Tip Taps Tip

Chapter: 1

I never understood why it always starts to rain when I think about them…about mama and papa. It has been 5 years since they disappeared along with half of the Scub Coral. First, we believed that they would come back. A year later, to renew our hopes, we were officially included in the family as the children of Renton and Eureka Thurston. So Maeter became Maeter Thurston, Linck became Linck Thurston and I…I became Maurice Thurston. But they never came…mama and papa never returned. For Grandpa Axel, I had taken place of papa and he taught me all about the LFOs and other machines. We were still somewhat happy as we were still a family, the importance of which we had learnt when we were in the Promised Land. But it all changed once again 6 months ago…when Grandpa Axel left us. And that was the last time we heard or saw anybody from the Gekkostate. Even after the second summer of love, people were still skeptical about the Coral and so Gekkostate still had a job to do. They often used to visit us for repairs and spare parts but they stopped after Grandpa's death. I suppose they think that there is no gain in coming here. After grandpa left, we were once again orphaned. The neighbors looked after us for a month or so, mostly out of pity and the Thurston name. But it couldn't always go on like that. So I decided to reopen grandpa's garage and started working as a mechanic, the thing he had trained me for. Of course, the job was too difficult for an 11-year old like me. The amount of muscular power the job demanded was way beyond what I possessed. But thanks to a kind blacksmith, who lived at the other end of Bellforest, the tools were tinkered so that they require less amount of strength. I started the garage but the money from it wasn't quite enough so Maeter took up a job in a shop, it's quite tough for a 10-year old girl to find a job. Linck lent me a hand in the comparatively less strenuous tasks. So here we were, kids working for their survival. You ask about our education? Well, we do go to school. They were kind enough to let us study without any fees and we somehow managed to get the books. Though we weren't exactly shining in our studies but seeing the circumstances we were doing pretty good. Atleast we weren't repeating any year. This is our life.

Pulling up the collar of his jacket to shield his face from the light rain, Maurice brisk walked on the damp pavement. He walked past a playground where a few small boys were playing soccer, despite the drizzle.

"C'mon, pass the ball." A boy shouted.

"What are you doing? Give the ball to him." Another one shouted.

"Renton…" the boy from before yelled once again.

This is another result of the second summer of love. We now have hordes of kids being named 'Renton', though 'Eureka' is still uncommon and you may sometimes even spot 'Adroc'. They say that it is in their remembrance but I, on the contrary, feel that it's kind of disrespectful. I feel that it somehow reduces the value of the original person.

"Renton, can't you pass a ball?"

"I-I tried, but passing requires a lot of skill." The boy, Renton, defended himself.

Hmm…this one is quite somewhat like papa.

Maurice hastened his pace; their house was just around the corner. Within a couple of minutes, he reached the door and entered the garage.

"I'm back!" he announced.

"Hey…" came a muffled voice.

"Linck, you still not done with seveN!"

From under a silver-electric blue LFO, a dark skinned boy with a scar on the left side of his forehead, rolled out.

"What the heck do you mean? This stupid LFO requires tons of maintenance and for all we do it has hardly ever budged. Makes me want to throw this junk away." Linck exclaimed

Maurice sighed,

"I know but Grandpa had specifically asked us to keep it safe."

"For what, eh? Didn't we try everything to get this scrap to move? Tresor made a new Amita Drive, Anemone tried in case it needed a Coralian pilot. But noooo, this hunk didn't move an inch. For the past four years it's been lying like this. Wonder why Tresor wasted money on its armor and weapons."

Maurice sighed once again,

"Has Maeter returned yet?" he asked.

"No, I think she's doing OT again." Linck replied.

"Great…and looks like we're in for a storm tonight."

Maurice checked through the order slips and supervised the machines in for repair. He saw that most of the jobs were ahead of schedule so he decided to call it a day.

"Let's go Linck. Better get started on dinner, since Maeter's gonna be late."

"Un Hunh can't do. There's nothing to cook, Maeter's getting the groceries while she's coming back." Linck said.

Maurice ruffled his hair,

"Oh well, then let's just get back inside."

The two boys switched off the lights, locked the garage door and went inside the house. The rain outside was now pouring full force with lightning and thunder.

"Boy, is that one…" and suddenly darkness enveloped them.

"Power failure," Linck muttered," I'll start the backup generator."

Pulling out his pocket flashlight, which he used to see under the hoods of machines, Linck made his way through to the back of the house where their own home-made generator was placed.

Maurice patiently waited as Linck went about the startup procedure.

Suddenly, a loud thumping noise came from the main door. Carefully making his way through, Maurice reached the door and opened it. There stood a small boy, about four or five years old, drenched wet and shivering.

"C-Can I p-please c-come i-in, I am v-very c-c-cold." The boy innocently spoke, his teeth chattering.

Maybe he's one of those kids who were playing in the playground.

"Come on in." Maurice spoke, gently pulling him in by his hand.

"My name is R-Renton, I'm five y-years old. Nice t-to meet y-you." The boy spoke as he shivered.

Yup, he's definitely that boy from the playground.

At that moment, the lights lit up and the soft humming of the generator was heard in the background.

Maurice observed his guest and gasped.

The boy had saddle-brown hair which was stuck to his forehead due to the wetness, his eyes were light blue. His nose was curved inwards and was pointy at the tip.

"Papa…" Maurice whispered.

Silence surrounded them as the two kept staring at each other. The rain outside fell noisily….Tip…Tap…Tip…

So, how was it? Sorry for the sort of slow start but a couple of chapters and the story will pick up. I wanted to write a fic in which Eureka and Renton do not come back as most of the ones I read show them coming back after a year or so. Oh and the title was inspired by one of the ending songs in the anime (Tip Taps Tip by HALCALI)

Please read and review, do tell me if you like this or not.

mse~