A/N: Hey people! Thanks for the views! Really appreciate it!
Anyways now everyone, play REAL close attention to this chapter. This is where everything gets explained to Chiro.
Chapter 3
A Ghost's Guidance
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Chiro groaned as he laid face first on, what he figured out, the hard dirt ground. He could feel water rushing past his feet, soaking them to the bone. When he proceeded to roll over, a sharp pain struck up his spine. He jolted in response as he crumbled back to his side.
"Ouch…" he groaned out, burying his face in his arms. He took notice that he couldn't feel his arms, or his ears… actually his entire body felt weird. But that was the last thing on his mind when his fuzzy hearing picked up on the sound of a familiar ticking.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he felt something sharp and cold constrict his neck. Grabbing for whatever was choking him, he spotted the watch of morrow. His eyes widen as he found the strength to sit up, eyeballing the watch that ticked before him.
"What in the name of Shuggazoom…?" He questioned to no one in particular. "What just happened…?"
Finding his way to his feet, Chiro noticed he sat right outside of Shuggazoom. The water of his perched spot splashed against him. His fear of the deep blue made him jolt back as he struggled to understand everything that was going on.
"Okay wait a minute… Mandarin!" he gasped. Now recalling what had happened, Chiro took off running to the city. His heart was racing as he looked back and forth. He didn't understand, how did he get outside the city? Wasn't he just in the Museum with the rest of the monkeys?
He skidded to a stop… the museum! He turned on his haunches and ran down the sidewalk, fear for his family fueled his sprint. But as he ran, Chiro took notice to a few odd sights that passed him by. Some of the street signs he had never seen before, different style of lights circling advertising signs blinked around buildings.
Slowing his walk, Chiro tried to take into his surroundings. Something didn't feel right, but he didn't have time to focus on that. He completed his run down another street. Once he stopped, his eyes peered up to what he recognized as the museum.
But something before him made him freeze in his footsteps. His eyes peered up to the building that seemed a lot taller then he remembered. There before him stood a sign that read 'Coming Soon: The Museum of Shuggazoomian Natural History. Grand Opening November 16th.'
"What in… the hell?" Chiro started sweating as he whirled his head around. Looking around as if some stranger would suddenly appear to answer his questions. "This can't be right!" he gasped in horror as he grabbed the watch that dangled beneath his scarf. "I was in this Museum just a few minutes ago…"
Backing up, Chiro turned and ran back down the freeway. Looking around, he started to notice strange things. Every building he was familiar with was now different. Actually some local stores he recalled from just yesterday were now replaced with building zones for new construction projects.
Stopping, Chiro turned and ran down an alleyway. He hid behind a green dumpster as he grabbed the watch. "What is happening!?" he breathed out as he struggled to grasp what he was seeing.
Turning around, the young boy came face to face with a robotic black monkey. Jumping in shock, he raised an eyebrow.
"Antauri?" he whispered as he stepped toward the monkey. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
But when he got no answer, the boy took a closer look. The closer he got to the strange monkey; the more he noticed something was very off.
The robot monkey staring back at him was black, even darker then Antauri's original form. His eyes were a piercing blue. Orange stripes trailed under his eyes with an obvious shade of white surrounding around his forehead and cheeks. An orange scarf was also draped around his neck.
The longer Chiro stared at the blue eyed monkey, the more he fearfully began to realize this was not Antauri. This monkey seemed to be a little taller than his friends… and also, its hands sported five fingers. No robot monkey Chiro ever met has had all five fingers… unless…
Suddenly falling backwards, Chiro stared at his hands. Instead of human skin, he saw metal coursing around his limbs like a shell. Looking down, he saw black fur with white chest hair. Head shaking, Chiro realized that the robot monkey looking at him… was his reflection.
"What the hell!?" He screeched as he grabbed the broken mirror. "This has to be a trick! Some kind of dream!" But that theory was disproved when he pinched himself; feeling pain that proved he was awake.
Rattling like chains, Chiro turned away. Grabbing the watch that dangled freely from his neck, he stared at it. "What happened? What did Mandarin do to me!?" he yelled at the watch, as if expecting the relic to answer.
"Chiro…" a ghostly voice whispered out to the frightened boy-now-monkey.
Whirling around with fist raised, the black simian jolted when he saw a human being staring at him from the mirror. Shaking, he gripped the clock tighter as he inched forward. Recognizing the grey face and multicolored eyes almost immediately.
"The Alchemist…?"
"Yes Chiro… it is me… the Alchemist…" the middle aged reflection spoke in another ghoulish whisper. "But listen to me, I don't have much time… I know you're scared and confused, but I came to assist you."
Chiro stared at the mirror for a good long time as if he didn't believe what he was seeing. Looking back down to the watch, he glanced back up. "Please… t-tell me I hit my head super hard and that I am just losing my sanity!"
"Far from it… Chosen One, a few minutes ago you were flung into a time warp field with Mandarin…" he sighed as he stroked his long pointed beard. "Chiro… Mandarin's plan was to travel back in time to prevent a day from happening… a day that changed his fate on December the 1st…"
"Hang on please start again, I am not following any of this!" Chiro yelled as he flung his hand above his helmet. "None of this is making any sense! I just recall stopping Mandarin when we were both flung into this Vortex thingy and then I wake up as a robot monkey! And what do you mean by his fate on December the 1st?"
Sighing, the reflection shook his head, he didn't even know where to begin. "Chiro listen to me… This is hard to understand I know, but it's vitally important you focus on the dangers of now…! Where you are at right now is NOT the Shuggazoom you remember… Chiro, this is Shuggazoom sixty five years ago!"
His world suddenly went dark. His eyes strained under the glass that protected his eyes. He found himself unable to stand as he leaned against the wall. His long tail that he just realized he had entangled around his feet.
"H…how?"
"Mandarin's plan was to steal the Timepiece of Moirai and travel back 65 years on December the 1st, the day of his exile… Mandarin wants to prevent the monkey team from banishing him on that day. Then when he succeeds, he was going to use the watch of Morrow to travel back into the future… a future to where he now controls Shuggazoom AND the monkey team."
Chiro's head started racing as he held the watch of Morrow. "But how can this be? I grabbed the clock from him when we were flung into that weird… time vortex!"
The Alchemist reached from the mirror, his transparent hands shushing the monkey. "That IS his plan, but Chiro when you separated the watches while in the time stream, you prolonged the time sequence. So instead of landing on December 1st you pushed him back a whole month…"
Taking in a deep breath, Chiro forced himself to focus. Looking up to the reflection of the ghost, he tried to control his jitters. "So what you mean is… instead of being the start of December, when I pulled the watch from him, we instead jumped another month ahead?"
"Correct…" taking in a deep breath, the reflection started shimmering. "My time is short, so I need to tell you how you can fix this…"
Blinking oddly, Chiro gestured for the purple hooded ghost to continue.
"Right now Chiro you managed to prolong Mandarin's plan to reach his targeted date. But now you must use the month of November to stop Mandarin from succeeding! He will be trying everything in his power to get the watch of Morrow away from you… you must NOT let him get it, no matter what!"
Chiro stared at the watch ticking against his chest. "So basically I just got to survive a whole month, avoid Mandarin from getting the watch, and then all will be fixed by December 1st?"
"No Chiro… Mandarin's targets are the monkey team… right now in this time era the monkeys are still loyal to Mandarin's past self. Throughout this month you must not only protect the clock of morrow, but you also must keep him away from the monkeys… because right now he will try everything to corrupt their minds to prevent them from exiling him…"
Chiro started to shake, "I-I don't understand!" He stared at his metallic three toed feet. "If the monkeys are still loyal to Mandarin until his banishment… how can I protect them? If I was not born then they won't even know who I am!"
"Chiro… Mandarin will try EVERYTHING in his power to get the clock of Morrow from you. Because as long as you both possess one clock, you cannot kill each other. You are safe from Mandarin as long as the clock of Morrow stays touching your body… you two can fight, but unless he gets the watch from you; he can't kill you."
Holding the watch, a small smile began to crack on his white snout. Feeling like he had an advantage until…
"But…" he called, chasing the chosen one's smile away. "If Mandarin gets the watch away from you, he can kill you… SO the only way to beat Mandarin is look at this mission like this… THINK of this as a college test and you and Mandarin are both students… you two have a month to study before the final test day, and when test day comes; depending on how you studied… you both will be prepared to pass or fail. But in this case… only one of you can pass."
Chiro's heart started to drop as he looked down at the relic that was now his protector. "I think I am understanding… I have to keep Mandarin from obtaining the watch until the day of his exile. But until that day I have to spend the month protecting the monkeys and myself from him?"
When the alchemist nodded, Chiro smacked his face. "But how can I do this if the monkeys are still loyal to him? Can I just walk up and tell them everything and then they can exile Mandarin?"
"No chiro! Right now the monkeys don't know who you are … you do not exist yet. Because of this, you are not their leader yet… so you cannot do ANYTHING that risks their trust in you. You must gain their respect, so when they do come to trust you… it will become more difficult for Mandarin to succeed in his goal…"
Chiro rubbed his head, his brain was still running rampant but he was starting to get the picture. "Alright… so what do I do now?"
"Chosen one you are about to walk a VERY dangerous journey, perhaps the most life threatening one of your life… though you may not see this as tough. You don't understand the consequences of this if Mandarin succeeds… " Noticing the monkey's confused face, he narrowed his red and blue eyes.
"If you stop him and ensure his younger self gets exiled, then your future will remain unchanged. But Chiro… if Mandarin defeats you and prevents his exile… then everything will change. Shuggazoom will be under his control, the monkeys will be enslaved to his will power… and you will no longer exist…"
Hearing that last coment made his heart stop. The blue eyed simian's frame irrupted into a bunch of shakes. Grabbing the watch, he opened his mouth, but found no words coming out.
Shutting his eyes in agony, the alchemist bowed his head. "Chosen one… your destiny was to find the Hyperforce and protect them from my evil… you were born for that purpose. But if Mandarin rewrites history and his destiny changes… then you will have no reason to be born… therefor you are risking FAR more in this journey then Mandarin himself… which means he will not be afraid to challenge you in any way to get the watch of Morrow away from you…"
Chiro froze when he noticed the alchemist's transparent form beginning to fade away. "No wait!" he called out, his eyes watering. "Please don't leave me here! I-I-I can't do this by myself!"
"Do not worry Chiro… I will come to you when you need me. But for now just remember this… Mandarin was a leader who could command… but YOU are a leader who listens… you were born for a purpose, and even with the timepiece of Moirai; that purpose can never be changed… have faith and believe in yourself…"
Then it was over. The Alchemist's ghost had completely faded away into the mirror.
Chiro stood alone in the dark. His heart was still pounding, here he was trapped in a past where the monkeys won't even know who he is… but also stuck in a body he didn't even know how to control. Grabbing the blue clock, he stared at it. Looking around, he tucked it safely beneath his orange scarf.
"Well… I guess step one is too find the monkeys before Mandarin does…" he exited the alleyway. "But I still don't understand why I am a freaking robot monkey… how am I supposed to explain that to them if I can't even tell them I'm their leader from a faraway future!?"
He cupped his mouth; that statement made even less sense out loud then it did in his mind. Snarling, he bashed his head against the wall. "Why does this always happen to me…!?"
"I don't know my hairless monkey…" came a deep revolting voice from the shadows. "Why does this happen to you?"
Leaping back in fright, Chiro drew up his knuckles. A purple armored monkey soon stepped before him, blocking his path. A twisted smile formed on his aged face as the green watch of Yore blinked on his chest.
"You know Chiro you always surprise me… I mean one moment you slow my plan down by stealing one of the clocks. But NOW you are a robot monkey?" he slapped his forehead laughing. "I would ask why… but as you can see I have no time for this talk, so just make this easy on yourself and hand over the Phase of Morrow…"
Growling, his eyes narrowed to white slits. "Never…"
Mandarin smirked, his right arm folding out into the automatic laser gun. "So be it…"
Whipping his arm forward, he let loose a typhoon of red bullets.
Chiro shrieked in chimp language as he danced away from the storm. He felt a bullet scrape painfully against his helmet as he dived behind a nearby car. He covered his heads as sparks flared over his metal barrier.
"Okay okay…" he stared at his hands. "I got to fight… but how the hell do I transform these things!?" he shook his hands around.
Mandarin walked closer, ending his array of bullets. Smirking, he summoned his blade and sliced the car clean in half. Leaping through the air, he slammed his foot into the younger monkey. He smiled in satisfaction when the black simian went bouncing clear across the road.
"What's wrong my no longer hairless monkey? Don't know how to work the body your soul is trapped in? Good!" he snarled as he raised his blade. "Then let's make this quick!"
Suddenly Mandarin was grabbed, halting his attacks. Chiro, with eyes narrowed, began to glow green. "Thunder Punch!" his fist exploded into blue electricity as he threw his attack into the rouge monkey's face.
Mandarin was sent flying backwards. His forehead fur burnt as he slammed against the wall. Grunting, his eyes jerked, pupils shrunk in shock. "Huh… maybe I underestimated you…" he narrowed his eyes, "Not this time… Monkey Mind Scream!" He yelled, his mouth unleashing a beam of red spiritual rings.
With eyes glowing green, Chiro opened his mouth. "Monkey Mind Scream!"
Both green and red rings collided. Equally matched in power as the energies went spiraling around. Smoke rose as the ground rippled and cracked from beneath the pressure. Smoke exploded out, the drawback sending both challengers flying away from each other.
Growling, Mandarin grabbed his injured arm. "This is not over foolish child…" raising his arms, he deployed a smoke bomb. "I will get that clock from you… just you wait, for you are alone here, and without my brothers' support… you will die!"
Chiro snarled when the bad monkey vanished when the smoke cleared. Coughing harshly, he held the scorch marks staining his white snout and head. "Ouch…" he whispered. Sitting up, he felt something wet dripping from his side. Looking down, he gasped when he saw crimson run freely down his side.
Slapping his palm over the red wound, he breathed hard. He got up and started limping towards the nearest construction zone. Once beyond the fence, he scaled his eyes up to the unfinished building. Sighing, he found himself too weak to walk.
He limped to one of the empty looking sheds. Looking behind it, he spied a small opening from beneath the walk way.
Lightning cracked as rain poured from the midnight sky.
Looking up, Chiro shut his eyes as he crawled under the walk way. Curling up, he scootched away from the opening. His reflective black fur blending him perfectly into the shadows.
He grunted in pain as his wound continued to throb. Grabbing his scarf, he tied it around his wound to slow the bleeding. He knew he needed to find the monkeys… but with the sudden storm, his bloody wound, and his depleting energy… he found himself too weak to go anywhere.
Laying his head into his arm, he winced. Being unable to feel with his new mechanical limbs sent weird vibes down his spine. He was so unused to this new body's dynamics that he couldn't even run five feet without tripping over his tail.
Chiro sighed, the only thing that granted him ANY sense of relief was feeling the power primate warm his heart. He tried to curl his tail around his legs to keep him warm, but he found himself throwing the loose appendage around, whacking his snout. He grabbed his tail and just manually tied around his legs.
He groaned as he laid in the dirt, "How am I going to survive this…?" He looked up to the dark sky. Shortly before he fell into a light sleep, too tired to stay awake any longer. The late night hours of the past finally taking its toll on him.
A/N: Woot woot! Sorry if the alchemist's explanation was hard to follow… it was difficult to explain the mission and what Chiro had to do. But as for everything else, like why he is a robot monkey, will be answered soon.
So stay tuned for chapter 4!
Read, review, and sleep tight!
