Chiro would not consider himself special when compared to the other citizens of Shuggazoom. In fact he was physically weaker than many of the others. He did consider himself smarter but most of his knowledge he gained was to make up for his lack of strength. If you can't lift the heavy objects, more reason to learn about pulley's and force. So he was smart but weak.
This was not so bad a concept by itself. Many people had some weakness but the problem occurred with Chiro when his weakness was mixed in with his sense of justice. He could not fight the bigger opponents outright, he had to outsmart them. Sometimes this worked but most of the time it didn't and when it didn't he would end up going home with a black eye or split lip.
He was definitely different from the other orphans. Where most were under the impression if they could do it so should everyone else know how and be able to accomplish a goal as well. Chiro believed in helping everyone equally, even the bullies on occasion when they had problems with the teacher. It felt like a useless endeavor to help when every time he tried, they thought he was mocking them.
He had started trying to go off and explore the city to get away from other people. Most of them did not want his help but he would if he saw trouble, so he just stayed away. He loved exploring the outskirts of the city. There was a ring of forests surrounding the futuristic town. If Chiro paid attention and walked backward, he could watch the city disappear behind the foliage and listen to all the sounds of Shuggazoom fade into nothing.
He tried not to think about how satisfying it was to watch the place disappear for a while as he explored the ring of forest around his town. It was a fairly large city so there was a lot to explore. Hidden caves and ancient tree with massive root systems. He could get lost for hours. He even slept out in those woods when he could.
He would play for hours jumping around in the trees of the trees and jumping out of the lower branches to get to the ground. He would swim in the creeks and dry out in the sun on beautiful days. The first couple of times he spent the night, some people worried. They did not worry enough to look for him but they did wonder where he went.
After a few times, they just stopped thinking about when the child disappeared and reappeared. After all, he was only one orphan in the entire city. It's not like someone can watch him all the time, so they just left him to his own devices. What's the worst thing that could happen anyway. Skeleton King was destroyed a long time ago.
Now Skeleton King was a make believe story for Shuggazoom, it had been so long since he had been sighted. For a great long while he was going throughout systems and leaving nothing in his path but formless. Black masses that vaguely looked humanoid but weren't. They could not feel emotion or have an independent thought. They had holes on their faces that could pass for a nose and mouth but they could not speak and many believed they could not see.
The Skeleton King was as he was named, a skeleton. He was easily over 10 foot tall if the legends were to be believed. His eye sockets could look right into the very essence of a person and suck out everything that made them a person. He was frankly the boogeyman for most of the dwellers of this peaceful city.
So Chiro played while the citizens of his city went about their normal days. This was the routine for many years before something happened when Chiro was about 11. He found something strange in the woods. It looked human but it was all black. The face was there but just looked wrong to the child.
This thing would wander around Chiro's forest as if it was looking for something. Chiro being the helpful boy that he was walked up to the creature to ask if it needed help looking for whatever it lost. Maybe it was a passing alien and dropped something while sightseeing or something. He was nervous of course but his sense of justice won out in the end, so he walked up to the creature.
It was only his quick reflexes from his years of playing that saved his life. As he walked up to this thing, It's arm turned into some kind of weapon and it swung it at the child before he could even begin speaking.
After that it chased him, still swinging it's sword. Chiro became desperate for a place to hide, looking around frantically. It was too close to climb a tree but maybe if he found one of the local caves he could lose it in the dark.
It felt like he had been running forever and fear was winning over all else. The boy could feel his adrenaline wearing off and himself slowing down. The creature did not lose speed and began getting closer to the boy with each new swing. When Chiro felt like this was the end, he felt a pull going into a darker part of the forest.
Without thinking about it, he renewed his strength and ran towards the pulling sensation. What did he have to lose at this point? After a few more minutes of running he saw something that almost made him stop and become at the mercy of that thing. It was a robot! A massive robot with a square shaped body. It was covered in the surrounding plant life and Chiro would have missed it if it weren't for two things.
The eyes were glowing a blue color around the cracked glass and the pull was coming from that thing. Chiro decided he would rather take his chances with the robot than end of dead and ran toward it. When he got closer, some sort of hatch opened off one of it's feet. Chiro quickly ran inside and watched the hatch close behind him and some sort of forcefield activate.
Whatever happened, Chiro was thankful that thing could not follow him as he collapsed on the metal floor. Trying to catch his breath, he panicked and realized he could not. Each breath felt like he was drowning, he never experienced this before. Before he fully grasped what was happening, his vision began going dark around the edges and he knew he was about to die. Well at least he was safe in the robot was his last thought before darkness consumed him and he hit the ground.
Chiro woke up to a throbbing head in an unknown location. Someone thought to turn on what looked like emergency lights. It honestly looked like a scene out of a horror movie with the dark corners and the large elevator at the back of this robot, thing, foot? Holding his head the boy got up slowly so as not to fall right back down and looked around. It looked like a small room but also a cockpit. It was a little confusing at best.
Chiro turned to leave, hoping whatever that thing was, was gone now and realized something as he turned. He could not see the seam where the hatch opened earlier. How did it open, How long was he unconscious, and most importantly what should he do now? Was it better to wait here a while longer or try and find a way out? Then there was that pull that brought him hear.
Knowing he would not be missed and he luckily still had his pack with some food and water in it, he decided he would do what he did best and explore the robot from the inside. Most of the lights looked like emergency power so he did not expect the elevator to work but he did go inside it to take a look. He was startled when the door closed on their own and it started moving.
It only moved for a few minutes and brought him into a living room area with a giant TV in the back. Going up to the screen, he pushed a couple of random buttons and thought out loud. "Wonder if those things are still there?" He must have hit the right button because the entire screen lit up in front of him. Now he beginning to become afraid again. Not only was that thing still out on the screen, it also apparently had some friends.
About a dozen of those black things were ramming themselves into the shield the robot had created. The shield were turn the to mush and then they would reform and try again. It was a sickening cycle that the boy turned his head away from. Deciding he would ignore the problem for now. It did not look like they could get to him and maybe he could find some sort of communicator and call for help.
He wandered to the back where it looked like rainbow tubes were set up. they were all dusty and looked to have some kind of fluid in the except the middle one. It was orange and had a hole in the front. When Chiro looked in the hole. He could see nothing besides a long expanse of darkness. Apparently the lights did not reach in the tubing. He was a bit curious what was in the others though so he looked around for some cloth.
Once he found something that resembled a towel he walked up the black tube and clearing the surface. So intent on his task he jumped back and tripped when he noticed what was inside. It was some sort of two legged tailed creature.
This one had some sort of black armor on. When he got closer to the tube and put his nose on the glass, he jumped back again and took several steps backward. Whatever that was moved. Not just a floaty movement from the fluid either but full on uncurled and reached toward him. When the boy opened his eyes again, When had he closed them, the thing was already back into it's original position. Maybe he had imagined it.
Right, he almost forgot he needs to find a communicator. He did see a large handle under the screen from earlier. Trying not to look at the gruesome site, he walked over and studied the large lever. It looked like it could be a start button. What could go wrong with trying it. So with more fake confidence then real, he flipped the switch and screamed.
It felt like something was being forced into his brain. All his nerve ending were alight with pain and all he saw was a flash of green. The last thing he noticed before darkness claimed him again was the light starting to come back online and a humming sensation in the back of his mind.
Coming to the second time was not like the first. For starter something was poking him and he could hear other people talking. He felt the lack of bag on his back and from listening for a moment, he could tell they were eating his food he packed for the trip. Well whoever they are, he hopped they could help him get home otherwise that was the last of the food.
Slowing he opened his eyes to a brightly lit room and one of those creatures. The red thing and him both blinked and looked at each other for a minute. Chiro could tell it was the green and yellow one talking about food and the black one was floating there? Yeah he was floating. Chiro was not able to comprehend that because the two of them started screaming at the same time and the only thing he was concerned about at this moment was getting away.
He scooted back toward the screen from earlier but another one popped out of the side of the machine. A blue one from what he could tell and he had to scramble to avoid that one as well. They all looked at him and began talking to each other.
"What's a human doing on the super robot" the blue one asked. "Don't know why don't we ask him" said the green one goofily. "You know human's can't understand monkeys" the yellow one sighed. She sounded like a girl to chiro. "Well what do we do with him" the red one questioned. The black one just floated there. At that point they were all arguing about what to do with the boy.
At first he cowered but as he realized they had no intention of hurting him, he sat in a more comfortable position on the floor and watched them talk. He heard the yellow one call them something. "Are you guys monkeys" Chiro asked curious. he had never seen monkeys and apparently they were not expecting him to talk because they all just stared at him. Even the black one landed to look at him.
"Do you understand us" said the black monkey, ignoring the boys question. "yeah I hear you, What's going on" Chiro answered. "That's a good question, young one, tell us how you got here" the black one responded. Finally thinking he was going to get answers. Chiro told them about playing in the wood and about one of those things attacking him. "must be formless" the blue monkey supplied during the conversation.
When getting to the part about the pull toward the robot, all the monkeys looked like they won the lottery. "Let us introduce ourselves and then we can take care of the formless" the green monkey suggested. The black monkey was Antauri, The Green one was Otto, the yellow one who was a girl was nova, the red one was Sparx, and the blue one was Gibson. Chiro gave his own name as Gibson looked at the screen from earlier.
Those things were still there. Gibson mere pushed a random button and blasters came out of nowhere and vaporized them. Now they were safe and able to talk. The monkey's were upset to hear they had been sleeping so long but they did know their purpose. They explained Chiro was destined to become their leader. The boy was convinced they were wrong and told them as such, but they were adamant he had to have some sort of special power.
So in the end, he agreed to let them train him for a while and see what happens. In the meantime, they would protect the city from the formless. Seemed like a good plan to the orphan so he agreed and went home for the evening. It had gotten dark and he needed supplied. While the monkey started repairs, he would rest and eat. Tomorrow morning is when training would start to become a hero.