Astro Boy: In the Snowstorm 2

Astro Boy in the Snowstorm Part 2

The next morning, the cold light of winter dawn began to creep through the windows. Astro woke up, and quietly got out of the makeshift bed in the loungeroom. In the kitchen, he found a phone charger on the benchtop. This, he took and sat back in the loungeroom. Then, he connected it to a socket inside his chest panel, and plugged it into the power point. This way, he could recharge his energy cartridge. After about an hour, he was fully charged and his energy had been replenished. Astro returned the phone charger to its former place on the kitchen bench, and lay back down on the bed.

A short while later the family came in to have breakfast.
"Astro! Good morning!" said the mother, whose name was Cathy. "We'll have to get you some clothes."
"Mitchell, go and find some of your clothes for Astro to wear please!"
"Ok Mum."
"Astro, who still wasn't wearing a shirt went into Mitchell's room, and Mitchell lent him some clothes. Mitchell was a tall, lanky boy of 17, so his clothes were a bit big on Astro. Astro wore Mitchell's shorts and t-shirt. These were baggy on him though. A woollen scarf completed the outfit.

After breakfast, Cathy, Mitchell and Astro went to the shops to buy Astro some clothes. They went to the shopping centre, and were trying to find David Jones but the people that worked there said that the shop was closed for renovations. They walked through the shopping centre trying to find a shop to buy clothes for Astro, but a lot of the shops were closed for renovations. This was very strange. So they went to get the lift up to the top floor. They walked to the central courtyard of the shops where there were two lifts. Ferns and other green plants grew in planter boxes around the central courtyard. The two lifts had glass around the outside. Astro, Cathy and Mitchell stepped into one lift and pressed the button to go to the top floor. Meanwhile, some other people got into the other lift. As Astro's lift started to go up, suddenly, there was a cracking sound. The lift stopped halfway up. A crack appeared on the glass, which started to spread. Then the glass shattered. Cathy and Mitchell huddled together in fear. Something strange started to happen in the other lift. The people in the other lift transformed into monsters with long, green tentacle arms. The tentacle arms smashed through the glass of the lift, and these creatures reached towards Cathy and Mitchell. Cathy tried to open the lift door, but it was jammed shut. Then the floor of their lift gave way. They were falling.

Until Astro used his rocket feet to fly Cathy and Mitchell back to safety on the top floor. Then he flew back to face the tentacle monsters which were clambering and twisting their way up the side of the wall. Astro fired his lasers at the tentacle arms, slicing them in two. But then another tentacle wrapped around him and pulled him close to the creature's mouth. It had long, sharp teeth. Astro struggled to get free, and then used his butt guns to fire at the monster. The monster unravelled its tentacle. Finally, Astro fought with the creature until it was destroyed.
"Zoom!"
Using his rockets to fly away, Astro reached the top floor of the shopping centre.

"That was amazing!" said Cathy. "I was afraid that monster was going to eat you! How did you do it?"
"I'm a robot," Astro replied.
Unfortunately during the battle, Astro had lost his clothes, and was now wearing only black speedos and red boots.
"We still need to find a shop to buy you clothes though," said Cathy.
They walked through the top level of the shopping arcade. Many of the shops were closed and bordered up. Luckily, they found a Pumpkin Patch shop which was open and they bought Astro some children's clothes from that shop. A little way down the arcade was a place called "Cookie Café" where they stopped to get something to eat. When the waitress came over to ask for their order, Astro asked her "Why is David Jones closed?"
"It is because students are having exams there at the moment. You can see through the window."
Cookie Café was next to a window which looked down onto the lower level. On the lower level, where David Jones was supposed to be were rows and rows of desks of students having exams. Why were they having exams during the Christmas holiday period? Most high school students were on holidays at the moment. With this, and the tentacle monsters it all seemed a bit strange; sinister even. Was it because aliens had taken over the shopping centre and assumed human form? No-one knew.

After having something to eat at Cookie Café, Cathy, Mitchell and Astro left the shopping centre to go outside. The sky was grey, and snow covered the footpath.
"Thanks for everything." Astro said. "I have to go home now, back to my family in Tokyo." They hugged each other.
"Bye Astro!" Mitchell said"
"Goodbye!" Astro called out as he soared upwards into the grey clouds.