And like I said I would do in a huge 3 paragraph explanation back on the newly re-written Chapter 1, here is a brand new chapter and the start of a new episode. If you don't want to go back and read the full story the basic premise is this; I want to finish this fic once and for all, no more excuses and no more slacking off. So this year I'm gonna get it done, all 3 books (Yes this is gonna be that long of a story). The outlines for the end of Book 1 and all of Book 2 are done along with the last 4 chapters of Book 0 so I'm super serious about this. I know where I want to go with this story and how I want to get there, it's just a matter of actually typing out now. Ideally I'm gonna get out one chapter a week, though we would barely finish book 2 at that pace so hopefully during the summer I'll be able to get more chapters out quickly. It's not really a matter of me having trouble writing, I just don't want to post chapters as soon as I write them. It is better to sit on them for a while before you get them out, this chapter I've been working on for about a week now. So wish me luck and let's start getting closer to the end of this long overdue story.
Oh, I also went back and re-edited the first 13 chapters so that they are better written, more cohesive, less silly/stupid and a few things are retconned. You don't have to have re-read the first 13 chapters to get the story now, but I kinda figured if I was gonna finish this story up, that means getting a bunch of new readers on board (considering I don't even know if any of the original readers are still around) and I really needed to fix the rocky beginning to make that happen. This story has something like a 60% drop rate after the first chapter currently, yikes.
So without further ado, here is Episode 55.
Chiro ran as fast as he could, they were hot on his trail and gaining ground. He tried to find an alleyway to duck into, maybe to try and lose them by weaving in and out of buildings, but the city was dark and long abandoned and all the side streets boarded up. Every building he raced by looked down on him with dark windows that seemed like glaring eyes. His lungs burned sharply from inhaling the cold, night air and he could hear the blood rushing through his ears as he struggled to stay ahead of the pack. The now all too familiar Slap Clunk sound of their appendages hitting the concert as they chased him echoed off the empty city walls, and all the while seemed to be getting closer and closer with every step he took. Eerie echoes of malevolent laughter made it seem like they were always right behind him, and this thought only made Chiro want to run away faster.
He ran through what probably had been the downtown area of the city, filled with tall, metal buildings that used to look modern with all their glass and windows and beautiful when the sun hit it, but Chiro suspected that the sun had not been in this place of death for a long, long time. He passed long forgotten shops and restaurants, unkempt and dead parks, and squat, brick buildings that had once been a center of learning for generations upon generations. And finally he passed into what had been a residential area, filled with broken down apartment complexes and townhouses, not a soul in sight as he ran on, stomping through the overgrown weeds with his worn sneakers.
Suddenly he saw it, an open doorway that revealed a dark void, and his chance to escape. He dove up the stoop, going into a somersault as he rolled through the entryway and slammed the door behind him in one quick motion. As he clicked the lock in place, he felt the door shake tremendously as the beasts slammed into the other side of it. They let out a flurry of inhuman growls and fists that beat upon the door, making it rattle in its frame. Deciding to not be around when they finally managed to break through, and after he had pushed a heavy table in front of the door for good measure, he quickly turned on his heel and ran up the stairs to the second landing, hoping to find a window to crawl out of and finally escape these horrid creatures.
As he rounded the banister and officially made it to the second floor though, he was greeted by an unexpected sight; a door at the other end of the hall was left open just a crack and soft, white light spilt out into the passageway. Intrigued and momentarily forgetting the danger lurking outside, Chiro proceeded to slowly make his way down the uncannily familiar hallway.
With each step the feeling of wrongness rose within him, but unable to stop, the young boy continued on down the hall. As he reached the door and pushed against it, he suddenly realized why this building seemed so familiar and was frozen in terror, unable to stop the chain of events he had triggered.
As the door slowly opened fully and then banged softly against the opposing wall, Chiro stood in shock as a five-year old him happily played on the old blue rug that had dominated the room when he was younger. Chiro watched in horror as both his mother and his father entered the room and sat down to play with their young son, unaware of the impossible visitor watching them from the doorway.
He observed as his dad acted out a scene from their favorite episode of The Sun Riders with the new toys they had bought him just days before, and was vaguely aware of the sound of a phone ringing somewhere in the house. As it donned on him what this phone call signified, Chiro rushed forward, trying to stop his father from answering the call that would forever take him from his life.
"No!" He screamed and ran towards the trio, but just as Chiro reached the memory of his younger self, all three apparitions disappeared like wisps of smoke and were replaced by visions of fire. Except, this vision burnt his eyes and Chiro had to bend down to breathe without inhaling another lungful of smoke as he realized his childhood bedroom was now engulfed in hot flames.
As he burst into a fit of coughing and tears seeped out of his eyes, he heard the sound he dreaded the most at the moment: wood splintering. He frantically searched for a way out of the room as the sound of footsteps trampled up the stairs and five figures blocked his way to escape the inferno.
"No more running, now." One of the figures stated as the rest broke out into a fit of sick laughter and seemed to transform their hands as they spread out into the room. Chiro gasped and fell to his knees, unable to breathe or move in the smoky room, as the five figures stepped through the haze to reveal themselves to be the techni-colored monkeys he knew so well, each in their red, yellow, black, blue and green fur. "No more running ever again." The black one finished as they all pounced on the defenseless boy and he screamed in terror…
And jolted himself awake as he shot straight up in bed. Chiro looked around his room in confusion a few moments, trying to regain his bearings and breath as he finally realized he was safe and sound in his own bed in the Super Robot. He expelled a sigh of relief as he flopped back down on his pillow and laid his arm over his eyes.
"That's the third time this week I've had a nightmare." He said to no one in particular as he rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands, nursing the all too familiar spike of pain that seemed to drill into his head and accompany each of these dreams after he had woken up. "And that's not even how it happened, I didn't even know the team when I lost dad." He huffed as the memories of the dream disappeared like wisps of mist and were replaced with a dull feeling of discomfort.
"Maybe I should go see Gibson in the morning." Chiro continued his thoughts out loud as he pulled his covers back up to his chin and tried to get comfortable once again. "He can do some brain scans on me and look at the data and try to figure out way I'm having these dreams. Then he can hopefully tell me what's wrong with my head." He sighed heavily as he pulled the covers up over his face, already forgetting the details of the dream.
"And if all else fails, I can just ask him to hack it off completely."
Remember when I said Book 0 is going to play into the events of Book 1? Yeah this is only a small portion of that, if you want to know more you can go read Book 0, but you don't have to know the details of that event to enjoy Book 1. I suppose you really don't have to read Book 0 at all to understand Book 1 though, it's more just there to give more back story to Chiro and the team so read it you want, but you don't have to. (It's not very good right now, I need to re-write it like I did Book 1 but oh geez I don't wanna do that yet.)