It was unquestionably a human skeleton.

Time had left its corrosive mark on it and it was almost unrecognizable. But I could still see the skull, pieces of the spine and the pelvic bone.

I grimaced slightly, and started to feel rather nauseous.

I was no stranger to death. You couldn’t grow up on the streets and not see death at some point. But I was totally unprepared to meet with the remains of a human being so up close and personal. You see, whatever could be said of me at that time, one thing was for sure.

I was young. Very young.

I don’t know my age exactly, (I think almost everyone living on the streets are the same, who cares about birthdays?) but I was definitely no older than ten.

By ten, you were either independent and streetsmart, or you’re dead.

I was the former. Very much so, if I may boast a little.

Anyway, I digress.

I fought down my nausea and bravely searched the trunk for other valuable stuff.

Jackpot!

A satchel!

Could this day get any better? I remember thinking of that ecstatically. I grabbed it and quickly closed the hatch of the compartment once more. I put the mecha core in my pants where it would be safe, and hugged the satchel as I left the pile of junk to look for a safe place to check out my treasure.

I peeked out of the pile of junk and checked the surroundings. I was scrounging very early in the morning when I knew that there would be very few people around. But I was a cautious boy. Because well, cautious boys stay alive, and careless boys die.

Finding that the coast is clear, I ran down a path that was surrounded by piles and piles of junk that seemed to stretch out infinitely into the horizon. It was one of many paths that criss-crossed the junkyard. Some lead to deadends, some lead to exits and entrances, and some lead to the worst places in the junkyards - gang hideouts.

I picked the one I knew that would lead me to an exit near my ‘home’ and ran as fast as I could. It would be really bad if a gang member caught me running with a treasure such as the satchel I was holding on to.

After a heart-poundingly scary few minutes, I finally made it out of the junkyard interior. I slipped past the main (broken) gates of the junkyard and darted into a small pathway leading into a small forest just outside the junkyard.

After a minute or two of scampering about, I reached the place I humbly call home.

It was a double engined helicopter wreckage. It was a monster helicopter when it was operational, and it was a spacious home now that it was a wreckage.

Pathetic as it may sound, living in such a large wreckage was actually a luxury among junkyard scrappers. I was extremely fortunate to have found this large helicopter wreckage. It had everything I needed, which was a roof, and the occasional electricity if I managed to scavenge or rob a power source.

Yes, yes. I do rob other junkyard scrappers. I didn’t have to, but I did. I am not a kind person. So there. If you don’t like it, you can... go eat candy.

I breathed a sigh of relief once I entered my home. I never had a visitor ever since I moved in two years ago, and I wasn’t expecting to have one anytime soon.

I quickly sat down on what used to be a cockpit and took a deep breath.

Save the best for last, I told myself.

I nodded sagely and forced myself to open the satchel first.

The mecha core can wait. It won’t go anywhere. I told myself.

I snapped the latch on the satchel open and lifted its cover. My eyes grew wide in wonder as I beheld the treasures within.

J.A.C.K.P.O.T.

A handheld communicator of some sort greeted my eyes which were shining in excitement. I would definitely be able to get it up and running again. It just needed an electrical boost.

Aside from the handheld communicator, there was also a half-rotted folder filled with rectangular pieces of parchments. The ink on the parchments have long faded away and they were worthless.

And then there was the final item. A necklace with a metal plate. I gingerly took it out of the satchel and ran my fingers on the engraving.

Dr. Andrew Kennedy

Mecha Engineering

Central Division

The skeleton in the storage compartment of the automobile was a Mecha Engineer! He must have been murdered and his body dumped there before the automobile was disposed of.

I placed the necklace back into the satchel, and hid the satchel in a secret compartment I found in the helicopter. After that, I took out the grand prize that I’ve been waiting so eagerly to study.

The mecha core.

If I somehow manage to play this right, this would be the key to a qualitative change in my life. My ticket to a better future.

I wiped the mecha core clean with a piece of cloth and studied it very carefully.

It was blood red in colour, and semi translucent.

I frowned deeply. I had never seen or heard of a mecha core that was blood red in colour.

A mecha core is a practical application of a massive technological breakthrough in energy manipulation early in the 22nd century. Surprisingly it was a scientist from a third world country who made the breakthrough, discovering a compound element and a unique method which allows for a controlled nuclear fission triggered by electricity to happen.

It was a massive turning point for humanity as energy became a non issue within one short decade. With unlimited energy at their disposal, the scientists and engineers of the world made breakthroughs in almost every field of study and application.

However, it was the undisputed number one power of the world, The United States of All Americas (USAA) which weaponized the technology.

They developed the technology further, finally culminating into palm sized energy capsules that produced enough energy to power massive robots that packed a ton of firepower.

The second ranked power of the world, The European Empire, soon followed suit. Within a decade, the other powers of the world had developed their own oversized robots powered by similar applications of the technology.

The age of mechas had begun.

Almost every mecha core was electric blue. The rare and more powerful ones were white. The rarest of them all were golden.

There was no such thing as a red mecha core.

I gently caressed the mecha core with my fingers as I contemplated the issue. That it was a mecha core, was undeniable. The runes etched on it were definitely the ones in almost every single mecha core I had seen in the documentaries.

However, it was also undeniable that red mecha cores were non-existent. How could they exist? Only three compound elements were found to be suitable to be used in mechas, and they were blue, white and golden in colour. Could this be a fourth element? But why was it in the junkyard in the body of a murdered scientist?

Wait… Could this be an experimental mecha core that failed?

“OUCH!” I yelled out in shock. A sharp pain coming from my fingers jolted me out of my reverie.

I looked at my thumb in great surprise as it began to bleed profusely. I quickly sucked on it to stop the bleeding.

But before I could do anything else, the mecha core in my hands cracked and exploded.

I stared at it in horror as it transformed into a wave of red energy and pierced into my tummy. An overwhelming deluge of pain assailed my senses, and I passed out.