Well guys, here's another update for you guys. This one will just be a day for Chibi Forte and Prairie around Innerpeace.

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Ciel and Prairie's Room

I feel so exhausted today for some reason. I think I'll just sleep in today… Prairie dozes off again as she tries to continue the dream she was having about stuffed animals. I'm sure that Ciel can fill me in on anything important.

Poke. Poke.

"A few more minutes, Sis, I'm too tired right now…" Prairie keeps her eyes closed and tries to go back to sleep. Just as she is about to fall into the lands of slumber once again…

Poke. Poke.

Prairie opens her eyes, expecting to find the pale blue eyes of Ciel, but instead finds huge amber eyes. Prairie's eyes widen for a moment before remembering the events of the last day.

"What do you want, Forte?"

"I'm hungry…" Prairie looks at Ciel who seems to be sleeping peacefully on her desk. Just at that moment, Zero barges into the room.

"Hey, Ciel, I was wondering if…" Zero looks around and notices the sleeping figure of Ciel and Prairie in her pink nightgown. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"Actually, take Forte to the cafeteria and get some breakfast for him." Zero nods, realizing there isn't a way out of it as Forte happily goes to his side. Zero sighs as he leaves the room.

Well, no use in trying to sleep in now. I might as well get dressed. Prairie opens the closet door to reveal her uniform and hat. She takes them out of the closet and enters the washroom to change.

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Cafeteria

Forte enters the room with X and Zero at both his sides. All the tables are filled with different Guardians as they look around the room.

"Hey, over here!" X and Zero turn to find Leviathan waving at them, sitting with Harpuia and Fefnir. The two reploids nod as they grab Forte and go to the counter to help themselves with food.

X and Zero grab a tray and Forte imitates them after watching. After picking about one of everything, Zero and X eye each other as they look at the last muffin.

"MINE!" The two reploids speak in perfect unison as they dive for it. After making a huge scene, Zero manages to grab the chocolate muffin before the three of them sit at the table with Harpuia and the others.

"So, how was your jog around Guardian HQ yesterday?" Harpuia puts his fork into his food as X and Zero glare at him.

"How did you know?"

"You ran past my room three times. Everyone knew about it." Harpuia continues biting into his food as Leviathan steals some from him. "I thought you decided to go on a diet."
Leviathan smacks Harpuia on the side of the head as the two chosen ones sit beside them on the table.

"What happened with you two taking care of Forte? He was in Ciel and Prairie's room this morning, can't handle a kid?" Zero remarks at the two chosen ones as they try to think of something to say.

"I suppose running around Guardian HQ multiple times takes a lot of parenting skills." Zero stops talking at looks at Harpuia, who just shrugs and mouths "I told you so."

"Oh right, I was meaning to ask you guys. I was up yesterday night and read about Dr. Weil and Omega, so what exactly happened there?"

"Well, Omega and Weil came back from his exile in Neo Arcadia and we had to…" After shortly summarizing some of the events, X looks at the two chosen ones to find them listening. "That's how we defeated Weil in the end."

Zero listens to the whole conversation and has an annoyed look on his face. "You make it sound like you actually did something important. You did jack squat! The only time you even showed up during the Ragnarok incident was when you attacked me!"

"If it wasn't for me, you would've gotten killed by Omega. As for the Ragnarok incident, you would have gotten killed by Forte if you hadn't fought me." X turns his attention to Forte, but he seems to be unaware of the conversation as he continues eating.

"Is that how the five of you know Forte?" Aile looks at the small reploid. "Hard to believe that he would be like that…"

"Yeah, I had to wipe my eyes a few times to convince myself Forte was real when you found him in the ruins of Ragnarok…" Zero turns to his plate and glares at X, "Where's my muffin?"

"I didn't take it!"

"Well, who else would have?" Zero looks across from him and looks at Fefnir, "Unless it was you!" Zero starts throwing accusations at X and Fefnir as they defend themselves. Harpuia and Leviathan sighs and looks at the small figure beside Forte.

Forte calmly wipes some brown crumbs from his face as Zero runs out of breath. Harpuia looks at the cup beside Forte and looks at Zero. "Zero… You let a kid drink coffee?"

"He's three hundred years old, I'm sure he can handle it…"

"Three hundred years old?" Aile looks at X and Zero, but they return that with a look that says "I'll explain it later."

"Besides, what's the worst that can happen?"

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Two Hours Later

Zero and X enter Prairie and Ciel's room as they almost faint to the ground. "Alright… we've managed…"

"To catch… him…" X finishes Zero's sentence for him as the two of them drop to the ground. Zero turns to reveal a small black reploid stuck on his back.

"Now get him off…" Forte looks around the room and finds Prairie. He immediately jumps off of Zero's back, making him collapse, and runs to Prairie.

"Can we go outside to please… I want to see all the buildings and people!" Prairie picks up the hyper Forte in her arms as he looks at X and Zero.

"What did you two do?"

"Um… well you see… while we got our food, Forte was copying us, so he drank some coffee…" Prairie motions the two of them to leave the room.

Well, I can't go by myself, or Forte might get lost. Prairie looks at Ciel working on her desk. Well, she's too busy, and I know X, Zero, Vent, and Aile will probably do more harm than good.

Prairie sighs as she narrows down the choices. Well, guess I can ask Harpuia and Leviathan. I'm sure that they're responsible enough to take care of Forte.

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Harpuia and Leviathan's Room

Harpuia looks at his desk in amazement as the pile of completed paperwork is the only pile on the table. Leviathan stands up from her stool and stretches. "Well, Harpy, looks like the two of us are finally finished. This calls for a celebration!"

Prairie enters the room just as the two Guardians stand up. "Hey, I was wondering if the two of you wanted to accompany me and Forte around Innerpeace. I don't want him to be left alone."

"Sure come on! Harpy, let's go!"

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Innerpeace

Forte squeals in delight as he looks at all the people and buildings in Innerpeace. Prairie smiles at his enthusiasm and finds an ice cream vendor nearby.

"Do the two of you want any?" Prairie gets out her purse and starts counting the money, but Leviathan takes it from her.

"Let me handle this, I'm sure that I can get a nice discount…" Prairie nods as Leviathan goes off to "bargain" with the male in charge of selling ice cream. Harpuia looks slightly amused as he watches the male turn red and nervously twitching as he hands Leviathan four cones.

Leviathan comes back with a smile on her face from the success and hands everyone the ice cream. "I got all four of them at half price. Aren't you glad that you chose to take me along, Commander?" Leviathan scans the city and finds something that catches her eye. "Come on, Harpy, there's a store over there. Let's see what we can buy."

Leviathan drags Harpuia off as he looks at Prairie. "We'll meet the two of you back here later." Prairie grabs Forte's hand as they walk around town, looking at merchants with different displays.

Prairie stops for a moment and looks at a necklace with silver chains and a pink heart in the middle. She gets out her wallet, and disappointedly sighs as she holds onto Forte's hand again.

"Come on, let's go look around some more." Forte nods as the two of them take a look around. Prairie smiles each time Forte looks around in awe at his surroundings. I guess this is the first time that Forte's ever been able to act like a kid, he was programmed to be like a grown up.

As Prairie snaps out of her thoughts, she looks around and notices that Forte isn't there. "Forte!? Where are you?" Prairie tries to look for signs of the black reploid in the crowds, but can't see him through everyone. "Forte!"

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Innerpeace Dark Alley

Where am I? Forte looks around and notices a bunch of figures standing around shouting. What's going on?

Forte moves through the crowd as his eyes start to adjust to the darkness. In the center of the crowd, he finds two large humanoids arm wrestling. A shorter stubby guy seems to carry a sack full of money. The larger humanoid slams his hand down and wins as the other one grumbles and pushes a wad of money to the stubby person's hands.

"Come on now, are there any challengers brave enough? How about I make the next round on the house? If you win, you get all the money in this sack, and you lose nothing! Any takers?"

Everyone in the crowd looks at each other as they back away. Maybe I should try… Zero, X, and Fefnir seem to enjoy this… "I'll go!"

"Well, it's a small kid. Alright, kid, if you're sure about this." Forte sits on the other side of the table as the large guy chuckles.

"Don't worry, kid, I won't hurt you too much…" The two of their hands meet as the stubby humanoid raises his hand, signifying the start. The large guy wastes no time in pushing Forte's arm downwards.

He's too strong! Before Forte's hand touches the table, some unknown force seems to stop him from losing. What's happening to me? Sweat starts to come out of the large guy's hand as he tries to push Forte's arm down, but his efforts are in vain.

A dark aura seems to surround Forte as he slams the large guy's hand down, winning the game. The crowd seems to be amazed as Forte claims his money. He exits the alley, not noticing some people from the crowd still following him.

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Innerpeace

"Do you see that?" The group of people following Forte now notice the small kid's figure in the light. "That helmet on his head… He's one of them!"

"I've had enough of those Mavericks in this world! We'll destroy him in an isolated place."

"Hey, look, he's going to that alley, now's the perfect chance to attack!"

Forte looks at his hand, happy at what he spent his money on as he walks on. Now to find Prairie and the others…

"Stop right there, Maverick!" Forte quickly turns to find a bunch of humanoids armed with daggers and other weapons. "This is where you die!"

Forte starts to run as they follow him. "Leave me alone!" Forte manages to keep up a faster pace than him, but stops when he almost runs into a wall. Forte looks around and finds no exit.

Help me… Prairie… Forte curls into a ball as he hears footsteps getting closer to him. I don't want to die here…

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Innerpeace

"Any luck finding him?"

"I did a quick check from above, but he's too small. Looks like we'll have to look for him by ground…"

"Well, in that case, we should split up. Meet back here in twenty minutes if you don't find him." Leviathan takes one direction as Harpuia goes the opposite way.

Forte… Please be okay… Prairie runs around Innerpeace, asking around for signs of Forte.

"A small child with black armor… I saw him go in that direction…" The shopkeeper points as Prairie quickly darts off. She hears screams and looks as a bunch of thugs run out of an alley.

"There's a fire over there! Run right now!" Prairie looks at the alley and the rest of her surroundings. If Forte is there, I better check quickly! Prairie puts the hem of her coat to her nose to block the gas as she rushes inside.

I don't see any signs of him… The flames are getting hotter. Prairie coughs a few times and pushes onwards before finding a small figure curled into a ball. "Forte! It's me!"

"Prai-rie?" Forte faints as the flames vanish. Prairie picks up Forte and inspects him for any damages. He doesn't have any injuries on him… Can it be that he's the one who caused it?

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Guardian HQ

"Look, Prairie, you shouldn't be too upset. What happened wasn't your fault, it could have happened to anyone!" Prairie puts Forte on her bed as Leviathan and Harpuia accompany her.

"What's wrong, Prairie?" Prairie looks to find Ciel and Zero in the room as well. "You have soot everywhere… Did Shademan or Model W attack?"

"No… Forte got lost and was in a fire…"

"Oh… well don't worry about it too much, he's okay now." Ciel smiles at her encouragingly as Leviathan and Harpuia leave the room.

"Well, I better go as well, it's getting late." Zero leaves the room as Ciel stands up.

"I better get some more coffee. Looks like I'll be sleeping late tonight again." Ciel leaves as well, leaving only Prairie and Forte in the room.

"Pra-rie." Prairie looks down at the small figure as he wakes up.

"I'm sorry about what happened, Forte. I won't let that happen again." Prairie hugs the small reploid as he digs in his pocket for something.

"It wasn't your fault. I was the one who wandered off. Here, have this." Forte pulls out the necklace Prairie was staring at earlier. "I knew you wanted it, so I bought it for you." Prairie smiles as she tries it on.

"Thanks, Forte." Forte crawls off Prairie's bed and goes onto his mattress as Prairie climbs onto hers. Forte falls asleep as she watches the sleeping figure. The events of the day go through Prairie's mind. What happened today won't happen again. Forte left once, but I'll make sure he stays this time.

Forte starts to stir violently on his mattress as Prairie watches him for a few hours. He must be having an intense nightmare… I wish there was some way I can help him…

Forte wakes up violently as sweat pours down his neck. Prairie looks at the shaking figure and motions to him. I've never seen Forte so scared, not even during the incident at the alley.

"Here, Forte, you can sleep on my bed if it makes you feel any better." Forte only seems to nod as his response as he gets on the bed with Prairie. Prairie watches as the black reploid quickly goes to sleep, clutched onto her nightgown.

Forte's facial features seem to tense for a moment as he clutches onto Prairie's nightgown tighter. His face relaxes as his breathing turns to normal. He looks so peaceful like this… I wish he could have been like that during the incident with Weil and Omega, I wonder if he's ever peaceful?

Prairie puts her arm over Forte as she slowly goes to sleep as well. The door opens as Ciel steps back into the room.

"Well, looks like Prairie will make a very good mother someday… I'm done for today, so I might as well sleep for the rest of the day."

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Shademan and the Robot Masters will be back in the next chapter, and remember to read and review till then.