"Are you certain?" the voice sounded almost... uncertain.

"Just come out and say it!" Ash’s face showed irritation, but his stance was focused and ready—like a coiled spring, prepared to strike at a moment’s notice.

"Very well, here I come!" The voice was calm, almost flat.

Suddenly, the room darkened, and before Ash could even react, a tremendous "boom" erupted, sending heaps of trash crashing down around him like a tidal wave, engulfing him completely.

All was still again on Garbage Planet 12.

Time passed before a small, grimy hand emerged from the garbage, followed by a dirt-covered Ash crawling his way out of the trash heap. "Cough...cough... Just my luck," he muttered as he brushed away clumps of sand and dirt. He still had no idea what had just happened. A self-destruct attack?

His gaze fell on the mess in front of him. His entrance back home was buried under a mountain of junk, leaving only endless mounds of scrap in sight. Ash's heart sank. "It’ll take days to clear this!" he grumbled, fury burning in his chest. "If I ever find the culprit, they're going to pay!"

Clearing the pathway took Ash a grueling three days. The sweat, grime, and effort only served to stoke his frustration. And yet, when he finally faced the instigator, his anger gave way to awe.

It was a sleek, humanoid mech with a strong metallic frame, standing about twelve meters tall. Its form was long and streamlined, quite unlike his own squat and sturdy mech, Winnie. This one had an elegant blue and white laser coating that shone like new, with an otherworldly metallic sheen. Even here, amidst the filth, its surface remained untouched. Ash knew instantly—he had found a rare treasure.

But joy soon turned to dismay as he noticed the mech’s severe damage. A deep scar ran from its left shoulder down to its waist, exposing part of its engine, and its left arm was completely missing. It was like a beautiful masterpiece, irreversibly marred.

In a trance, Ash could only stare at this broken yet powerful mech, his mind captivated by its presence.

"Self-diagnosis complete: Engine integrity at 86%, left arm at 0%, cockpit at 97%," announced a calm, gender-neutral voice, interrupting Ash’s thoughts.

Ash blurted out in disbelief, "It can self-diagnose?!" His jaw practically hit the floor as he gawked at this miracle of engineering.

Suddenly, the mech spoke: "Hello."

A talking mech. Stunned, Ash instinctively replied, "Uh, hello."

"My name is Rune. You may call me Rune," the mech said calmly.

Still reeling, Ash replied, "Uh... I’m Ash. You can call me Ash!"

Realization dawned, and he jumped back, pointing at the mech with a trembling finger, "You... you can talk?!"

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Rune, the damaged mech, nodded in an almost polite manner. "In a manner of speaking, your observation is accurate."

"A talking mech?" Ash repeated, unable to process the absurdity.

"Yes."

With Rune around, Ash’s place nearly tripled in size. He’d learned that the pendant he’d found earlier was actually Rune’s spatial storage device. However, Rune seemed to prefer staying outside rather than inside the pendant’s storage space, which Ash didn’t mind at all. For a sixteen-year-old stuck alone on a garbage planet, companionship—even from a mech—was priceless.

Exhausted from all the work, Ash flopped onto the ground. Rune mirrored his posture, landing beside him with a heavy thud that sent clouds of dust flying. Ash was knocked backward, tumbling to the wall, and he turned to see Rune’s enormous frame sitting innocently in a cratered hole.

Catching his breath, Ash asked, "So, Rune, how did you end up in this condition?"

"Data damaged, unable to determine," replied Rune matter-of-factly.

Ash laughed, taking a swig of water. "Ha! Maybe you just weren’t strong enough and got beaten up!"

"Insufficient data to verify," Rune replied, without a trace of humor.

Ash’s grin faded. "Oh, come on, have a little personality! Stop with the data and diagnostics all the time!"

Rune tilted its large head, clearly puzzled. "Personality? Define personality."

Ash scratched his head, unsure of how to answer. "Uh... never mind. Anyway, Rune, are you a... guy or a girl?"

...

Ash couldn’t believe his luck as he sat inside Rune’s cockpit, his hands running over every control, every screen, every surface. "Rune, you must be one of the most powerful mechs out there, right?"

Rune’s voice was even as ever. "According to my database, the probability of being ranked within the top 500 is 26%, between 500 and 600 is 63%, and beyond 600 is 11%."

Ash’s eyes widened. "Top 500? There are that many powerful mechs out there? But hey, top 500 is still pretty amazing! You’re definitely better than my Winnie."

Little did Ash know what it truly meant for Rune to maintain such a high ranking despite being so severely damaged. Ash’s dream was to one day own a mech better than Winnie so he could challenge Garbage Planet’s fiercest mutated creatures. He could almost taste the flavor of the iron lizards’ meat as he licked his lips. He’d be the undisputed ruler of Garbage Planet!

Rune shattered his daydream with a cold, "Winnie’s capabilities cannot be quantified."

Ash’s face fell. "I know that!" Then, with a hint of hope, he asked, "Rune, can you pilot yourself?"

"I am able."

Ash sighed dramatically. "Guess I’m still stuck with Winnie as my main mech." A thought crossed his mind. "But why do you even have a cockpit?"

Rune paused for a few seconds. "Data damaged, unable to retrieve."

"Do you remember who created you?" Ash asked, curiosity gleaming in his eyes.

"Data damaged, unable to retrieve."

Ash, excited to finally have a companion to talk to, continued asking questions until an alert went off. "Energy reserves low," Rune said, showing a depleted energy gauge.

Garbage Planet 12’s solar energy was typically abundant enough that Ash had never worried about power. But even after gathering all his spare energy cells, he found they barely filled a tenth of Rune’s gauge. Ash was at a loss as Rune efficiently hooked up solar panels directly to himself.

Rune quietly recharged, and with nothing else to do, Ash drifted off to sleep.

When he awoke the next morning, he noticed Rune seemed somehow... different. The mech’s surface seemed to glisten, giving it an almost mystical aura.

"Rune, you look... amazing!" Ash blurted out.

Rune, apparently understanding, replied, "This is the photon activation effect, caused by a surplus of energy that activates the metal’s surface. The basic principle is—"

Ash’s eyes began to droop as Rune launched into a lecture.

Unfazed, Rune continued, "The effect is grounded in several key aspects..."

Meanwhile, Ash’s head drooped lower and lower. A small line of drool had started to soak into his pants.

Rune concluded, "In summary, the enhanced photon resonance indicates that—"

Rune stopped mid-sentence, noticing Ash’s rhythmic snoring.

Rune went completely silent, seemingly baffled.