A/N: Okay... they don't show reruns in the US... I don't know where to find, or if there is a DVD and iTunes doesn't have 'I, Chiro.' So... I tried my best to remember the episode as much as I could. Anyways, this is just my interpretation of a little bit of thinking Antauri did after he died and before he came back. It's not my best work I don't think... but it was worth the attempt. Read and Review please!
Disclaimer: I Don't own SRMTHFG, if I did I would show season five and reruns forever!
Memories
The skeletal lord grabbed the boy again. "You were always the most clever of the monkeys, but your weakness is obvious." He cackled evilly.
Antauri's grip tightened on the rock as he hid beneath the undead lord's feet. He was waiting for the right time to strike, to attack, to free Chiro and kill the skeleton in one fell swoop.
The undead ruler hovered Chiro to the edge, he was sure this was the end. Antauri jumped, finally revealing himself to be more than just a blur. He was captured mid attack, brought to the skeletal lord's face. Chiro was drawn inwards to watch the confrontation. The telekinetic grip he held on the two became tight around their necks. Skeleton King was attempting to strangle them, Chiro clawed at the invisible hand about his neck. Antauri could have sworn he had felt some of his own bones crush under the grip of that invisible hand.
He was losing grip, he pulled harder at that invisible assailant that collared him. He fell limp, not unconscious or nearly so, just limp. He tapped into the last of the power primate he could scour. A ghost claw released from his chest, phasing in and gripping the very heart of the undead creature himself. He squeezed with all his might until both were thrown from the skeleton's clutches.
They stood up, Chiro looked at his charcoal mentor, "How'd you do that, I thought the power primate was gone!" He asked inquisitively.
Antauri looked over the pit, the world seemed to cease for a second as he spoke with the child, "Is it really gone Chiro?" He suddenly released an earsplitting scream. The pain in the back of his head, what was happening?
He felt a yank and out of the corner of his eye saw Mandarin pull the sword from the back of his head. It was painful, electrical shocks pulsated through his body, his helmet too badly damaged to reactivate if he didn't die. Out of another corner he saw Chiro, looking horrified. He wanted to do something, say something, he couldn't.
Some more occurred, he couldn't remember exactly what. Chiro had stood over him at one point and taken a ferocious beating from the Skeleton King as it sat attached to the Dark One Worm. He also remembered the warm voices of his teammates gathering about the team leader, worried about him. Chiro had made some comment about 'help Antauri first' or something to that effect.
Antauri smiled to have the boy think positively of him, but in truth, it was far too late. There was no more pain. He felt nothing, as one would feel to walk on air. There was of course, emotional pain, but all physical pain had ceased. He pulled himself to sit up and into the lotus position.
He listened to the last few kindly words, his head pulling into a meditative stance. He closed his eyes, his body enveloped in a green flame. It hovered a rough tail length from the ground and floated over the edge of the pit, his body turned upside-down plunging head first into the purple fluid below. He felt the restraints of his mechanical parts removed, looking normal for a second in a nostalgic environment that strangely comforted him like a womb.
That was where it stopped. He remembered something about the super robot and something about Chiro, both very faintly. Then there was a portal, it dragged him in, throwing him in this place where anything you could walk on was made of clouds.
He held three tickets, big cream tickets with fancy blue writing. They were 'go home' tickets. Allegedly, you were given three every six months. Each ticket let you visit your home or place of choice for twenty-four hours, not a second less or more.
There were certain duties you could take on to get more tickets but he hadn't felt like it yet. The shock of the incident numbed him. There was nobody he knew here. Everyone was a foreigner.
A little girl tugged at the fur on his leg, she motioned to his tickets and pointed to herself.
He smiled, handing her one of them. He could do good wherever he went. He looked around, this was supposed to be heaven. Yet it felt nothing more than Lucifer's domain without whatever he was missing. Something was definitely missing though. He sat on the cloud 'floor' and stared into them, doodling with his finger, he drew a circle, it fell through. Antauri could clearly see the face of Shugazoom in it.
Suddenly he saw his teammates, grieving his loss. Nova stood by the floating helmet, Otto stood beside her for comfort. He wanted to be with them again, not for twenty-four hours floating around like a ghost, but interacting with them. He wanted to see Sprx walk in and beg for Nova's darkest secrets hidden in the memory orbs that Antauri kept careful log of for the team. He wanted to tell the red simian 'no.'
He would tell him to ask Nova and watch him sulk away without the secrets. He would simply smile and think about how happy they'd be if they knew how strongly felt about each other.
Then he saw the boy, an eyesore as he ran for something he probably wouldn't find unless he ran himself to death. The tiny piece of him that resided in Chiro had transformed the boy feral.
He hated that. Watching Chiro run, watching him try and find what no longer existed. He watched Chiro stop at a pond, staring at it for a second, whining and then watching it for another minute before taking off with renewed spirits.
He saw the team, attempting to find Chiro. He knew they cared. They wanted to find him… attempt to help him cope with the situation. He had to help them find him! He used what energy he could to help Otto boost the receiving strength, resulting in finding Chiro's signal.
He watched Chiro again. They would never find him if Chiro traveled as quickly as he was currently doing. He had to intervene; stalling Chiro would bring the team closer to finding and curing the boy. He urged a spider to strike out, intentionally missing for fear of harming the child.
"No!" He told himself. He would have to risk harming Chiro. It was the only way to slow him down enough to get the team to Chiro any faster. He suggested to a formless vine plant, who encircled Chiro, capturing him for only a moment, being bitten through by the feral monkey boy. Plants were too easy. He would have to actually recruit some kind of living animal to block Chiro for any amount of time.
He saw the dinosaur skeleton. 'Forgive me Chiro.' He thought, and began to channel his energy into reviving the skeleton. He influenced the creature to attack Chiro, watching as it began to chase after its chosen target.
He watched the team make progress to their runaway leader. He used the last of his energy to stop the argument between Sprx and Gibson for dominance, and send them to closer to Chiro.
It was the last he could do.
He could only watch now as Chiro futilely attempted to battle the dinosaur. However, he felt discontent. Was the creature too strong? Would it harm Chiro? What if it did? Would the team be able to get there in time? These were things he could not see.
Suddenly, the dinosaur grabbed Chiro into its mouth! Antauri flinched, no! It couldn't eat Chiro! He had to stop it! His power to manipulate was gone though. He wondered, knowing he and Chiro had a link. If he tried hard enough… maybe he could send a message to him.
He knew the power primate was usable now. He tried to send down the message, 'Use the power primate!' He thought, desperately hoping Chiro would receive the message.
Within moments, the dinosaur was reduced to a pile of bones again. Antauri immediately noticed the change in the boy, from a feral monkey to a caveman-like human. He, for the first time, noticed the Alchemist's lab. He quietly remembered their lost times, running around, playing as normal monkeys, without artificial suits.
Chiro entered the lab, with Antauri well caught in memory, off guard.
Antauri came back around, watching the others as they neared Chiro's location. He saw Chiro, preoccupied with the messages. He watched him finally climb the steps, revealing the last message and the silver monkey body.
Antauri heard Chiro utter his name again, the only thing he seemed to be able to say. He watched as Chiro began to put the pieces together, attempting to recreate Antauri from these pieces of metal.
He saw the team, discussing their first glimpse of the place their suits were made for them, the place where they first met, although they would cease to know each other quite a time before meeting again.
They finally walked inside, undisturbed by the messages that Chiro had been so fascinated by. They ran up the stairs, seeing him solidify the body. They caught his attention. They called him over. He obeyed, bringing the failed attempt with him, whimpering over the failure.
He only stopped whimpering to watch Jinmay's transition, quickly going back to moping over the failed revival attempt when it faded out.
The formless came down, attacking. The team took care of all but one, it landing on Nova's back. Chiro rushed over to aid her, destroying the formless and sniffing her to see if she was okay.
She opened her eyes, sitting up, "Now that's the Chiro I remember." She said happily, and looked up to Otto who had walked over to help her out.
More formless attacked. Chiro rushed over, grabbing the silver monkey and running to the platform again. Antauri needed to help. He pulled the lever, shocking the body with electricity, to hope to help start it up.
The monkeys struggled trying to fight the formless. Each one being captured by the formless, bound and unable to help their leader.
The electricity faded. The body fell to the floor. Chiro picked it up, nearly crying, holding the body close.
The formless closed in, ready to take Chiro with the rest of the team. Chiro held the body tighter.
One formless tried to grab Chiro, another grabbing the silver monkey body, attempting to separate them.
Chiro held tight to the body, with all his grip, desperately clinging to the body for dear life. They were slowly being pulled apart, holding hands, the grip lost.
A violent screech.
Green light seeped from Chiro's eyes and mouth in the sudden fit. Instantaneously, the light routed to the silver monkey, entering in his eyes and mouth as well.
The bodies rose in the air. The entire team watched in amazement as this strange transfer of energies occurred.
It ended.
Chiro became the human he once was, and the silver body dropped to the ground. The child fainted, leaving him to be captured by the formless. The useless silver body was abandoned by the formless as they proceeded to pick up their prisoners, tying them to a large pole and proceeding to take them away.
Antauri sighed. He had tried so hard. So hard to get them there, so hard to diverge Chiro, too hard. He placed his hand to his forehead feeling tired; of course, he then realized that he would not have a temperature. He was dead! How could something dead have a temperature!
He rubbed his temples furiously. 'Snap out of it!' He thought, 'You can sleep later Antauri! You have to make sure the team is okay!'
He wandered back to his hole in the floor, looking down. He yawned loudly, tripping over his own tail and hitting the ground, sleeping within seconds. His body sparkled for a second, becoming translucent, and folded through the circle in the floor, falling from the heavens.
He awoke, hitting the floor harshly. He stood up automatically, he was in the alchemist's lab! He saw the silver monkey body lying on the floor. He looked around, realizing he could see through himself. He walked to the silver body, he grabbed it's hand, "The alchemist wouldn't have liked seeing you lying around." He said, tugging on the hand.
To his surprise, not only did the hand of the silver body not move, but his hand didn't either! He growled, attempting to pull his hand away again. This time, he tripped, falling on top of the body. He struggled to stand up, stuck to the body.
He heard a strange sound, suddenly seeing the roof distance. As if a convulsion, he felt himself being absorbed into the silver body. The world disappeared.
His eyes opened. He sat up. He suddenly saw his legs, silver. He brought his hands to his face, observing the bright silver and black patterning on the arms that was unique from every other monkey.
He pulled himself up, standing. He looked into the metal table where the body had dropped from, seeing his reflection in it. Or… the silver monkey's reflection, he guessed that it would be his reflection from now on.
He turned, sharply remembering the capture of his team. He ran out the exit, running after them. He veered off to the side at the pyramid steps, fearing being seen. He rushed to either side, merely a blur, causing each member to look around, trying to see what was rushing about.
He stopped for a second in a tree, activating his transformers, seeing the magenta ghost claws. He smiled, rushing past again, destroying the rear formless. He flew past again, destroying the head formless. He landed quietly, breathing for a second and then coming over.
He slashed the bindings that held each team member. Nova immediately stood and threw her arms around him, hugging him, making comments that he was not listening to.
In fact, he was staring at his team, watching their emotions.
…
He smiled in the mirror and proceeded to walk out into the command center. Chiro smiled at his father figure. Antauri dipped his head in acknowledgement. Otto ran up and glomped him. Nova hugged him, holding him tightly. Sprx was standing to the side.
She released him, holding his shoulders tightly, she shook him, "Don't you EVER do that again! I do not want to lose you a second time!"
Sprx smiled, "Yeah," He commented, "Besides, it's not like we have another silver monkey to poof out of nowhere."
Antauri nodded, "I did not mean…" Slap!!
Nova's hand whacked across his face, bruising his cheek, "Don't you dare say that!" Her posture changed from scared to angry, "Besides, if you try another stunt like that one more time… I'll kill you myself!"
Sprx added, joking, "Don't forget to put the kid in a cell! I definitely don't want to go kid hunting ever again!"
Antauri walked from his comrades to his son figure, who was watching with wide eyes. He ran his hand through Chiro's hair affectionately, he looked up, "I will not attempt something else to that effect again. I apologize for making you all fearful."
"However… death is a part of life…." He began to tangent.
Nova growled, "Where's the off button on this thing?" She joked, poking Antauri's arm.
Sprx tagged her, running, starting a game with the golden female. Otto was quick to join in the fun.
He smiled warmly at his comrades, 'And every last bit was worth it.' He thought, looking down at his fur and then at Chiro and the others, 'Definitely worth it. I'd rather be here this way than to be gone.'
Chiro tapped the silver simian's shoulder, "What are you doing?" He asked,
Antauri smiled, "Thinking." He replied.
"About what?" Chiro inquired.
"They say you only get one chance at life, to enjoy it when you have it." He said, "I have had two, and I cannot think of anything more true than that…"
How else do you end a one-shot like that? Anyways... hope you liked the one-shot! Review please! The big green button is located just below this text!