The house, if it could be called that, was abandoned. A cold and creaking shack on the outskirts of Gothic City, devoid of life and warmth. Perfect accommodation for a cat who had likewise been abandoned. Milo carefully climbed into the building through the shattered window, ensuring he did not drop the rat clamped tightly in his jaws. Sniffing the air, the feline's ears perked up as he detected an unfamiliar scent in his home. Cautiously making his way further into the room, Milo froze as his eyes fell upon a human, briefly illuminated by the flashing lights of a passing police cruiser. It was not unusual for humans to come into his home, though those humans were usually very twitchy, glancing through the cracked windows every few seconds and flinching at the sound of a police siren. Yet as the siren faded away, this human was unmoved. In fact, upon closer scrutiny it appeared that he was sleeping.
Milo's prey was squirming between his teeth, the rodent apparently refusing to give in to his inevitable fate. To remind the rat that he was nothing more than either a tasty meal or a plaything, the cat clamped down hard on the creature with his fangs, drawing blood and a high pitched squeal from the rat. At the same instant, the human bolted upright, joining the rat in a scream of pain. Milo dropped his prize and scampered away from the human, hiding behind a doorway as the rat seized its opportunity and scurried away to freedom. The squeaks of the fleeing rodent faded like the siren, but the human's wailings did not cease. Peering around the corner, Milo inspected the intruder and realised that he was a child, similar in age to his previous owner. With the bittersweet image of a girl blowing out fourteen candles floating in his memory, Milo approached the the boy. While the cat had cause to distrust humanity, the young ones had always been kinder to him than their seniors.
The child wriggled and writhed, clutching at his head and grinding his teeth together. Milo laid down and, resting his head on his paws, watched the boy as he sobbed violently. He was an unusual human, they usually covered themselves with fabric to compensate for their lack of fur, but this one's clothing was in tatters, his shirt hanging loosely from his torso. As the child convulsed once again, Milo caught a flash of light reflected from his chest. It was difficult to tell in the dim lighting, but there appeared to be three circular metal plates attached to the child, one on each breast and then a third just below. This child was indeed a curiosity. Then, with a dull whir, the plates began to emit a light of their own, and the pain seemed to subside as the child's movements ceased. He lay still on his back, eyes closed as his chest heaved up and down with panting breaths, casting blue light around the room.
Minutes passed, until the boy's eyes fluttered open and directed themselves at Milo, who stared back with his head slightly tilted to one side. The two abandoned creatures maintained eye contact for a brief moment, before the boy looked down to examine his unusual torso. Not seeming to be too confused by his strange attachments, the boy turned back towards the cat and, with a slight smile, reached out towards him. Normally Milo would recoil from such contact, but the child seemed to have some sort of positive energy that the feline did not understand, and so he allowed the human to scratch under his chin.
"Milo." The boy whispered, reading the name from the cat's name tag. Then, with a look of inspiration on his face, the boy began to examine his own body, hands and eyes combing his tattered clothes for something... Eventually, he found what he was looking for.
"Kai." He muttered, looking satisfied as he examined his own name tag, a small piece of carved wood hanging from his neck with the letters K A I engraved upon it. "My name is Kai."
The lights on his chest flickered from blue to red, and the screaming resumed as the pain returned to Kai's body. Searching the room for something to calm the child, Milo's eyes scanned the room and widened as they found another unfamiliar intruder, this time an object: a helmet. Resting on its side not far from Kai, it appeared to have rolled away from him. Desperate to somehow stop the suffering of his new friend, Milo snaked his way over to the odd piece of headgear and nudged it with his nose, rolling it back towards the whimpering human. Kai looked up and saw the helmet. Stifling his screams, he pushed himself upright and, with shaking hands, seized the helmet and placed it on his head.
A new kind of sound filled the room, as the roars of the human were replaced by the hum of his chest plates. The light turned blue once more as the boy was lifted into the air and, in a flash of light, his tattered rags were replaced with a smooth, black and yellow fabric. Surrounded by a barely visible aura of blue light, Kai's feet touched the ground and he finally looked at peace. Looking down at his frightened feline companion, the boy smiled and said "Pantheos..."
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