Chapter 4: The new members of Chao Island part 1

Author's note: - achoo - Damn… What a great time to catch a cold. Sorry I'm a little late with the new chap. Today I feel well enough to do the upload. Enjoy.

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A new day breaks through on Chao Island. As the sunlight was spreading to every corner of the island, the tiny inhibitors are waking up to start a new day.

In Chao Park TJ was the first to wake up, or so he thought. As he went to the pond to take his morning swim, he saw the little chao not far away trying hard to walk on his own two feet. He was able to stand up now but moving on his feet was still a bit awkward.

'He sure wants to get over with that as soon as possible.', TJ thought with a smile and yawning afterward.

He went to the pond for his morning ritual. He washed his hands and his face first, and then he slowly submerged his entire body in the cold water. This was his best way to prepare his body and mind for things to come that same day. He was one of the few chao that enjoys a cold morning swim. Only when the water got warmer as the sun rose higher up in the sky, most chao would take a dip.

As TJ was floating on his back, he was organizing his schedule for the day.

Most outsiders might think that a chao is a creature with very simple life. Eat, sleep and play, day in day out, but the truth was far away from that.

All the chao on the island had an occupation. In TJ's case he spends a lot of time working and studying to become the best technician chao ever. In the eyes of everyone who knew him he already was a great technician, but he still didn't believe that himself.

'Today I'll finish my project, the first creation I ever made all by myself. It's so exciting.', he thought happily.

All of a sudden, a voice interrupted his fantasy of glory. "Morning, TJ." TJ came out of his floating position and saw Rosie nearing the pond.

"Morning.", he replied.

Rosie yawned and said: "Have you seen the little chao anywhere? I thought he was still sleeping but he was gone when I woke up."

"Yeah, I saw him. He's over there." TJ pointed out to direction where he last saw him, but he wasn't there anymore. "Huh, I saw him there just a few minutes ago. He was training on walking."

They looked around, but he was nowhere. "Where could he…"

"Hey guys…", a voice suddenly interrupted Rosie.

Both Rosie and TJ looked up. The pond TJ was swimming in was next to a hill, the water in the pond came through the hill's waterfall. On one of hill's ledges was the little chao, who let his first footsteps take him all the way up there.

"I think I'm getting a hang of it.", the little chao said while bending down over the edge and waving at Rosie and TJ.

"Well done.", TJ said while waving back.

"Yeah, but be care…" Before Rosie could finish her sentence a part of edge where the little chao was standing crumbled and he slipped of the ledge. He managed to hold on the edge with one hand but that part also broke off and he was falling into the pond.

"Oh no!!!", Rosie yelled.

TJ quickly jumped to the spot where the baby chao would land. His tails were completely soaked so he wasn't able to fly, but at least he could try to brake the fall. He jumped out of the water, caught the little chao then they both splashed back into the water. In no time they were both back to the surface and everything seemed fine, except for the little chao who was slightly panicked.

"It's cold, so cold!! Get me out of here!!", he yelled frightened.

"Take it easy. You're safe now. If you just calm down I'll help you out of the water.", TJ was trying to comfort the scared little chao. His panicked spatters became less, but he was still trembling and hyperventilating. He held on tight to TJ who then swum to where Rosie was standing. As soon as they reached TJ helped him out and Rosie pulled him close to her. The warmth of her body made some of the cold go away so he stopped trembling.

"Everything is going to be fine. You're save now.", Rosie said with a kind voice.

TJ got out of the water and said: "That's a terrifying first swim."

"In such a cold water it sure must be scary.", Rosie replied.

The little chao was barely following what they were saying. He was deep in thoughts now that the cold was flowing out of his head.

'That sure scared me. It wasn't the slide or the fall.', he thought. 'Touching the water was terrifying. Even if TJ was holding me, I felt so helpless. I was completely swallowed by the water, I couldn't move and there isn't anything else I want more than to be able to move.'

He let go of Rosie and said with a comforting smile: "I'm OK now, Rosie."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry."

"We all are, let's get some breakfast.", TJ said smiling.

He gave a simple nod agreeing then started to walk. Slowly and still a bit awkward, but walking.

Rosie was pleased by how fast he bounced back to normal from that cold water experience.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The three chao were having breakfast when Atlas showed up.

TJ was the first one to notice him and he greeted him joyfully. "Morning, Atlas."

Rosie and the little chao did the same. Atlas greeted back while sitting down and grabbing a fruit.

TJ went right away to ask him a favour, barely giving him a chance to start eating. "Hey Atlas. I was wondering if you were busy today, because I'll need your help in the workshop."

After a few seconds of thinking he answered: "Sure. Are you still working on that project of yours? I thought you were done by now!"

"I'll put the final touches today and I need your help to attach the engine."

Rosie noticed the little chao didn't have clue what they were talking about.

"Maybe you'd like to come along with us to see TJ's work.", Rosie suggested.

"Sure.", he replied right away.

By hearing this, Atlas turned to him and asked: "Are you sure you don't have other plans, kid?"

"No…", the little chao answered with no doubt in his voice, but still thinking he might be forgetting something.

"Well, I think you do."

Before the chao could ask what he was talking about, Atlas pointed up into the sky and they all looked up. A metallic chao was landing not far from where they where having breakfast. It was an Omachao unit.

Omachao was walking toward them while his eyes were scanning the entire group. After completing his scan, he immediately received verification from his memory banks that he found the one he was looking for.

"Morning chao citizen Rosie, TJ, Atlas and chao 657-4012. I'm Omachao unit 212, currently assigned with the task to assemble all newborn chao for medical research at the Chao Center."

"Morning, Omachao.", TJ greeted back. Atlas and Rosie both gave a friendly nod.

"What did he say? Assigned, research and who's chao 657 something, something.", the little chao asked confused.

"Chao 657-4012, that's you. All chao born here get instructions from Omachao.", TJ explained.

"Yep, and since you fell asleep during Omachao's instructional speech, you don't know your chao registration number.", Rosie said smiling.

This was the first time Atlas heard about this. 'He fell asleep? Sheesh, sounds to me like he's a sluggard.', he thought as he continued eating without saying a word.

"That is correct, but today there will be no delays. You are coming with me.", Omachao continued.

"And where did you say I had to go?", the little chao asked.

"To the medical department at the Chao Center for a medical check-up and further instructions.", Omachao explained broadly.

"Medical check-up! Can't I go some other time? I just made plans and…"

"Negative.", Omachao interrupted. "This is very important. To become a valuable member of the chao community on this island you must attend the gathering, it is obligatory."

"That's right. These gatherings are binding, kiddo.", TJ said feeling a little sorry for the him.

"But I wanted to go and see your project.", the little chao said pouting frustrated.

"You can come later in the afternoon. These gatherings last only a few hours and where I'm working is very close to the Chao Center.", TJ said.

"I'll be waiting for you when you're done.", Rosie promised.

"All right than.", he said finally agreeing. He finished his last piece of fruit and went to where Omachao was.

"Let's get this over with. Where is that Chao Center you mentioned?"

"The Chao Center is located on the south area of Chao Island. Since you want to get this over with as soon as possible, I suggest I take you there by air.", Omachao proposed in a very sarcastic way for a robot chao.

'I hope he's not insinuating that I'm too slow to get there walking or at least flying by myself. Kind of think about it, I didn't test out my wings yet.', the little chao thought.

"All right, but go easy on me. I just ate.", the little chao warned a little nervous.

After a quick goodbye, the little chao was lifted up into the air by Omachao and flown to the Chao Center.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"We reached our destination. Chao Center.", Omachao said while landing in front of a building.

The building was huge and round L-shaped, it had only three floors, but what it lacked in height it had plentiful in length. There was another building to the right, which looked like the mirror twin of the one in front of them.

"Omachao… What's that other building over there?", the little chao asked pointing toward the building.

"That building is the Chao Academy. You will be assisting school there very soon.", he said while walking to the entrance of the Chao Center.

"WHAT??", the little chao exclaimed shocked while rushing to keep up with Omachao. "I must go to school?"

"Affirmative.", Omachao responded coldly.

"And it's obligatory just like this whole gathering thing."

"Affirmative, you will receive further information about that during the gathering."

They walked through the main entrance and after going through a few corridors, they reached an immense hall. It was a presentation hall with audience seats in chao-size, and a stage with a big panel hanging on the wall.

"In this hall is where the gathering will take place.", Omachao said.

The little chao walked forward to see all the other baby chao in the room. Most of them looked just like him what gave him an uncomfortable feeling, as if he's some sort of clone or something like that. There were also other Omachao guiding the chao to a seat and keeping the crowd under control.

"If there is no further questions I will move on to help my fellow units.", Omachao said standing next to the little chao.

"Uhm sure, I'll be fine.", the little chao said short, and then he started to make his way through the crowd to find a seat.

Repeatedly, a single chao greeted him but there wasn't much conversation. Some chao already gave themselves a name while others already ventured themselves into some interesting areas of the island. From what he could hear from the others, all chao were recently born, within the last two weeks. Some kind of hatching spree might be it and now they were gathered here to take the first step in becoming official members of the chao society.

Suddenly Omachao's voice sounded through the loudspeakers asking all chao still standing to take a seat so they can start with the presentation. All chao obediently sit down and the little chao took a seat in the back where he could see the entire room. He looked around when he recognized a familiar baby chao between all the look-a-likes. It was that grumpy chao from yesterday.

'It's him.', he thought surprised. 'We might all look the same but I recognize you out of a hundred chao.'

His so-called rival was already seated quietly, avoiding conversation with all the others.

Suddenly the lights were turned off and a movie was projected on the big screen. It showed different aspects about being a chao, Chao Island, activities and education.

'There sure are a lot of things to come.', the little chao thought with a faint smile on his face.

When the movie was over everyone had a chance to ask questions. Afterwards they all were walking in two rows toward another room with five identical machines standing next to each other. Each machine was operated by two Omachao units.

An Omachao stood between the group of chao and the machines and said: "OK everyone, like I said in the hall this machines are medical scanners. They will make a physical scan so the doctors can check your health condition and ability potential. The machine might make strange noises, but that's completely normal. So there is no need to be afraid."

The little chao was walking in the row waiting his turn for the test when suddenly the chao behind him bumped into him. Because of that sudden hit, he couldn't avoid to push the chao in front of him.

"Oh, sorry.", the little chao said quickly to the chao in front.

He was about to turn around to find out why he was pushed when suddenly a voice roared angrily at him. "Watch it, you clumsy."