#sandfleas

Jimmy raised his hands, pumping them back and forth a few times. Much to his surprise, however, his missiles didn’t fire. “What?! My missiles aren’t firing!” The Sandfleas laughed again, slowly surrounding Jimmy. “You think we would’ve forgotten about your little finger missiles?” The one in charge pointed his thumb to an as-of-yet silent masked punk who had a conspicuously large fang. “I had Fang jam them with gum while we kidnapped your dumb friends!”

As if on cue, the fanged Sandflea blew a rather large pink bubble that exploded, splattering gum across the lower portion of his mask.

“You… You dastardly fiends!” Jimmy scowled, taking a step back. No missiles meant no lasers as well. He couldn’t even free his friend! Jimmy felt entirely useless, pizza cannon nearly slipping out of his hand. Sighing slowly, Jimmy looked down, Sandfleas cackling as it appeared to them they had defeated their prey. “Thhhhhhhat’s it, come quhhhhhhhhhietly, Robot!” Slowly, Jimmy raised his hands. He could hear his friends muffled protests from behind him. He went to drop his newly made invention, but then gasped, looking up at his hand. “Pizza cannon!”

The Sandfleas looked confused, their weapons lowering slightly. “… Pizza cannon?” “PIZZA CANNON!” As he yelled, Jimmy fired the pizza cannon, a freaky fresh pizza splatting across the leader’s face. “OWW, HOT!” His voice was muffled as he clawed at his face, falling over and dropping his knife as he scrambled backwards. “Eat Pizza, you masked punks!” Jimmy fired his cannon with wild abandon, splattering the Sandfleas with steaming hot cheesy goodness. Before long, they were all scrambling towards the door, flinging it open and fleeing into the night. Satisfied, Jimmy quickly turned to his friends, dropping to his knees to untie them. “My friends! Are you alright?” “Robot! You saved us!” Ricky’s face was practically glowing. “With PIZZA!” Crash’s addition made Jimmy chuckle, his heart fluttering with pride in spite of their dehumanizing nickname for him. “I’m so glad you’re safe! I… I was worried you didn’t want me any more…” Jimmy’s head drooped slightly as he worked at the ropes binding the Commander’s hands. Without his lasers, this was more difficult than he was used to. “Didn’t want you any more?! Who would drive the Battletram?! Who would fix the lights when the autopilot fails and we crash?! WHO WOULD GET ME COLD DRINKS?!” The Commander seemed increasingly frazzled as he considered what would happen without Jimmy.

Despite how Commander overtly saw Jimmy as a robot, he was still touched by how nervous he got at the thought of Jimmy not being around. “Commander… I love you guys too!” “Love?” Commander made a face. “Aren’t you a robot?” Crash, always stating the obvious. “Robots don’t love!” Bones scoffed, seeming amused. “But -I- DO!” Not yet finished freeing his friends, but too excited to keep it in any longer, Jimmy whipped out the slightly crumpled blueprint. “Look!” They all leaned in, narrowing their eyes. Crash tilted his head, trying to read it upside-down. “What… Exactly are we looking at, Robot?” The Commander sounded more confused than Crash looked. “I have a heart, Commander! Mother showed me this when those masked punks tricked me and sent me back home!” “Wooooah, it’s filled with apple Jelly too!” Crash licked his lips. “You can’t EAT it, Crash!” Jimmy looked briefly horrified, pulling his hands back and clutching the blueprint to his chest. “It means I can feel emotions! Like you guys! Mother said you need love to harvest apples, so I was built with an honest to goodness heart!” “Aww, Jimmy! That’s so cool!” Crash looked excited now that he (probably?) understood. “Wow, I feel kind of bad for always calling you Robot now!” Ricky briefly seemed distressed, but the Commander soon cut him off, grumbling. “Well, he IS a robot…”