Catch of the Day - Wreck-Gar

It was a beautiful day in Detroit. The sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in sight, and yet... Crystal was pissed. Not a single bite from the fish in the river, even after she’d put the good lure on. Un. Be. Lievable. She sighed and stared at the water.

“What’re you lookin’ at?” she asked her reflection, reaching the peak of boredom. Supposedly, there were some really big fish in the river, and Crystal would have liked nothing more than to catch one of those bad boys. She’d been in the mood for fish for a while now, and not the stuff you buy frozen, so she had taken it upon herself to drag out her mother’s old pole and head down to the bridge. She loved sitting underneath it, so she’d decided to use it as her fishing spot for the day. It provided much needed shade for Crystal’s easily burnt skin, but still allowed for a nice breeze to reach her every so often.

Just as she started getting bored enough to hum Christmas tunes in the middle of April, something tugged the line. Her face lit up, if only a bit, as she jerked the pole back to make sure the hook grabbed on. She pulled and pulled... But it was incredibley persistant. Crystal even had to resort to standing and back up. She seriously thought at one point that the pole would break, and gasped when a sudden tug, stronger than the rest, pulled her forward off the concrete. The girl was flung forward into the water and began panicking. There was a current and it was difficult to keep above the surface, not to mention she’d always sucked at swimming.

Nearly as suddenly as she’d fallen into the water, she was lifted out of it by something... metal? Confused, Crystal wiped the water from her eyes, parted the hair that had landed in front of her face, and looked up.

“Ah-wha... who... huh?” she babbled, staring at the orange robot who’s hand she was sitting in. From the looks of it, he’d just come from the river as well, since water was gushing off of him. He was halfway on the concrete, but pulled himself up and stood, head nearly touching the bottom of the bridge.

He made a confused face at her babbling. “Wreck-Gar’s not sure what ‘Ah-wha-who-huh’ is, but HELLO FRIEND!” he practically shouted, changing his expression in an instant, from confused to pure glee. This only succeeded in confusing Crystal more.

“Uhh... H-hi,” she said, a little uncertain as to what had just happened. It was cleared up, though, when she noticed something shining, just above his eye in the general eyebrow area. Her fishing hook.

Ouch.

“Does that not hurt?” she asked, feeling a little guilty.

The bot’s big blue optics looked upward, toward the hook, even though he still wouldn’t have been able to see it. With the hand that wasn’t holding Crystal, he reached up and jabbed at it with his index finger. Smart move.

“Ow!” he cried out, and Crystal just had a look of “Wow, that was stupid” plastered on her face.

With a sigh, she motioned for him to lift her up some more until she could reach the hook. She looked at it for a moment, wondering what the best way to get it out would be.

“This might hurt a bit, ‘kay?” she told him, grabbing the hook between her index and thumb.

He just smiled in an air-headed manner. “Wreck-Gar is strong enough to handle it!”

Crystal nodded and began sliding the hook out. Despite what he said, the bot still flinched a tad, making all sorts of faces that she had trouble not laughing at. The hook had been bent at an odd angle from the way she’d been pulling on the line earlier, but it was relatively easy to get out, nonetheless.

Wreck-Gar poked at it again once she was through and looked extremely pleased.

“Thank you! ...umm... What would your name be???” he asked, looking like he was trying to remember, even though he couldn’t possibly have known. His expression reminded her of a goteed-puppy.

“It’s Crystal,” she answered, smiling. She’d already gathered that his name was Wreck-Gar (considering he pretty much talked in third person), but thought it polite to ask, all the same. “And your name?”

“My name is Wreck-Gar! It’s nice to meet you!” he said, setting her down in front of him. She stuck her hand out for him to shake and he looked at it oddly, like he didn’t know what she wanted.

“You shake it,” she explained. “It’s how people greet each other.”

Understanding lit up his optics and he leaned downwards, taking her small hand in between two of his fingers and shaking. Crystal thought her arm would pop out of its socket for a moment, but he eventually stopped. That air-headed smile appeared on his face once again, and it was very contagious, making her grin as well.

Who knew she’d find a giant friend instead of a giant fish?