Annime: Did ya miss me? Did ya, did ya?

Chiro: Sure…why not?

Otto: Annime doesn't own SRMTHFG or anything belonging to someone else!

Chapter 10

Chiro's jaw was still open as the girl who showed the team to the table came over. She looked from the team to Chiro, and on Chiro she did a double take. She raised her hand and closed his mouth for him. He looked at her in surprise and she gave him a playful glare.

"Chiro," the girl said. "Close your mouth and say hello."

"Which one do you want me to do first?" he asked teasingly.

She just laughed and hit him in the shoulder. "Just say hi, dork. This is your hour break."

As she walked away, Chiro called out, "Thank you, Annie!"

Chiro then turned back to the team. He had the happiness in his eyes that they remembered from before EVERYTHING dealing with time travel happened.

"I'm so glad you guys are back," Chiro said as he sat down in the empty seat.

The team smiled back at him.

"How have you been, Chiro?" Nova asked.

Chiro shrugged. "It was a little hard for a little while after you guys left again, but without you guys coming back I might not have ever made a full recovery."

"What have you been doing lately?" Gibson questioned.

Chiro sighed and then chuckled. "College is a handful—,"

"You're going to college?" Sprx interrupted.

Chiro nodded. "Yea, and so is Jin-May. She has been keeping a really good eye on me after you guys disappeared again." Chiro chuckled nervously. "She still even checks my wrists." This last part was in a whisper, but Antauri still caught it.

"Does she need to?" Antauri pressed.

Chiro smiled and shook his head. "No, I've been fine."

Everyone sighed in relief.

"So," Chiro spoke, "what do we do now?"

Gibson looked over at Otto.

"Otto, I think it's time we go finish our project."

"You mean the time machine?"

Everyone turned to Chiro to see a knowing smirk placed on his face.

"How did you know?" Otto asked.

Chiro laughed. "Guys, you have been gone for four years. I'm 19. I walked into the project room and saw the machine."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Did you keep it?" Gibson asked.

Chiro nodded. "Yea, I tried to put it together myself...let's not get into that story."

The team chuckled at this and Gibson climbed down from his chair.

"Well, Otto, it's about time we go finish that time machine." Gibson motioned for Otto to follow him and the rest of the team, including Chiro, stood up.

"I'm helping," Chiro told them. "If I'm late my boss will understand."

The team nodded and raced out of the restrain.

They continued to run the whole way to the robot and wouldn't stop for anyone or anything.

The team wasn't surprised to find the robot where they last saw it before ether. They rushed to the foot and Chiro quickly opened the door. The team ran in ahead of him while he closed the door.

"So," Chiro said as he looked at the blue prints. "What do we do now?"

"Do, you always ask that?" Nova said as she turned to him. She wore a smirk on her face and laughed when Chiro nodded his head.

"Yep," he replied, "and I think I annoy my teacher when I do it too." Chiro winced a little bit at the thought and smiled as he watched the whole team start laughing.

"Ok," Gibson said as he tried to stop laughing. The whole team just loved the boy. "We need to get this done."

"What exactly will you do after you're done with it?" Chiro asked.

Antauri cleared his throat. "We are going to go back in time and stop the first time-warp from ever happening."

Chiro blinked. "Really…That would change everything after it. It would be like nothing ever happened."

"Is that ok?" Nova asked.

Chiro looked over at her. "Oh, no, I want to have two big gaps in my life where you're not here." Chiro replied sarcastically. "Of course it's ok!"

The team chuckled again and started their work.

Chiro helped rewire the machine with Antauri.

Gibson and Otto put together the two remaining pieces with the assistants of Nova and Sprx.

Antauri and Chiro got this time to also have some private conversations.

"So, how is school?" Antauri asked.

"Oh," Chiro said as he struggled to pull out a certain cord. "College kinda stinks sometimes, but it's actually fun if you get used to it." After these words came out of his mouth, Chiro finally pulled the cord out. The force, though, made him fall backwards. "Oww," he mumbled.

"You ok, Chiro?" Antauri spoke with a humored smiled. Chiro sent Antauri a glare.

"You think that's funny, don't you?" Chiro asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Antauri nodded.

Chiro laughed. "Figures…"

Antauri helped Chiro back up and they went back to talking and working. What they didn't know was the small group of monkeys awing at them.

"So, what are you studying?" Antauri continued the conversation.

Chiro glanced from the wires, to Antauri, and then back at the wires. "Art, Music, Language Arts, Science, and Philosophy; they are great classes."

Antauri nodded in approval and he soon finished with his complete set of wires. Chiro gave a thumb up after his were done. They both closed the compartments and looked to see the team smiling at them.

"Oh, shut it," Chiro muttered. Sprx's smirk grew wider.

"We never said anything," Sprx replied.

Chiro smiled. "I never said you did."

Sprx's face turned from amused to confusion in a split second. The whole team laughed and the red simian blushed.

"So, can we test it now?" Chiro questioned. Gibson nodded.

"Yes," Gibson answered. "But, we must be careful. We will probably jump right into the fight with Mandarin and us from the past."

Chiro nodded. He pressed the button on his shirt and the regular white outfit appeared on him. His face was covered with its mask. He looked just like the old Chiro—younger Chiro, but only just a little more mature.

Gibson started up the machine and a purple and pink portal appeared before them.

"It is stable," Gibson announced.

Chiro nodded. "Monkeys, mobilize!"

Annime: Here we go, only a few more chapters left.

Chiro: Really?

Annime: Yep, and I have a snow day tomorrow.

Chiro: WHAT?

Annime: Yep. More free time and more story time!

Chiro: You really need to get off the computer sometime and do something different. I mean, it's like you're addicted!

Annime: (sweat drop) have you read my full pen name?

Chiro: Oh yea…but still.

Annime: Calm down I'm probably going to get a Saturday job that's only half the day.

Chiro: Doing what?

Annime: Babysitting.

Chiro: Oh…ok…

Antauri: Please review!