hey guys! here's part 2 of Catastrophe :) i hope y'alls like it...ik there's just one terrible event after another...sometime i'll post a filler oneshot so poor hiro can have a break. plz read and review!
When I wake up, I can't even tell it's morning. The sky is still nearly black, and even more of the city is on fire. Lightning probably struck a lot of places during the night. My city is just getting worse. We'll have to start rebuilding soon, or Obake will come and destroy everything that isn't already broken.
I drag myself out of bed and into the bathroom, glancing at myself in the mirror. I look awful. My hair is a rat's nest and I have huge dark circles under my eyes. The scrape on my cheek is dark red, healing but still pretty terrible-looking, and there are band-aids covering my chin and other cheek. The rest of my face is smudged with dirt and smokestains from the fires, as is the gauze taped over my bruise. And the worst part is that I can't even wash this off, because our water pipes are down. I need to take a shower or I'll die—this isn't hygienic. I guess destroyed cities aren't very sanitary.
I get dressed in the cleanest clothes I have, then limp downstairs to where everyone else is camped out. Aunt Cass's face twists in a worried expression as she sees me, and she runs over and gives me a hug, then a kiss on my forehead. "How're you doing, baby?"
"I'm okay," I mumble. "Just tired."
Aunt Cass shoves me into a chair and sets three maple donuts in front of me. I smile up at her and devour them, not realizing how hungry I was until this moment.
Tadashi and Honey come downstairs a few minutes later. Neither of them look much better than I do. Tadashi has a faint stubble spreading across his jaw, and he and Honey both have the same dark circles that I do. GoGo and Wasabi aren't doing too great either—Wasabi is asleep on the table and GoGo is dozing on his shoulder.
"Hey, guys," I say, my voice scratchy. "We've gotta get to work on finding Obake. We have to take him down so he can't hurt anyone else."
Tadashi nods sleepily. Honey tries to wake him up with a kiss on the cheek, and it seems to rejuvenate him. "But I'm not letting you or Honey fight, Hiro. It's too dangerous. I think I should just take Wasabi and GoGo and take Obake down."
"What?" I burst out. "Why can't I fight?"
"You're too small, Hiro! You're just a kid! I don't want you to get hurt!"
"I'm already hurt," I groan. "It can't get much worse. And why can't Honey fight?"
Tadashi rubs the back of his neck. "Well…um…the thing is, she's…um. So…"
Honey gives a frustrated sigh. "I'm pregnant."
I accidentally spew my milk across the table. "You're WHAT?!"
Aunt Cass gives a knowing smile. Tadashi grins, embarrassed.
"And no one TOLD ME?!" I explode. "How long has this been going on?"
"Seven months," says Tadashi. "You can't even tell—pretty impressive, right?"
I bury my face in my hands. "Seriously. How."
Honey laughs. "It's okay, Hiro—Dashi didn't know until yesterday. Dr. Armstrong told him."
"And I still think you shouldn't have made the kaiju jump with us," Dashi says. "When I think what could've happened to you or the baby—"
"He's fine," Honey says. "He's a strong little guy. Besides, at least we all would've died together. If we died at all."
"I guess. But you're not fighting and that's final. You too, Hiro," Tadashi says firmly.
"But—"
"Final, Hiro."
I cross my arms and glare at Dashi, then sigh. "Can I at least help look for him? We need to know where he is."
"That you can do. You're probably the only one who can. Also, has anyone seen my razor? I really need to shave." Tadashi runs his fingers over his jaw. "And we need to clean ourselves up. Just because our city's been destroyed doesn't mean we should give up on personal hygiene. It's disgusting, really."
I laugh. "Alright, Dashi. First order of business."
one month later
This is depressing.
We still haven't found Obake, and neither the electricity nor the water has come back on. We've been heading down to the bay to wash ourselves, and I feel so undignified it's sad. I'm not some kind of animal that will bathe in any old body of water. I want a hot shower so bad it's killing me. The bay is absolutely freezing.
We're also running out of food, and I don't know what to do about it. We're rationing it so severely that I get maybe three donuts a day. Which sounds like kind of a lot of donuts, but it's really not when you only get three a day. I think I've lost several pounds, which is not good since I'm already so skinny.
Honey gets more food than the rest of us, since she's eating for two, but there's still not enough to support everyone. Aunt Cass has been giving out food to everyone who comes by the café with nothing to their names, so we are rapidly running out. Tadashi keeps giving up all his rations to me and Honey and everyone else who needs it, and he is not looking good. I'm worried about him. I'm worried about everyone.
My injuries are healing surprisingly well given that I have barely any sustenance. The bruise on my forehead is almost gone, and the scrapes and cuts are vanishing. Most of them already have. My ankle was only slightly fractured, so it's nearly back together as well. Most of us seem to be doing okay—I managed to fix Baymax's scanner and he's fully operational. Dashi is healing okay, too. He's got the sling for his broken collarbone off and his fingers aren't splinted anymore.
We're healing alright, I guess, but the city isn't. There's almost no food, no water. We have to filter it from the bay, and it does not taste good. I nearly threw up the first time I drank it. But I've had to get used to it. I've got a really sensitive stomach, so it's really not fun.
Today is another day of sitting at my computer, trying to locate Obake. So far I've been unsuccessful, and I keep falling asleep at my desk. Tadashi keeps coming in and carrying me to my bed, which is nice of him, but I wish he'd just wake me up. I need to keep going.
I stare at the screen, my eyes unfocused and exhausted. My dark circles are getting bigger. I look like a victim of a concentration camp in World War Two.
I struggle to type in the coding for the computer, the screen blurring. I have a headache now—great. I don't need any more pain. None of us do. No one should have to go through this, and since it's my fault, I have to keep trying to find Obake.
Must…
…keep…
…typing…
My face suddenly slams sideways into my keyboard, and before I know it, I'm dead to the world.
I wake up a few hours later with my cheek stuck to my keyboard, my face pressing the letter d. Great. How long has that been going on?
Apparently for around two hundred pages of code. Awesome.
I unstick my face from the keys and sit up dazedly, rubbing my cheek. I can tell the keys have imprinted onto my skin, and it'll take a few hours to go away. Also awesome. Note the sarcasm.
I sigh and hit ctrl-A, then delete the many pages of ds. Time to start over, even though I'm still exhausted. According to my clock, I've been out for three hours. And I really want a donut, but there's not enough. Whatever.
Soon, I can't focus anymore and go downstairs to Dashi and Aunt Cass, who are working the café. GoGo and Wasabi are looking for Obake in the field. Fred is still in the hospital and Honey is sitting in a chair behind Tadashi, resting. You can tell she's pregnant now—eight months. The baby will be here soon and I don't know how we're going to feed him. There's no way we're gonna be able to support a new baby. Tadashi and Honey are going to be great parents, but I really hope this is all resolved by the time Honey gives birth.
I go behind the counter to stand by Dashi. "Anyone paid today?"
"No," he sighs. "This isn't looking good."
"I know," I say, my stomach demanding food right now or it will murder me. "Do we have…anything extra?"
Tadashi produces a maple donut from under the counter. "Yeah. I saved it just for you."
I pull him into a hug and take the donut, then break it in half. As much as I want all of it, I know Tadashi needs to eat, too. I silently hand him half the donut and he smiles wearily at me.
I devour the donut, sighing in relief. Tadashi puts an arm around my shoulders. "How're you doing, Hiro? What's on your cheek?"
"I'm fine. Just tired, and hungry, I guess." I rub my cheek, which is sore and maybe even bruised from being pressed against my keyboard. "And I just fell asleep at my desk and banged my face on the keyboard. That's all."
Dashi looks down at me, examining my face. "It's a little bruised, but you don't look too much worse." He smiles. "How's your ankle? And your head?"
"Both fine," I say, laughing and swatting his hand aside. "Seriously, Dashi, it's been a month! What about you?"
Tadashi tears a hand through his hair. "I'm doing fine, I guess. But I'm really worried about Honey. She can't give birth like this."
I'm worried, too. The hospital is still really busy, and we won't be able to transport Honey there fast enough when she starts giving birth, since the roads are still blocked. It might have to be a home birth. Honestly, it's probably more of a pile-of-rubble birth. That's what our home has been reduced to.
I return to the conversation eventually. "I'm worried too, Dashi. But it's gonna be okay. I promise. Your son will be fine."
He gives me a weak smile. "Thanks, Hiro. You'll be a great uncle."
I smile back and retreat upstairs to my room, sitting back down at my computer. I've got to keep trying to find Obake. I'll be successful eventually.
Suddenly, a symbol in the middle of my lines of code catches my eye.
Obake's symbol.
And the code next to it is writing itself.
hello, hiro hamada. I knew we'd meet again.
meet me on the ruins of your school. Tonight.
then we shall see if I am truly a match for Big Hero 6.
I can't breathe. This is terrifying. Obake wants us to fight him. Tonight. There's no way we'll be able to—not everyone is fully healed and Fred is still in the hospital.
But this might be our only chance, and we have to try.
Even if we get our butts kicked.
Which we easily might.
A few hours later, I finally work up the courage to tell everyone else and stumble down the stairs to where Dashi, Honey, and Aunt Cass are still running the café.
"Hey, guys," I whisper. "I found Obake. Or he found me. I'm not sure which."
Tadashi gasps. "Where is he?"
I take a deep breath. "He's at the ruins of SFIT. He asked us to meet him there tonight. And it's probably going to get messy. I think…I think I should be the only one to go. It's my fault he's got the energy amplifier, and I might be the only one who can take it back. I'll take Baymax and we'll fight him."
"No!" Tadashi exclaims. "I'm not letting you go alone! Do you think I could live with it if you died? I'll go with you, and we can take GoGo and Wasabi, but Honey should stay—"
"No," Honey says firmly. "I'm coming and you can't stop me."
"But the baby—"
"The baby is fine. He wants to move around. Besides, you can't go up against Obake with only two-thirds of Big Hero 6. Five-sixths is at least better."
Aunt Cass seems speechless during all of this. Finally she says, "How can I help? There's got to be some way."
I think about it. "You can alert people around the school that the area will be dangerous and try to get them out. That'll be important—we don't want any unnecessary casualties. Actually, I'd prefer no casualties at all, but as that's not gonna happen, let's at least get all the innocents out of the way."
She nods. "When do we leave?"
I look at the clock—nine pm. "Now."
