a Burns family day out, I promised dad I would play on his team for the basketball game before our picnic.” Cody explained.

Luna looked confused until Cody explained.

“A family day out is when we get together to bond and relax as a family…you should have one with your dad.” He smiled.

Luna looked thoughtful before she smiled and nodded, liking the idea.

“A day of nothing but play and bonding with Mac? I like that…maybe Eth-Myra could join us.” Luna wondered as she rubbed her chin.”

“Okay, well I have to go, see you two later.” Frankie waved before running off.

“I’ll see you later too, I don’t want to miss preparing dinner.” Cody grinned before he too ran off.

Luna smiled and headed home, her cat groveled in her unzipped backpack before a light purple glow emanated from it then dimmed as two red and gold eyes appeared in the shadow.