Otto: Hey look, Lorrie the Ninja Elf did an extremely long one-shot! More like a short story!
Gibson: And for some reason it's about me!
Me: What on earth are you guys doing here? I'm trying to write an authors note!
Gibson: You're using the Pen (1*). *points to a pen with piece of the 4th wall on the end of it.*
Me: Oops, *Switches pens*
Otto and Gibson disappear
Me to the audience: Hey Guys! I read something on tumblr or DA or something somewhere, where the author talked about why Gibson's worst fear was appearing irrational. (which, according to the article/fic/drawing whatever it was: anyway, according to the thing I read it was because he feels like he has no purpose if he isn't smart, and underestimates how much he means to the rest of the team.)Then *lightbulb*. Whoever wrote that, you know who you are!
Enjoy!
-Lorrie the Ninja Elf \''/
Disclaimer: O my goodness, If you need this you must be daft. Do I look like I own SRMTHFG?
(1* see my story Bubbles)
Night of Fear: The After-effects
In his mind he was worthless to the team without his intellect. He had no purpose if he was not smart. That was why his worst fear was appearing irrational. Because he needed to be loved and cared for, just like any other person. The cerulean simian who is the antecedent of the pronouns "he" and "his" used in the preceding sentences, and the subject of our story, sat shivering in the corner of his room. He could remember the events of the night before all too clearly. The night that fear had become reality. Last night he had been reduced to a dumb, raving, lunatic, with less sense than Otto. What was worse, there had been the tiniest piece of himself alert during them. He had caught a glimpse of his own face on a shining piece of metal, and had been disgusted. He was a drooling clown, eyes crossed. What hurt him most was the fact that he could have seriously hurt someone! He hadn't been there when people needed him. When Sparx needed him to try to fix his eyes, Gibson had almost drilled into him. When Chiro had needed him to open the hatch, he had just stood there like an idiot.
He had nothing if he didn't have the team, and if the team had any sense, they would throw him out.
"I failed!" he muttered. Then he buried his face in his hands and did something that he, as a scientist, almost never did. He cried.
"Stop it Gibson, this behavior is highly illogical!" He said, shaking himself.
What if I'm losing my rationality again. I just cried. And I talked to myself! There is something wrong with me! I'm going insane! They're going to have to throw me out! The poor blue monkey wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked himself back and forth. The words of their ex-leader floated back to him across the years.
Flashback: (three months before Nova explodes the training room.)
Gibson had been having an off week. Every experiment had somehow gone wrong, or fallen short of Mandarin's expectations. Every battle, Gibson had done something wrong. The blue monkey sighed. Mandarin had changed a lot from when they had first been a team. He was harsher, meaner.
"Gibson!" the voice rang again, cutting our scientist friend out of his thoughts like a whip. "Where is that formula?!"
"I'm having a minor difficulty in stabilizing the molecular core enough to-"
"Give it here!" Mandarin said angrily. Before Gibson could stop him, the orange monkey had grabbed the beaker of syrupy purple-green liquid.
"Mandarin!" Gibson screeched "The molecular density of the nuerons of that formula are unstable! If you move it suddenly, you could cause it to-"
Too late.
BOOM!
The beaker exploded into Mandarin and Gibson's faces.
"-rupture." Gibson finished, coughing.
"You - you - you blundering idiot!" Mandarin spluttered.
"I apologize profusely, please let me hel-"
"LISTEN TO ME! YOU PITIFUL EXCUSE FOR A SCIENTIST AND A WARRIOR!"Mandarin thundered. Gibson stopped. He braced himself for another lecture.
"Do not think that anyone on this team cares about you! The only way anyone will care about you is if you do everything right! The only reason you are on this team, is because you are somewhat useful as a paramedic and scientist. If you lose your brain, we will kick you off the team, and find another doctor and Cheif of Science. It would be illogical to keep you if you fail us! We need to be here for each other. If you are useless, you must not also be counterproductive. If one of us isn't, we throw them out. Everyone has to do their part. Do yours!"
"But they do! They do care!" Gibson protested.
"Do they really? Think about it Gibson. Does Sparx care? No! Does Otto care? No! Do Antauri or Nova care? No! Do I care? NO!" the orange monkey hissed. Gibson cast his eyes down.
"That!" Mandarin said, punching him, "is for thinking people are obliged to care. And that!"another punch,"is for not making this formula correctly! And THAT!" one more punch"is for exploding it in my face!"
Gibson winced at the pain on his forehead, where a large egg had already begun to swell. He had a feeling he was going to have a black eye.
"Clean up this mess. Have the new formula made correctly in an hour. And step up your game, or you'll have to find a new place to be useful! Is that understood Gibson?"
"Yes Mandarin." Gibson muttered.
"What was that?"
"I said' Yes Mandarin' " Gibson said clearly.
"Good!" Mandarin said, heading out the lab door. Gibson sighed in slight relief.
"Oh, and one more thing Gibson!" Mandarin called, sticking his head back in the door.
"Yes Mandarin?"
"If you tell anyone about out little chat just now, you'll find yourself off the team. Understood?" Gibson nodded. Mandarin left, and the scientist knelt to clean up the mess.
This went on for two months. Then one day, it stopped. Gibson could not fathom how, but he was extremely relieved.
Gibson began crying again. In spite of it all, he loved his family, although he would never admit it to them. That made this so much harder. He knew what had to happen now. He had failed, he would be disposed of. Gibson reached up with his tail to a shelf and grabbed his rolling suitcase.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team was just getting out of bed, although it was already 3 pm.
"Whew, what a night!" Sparx exclaimed, blinking his eyes and stretching as he walked into the dining room. It felt so good to be able to see again. Chiro, already sitting in his spot at the breakfast table, nodded and slumped in his seat, rubbing his eyes. Antauri floated into the room, and took his place at the table. Otto dragged himself into the room.
"I'm soooo tired!" he yawned.
"Too tired to eat?" Nova teased her brother as she walked out of her tube.
"No! I'm never too tired to eat!" Otto exclaimed, suddenly wide awake. He dashed to his seat and sat down, as if afraid someone would decide he didn't want any food and take his away. Nova grinned and looked at the schedule on the wall.
"Come on Chiro, we're on Breakfast today!" she called, disappearing into the kitchen. Chiro groaned. He got up and started to walk into the kitchen. Sparx, seeing that his young leader was exhausted, sighed. Sparx did not like KP anymore than the rest of the team.
He needs sleep. He didn't get a wink last night, I heard him. Sparx decided. (and if Sparx was maybe to get a chance to help a certain yellow monkey as well, who could tell).
"Kid, stay here and take a nap, I'll go help Nova cook breakfast." he said, standing up. Chiro smiled gratefully and dropped into his chair. He was asleep in almost a minute. Sparx walked into the kitchen.
"It's Chiro's turn you know." Nova said.
"It's Chiro's turn."
"I know, but I'm almost certain the Kid didn't sleep last night. I know I couldn't. If he did sleep, he kept waking up from nightmares. I heard Antauri go to him a few times. Either way, the Kid was glad enough to surrender KP." Sparx explained. Nova thrust a bowl of Zaetsurk brand Pancake Mix and water at him, and a wire whisk.
"Stir that up, I'll get the griddle hot." she ordered. Sparx obeyed.
"You didn't sleep either? What kept you up?" Nova asked as she pulled said griddle out of a cabinet.
"I was afraid to close my eyes. It's kinda silly, but I thought that if I closed my eyes, I might not be able to see when I opened them. You?"
"If you laugh, I'll punch you to the other side of Shuggazoom."
"Why would I laugh? Fear isn't funny. Unless it's clowns!" Nova shot him a glare.
"Ok, not funny, sorry."
"I was too busy trying to figure out if I'm a miserable coward or not. Too many thoughts running around my head." she said. She flicked on a stove burner under the griddle.
"Why would you think you're a coward?" Sparx asked, adding more pancake mix to the batter, which was a bit too runny. Nova turned to face him.
"Did you see me last night?" she asked a bit harshly. Sparx winced.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." Nova apologized.
Of course he didn't see, he was BLIND you cowardly doofus! She berated herself.
"It's fine!" Sparx assured her with a grin.
The yellow monkey wet her fingers at the sink and flicked the droplets onto the griddle. They hissed angrily and evaporated.
"Griddle's hot!" she announced, grabbing MAP cooking spray and spraying a liberal abount onto the griddle. Sprx grabbed a serving spoon, set the whisk on the counter, and handed the bowl of batter to Nova.
"You didn't put in any flavoring." she observed.
"Was I supposed to?" Nova sighed and quickly poured some chocolate chips into the batter and stirred it in. Then she spooned 4 pancakes onto the griddle.
"How do you think we make Chocolate Chip Pancakes?" She asked as she grabbed a spatula from the cooking utensils drawer.
"Ummmmm..."
"That's what I thought."
"Anyways, I didn't see you, but I was there, and I heard you just fine."
"And you know what a scaredy-cat I am."
Sparx looked at Nova seriously"Nova, snap out of it! There's a reason I know you aren't a coward and it's because of how scared you were last night. Your worst fear is being afraid. A person who's worst fear is fear is by definition the bravest person in the history of Shuggazoom!" Nova turned to flip a pancake so Sprx wouldn't see her blushing. There was silence as she thought over what Sparx had said.
"Thanks." she said finally.
"No problem." Sparx said lightly. They went back to making pancakes.
Back in the dining room, Antauri was sitting at the table thinking.
What If it happens again? I could hurt Chiro and the Team! I could end up killing them! Antauri shuddered. The thing he cared about most in the world was his family, and if he hurt them, he would never forgive himself. Antauri shook himself. It would not happen again. He looked at the ebony-haired boy around the corner of the table from him, head on the table, sapphire eyes closed in sleep. Chiro had only slept twice the entire night, and both times he had woken up from nightmares. It wasn't until 6:34 am that Chiro finally settled into real sleep. Antauri had woken up from his recharge as soon as he heard the boys screams the first time, and comforted him. The next time he stayed in the room for the rest of the night. He had managed to cure the boy of his fear of turning into a child, and he had gone to sleep. When Chiro had been awake, it had been because he had been afraid that he would wake up a little boy. His nightmares had both consisted of Mandarin turning him into a boy, and torturing the rest of the team to death in front of him. Otto was asleep as well. He had been the only one on the team who was not kept up by his fears. Instead, he had been kept up by an upset stomach. Evidently, the clams' legs and feet had been less digestible than he had imagined (especially the toenails), although the rest of the clam meat had been good.
Sparx came from the kitchen bearing a butter dish, strawberry jam, and Uncle Amimej pancake syrup. He set these on the table along with two stacks of napkins. One of these he set in the middle of the table. The other he set in front of his and Otto's seats (They sat across from each other at the table, so that they could have their own stack of napkins, they being, predictably, the two messiest eaters on the team.) He woke Chiro up then he reentered the kitchen and came out accompanied by Nova, both carrying three stacks of fluffy Chocolate Chip Pancakes, one stack on each hand and one with a tail. They set a stack in front of each spot at the table. Then they went back one more time, and emerged, Spark carrying one each of red, orange, blue, green, yellow, and silver cups in a stack, and a pitcher of orange juice, Nova carrying 2 pitchers of milk: skim and 20 % reduced fat. They sat down. Everyone buttered and syruped their pancakes, Antauri turning his into jelly rolls. Sparx was about to take a bite, when, glancing at the seat next to him, he noticed something that he was stupid not to have noticed earlier.
"Where's Brainstrain?" he asked. The others looked around in surprise. Sure enough, Gibson was absent.
"Maybe he just slept in?" Otto suggested, even though he knew that it wasn't true.
"I sense that he is in deep distress." Antauri said. Silence for about 20 seconds.
"You know," Nova said thoughtfully "He's probably more shaken up about his fear than the rest of us combined." There was silence for another 15 seconds as everyone pondered that.
"Well, let's go!" Otto cried suddenly, standing up.
The others stood up as well and as one they ran to their tubes. Each shot up their tube and took the route to the Bedroom Deck. They all ran to the white half sphere that was Gibson's room and stood outside the door. Chiro put his ear to the door and heard sobbing. He looked at the team and mouthed He's crying at them. Otto and Sparx looked shocked. Nova put her hand over her mouth. Antauri looked extremely troubled.
"What are we waiting for?!" Sparx hissed.
Chiro knocked.
"I'm packing, alright!"came a muffled voice from inside.
"Packing?!" everyone gasped.
"Gibson, let us in!" Otto called.
"You don't have to, I already know what you're going to say!" Gibson's voice replied.
"Gibson, please?" Chiro asked
...
"Alright." said the scientist. Chiro pressed the open button on the door. Gibson was crouched behind his chair, using his tail to pack a bag while he wrapped his arms around his knees.
"Gibson?" Chiro said cautiously.
"What are you doin' Brainstrain?" Sparx asked. Gibson put the canister of pink gel chemical in the bag.
"I know what you've come to say. I'm getting ready to leave."
"Why would you leave?!"
"I'm going insane. That negates my usefulness. We don't have enough room for an unneeded team member. If you can't count on me, I become counterproductive to the team. Last night I wasn't there when you needed me, I was indisposed. If that happens again, I could hurt someone. The logical thing for you to do is throw me out and either send me either to HOOP or somewhere where I can be useful. Perhaps as a member of that cleanup squad Krinkle worked on. Cyber Vac Drill Sucker would be an asset there. Then I can send the rest of my days among bugs and garbage!" he said and broke down into sobs.
"Now go ahead and say it. I can't go until I get the order, and I'd rather just get it over with. It'll hurt less." he sobbed.
The rest of the team was shocked.
"Gibson, I thought you knew better!" Nova said.
"You actually think that we'd just chuck you out the window when you're no longer needed?!" Sparx exclaimed incredulously.
"Not only that, but for some reason thinks that he's not useful!" Chiro observed.
Antauri and Otto were looking at Gibson carefully. Surprisingly, Otto was as silent and serious as Antauri. When he finished talking, Sparx looked as well.
"But, I'm useless, I must not also be counterproductive."
Suddenly, Sparx and Otto both knew where they had heard words like this before. From the person who had abused them all.
Otto walked forward and stood a few feet away from the chair, Sparx behind him
"We aren't Mandarin, Gibson." the green monkey said simply. Gibson's head shot up. He peeked his head out from behind the chair and was on his hands and knees, staring at the two.
"How did you know?" he whispered.
"Why do you think he stopped bothering you? He did it to me too. At first I thought I was the only one. But one day I found out he was abusing Otto, not just me, and Antauri and I made him stop. Then one day Otto was walking past the lab and he heard Mandarin yelling at you, just like he'd yell at us. I was walking by and he ran to get me. I went to get Antauri and Nova while Otto stayed there to make sure Mandarin didn't hurt you. When he came into the command room, we confronted him." Sparx explained, smirking.
"No one should have to go through having stuff like that said to them, Gibson." Nova said quietly.
"You are going to have to disregard many things that Mandarin told you Gibson. For they were born of hate, and are not truth." Antauri said.
"We care Gibson, we really do. Yeah sure, we fall asleep during the lectures, and cause explosions, but you're our brother!" Chiro said.
"And if it means anything, even when you crack like an egg, you'll still be extremely useful in one area!" Sparx exclaimed.
"What's that?"
"Why, for me to joke at! I don't have anyone else to use insult if you think about it, cause you're the only one who's annoyed! I mean, besides Nova, but its dangerous to insult her."
Then Gibson laughed. He had not laughed so hard since...he had not ever laughed this hard.
"I hope that's not all the use I have Sparky!"
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!"
Gibson looked around. The weight had been lifted. Here he was in his bedroom, with his family. His excruciatingly annoying family...
In his room...
"Well, this has been a lovely chat, now, uh go on out and have breakfast, I'll unpack. I'm sorry for being such a goose!" He ushered them out the door. The silver monkey was the last to leave, and Gibson stopped him at the door. When the others had gone out their tubes, he whispered:
"Find a way to thank them for me, without letting on it was my idea. I wouldn't want them to get the idea I like them." He said with a rueful smile. Antauri smiled back.
"Of course."
Gibson sighed and went back to unpack.
2 hours later:
KABOOOOOM!
"SPARX! OTTO!" rang a british accent
"Run Otto! RUN!" called Sparx to the monkey behind him. Both burst out of the lab covered in soot.
"On the bright side," Sparx said as they zipped to escape an angry Gibson "This means he's back!"
So yes, I know everyone seems a little OOC. They're in a way supposed to be. Oh well, this was probably horrid, R&R please!
- Lorrie the Ninja Elf \''/