Kiko wasn't sure where he was or what he was doing there, but right now he was too hurt to care. His face rested on a scratchy, dusty surface and the rest of his body lay limply so it took him a while to get his sense of touch back.
He slowly opened his eyes and let out a groan. What am I doing here..? he wondered. Around him was a forest. THick trees sectioned him off from the rest of the world and barely let in the blue sky above him. Somewhere in the distance he heard faint chirping and birdsong. Nearby he was sure he could detect the sound of running water from a stream or river maybe? But what world was this?
Kiko tried to push himself up off the ground using his arms, but they were too weak and he fell back down with a thud and a gasp. As he lay there his memories came flooding back one by one. That was when he jumped out of surprise. Was he in heaven? He clearly remembered his last battle and he clearly remembered dying in that battle!
Or had he?
Right now everything seemed too real to be the afterlife, so he was... alive? Had everything been a dream? Had he never left his planet? Had the smoke beast never got him?
At that moment the shock and surprise allowed Kiko to pull himself up. He staggered slghtly and simply knelt on his knees to steady his alien body. Looking down at himself it was pretty obvious he hadn't been dreaming. Every inch of him was covered in black soot and dust except for a few patches of forest-floor dirt. So the smoke beast had got him. His skin and the blue colour of his clothes were blacked out by the gritty substance. Somehow his spiky blonde hair had retained its shape. Only the blue neon streak was coated just like the rest of his body.
Not even giving himself time to take everything in, Kiko stood shakily and once he had his balance looked around. You couldn't see past the trees. It was the middle of nowhere. So how did I get here? He tilited his head back up towards the clear, blue sky. There was no ship like there had been before and everything was surprisingly calm. It was as if the supporters never came. All he saw was the sun and the ocassional bird passing by. The sun temporarily blinded his sharp eyes and he snapped his head back down to try to get rid of the brightly-coloured spots that obscured his vision.
Once Kiko's eyesight was back to normal he glanced upwards and saw something through the trees in the direction of the running water sounds. Something silver and clear rapidly moved across the land. Water.
the alien rushed towards it and dropped to his knees once more to splash the water across his face. As it dripped back off the water droplets became cloudy with dark grains of material that had been covering his body. Kiko looked down at his reflection to see the dirt easily coming off with the liquid. Knowing this, he frantically wiped away all (or most of) the soot and ash. Now dripping wet and slightly chilly, all that had to be done was to get back to his own ship where he belonged! But this wasnt going to be an easy task when he had no idea where he was.
Then it hit him. "Teleport." he murmured to himself. Instantly Kiko disappeared in a ripple of air to reappear over a vast, familiar landscape.
Below him was the city. Tokyo, to be precise. Skyscrapers, cars, traffic, people, pollution, shops, workplaces... the list went on. So here he was. Stuck in a world he didn't even know... or not very well at least. Teleportation was an option, but it didn't work over long distances so he scratched that idea. But one thing was to be sure, he was going to try to get back to his home planet.
Kiko scoffed at the humans as he floated above their city. Now all I need is somewhere to stay...