Rated: PG
"The planet is dead ahead, Rob," Oh-No announced. Ahead of them was a planet about the size of Earth, and just about at a simular distance from its sun. According to all reports, its climate, vegatation, and animal life was simular, as well.
Oh-No looked up at Rob when he did not answer. He looked straight ahead. The girl robot wondered what was going through his mind at this moment.
"Rob...are you okay?" she asked. Her face showed concern.
"I'm fine, Oh-No. Really." He looked down at her and gave her a reassuring smile. Then he gave his attention to the approach to the planet.
"Rob!" cried Boo. "Look!"
"Ahead of us!" Tor added.
Just in front of them was an old opponent they thought that they would never see active again --except as an ally.
"I...I...It's...," Bort stammered, unable to believe his visual sensors.
"TOBOR!!!" The team exclaimed in unison.
Flying up to meet them was their Shadow twin. But who was operating it?
"Well, now we know where Tobor went when he was stolen," Bo commented.
"And apparently Shadow was the ones who stole him," Tor added.
"Rob!" Oh-No exclaimed. "There's a transmission comming from Tobor!"
"Patch it through, Oh-No!" Rob replied. As the child Orbot obeyed, an image came on the monitor screen.
Greetings, Mighty Orbots!" the image said. The image was male, about sixteen or seventeen years of age, Caucasaun skin and black hair. His helmet and uniform resembled Rob's, but was black, where on Rob it was white, and blue, where on Rob it was magenta. Instead of the red, white, and blue Galactic Patrol emblem on the shoulders, there was a black "S" on a circular purple background. His black belt had a blue "U" for a buckle, while Rob's white belt had a gold "G".
"Who are you?" Rob demanded. There seemed something familiuer about the pilot, but he could not seem to put his finder on it.
"Call me...Kage Kagami," the youth replied.
"'Shadow Mirror', in Japanese," Oh-No translated.
"Yes," Kage answered.
"We have come for the child Shadow agents kidnapped from Belladonna a month ago," Rob announced, getting to the point. He waited for the other pilot to answer --or challenge-- the damand.
"'Child'?" Kage was genuinely puzzled by Rob's words. "There is no child on this planet!" Tobor assumed a defensive stance.
Rob wondered if Belladonna had been lying all along. But in the past she had always been so sultry and suductive. It had taken so much of his willpower to resist her during his captivity. Have an accent like Mae West --a movie star of the early twentith century-- made the female Shadow agent even more suductive.
But back on New Kenya --it was as if the old Belladonna had never existed. She seemed so radically different from the cruel woman who had tortured and raped him those many months ago.
Even Belladonna couldn't act the part of "concerned mother", Rob thought. And yet, she seemed so very sincere back on New Kenya. Something very strange is going on here...
"What are we going to do, Rob?" Boo asked worriedly.
Rob answered, but spoke to Kage.
"We'll give you one chance to surrender, Kage!" Rob said. "If you don't, we'll have no choice but to take you in!"
"Very kind of you, Commander," the young man smiled. "But I've been instructed not to surrender!"
Over the radio, Rob heard a strange voice speak to Kage. The message puzzled Rob with its malice.
"Kage! You imbecile! Do not tell them you were instructed! Just say that you will not surrender!"
"I...I...I'm sorry, Delfor," Kage answered, genuinely frightened. Was it Rob's imagination, or did Kage sound as if he was about to cry?
"Now...do it right!" Delfor's voice shouted.
There was a "sniff" from Kage, who seemed to whipe tears from his eyes.
Could it be...? Rob's eyes widened in surprise at the realization of what could only be the impossible. Then again, didn't Belladonna say that Shadow had age-accellerated Hoshi?
Now, something strange was happening to Tobor. A blackish light surrounded the giant robot's right hand. Slowly, the light took the form of an ebon-bladed sword. Tobor moved the sword so that he held it in front of him.
"Bort, give us a sword!" Rob commanded. Mighty Orbots' right leg --Bort-- glowed blue for a moment, then a gold light traveled up to the right hand --Boo-- and instantly, Mighty Orbots had a sword simular to Tobot's, only with a gold blade.
Tobor was the first to attack, swinging the sword at Mighty Orbots. Mighty Orbots blocked with his sword, then moved the black sword aside. Tobor moved his sword under the other's and up with a thrust. This, Mighty Orbots also parried.
The battle went on like this for a few more moments, until Tobor's sword fizzled out.
"He's giving up?" Tor wondered aloud.
"I...I...I...h...h...hope..." Bort added.
Unaware that Mighty Orbots could pick up the transmission, Delfor once again berated Kage for his failure.
"You dolt! Fight him! Fight him!" the Shadow agent screeched.
"B...b...but I'm t...t...tired!" Kage protested. "A sword big enough for Tobor takes a lot of my power!"
"I don't care!" Delfor shouted. "You get back in the fight NOW!"
"No!" Kage screamed back childishly. "I'm tired!"
"You will do as I say and continue battling Mighty Orbots!"
"No!" Kage screamed, louder this time.
"Get back here, boy. Right now!" Delfor commanded. Almost reluctantly, Kage obeyed.
"What was that all about?" Bo wondered aloud.
"Is it me, or did that Kage guy sound just like a little kid?" asked Tor.
"He sure did," Rob agreed. "And I think I know just who that 'little kid' is. Let's follow him."
Silently, Mighty Orbots followed Tobor to the planet below.
"Come out of there, Kage!" Delfor commanded. Delfor was a small, orange alien with a triangular head, narrow eyes, and green hair. He wore a long, plain, brown robe, and no shoes. He stood in front of Tobor --dwarfed by the sheer size of the robot- and waited for the boy to obey him.
The chest doors openned, and a floating disk came out carrying the young pilot. It landed gently on the ground.
"You disobediant child!" Delfor scolded. "Didn't I teach you that the Galactic Patrol --and especially Mighty Orbots-- is the enemy? And didn't I teach you that you must not show mercy to the enemy?"
"But making the sword for Tobor drained my powers," Kage protested. "I couldn't keep up the fight for very long. Making stuff for Tobor tires me out!"
"Don't you talk back to me, boy!" Delfor hissed.
Unknown to either Delfor or Kage, Rob and the Orbots were watching from the cover of nearby rocks.
"That Shadow agent sounds like he's scolding a child!" Boo commented in a whisper.
"He is!" Rob whispered back. There was a barely audible "Huh?" from the Orbots as they continued to watch Kage and Delfor's arguement.
"I should beat you to within an inch of your life!" Delfor was saying. At the threat --to the Orbots team's surprise-- Kage began to cry.
"Don't you dare hit him!" Rob shouted angerly as he came out from his hiding place. He strode toward the two, the Orbots following, confused.
In seconds, Rob was betwen Delfor and Kage.
"The Orbots!" Delfor snarled. "Now's your chance, Kage! Get them!"
You be quiet!" Bo retorted. She encased Delfor in a force field bubble. The bubble bounced away, out of the cave.
"I'll go after him," Bo vollenteered.
"No...just let him go. We have something more important to take care of," Rob replied.
"Yeah," said Bort. "We have to find the baby."
"I think we already have," Rob smiled at Kage. The youth blinked back his tears and slowly --almost shyly-- smiled back.
"Remember what Belladonna said about the 'age accelleration'?" Rob asked.
"S...s...sure," Bort answered.
"You don't mean..." Bo added dumbfounded.
"I need one more thing to be sure," Rob said. Gently taking Kage's head in his hands, Rob moved the left side of the boy's face to the light. As he expected, Kage had a blue starburst over his left eye. And his eyes wer both blue and cat-like.
"Yes, it's him!" Rob smiled. "This is Hoshi Me!"
The Orbots gasped at their leader's statement. But they should not have been so surprised. They had been told that the baby would be age-accellerated. They just did not expect him to have been a teenager.
"Please," Rob said gently, "take off your helmet."
"You, too," Kage/Hoshi countered.
"All right. Fair enough," Rob smiled. The two removed their helmets at the same time. For the second time since their arrival, the Orbots gasped in surprise.
"Y...y...you look exactly alike!" Bort stammered.
"Well," Bo pointed out, "not exactly. Hair color is different, and Hoshi's eyes are different --cat's pupils and that star on the left eye. But otherwise, they're alike."
"Even the clothes are simular," added Tor. "Except for the color, the symbols on the arms, and the belt buckle."
"As if they were mirror images --almost," Boo concluded.
"Which is why the name 'Kage Kagami' --Shadow Mirror," Rob reasoned. "Just as Tobor is a dark reflection of Mighty Orbots, so was Hoshi --as Kage Kagami-- suppose to be a dark reflection of me. What Delfor didn't take in account was that, while he could age Hoshi and teach him to be a Shadow agent, he couldn't make Hoshi evil."
Hoshi stuck his thumb in his mouth and began to suck on it. Rob gently took it out and moved Hoshi's hand down.
"Delfor aged him in body and mind to a seventeen year-old, but in soul --especially emotionaly--, Hoshi's still a one month-old baby," Rob continued. The Orbots looked at Hoshi in wonder.
"Do you know who your parents are, Hoshi?" Rob asked.
"No," Hoshi shook his head. "Delfor never told me. All he said was that I was the heir to someone called, 'Umbra'."
"Well," Rob said, "it's about time you met them. I am your father." There! It was said.
"You're my daddy?" Hoshi asked, sounding more like child.
"Yes," Rob smiled kindly. "We need to go. Your mother's waiting for you on New Kenya."
"Mommy?" Hoshi asked softly.
"Yes. And she's expecting us, so we'd better get going."
"Okay. Wait! I need to get something. It won't take long."
"Okay, Hoshi," Rob said. "But hurry."
"Okay." Hoshi ran off into one of the side caves. A few moments later, he came back, a familuer black object in his hand.
"A teddy bear?" Rob inquired.
"Uh-huh. You see, I can create things out of darkness, and make them really solid. I can even make them permanent, if the things are small or medium-sized. Big stuff --like Tobor's sword-- makes me very tired. That's why I couldn't keep up the fight for long."
"So we noticed," Oh-No commented.
"Yeah. I made a lot of stuff for my room. I can also absorb whatever I make back into me. That's what I was doing --absorbing everything I made. But this teddy bear is the best thing I've ever made, as well as the most difficult. I didn't want to absorb it."
"You don't have to," Rob smiled.
"Thnk you, Daddy!" Hoshi grinned.
"Come on. We have to go," Rob said. "Hoshi, you will ride in the Beamcar with Oh-No and me. We'll tow Tobor back to New Kenya."
"But I can fly Tobor!" Hoshi protested.
"I know. But I'd like to have you with me. I need to explain about your mother, and I'd rather not do it over sub-space radio."
"Okay," Hoshi agreed. But he looked disappointed.
"Orbots --UNITE!" Rob commanded. In a few moments, Mighty Orbots had blasted off and was heading for New Kenya, towing Tobor with an energy tractor beam.
Chapter 4: Robin Simmons --and Tobor, Too!