The world seemed to fade to black and light back up to its dreary prison every now and again today. He knew it wasn't sleep, it seemed a bit... heavier than that. His entire body felt heavy, actually. He couldn't stand, couldn't sit, all he could do was lie there, and let some of the good memories come back to him. It was really the only thing that kept him going, the thought that someone make break him out of here one day...
He could remember the day he took the job. It was a simple space thing, all he had to do was show cartoons, anime, give his opinion on video games and such, just keep people entertained. He could remember SARA, his dorky holographic companion. Sure, she could be annoying, but god, the things he would give to just talk to her, to talk to anyone, if only for a moment...
He remembered getting his ass handed to him by Orcelot Rex. He remembered the robots that gave him his new body, he remembered getting his new ship, he remembered everything that really mattered in his life.
He could remember the day he was replaced. A bunch of people with laser guns stormed the ship, held him back. He remembered how SARA screamed, tried to put up as much of a fight she could, screwing with the ship's defenses and traps, and suddenly everything went black, and he woke up, with a few still-bleeding cuts on his torn-up suit, and a monster headache. He looked around and found himself in a dark room with bars on the windows, a large metal door with a little latch to give him food, a bed, a bathroom and sink, just like in the old prison movies he liked. He could remember hearing some guards outside, how he struggled to hear every word beyond the concrete walls, and how they were talking about how they had a new host, and saying something about SARA.
"And the AI girl?"
"Deleted. She put up quite a fight, but we took care of 'er."
No. No no no, not SARA. Not his best friend, not sweetest girl in the entire universe. He denied it, they had to be talking about someone else...
But deep down, he knew it was true.
He couldn't help but wonder how the impostor was doing. He heard that he was snarky, and the newer viewers seemed to like him. But the older viewers, his Toonami faithful, they knew that something was wrong. He just hoped and prayed that someone, someday, would act upon their suspicions and break him out of here, give him some proper food, medical attention, and bring him back to his ship..
He was suddenly jerked back to reality when he noticed it was getting harder and harder to breath. Everything was getting darker and darker...
No. Not now. This couldn't be the end. If held on a bit longer, he could get the word out about the impostor stealing his place. He could save SARA, he knew he could. He could take his rightful place back, just like old times...
And suddenly the world went black, and it didn't light up again.
Best results come from reading this while listening to "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. Wrote on a sudden bout of inspiration when I heard the news that Toonami was ending tonight. It was the coolest thing, watching Batman, G Gundam, Zoids, JLU...
And then it became something.. Different. The old TOM just poofed away, taking SARA with him, it slided away in quality, and tonight it's finally put down for good. So here's to you, Toonami, for defining all that was awesome about cartoons when I was a youngin. Wow, I just made myself kinda sad.