Today was a Saturday and a beautiful day too. Luckily for me, I had something planned! Even though it's still the afternoon, I was on my way to the towns local night club. Why does a small town need a night club? It just does, okay! Since it's the only one around without needing to drive for hours on end, it's very popular. I go there sometimes, even though I'm technically too young for it. Shh! Don't tell anyone, it's a secret!
But today, I wasn't going there alone. I was with local DJ and good friend, Chocolate Beats, or CB for short. She's in my class at school and we both like the same kind of music. She gives me good recommendations on what to listen to. She's a brown pony and has cool long blonde hair. She also has these pink and black striped hair extensions in. I really like them, I think they're awesome. Anyway, we were on our way to the night club because she has a gig tonight. We were going to set up early.
"Thanks for coming to help me out, Ricky!" Chocolate Beats said. Behind her, she was carrying a wagon that had all her equipment in it. It looked pretty heavy but she was pushing it along with ease.
"Hey, no problem! You promised you would get me in for free, as well!" I said. She brushed her hair out of her reddish-pink eyes.
"Ahaha... Well, that's if Savvy agrees," she replied. Savvy is our friend that works at the night club. She's pretty cool, she's the one that lets us in. Although she does make it clear she doesn't want us drinking any alcohol so I guess it's not too bad. I gave CB a smile and we continued our walk. It's a bit of walk from where we live but getting some exercise does us good.
...And at last we had made it. We went over to the back entrance, where Savvy should be waiting for us. I tried to open the door and it appeared to be locked. I gave CB a shrug and knocked on it inside. There was some shuffling from the other side until a somewhat high pitched voice begun to speak.
"Whooo's there?"
"Hey, it's me and Chocolate Beats. We're here to get ready," I replied. The person on the other side started to laugh.
"Ohoho, well then! I'll let you in only if you tell me the name of a song that has 1000 BPM or more!"
I sighed and angrily put my hands on my hips. "Oh, come on, Savvy! We don't have to do this every time we meet!"
"I guess you want to stay out there in the cold, then!" she laughed. She always asks me music related questions. She's only doing it to be annoying, I'm sure. That, and to prove she's better than me or something. Heaving her equipment over, CB came closer to the door.
"We can play games later, but for now will you let us in?"
Savvy groaned a "fine" and opened the door. When she saw our faces, she gave us a cheeky smile. I rolled my eyes and playfully whacked her across the head. In response, she stuck her tongue out, which is a neon pink and blue. Savvy is a colourful individual, in more ways than one. She has black and white fur with splashes of bright colours between it. She looks like she could glow in the dark! I mean, she doesn't but would be cool though.
With pep in her step, Savvy led us to the storage compartment behind the stage. She told CB to set up whenever she's ready. She dropped the wagon she had been hauling around and it made a small thud on the floor.
"Expecting a big turn out tonight?" she asked Savvy while untangling some cords.
"Well, it's a Saturday so it should be pretty busy," she said. We chatted together while helping her get the equipment out of the wagon. As a team, we moved the heavy speakers out on the stage. The night club always looks strange when it's not opening time. It looks so empty and much bigger than it is! We had placed one speaker down and went back to fetch the other. That's when Chocolate Beats spotted something different.
"That's a strange speaker. I haven't seen that before! Is it new?" she said and pointing to a large grey object sitting in the corner. It had green accents on it and looked like it had cat ears. In the ears were small speakers so it must be able to play music. Savvy tilted her head to the side and had a closer look.
"I haven't seen it either. Maybe it's for some new cat related DJ?" I also hadn't seen it until CB pointed it out. Since it wasn't related to what we were doing, we left it where it was. Ignoring the strange speaker object thing, we moved the other speaker to the stage.
We had been preparing the stage and other such things for about an hour. We had decided to take a break for lunch time. I'm starting to feel hungry too! CB and I hadn't brought any food with us so Savvy suggested we eat out somewhere.
"Only if you're paying!" I teased.
"Boo~ You're only freeloading off me because I'm the adult here," she said and made a funny face. CB quietly giggled to herself and we left by the back entrance. I thought I could see something moving in the corner of my eye from back stage... But when I looked, there was nothing there. Must be nothing!
Outside, the sun was shining high in the sky. Savvy locked the door once we were all out. She turned to look at us with a grin.
"So, what do you feel like eating?"
"There's some sandwich place down the road I've been meaning to check out," CB said.
"Sounds good. Let's go!" With Chocolate Beats in the lead, we left the club and walked to the sandwich place. Along the way, we talked about tonight's gig. We were almost finished setting up and I'm sure it will turn out great! I've been looking forward to it all week, so it better be!
We reached the place CB was talking about and lead us inside. It looks like one of those hipster-y places. Huh, she doesn't seem like the kind of person to go to those places. Either way, it looked pretty good, actually.
It was one of those places where they make the sandwich in front of you and you choose what you want in it. So all three of us ordered (which did take some time) and then we sat inside to eat.
"About that cat DJ... Do you think tonight is their debut gig?" CB asked and then took a big bite out of her sandwich. Savvy thought it over and shrugged.
"Possibly. Usually I hear about such things, but maybe they were short on time or something. I don't know."
"It's pretty fancy for a debut gig!" I laughed. The girls giggled and we finished our sandwiches. But they was one thing occupying my mind. I swear I saw something move back at the club... Unless the dark was playing tricks on my mind... Maybe it was a dust bunny? We have been moving a lot of things and it must get pretty dusty back there. Yeah, that sounds right...
I heard Savvy make a groan and I was brought back to reality. It looked she had finished, wrapped up the packaging into a ball and tried to throw it into the bin. CB was laughing at her, so I take it she missed. I've finished my lunch too, so it's time to get back to business!
We had been back at the club for about a half hour now. Together, we had almost finished setting up the stage. CB was behind the turntables, making sure it was working well. These a lot of wires to plug in and stuff...
"Hey Ricky, can you go get some spare cables from the back? They should be in the big drawer in the corner," Savvy asked, who was now helping CB behind the decks.
"Sure, I'll be as quick as I can!" I replied and dashed out. Backstage was looking a little empty now that we had cleared most of it out. Like she said, there was a big set of drawers in the left corner. Thankfully enough, there were labels on it so I knew where to get those cables she asked for. I grabbed a couple, just in case, and turned to leave.
I noticed that strange cat speaker thing again. Since it had nothing to do with us, we left it be. But I'm pretty sure it's moved anyway... I swear it was in the corner opposite this one, but now it was right in front of it. I definitely didn't touch it but the girls might've. I gave a shrug and left.
CB was playing around with some knobs while Savvy was sorting through wires. I walked up to her and handed her the spare wires I got.
"Hey, did any of you guys touch that weird speaker back there?"
CB's head titled to the side. "Nope. Why you ask?"
"I'm just asking, cause I swear that thing moved since we last saw it." Savvy loudly laughed, as if she mocking me.
"Don't be ridiculous!" she shouted. "There's no way it can move on it's own!" She continued to laugh and I felt a hoof rubbing my back.
"Don't worry, you're probably mistaken," she said. "And nothing to make fun of you for..." Now embarrassed, I stood back and put my paws in my pockets.
"Hey, I never said I was scared!" I'm no scaredy cat! I just thought it was strange, is all. I'm not a stick in the mud either, so I laughed it off with them.
"Anyways," Savvy announced. "I'm just about done here so let's test this thing out!" CB wasn't too pleased with her DJ equipment being called a 'thing' but a happy smile appeared on her face nonetheless. It's time for the exciting part! Well, second best exciting part until tonight that is!
I went to help Savvy with the lighting while CB plugged her fancy headphones into the turntables. With one smooth flick of her wrist, she scratched the record and started to play. Loud but beautiful music filled the air. As she was doing this, Savvy's technicolour paws adjusted the lighting sliders. The lights went from the normal white to a nice pink shade. After a couple minutes, CB leaned back and the music stopped. She had a very self-satisfied look to her face.
"So, how was that?" she asked and flicked her blonde hair out of her face. I opened my mouth to speak and-
"NOT-BAD-BUT-I-FEEL-SOMETHING-IS-MISSING."
CB frowned and swished her tail from side to side. "That's unlike you, Ricky, to think that," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"That wasn't me!" I yelled.
"Not me, either!" Savvy shouted from beside me. She came down from the stage and walked towards us. We backed ourselves up into the wall.
"Well, it has to be one of you two. We're the only ones in here!"
"ACCTUALLY-I-HAVE-BEEN-HERE-THE-WHOLE-TIME-AS-WELL." A very robotic voice was suddenly heard. All our eyes went wide in surprise and we sat frozen in place.
"Is someone's Siri on?" CB asked after what felt like a long uncomfortable silence. From back stage, waddled out a... robot? I guess? It was actually the speaker from before. In the middle of it's "head", were two big screens that resembled eyes. Inside were slit irises much like a cat's. We looked at it with wide eyes.
"HELLO," it said.
"Hello," we said back. No one knew what to do. With a mechanical whirr, the robot slowly blinked.
"The speaker can move," Savvy said in amazement.
"And talk, apparently," I added.
"Riiight..." CB rolled her eyes and stepped forward. "So, Mr.Robot, why are you here?" It looked us up and down and wagged what could only be described as it's tail.
"I-AM-CYBERNEKOTIC. I-AM-DESIGNED-TO-PLAY-MUSIC." That explains why we mistook it for a speaker. It sure looks like one, what with the cat ears having the actual speakers inside it. Savvy jumped up and all previous confusion had left.
"You've came to the right place then! This is a night club, and we're playing a gig tonight! Is your, uh, owner gonna be here too?" CyberNekotic took a second to process the information and started to talk in his robotic way.
"I-DO-NOT-HAVE-THE-AUTHORISATION-REGARDING-MY-CREATOR. HOWEVER-I-WOULD-LIKE-TO-STAY-FOR-TONIGHT. MY-PROGRAMMING-SAYS-I-MUST."
"I- Well- Okay-" Savvy awkwardly replied. Talking to robots is hard! He seemed happy enough with the answer though.
"We still have things to do but you can watch, I guess. I mean, if you want..." CB said.
"OKAY," he said and waddled over to take a seat. After that, we went back to our preparations. CB practiced with her DJ seat and Savvy and I checked the lighting, sound and special effects to make sure they were working. CyberNekotic watched us with every move but didn't say a word. He seemed to bop his head to the music though. Looking at him dance, gave me an excellent idea.
"Hey, I know!" I shouted and both CB and Savvy turned to look at me. "Instead of using these boring old speakers, you could use CyberNekotic instead! I mean, he *did* say he plays music and he's been listening to us the whole time!"
"That sounds pretty good, actually. It will give him something to do since he likes music so much," CB replied and swished her blonde hair out of her face.
"How did he get there anyway?" Savvy thought aloud. We turned to look at the robot, who was watching us intently.
"How can we use you to play music?" CB asked. He stood and turned around, showing us the holes installed on the back of his head.
"I-CAN-PLAY-MUSIC-FROM-USB-OR-CABLE-PORTS. JUST-PLUG-THEM-IN-AND-I-WILL-AUTOMATICALLY-PLAY-THEM."
CB gave a shrug and did just that. She plugged in the cables for her DJ set into the designated holes on his head. "...Like that?"
"YES. NOW-TRY-PLAYING," he replied with the cat smile that seems to be painted on to him. We waited excitedly for what was about to happen. CB put on her headphones and gave the record a scratch. Sound begun to play... from CyberNekotic himself!
"Wow, you actually do play music!" Savvy squeaked.
"YES."
"Awesome! I would love it if you joined me for tonight's gig! It would be a hit!" CB shouted, her pink eyes sparkling with delight.
"I-WOULD-ALSO-LOVE-IT." Okay, he sounds a bit monotone but that's the best a robot can do. At least the good intentions are there!
"It sounds clearer too. Is that what you thought was missing?" I asked him. His eyes closed tight into a happy smile.
"All's well that ends well! Let's rest now, until tonight that is," Savvy smiled. CB and I sat around on one of the tables scattered around and CyberNekotic followed us. He was having an engaging conversation with Chocolate Beats, who was in a good mood and excited for tonight. Savvy came over holding a drink tray, with some colourful sodas for all of us (...us that isn't a robot, I mean).
"Here we are, drink u- Woah!" Savvy tripped over her own damn feet and dropped the tray of drinks. ...Right on to CyberNekotic. He made a horrible buzzing noise and his eyes turned into crosses.
"MALFUNCTIONING... SHUTTING DOWN..."
"Ricky!" she shouted. "You broke it!"
"Me!? *You're* the one that tripped over!"
Electric sparks came out of his poor head while he sat down vibrating. What will we do for tonight now? Back to the boring other speakers? But while I was thinking about what to do, Chocolate Beats was beside him and poking around with some sort of control panel.
"What are you doing?" I asked out of curiosity. She blew her hair out of her face and gave me a reassuring smile.
"I've gotten pretty good at handling machines so I'm checking if his hardware is damaged."
"I hope he's alright. It would be a shame if he was broken as soon as we met him..."
She gave me a wink and told me it should be okay. Savvy had left at one point and was now cleaning up what was spilt on the floor with a broom and paper towels. I helped clean up the mess and also patted CyberNekotic down as best I could. Eventually, CB stood back and closed his control panel again.
"Can he be saved!?" Savvy squeaked.
"Yeah," she chuckled. "Just leave him to dry and I'm sure he'll be fine."
"But... Will he be dry enough in time for tonight? He wanted to play your music, remember..." I said. She fell silent and thought it over.
"...Probably? Maybe? I mean, if all else fails we still have the other speakers..." We crossed our fingers and hoped by tonight, he will be okay by then.
~~~~~
It was now dark and Chocolate Beat's gig was about to start in, like, five minutes. CB, Savvy, me and the still shut down CyberNekotic were backstage. They decided to go on with the show without him.
"Okay, are you all ready?" Savvy asked her for the second time.
"Yep, yep. We've prepared and everything so it'll go smoothly. Hopefully," she said.
"Don't say that!" I smiled. "It will go absolutely fine!" She gave me a happy grin, but was also nervously playing with a hair. No matter how much preparations we do, going upstage is the most nerve-wracking part.
"Okay!" she shouted, determination now written all over her face. "Let's do this!" Savvy and I both wished her luck and she stepped forward on to the stage. But before that... A mechanical whirr sounded from beside us...
"RECHARGE-COMPLETE." CyberNekotic was on his feet once again and his eyes were open wide, a soft green light illuminating them. We were stunned to see him up again. He looked at us and stared with his permanent cat smile.
"You're... You're alive!" Savvy shouted. ...A-as alive as a robot can be, that is! He turned to the front, where the stage is. CB stared at him, amazed.
"You can still do the show?" she asked. He bowed down, as if he was nodding (he can't actually move his head). Her face immediately lit up and a big smile stretched across her cheeks.
"Let's go!" she grinned. "The crowd is waiting!" She pushed CyberNekotic on to the stage, as he waddled along. When CB entered the stage, the already large crowd went nuts. They were cheering and screaming her name.
"You can go join the crowd, Ricky. You've helped more than enough," Savvy said, giving me a kind smile.
"You sure? Alright, see you in a bit!" I squeaked and dashed out. I pushed through the crowd so I could get as close to the front as possible. I want to be able to see both CB and CyberNekotic up close! CB was waving to the crowd and put on her pink headphones.
"How we all doing tonight!?" she shouted to the crowd. They responded with excited screaming. CB is usually a more soft-spoken individual but on stage, she can get pretty loud!
"Good, good! Tonight, I'd like to introduce you all to a special guest!" The cheering got even louder. She gestured to CyberNekotic who waddled up to the front.
"Introducing CyberNekotic! Our special robot slash speaker system friend! He will be helping with our show tonight! Please give him a warm welcome!" she shouted. The crowd yelled and started to cheer his name too! I joined in with them too and threw the glowstick I was given in the air. Then CB's DJ gig begun!
I can't wait to dance and sing along with the music! The rest of tonight is going to be great! As along as Savvy doesn't drink too much alcohol again... Oh well, the night is still young so let's bring it on!
