Chapter One
-2 years ago-
Eleven-year-old Chiro walked through the forest on the outskirts of Shuggazoom City, the birds almost completely drowned out by the sounds of the city which was almost a mile away from where he was walking, but the little bit of the birds he could hear was enough to make the boy smile and make him forget. Forget about his rough day at school. Forget about the abuse he received at home. Forget about another cold night sleeping outside in the doghouse outside of his parent's house.
Chiro liked the forest and often skipped school just to spend as much time as he could here. He often wouldn't even go home and would just fall asleep in one of the trees. The bullies of the school often called him a Monkey Boy, especially once they actually discovered him sleeping in one of the trees. He didn't care about the bullies though, not when he stayed in the woods far away from them, far away from all the worries of his every day.
Today was different though, the forest seemed quieter than normal and he and a feeling deep in his stomach that something was going to happen, but he was unsure of what it would be. If it would be good or bad, and not knowing this made him worry more that it actually was.
It felt like there was an invisible leash was around his neck pulling him deeper into the forest and into an area he had never been in before, an area he didn't know, yet it felt like he knew exactly where he was going and how he was going to get there.
Chiro looked around then stopped when he saw a big metal object lying on the ground in an opening. It seemed to be a large robot of some kind, that was slowly being overrun with moss but he could see that it was still in surprisingly good shape underneath all of the green.
Chiro climbed up the leg of the robot before crawling up towards the torso, soon seeing that there was an opening leading into the robot, an opening that was allowing moss and vines to grow down into the robot.
Part of Chiro felt like he needed to run away, but the rest of him said that he needed to go inside, that there was something for him inside, but he didn't know what it was. After a moment of debating with himself he climbed into the robot landing on a seat of some kind and behind that was a tunnel which was covered in dust and moss littering the floor.
He slowly crawled over the seat, before walking through the tunnel and coming to a large drop off. He hesitantly looked over the edge, when a slippery piece of moss caused him to slip and fall down the tunnel slamming him hard on the ground sending dust all around him. The young boy slowly got to his feet looking at himself, he was relieved to see that besides a couple bruises he was fine.
Chiro then began to look around curiously, seeing six large metal orbs sitting in a large circle on the floor. He went to the first orb slowly peeking through the door unable to see anything through the darkness, quickly he lost interest and went to the second one which for some weird reason the door was bent making it unopenable. He tried to open it anyways but soon gave up as he then walked to the third one. He blinked when he looked inside thinking that he was imagining things but after a second he realized he wasn't. Deep inside the third orb was a glowing blue light that was slowly fading in and out of focus.
Chiro's heart began to speed up in his chest. It felt like there was somebody inside of his chest playing the drums. Part of him was screaming for him to run away; that the light could be a signal of danger, but the rest of him was completely calm. After a moment he felt ready to go inside and find out what that feeling was. He sucked in a breath before walking in and heading over towards the slowly blinking light. It was a small orb behind a thick wall of glass, yet the orb produced enough light that he was able to see a lever in the corner.
Chiro looked at the orb for another second before he walked over to the lever dusting around it seeing an "O" above it and an "X" below it. To the 11 year old it looked like a large light switch in a way.
"A switch?" He whispered to himself, his voice echoing through the robot causing his heart to race more. He gripped the handle of the lever softly before pushing it, causing the gears in the lever to grind when there was a loud clank.
There was a flash of light startling Chiro which was quickly followed by a wave of electricity that shot through his body hitting his spine with so much force it made him feel like he was going to puke just for the pain it caused him. While he was paralyzed by the pain a green light came out of the machine and Chiro was helpless as it painlessly dug in itself through Chiro's chest then nothing but darkness surrounded him the last thing he remembered being the lights turning on.
Present Day
Chiro sat up in his bed, gasping loudly as an explosion of thunder burst outside his bedroom window, an explosion that caused fear to rip through his body. He looked out the window unable to see anything but the constant unrelenting rain pounding against the large wound.
Chiro sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep with the storm raging on outside. He kicked his legs over the edge of the bed before slipping out of his pajamas and into his everyday clothes which was a white tank top, an orange jacket, levi jeans and tennis shoes. He then made his way out of his room and through the body of the Super Robot stumbling through the darkness towards the kitchen area.
Chiro clung to the wall until he found the door to the kitchen, he then slid inside and began to feel the wall for the light switch. His hands went up and down the wall until his fingers finally managed to hit it. He sighed in relief as he flicked it and got nothing from it. He frowned and tried a few more times before giving up with an angry huff.
"Great, the powers out. What next?" He asked himself just as another burst of thunder made him jump and quickly drop down, his hands pressed up to his ears as he tried to block out the aggressive sounds from the sky.
Images of many days and nights spent cowering inside a dark doghouse flashed behind his closed eyes. He was shaking and trembling not trying to feel sick as years of abuse and torment rushed through him, making all his past scars ache and burn as though they were just given to him once again.
"Kid, you okay?" A voice asked as a hand grabbed Chiro's shoulder causing him to jump and look up at the older boy who he could only identify thanks to his glowing red eyes that was full of worry for Chiro.
Chiro cleared his throat, getting to his feet as he tried not to let his voice crack. "Yeah, I'm okay Sparx. The powers out."
"Yeah. Otto and Gibson are fixing it, shouldn't take long." Sparx said, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a flashlight handing it to Chiro.
"Thanks Sparx." Chiro said, rubbing the back of his neck as he flicked on the light, "Sorry if I startled you."
"No prob kid not your fault thunder makes you nervous." The redhead said softly punching his shoulder.
'Nervous.' Chiro laughed to himself, 'Yeah, nervous is a good word I mean it's not like I'm afraid of it or anything...'
Chiro shone the light around hesitantly making sure that the dark figure constantly haunting his nightmares wasn't watching him from the shadows. The two of them walked into the main area of the Super Robot, staying close to one another worried of getting lost in the darkness.
The others were already there; Antauri, the oldest of them was propped against a wall staying his quiet self while the only girl of the group named Nova spoke to him, getting Antauri's opinion on if she should cut her hair or not. Then there was Otto and Gibson who were under the dashboard working on getting the power working.
"I found the kid." Sparx said and Chiro smiled and waved.
"Crazy weather huh?" Chiro laughed.
"I will admit this amount of rain for this time of year is rare." Gibson said, "But not unheard of, it'll stop soon enough, until then though-" He grunted and the power turned on all around them, "We might as well have power."
The almost silent hum of the lights comforting to the leader as he flicked off the flashlight and put it down on the counter. He then looked over the group glad to see that the older ones were always there to keep him company if anything bad were to happen.
The team only had a few seconds to relax before an alarm began to scream above them. Without hesitation they ran over to the large computer monitor and after a moment Nova flicked on the outside camera and they all frowned.
"Look at all that water…" Chiro said, as he watched the footage, the water was already to the top of the Super Robot's foot, a good 20 feet in the air. "Hyper Force Go!" Chiro yelled and the group instantly ran to the six pods on the far left wall standing in their colors they were sucked up towards their stations of which they were in command of. Each station served a different purpose and had different moves. "Prepare to disengage!" Chiro called out.
The robot shot into the air splitting apart giving each team member it's own vehicle. Nova and Otto both had buggies with in closed bodies. While Antauri, Gibson, and Sparx had airplanes, leaving Chiro, the leader, with the tank.
"Okay team, split up and save as many as you can. I'll take section 12 and 11. Sparx take 10 and 9. Otto 8 and 7. Antauri 6 and 5. Gison 4 and 3. Nova take 2 and 1!" Chiro ordered and the team quickly split up going their different ways all quick in moves in order to save the civilians who lived in the city. People who couldn't protect themselves from such dangerous waves that seemed to be taking over the entire city.
Chiro tried to stay focused on the mission, but he couldn't stop the icy feeling of fear creeping through his skin; there was so much water…
He shook his head, 'No! No. Focus on saving people then you can have your break down.' He thought to himself, looking around him for people that needed his help.
After a few moments he saw a group of people on the roof of a small cafe. Carefully he pulled the tank as close to the wall as he could without hitting the wall in fear of damaging the structure.
He climbed out and onto the roof of the tank as he waved towards them, "Come on." He told the group of six, "Get in."
One by one the people jumped down to the roof and Chiro helped them down into the tank. By the time the last person climbed on the water had already gotten another foot and a half deeper.
The pouring rain soaked his clothes as Chiro shuddered, the water brushed his boot. He quickly jumped down into the now tight tank, closing the lock as a wave of water hit the tank. The force of water caused the tank to flip on it's side, slamming hard against the building Chiro had tried so hard to avoid. The tank and the force of the water caused a large chunk of the building to collapse pinning the tank.
Sirens above them began to blare loudly as a red light flashed. Chiro looked over the group glad to see that they were safe. Chiro shuddered then walked over to his seat sitting down and trying to move his tank out of the pile that held it down, but couldn't get free.
Chiro grumbled under his breath as he tapped the com on his chest. "Team, I have a problem. I'm trapped in sector 12 with 6 townspeople I need immediate assistance." He said, then pulled his hand waiting for a response. After a few moments of nothing he tried again. "Sparx, Nova, Antauri anybody read me?" Still nothing. "Great." He mumbled, "Alright I'm going to go out and push." Chiro said, handing each of the townspeople a re-breather to help if water flooded in. "Hopefully I can break us free. Keep these close in case the water rushes in. Stay down." He told them then put a breather in his own mouth and climbed up the later.
Chiro hesitated, his entire body shaking at the idea of going out into the water. The idea of being crushed between falling building debris and the tank clawed at the back of his mind followed by the thought of drowning.
"Chiro?" Mr. Gackslapper said, "Are you alright my boy?"
"Yeah, everybody brace for impact."
Chiro twisted the handle opening the hatch water instantly flooding in almost knocking him off the later. He struggled up the latter and closed the latch hoping that they would be alright with a few inches of water pooling at the bottom. He looked around remembering to breathe through his mouth instead of his nose as he then hesitantly moved his hands and arms beginning to get a small amount of movement as he walked down the tank and headed towards the smaller bits of debris holding down the front of the tank.
'If I can just get some of it off the tank should float to the surface,' Chiro thought to himself as he pressed hard against the heavy building rocks. He tried to focus on the mission, just the mission he had to ignore the fact that he was under water. As long as he didn't think about that he could do this. He pressed harder against the rock until it budged but didn't fall.
Chiro laid down on his back placing his feet against the rock pushing hard against it, kicking it again and again until finally the rocks crumpled off the front. The front of the tank jerked forward as it was freed. He clung tightly to the metal before he crawled over to the other side of the tank kicking that one the same way. Unlike the first time these ones broke away almost instantly, and once again caused the tank to jolt, this time the tank jolted with enough force that it freed itself completely and shot to the surface ripping the rebreather out of his mouth before tossing him and the tank out of the water. Gravity slammed him hard against on top of the roof leaving the boy coughing and curled up in a ball shaking in fear and cold.
After a moment Chiro regained his courage and slowly got to his feet. His knees shaking under him. Chiro then slowly climbed back into the tank and nearly falling to his knees when he hit the floor of the tank. Chiro managed to stand though, as he closed the tank hatch and climbed into the seat. He pushed the button that let the tank push through the water much like a boat would. He could only hope that they wouldn't get stuck again, because part of him knew that he would be unable to gather that much courage again. He couldn't go back out there, he couldn't go back under water. Not again.
"Chiro? Do you read?" The com chirped from his chest and Chiro quickly responded to Antauri's voice.
"I'm here Antauri."
"We have been trying to reach you, but we never got a response are you alright?"
"I'm fine, did you guys get my messages before?"
It was quiet for a moment before Antauri spoke again, "No. None of us have heard from you since we split up. Did you have any problems?"
Chiro shuddered for a second before he looked back at the group of scared towns people. "Nothing I couldn't handle Antauri, no worry. I'm going to finish my check on sector 11 then head back to higher ground."
"Alright, we'll meet you there, all of you be safe." Antauri said.
Antauri and the group had basically adopted Chiro two years ago when he found his way into the Super Robot and had been more of a father figure to the boy than his father ever had been. Antauri had taught him how to fight and use his newfound abilities over the 'Power Primate' as well as basic math skills that he would need to know if things had ever come down to that. The rest of the family helped raise Chiro though as well. Gibson taught him more advanced math as well as science. Otto taught him basic mechanical skills and how to fix things when they break. Sparx taught him how to fly and control the super robot if he ever needed to do so alone. And Nova taught him hand-to-hand combat and basic medical information incase he ever needed to patch himself up in a fast situation and nobody was there to help him do so.
Chiro sucked in a breath and began to focus more on his driving than the past as they finally hit solid ground once again and charged up to high ground where once all of them were in one place they engaged the robot turning their small vehicle into the Super Robot once again. Once all the pieces to the large puzzle was put back together Chiro led the civilians to the center area of the Super Robot where they met up with a good 40 percent of the townspeople, the other 60 percent having been out of sight.
"Chiro, are you alright?" Nova asked, "We saw your tank was all bashed up, what happened?"
"We ran into some trouble but everything turned out fine." He smiled at her, "I'm fine Nova, relax."
Nova nodded, her golden eyes full of worry for the boy, but didn't press the matter.
"Sparx, Otto make soup for everybody. Nova, Antauri and Gibson find as many blankets and pillows as you can, even some of the ones from our rooms and set up beds for everybody. Until the water recedes and the rain stops we're going to have some house guests."
The group nodded then made their separate ways leaving Chiro alone with the large group of people.
"Alright everybody listen up, anybody who feels they need medical attention please make a line in front of me, I'll do my best to clean and patch you up, if there are any doctors here please come to the front and assist me. My team is making a meal for everybody and gathering supplies for all of you to use until the rain stops. If you have any questions find me or any of my team and we'll do our best to answer what you have. All we ask is that you keep calm and not fight."
After a few moment the townspeople did as they were told, less than half of them getting in a line where Chiro and the four doctors they managed to rescue took care of them and after a moment Chiro caught a glimpse of a girl in the corner of the room, a girl who made his heart skip a beat.
She had pale skin and pink hair which were pulled into pigtails and she had a on a white and green dress that brushed her middle thighs. He was so caught up in her beauty for a minute that it took a while for him to realize that the girl was shaking and that she was soaked.
Chiro frowned, then made his way away from the doctor and line of people before going up to the girl taking off his jacket leaving him in his black tank top as he put it over her shoulders.
"Are you alright?" He asked the girl who blushed as she looked at him.
"Yes, Thank you." She said, as a small monkey jogged over to her and held her hand. "I'm Jinmay and this is Socko." She said and the monkey looked at Chiro and climbed up the boy before sitting on his shoulder tugging on his hair.
"I'm Chiro." He smiled, "Where are you from?"
Jinmay frowned and before she could answer the sirens went off once again.
"Chiro!" Antauri said over the speaker, "Come to the shoulder."
"I'll be back. Stay warm." He said, dashing away leaving his jacket with the girl as he ran to the transporter which sucked him up to the shoulder exit.
Chiro excited on the left side of the robot's neck before jogging over to the team who were standing on the edge. "What is it?"
Nova pointed and Chiro frowned when he saw it. The river was overflowing, which if much more weight was put on it the dam would burst causing the entire city to be sucked under water and possibly lost forever then none of them would stand a chance.
"Great. More water. Nova stay here and watch over the civilians." Chiro said, "The rest of us will go to the dam and patch up the cracks. Hyper Force go!"
As the group went to their pods Nova snatched onto Chiro's wrist holding him back.
"Are you sure you're alright? You've looked like you've been wanting to be sick all day." She said.
Chiro smiled, "I'm fine Nova just been a long day." He said, "But I'll be fine." He pulled his hand away and the four went down their tunnels to the stomach of super robot grabbing their rocket packs before they then flew out from the stomach exit and flew the twelve blocks to the dam which was looking worse and worse by the moment.
It took a total of ten minutes before they landed on the edge of the dam.
"Any idea's team?" Chiro asked, looking at the water as he shivered at the cold water running down his skin soaking his tanktop.
"One. Chiro and I will hold these ropes." Antauri said tying ropes around Otto and Sparx's ribs. "You two will go down and patch the cracks."
Otto nodded strapping on his metal gloves while Sparx did the same. Chiro then tied the other end of Otto's rope to his own ribcage looking at Antauri and Sparx who were working on the other side of the dam, the less deep end. Chiro wanted to argue with this but kept quiet as Otto climbed down.
Chiro looked over the edge shaking violently as he watched the water splash higher and higher on the dam with each passing moment. Typically the water was only 16 feet deep this time of the year but this year the water was closer to 60 feet deep.
He managed to calm himself down just in time for a bolt of lightning to strike a near by tree. Chiro cried out in fear as he spun around to look at the tree. This caused himself to slip and fall backwards into the water, yanking Otto down as he passed him.
"Chiro!" Antauri yelled loudly catching only the last bit of the boys scream as he hit the water.
Chiro's body hit the water directly on his back with enough speed it made him feel like he hit cement instead of the cold water. This knocked the breath out of his making him instinctively suck in a breath, another mistake for his lungs were instantly filled with water. The water clawed at his lungs feeling more like fire than water.
Chiro couldn't help but panic. All sense of reason, all the lessons of staying calm under pressure were instantly forgotten as the water swept him and Otto along. After a while Chiro lost all sense of which way was up and which way was down. He couldn't breath, he could hardly move, and now the world around him was going fuzzy.
Chiro was suddenly yanked to a stop by the rope around his waist and after a moment Chiro could feel himself being pulled along until he felt a strong arm wrap around him and he was pulled to the surface. Only then was Chiro able to catch a real breath of air and cough loudly as he clung tightly to his rescuer.
Otto held him close, tears streaking down Chiro's face as he sobbed and shook his eyes wide with terror. Chiro couldn't even budge he was so scared of sinking back in and didn't even bat an eye when Antauri and Sparx pulled him and Otto out of the water letting Chiro fall on his hands and knees on the damn, continuing to cling to Otto. His hair covered most of his face but all of them could tell that Chiro was terrified and still frozen in pure fear. He looked as scared as he felt, his body shaking uncontrollably his clothes soaked.
"Otto, take Chiro back to the Robot." Antauri said as the rain finally began to let up. "Sparx and I can handle it."
Otto didn't even bother arguing as he picked up Chiro letting the boy cling to him like a scared child as Otto then flew holding Chiro close.
"Chiro?" Otto said, but it all sounded so distant to Chiro, like his name was being called at the end of a long dark tunnel the only warmth he was getting being from his friend.
Deciding not to carry Chiro through the group of people Otto took Chiro directly to his room and set him on his desk chair. Even though he was safely in his room though Chiro didn't let go of Otto until Otto forcefully moved his hands off of him and put them down.
"Chiro. Chiro look at me. It's okay. You're safe. I'm going to get you some dry clothes." He said, then moved to the other side of the room grabbing Chiro a pair of blue and white pajama pants and a clean white tank top before he walked back over. "Chiro?" Otto still got no reply as Chiro looked directly at him, yet it seemed more like Chiro was looking right through him.
Otto's frown got more and more intense as chiro let him take off his tank top and put the dry one one. Otto then looked up as Antauri walked in shaking the water off his black hair and the second the water splashed on Chiro's skin he jumped out of the daze he was in and looked around in shock flailing his arms and accidently hitting Otto with enough force to knock him off his feet before Chiro dashed into the corner of the room his back against the wall.
"Chiro, relax." Antauri said quietly. "It's just us. Are you alright?"
Chiro looked around before calming down and closing his eyes tightly. When his eyes reopened again though they were once again full of tears as he fell to his knees his wet pants soaking the carpet.
"What happened out there?" Otto asked.
"There's… There are things I haven't told you." Chiro sniffled, "I should have told you years ago… But… I'm can't swim, and if that's not pathetic enough… I'm afraid of water. But… I know why I'm scared I just… I just can't face this one Antauri." He said, wrapping his arms around himself as he shook. "N-not this one."
-4 years ago-
Chiro shivered violently against the feeling of the winter air dancing across his skin, it had never really gotten cold enough for it to snow but this was as close as it came. He wanted to go inside and after seven days of this cold he decided it was time to ask. He had to ask.
Hesitantly the 9 year old boy got to his feet and made his way towards the back door of the house which his parents lived in. He softly tapped on the door and after a moment his mother answered the door.
"What do you want?" She asked, hands on her hips, a cigarette balancing between her lips.
"I-It's cold… can I sleep inside or just get a blanket?" He asked, "O-or even a towel?"
His mother glared but moved out of the way letting him in. He walked over into the kitchen and curled up against a wall staying out of the way as his mother angrily muttered to herself and began to munch loudly on popcorn. The smell of which was slowly making the boy sick. He hadn't eaten in days and he could feel his stomach twisting in knots at the smell of food, but he know if he said another word he would be left outside once again. He would just keep his head and eyes down and not say anything. It was either going another day without food or getting the snot kicked out of him and tossed back out into the cold. Starving didn't sound too bad with those other options.
Chiro was just beginning to fall asleep against the wall when his father returned home work. He ignored Chiro at first until he heard Chiro sniffle from a cold he was getting. That single sniffle was enough to send the quickly angered man over the edge. He grabbed Chiro by his hair yanking him to his feet before throwing him on the floor by the couch.
"What are you doing inside boy?"
"I got cold." He said softly, "I'm sorry."
"You got cold?" He asked with a mocking voice as he picked Chiro up again this time by his shirt as he drug him to the kitchen sink where his mom had been doing dishes. He then forced Chiro's head under water holding it there until Chiro felt like he was going to pass out. "Maybe this'll warm you up you spoiled brat!"
Chiro struggled, trying to push himself out of the sink but his head was pushed further under until his vision went blurry. His father then pulled the boys head out for a second letting him catch a short breath before slamming his face down into the water once again.
His father continued this torture for another hour before tossing him back outside in the cold leaving the boy alone to freeze to death. The fear of water and drowning ever implanted on the boys mind.
-Present Day-
Antauri and Otto couldn't even process what they had been told. That one night had scarred Chiro for life and despite how scared he had been he hadn't said anything to them in fear of what they would think of him. Now Chiro was curled up in dry clothes on his bed a blanket around his shoulders as he refused to make eye contact with the rest of the team, tears dripping down his face.
"Chiro…" Antauri began but couldn't think of words to comfort the boy.
"You could'a told us Chiro." Otto said, sitting at the foot of the bed, "You're our friend Chiro besides everybody is scared of something. I mean even Antauri is afraid of something." He said and Antauri nodded when Chiro glanced up at him.
Chiro sniffled, rubbing his nose. "I'm sorry you guys." He sighed, "But… can I just go to sleep?" He asked, "It's been a long day."
"Of course." Antauri said bowing softly, "Goodnight Chiro." He said as he and Otto walked out leaving Chiro alone on his bed.
After a moment Chiro sucked in a shaky breath and laid down on his bed flicking the switch which plunged him into darkness the only light in the room coming from Ranger Seven through his bedroom window. The boy slowly pulled the blanket over his shoulder and closed his eyes taking deep breaths in and out.
Chiro didn't wake up until late the next morning and by the time he did and looked out the window the water had already receided quite a bit leaving only four feet of water at the foot of the robot. Chiro got dressed in a clean tanktop and jeans before he made his way down the main area of the robot watching as the townspeople rolled up the blankets and pillows they had used the night before and got ready to continue with their own lives. Including the girl with pink hair.
Chiro attempted to make his way to her but was trapped in a bear hug by Nova.
"Chiro! I heard what happened at the dam, are you alright?"
'Did they tell her? About my dad… Please no...'
"W-w-what all did you hear?"
"Sparx told me that you and Otto were pulled under and that you almost drowned. I asked Otto and Antauri about it but they just told me you got a bump on your head and needed to sleep it off…" She said hugging him softly. "Are you alright?" She asked again.
Chiro smiled softly, glad that Antauri and Otto kept it secret before he answered. "I have a bit of a headache but I'm fine." He laughed rubbing the back of his neck. "What's going on?"
"Antauri is splitting us up into groups to help sections clean up after the flood and get back to normal. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you stayed home though." She said.
"Nah, I think some fresh air would do us all good." He said and Nova nodded slowly in understanding.
Chiro then finally pulled away from the older girl and made his way towards where he saw Jinmay and frowned when he realized she was gone, likely lost in the sea of people heading out the door being lead by Antauri and Sparx. Chiro sighed heavily before he followed the large wave of people as they made their way out of the robot and he hesitated when the water brushed the bottoms of his boots.
Chiro looked at the group ahead of them the water reaching only to their hips or their ribs on some of the shorter people. Forcing himself to be brave slowly wading into the water which quickly went to his stomach making him tense but it didn't stop, he didn't want to be seen as scared, he was a hero for god's sake if anybody saw him afraid nobody would ever trust him in protecting them ever again. He couldn't have that.
He sucked in a breath walking through the water and after a while he managed to relax slowly realizing that it wasn't as bad as he thought at first. It was just like sitting in a giant tub, and as long as his head didn't go under he would be perfectly fine. He watched over the entire group of people but kept an eye out for Jinmay he wanted to see her again. He didn't want her to just disappear on him.
"Chiro." Antauri said, "Why don't you take sector 1 and 2 this time." He said, "The flood is lesser there." he said, loud enough for Chiro to hear but quiet enough that nobody else could.
Chiro nodded, then walked to one side of the group. "People who live in between Sky and Zuro came with me." Chiro said and a group of people formed around him and frowned when he realized Jinmay wasn't one of them. He quickly shook it off and smiled softly at the group he did have. "Alright, come on."
Chiro and the large group of people slowly trudged through the water until it got lower and lower before finally stopping at his ankles.
Antauri had been right in saying the water wasn't as deep here, it was nice. What Antauri failed to mention though was that there were more buildings and more people in this area. Chiro went from building to building helping people who lived in the area clean up their homes the best he could until everybody was back in their own homes, but by that point the sun was beginning to set and his stomach felt like it was beginning to dissolve itself.
Chiro sighed, giving up the search for Jinmay for that night as he slowly made his way back to the Super Robot his knees shaking again as he got into the deeper water, which while it continued to sink down was still high enough to scare him. Each step he took the water seemed to become harder and harder to move through and the robot seemed like it was still a million miles away.
Chiro looked down in the water and gasped loudly when saw that it wasn't his reflection staring back at him but rather the face of pure evil the Skeleton King was the one looking back at him. A smug smile across the old bone bags face, a smile that plagued Chiro's nights more than his own family did. After a minute of shock he closed his eyes tightly and looked back up seeing that the reflection was once again his own.
Chiro sighed then once again began walking and soon he made it to the robot. He climbed inside and made his way up to where the rest of the team was gathered.
"Hi guys, how did it go?" He asked.
"Good, a lot of homes were destroyed but others have taken in strangers until their houses are fixed again." Nova explained.
"The city will be recovering from this for quite some time." Antauri said softly.
Chiro sat down in his chair as he closed his eyes, his hand unconsciously shaking violently.
"You okay kid?" Sparx asked making Chiro look up as Sparx pointed at his hand.
"Hu-huh? Oh." Chiro grabbed his hand quickly and smiled, "Yeah just hungry. I'm going to get something." he said, wasting no time as he walked into the kitchen away from the group.
'Come on! ' He thought angrily as he looked at both his hands. 'You're fine! It's over now so suck it up! ' Chiro sighed then snatched an apple off the counter and began to eat hoping that food would help calm his nerves. A hope that eventually came true and he was able to go back with the group his calm collected self.
Now if only he could stay that way.
