Chapter Seven: Bad Day, Take Two
Summary: Chiro has some more trouble coming to him.
Quick AN: Holy robotics Batman! 35 Reviews? I'm extremely flattered :bows: Minna-sama, arigatou goizamasu! (Thank you, everyone!)
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The weekend passed by in a flash, it was the most intense weekend Chiro had ever experienced. His mind was buzzing with knowledge he had only dreamed of possessing. He walked to school with a new confidence, thanks to Nova's combat training he now knew how to block, kick, and punch.
Granted, he was given strict orders not to show off at school. Or at the very least, in Chiro's opinion, not show off and have them find out about it.
"Hey, Monkey Boy,"
Chiro froze at the voice.
"You didn't forget that you owe us for Friday, did you?"
Chiro slowly turned around to find BT and Glenny standing there. Glenny was pounding one fist into his hand.
"Hope you had a long, relaxing weekend, because it will be the last one you ever have," BT growled.
"Look, just leave me alone," Chiro said, trying to find a way past them.
BT reached out and grabbed the front of Chiro's shirt and pulled him close.
"Say your prayers, Monkey Boy," BT snarled.
Chiro put his hands up. "I'm warning you, BT, let go of me,"
"You're warning me, you little shrimp?" BT raised his fist.
Chiro quickly reacted. He took a step back, raised his uninjured arm and dug his elbow into BT's arm. BT cried out in a mix of surprise and pain. Glenny ran forward to grab Chiro, Chiro let loose a kick, his heel hit Glenny's stomach and stopped him in his tracks.
After that, Chiro ran around the corner and into the school. He slipped into his seat, now terrified.
What had he done?
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Chiro dreaded what would happen. If the bullies told someone, it wasn't a detention or a possible suspension sentence Chiro worried about. It was that they would call his legal guardians. This meant that his foster parents would be phoned.
What would they say? Would they tell the school that he ran away? What kind of lies would they tell? Did they even notice that he was gone, and perhaps he was panicking for nothing?
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Chiro muttered, bumping his head on the desk lightly a few times before resting it with a sigh. "Why did I have to be such an idiot?"
Chiro sat through his morning classes with butterflies in his stomach. BT and Glenny were late by nearly a half an hour. They tossed Chiro a more murderous glare than he had ever received. Were they late because they were busy talking to the principal? It was hard to tell. They were late to class on a fairly regular basis.
The morning went on, Chiro's mind wandered for the most part. He thought it was strange that there were people around him with normal lives. They had families, friends, and among their worst worries was what their grades were going to be.
What Chiro had was a group of robotic monkeys who had become the best friends and family he could ever want.
Life wasn't so bad.
It was what the school was going to think about it that made him want to run away again.
Chiro set his head down on his desk, all the thinking and worrying was making him sick to his stomach.
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"Chiro? Chiro, dear, wake up,"
"Huh?"
Chiro slowly lifted his head. He looked around at the empty class room, and then finally his eyes fell on the smiling face of his science teacher, Ms. Moden.
"Looks like you fell asleep," Ms. Moden ruffled Chiro's hair with one hand.
"I'm so sorry, Ms. Moden," Chiro said quickly, suddenly very awake.
"It's all right, I know geology can be boring," she laughed lightly.
"Well, no, it wasn't that,"
"You do seem to have a lot on your mind. Is everything going all right at home?"
Chiro frowned slightly. What should he say? The truth?
'Yes, Ms. Moden, everything is just fine these days. I ran away from my foster parents so I could live in a huge robot in the abandoned part of town with five robotic monkeys, and they're teaching me how to fight, mechanics, how to fly, and I beat on two of the class bullies before school started. Everything's fine here.'
Chiro held back a snort at the thought. That would go over real well.
"Yeah, everything's okay, just had a really long weekend," Chiro said with a smile.
Not a total lie.
"As long as you're sure, Chiro," Ms. Moden gave him another smile. "Just know that if you ever need to talk, you can always come to me,"
"Thanks, Ms. Moden,"
"Now, why don't you go outside and find something to do until the next class starts? It really is a lovely day outside, shame enough you waste it indoors with class,"
Chiro nodded, slowly stood and left them room.
By the time Chiro reached the door that lead into the school's courtyard and sports fields, he remembered what had happened between him, BT and Glenny. But that was only when a heavy hand clapped onto his shoulder.
"Hey, Monkey Boy," Glenny murmured into his ear. "Time to pay us back,"
Chiro swallowed hard, allowing the bullies to lead him out and to one side of the school building. It was the place the bullies usually hung out, and it was known that kids got dragged back there and came out with a need to visit the infirmary.
Chiro's mind kicked itself back into gear when he saw that there were three more students huddling in the shadows.
"That the one, BT?" One asked.
"Yeah, this is the Monkey Boy who needs a lesson," Glenny said, throwing Chiro towards them.
Chiro regained his footing without thinking and put his hands up.
"Oh, so you gonna fight us, Monkey Kid?" Another one said.
"I'm not here to fight," Chiro said firmly. "I didn't fight before, I was just trying to defend myself,"
"Maybe you don't wanna fight, but we do," the third of the party replied. "Our buddies here paid us some good money, and I have to say we deliver,"
"You bribed them? Oh come on," Chiro rounded on BT and Glenny, who stood at the entrance like a wall. "You two are the biggest pair of cowards I have ever seen, you go hire the school assassins instead of fighting me yourselves?"
BT and Glenny stared at Chiro. This was the quiet geek in class, where did he find that kind of strength and confidence all of a sudden?
Chiro caught himself as well, surprised at the words that were coming out. He couldn't honestly take on the three bullies, and what if BT and Glenny weren't so cowardly and jumped him, too?
There was no more time to think. The bullies attacked.
Chiro wasn't sure how long the fight lasted. What little training he received had possibly kept him from getting the worst. He was definitely hurt, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was that the fear and anger seemed to suddenly take over.
There was something burning deep inside him. It started in his stomach, then it spread up to his chest and it spread over his skin. His attackers backed off, they were talking but Chiro couldn't hear them. A bright, green light blinded him for a moment, there were cried of surprise, and then Chiro found himself running.
"What have I done now?" Chiro wondered. "And where am I?"
He stopped and looked around. He had run at least two blocks away from the school. He knew something really bad had happened. Whatever it was, Chiro could definitely not go back.
"Someone would have to tell a teacher," Chiro murmured. "It was too weird. They'll call my fosters, what if they send the police after me? What'll I do?"
He sighed, went to sit down, and it was then the pain hit him. He put a hand to his face, he was definitely bruised and his skin scratched, it hurt to breathe, and his burned arm began to throb.
"I gotta get home," he murmured.
Taking a deep, pained breath, Chiro steeled himself to begin running again.
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Antauri gasped, which drew the gazes of his team members.
"What is it?" Nova asked.
"Chiro," Antauri said as he exhaled. "Something's amiss,"
"What do you mean?" Sprx asked.
"Are the scanners operating?" Antauri asked, going over to the console.
"They should be," Gibson said, standing aside so Antauri could work.
Antauri turned a few knobs and turned on the view screen. The other four looked up. The screen was covered with many dots, indicating the citizens of Shuggazoom going about their daily life.
After a few moments, one dot was outlined in red and magnified.
"I've locked onto his communicator," Antauri said.
"How come he didn't call us?" Nova asked.
"Monkey Team to Chiro, come in Chiro," Gibson tried.
All he received was static.
"He's only about a hundred yards from us," Otto said. "But isn't he supposed to be in school?"
"I believe so," Gibson gave Antauri a side glance. "You don't think something is wrong, do you?"
"I believe it is a very strong possibility. Let's go get him. Monkeys, mobilize!"
The five took the elevator down to the ground and started jogging towards Chiro's position. They found him stumbling towards the robot; they could see he was injured.
"Chiro!" Nova cried.
Chiro looked up and smiled when he saw his friends. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"What happened?" Gibson asked.
"Had a bit of a run-in with some of my classmates. Seems I've insulted them," Chiro said with a lop-sided grin.
"Let's get you inside," Gibson said, pulling one of Chiro's arms over his shoulder.
"It's okay Gibson, I can walk,"
"I don't think he cares, and I agree," Sprx said, taking Chiro's other arm.
Chiro opened his mouth to protest. Nova reached up and put a metal finger to his lips.
"I think you know better than to argue with us," Nova said with a wink.
Chiro nodded and allowed him team members to help him again.
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"I'm sorry to be such a pain," Chiro said after Gibson was finished with the examination.
"You are not a pain, Chiro, I think the only pain you are is to yourself," Gibson said. "Now, what are we going to do about these, er, classmates who did this to you?"
"Nothing,"
"Nothing? I think you ought to explain all this to a teacher or some other authority figure, you cannot attend school with these dangerous hooligans,"
"Oh, uh, school's done. Today was the last day,"
Gibson crossed his arms. "Oh?"
"Yeah, why do you think I came home so early?"
"Why haven't you mentioned this to us earlier?"
"I forgot,"
"If you say so. I think you ought to take a few days to rest, and then you should be fine. There are no broken bones, just a few bruises and cuts, and in the meantime I can make you a new schedule since now you don't have school,"
"Sounds great,"
Gibson left Chiro alone to rest in his room, Chiro sighed.
"Great, now what?" Chiro stared at the ceiling. "Well, I guess I'm safe here, even if they do send the police after me, why would they search out here?"
Perhaps it was all for the better, anyway. If he was going to learn to be a leader, he doubted school was going to be much help.
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Author's Notes
All right, all right, maybe I better stop torturing Chiro so much…
…or not
Reviewer Reply
Fairy Whisperings: Glad I'm not disappointing
Shadowsong22: Had to attribute Otto's random spaziness to something, because it's not because he's dumb, I swear. Thanks!
Burning Fantasy: Whoa, coolness, thank you very happy you like, and will update as regularly as possible, and hopefully as quickly as possible.
Loveline: I hope this update came soon enough for you, thank you for the review!
Monkeymaniac: LOL yes you did say that aloud, my dear - Caring? Ha… from "Give it up, he's friends with the probe!" to "Leave him alone!" (Sprx towards Antauri in "A Ghost in the Machinder") Yeah, we believe you Sprx (rolls eyes) Glad you're still with me!
Netbug: Keeping things in character is very important to me. Sometimes I get worried, because as I mentioned before, closed captioning can only express so much, kinda like IM's. And yes, yes, updating, updating…
shamarul: Happy that you enjoyed so far, I do hope your patience will be well rewarded
4Evermonkeyfan: Yep, takes time, maybe a crisis or two, but it'll all work itself out Yeah, will plug Sprx/Nova stuff in when I can, just trying to stay true to the show, Sprx hides it for quite a while.
GiggleGal: Ah, my hyper friend How about butterscotch, black mane with grey highlights? Glad you liked that previous chapter, and I hope this chapter was just as good for you.
Thanks again, one and all!
