Sprit simply looked at us, taking in the words I had said. He then began to cry.
"R-really? I-I... Is it really okay for me to go with you? Can I really be your frie-..."
Me and Jemily grabbed each of his hands and brought him through the portal with us.
"Let's go, buddy!"
--
After we had defeated the Ghosty Boys and saved Sprit, Crystana brought us back to her blue room. She wasn't even surprised to see Sprit with us, since either I was supposed to save him, or she had just become used to me doing this sort of thing by now. But the person I was worried about excepting him wasn't Crystana; it was...
... my mom. And when I got home and introduced him to her, her reaction was...
"SOOOOO CUUUUUTE~!!!" She grabbed Sprit and hugged him as hard as she could.
Obviously, she was okay with Sprit staying with us. She did mention that I probably should stop bringing CSmon over here, though.
"I might die from cuteness overloa-... I-I mean, we'll run out of places to keep them all." Were her exact words.
"Well, that's settled." Jemily said. "Let's get some sleep; I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, I'm pretty pooped myself..." I added.
"It's not like cootie girl did anything, though, but I agree."
"I'm too tired to care about your comments right now, ball thing, so I'm just gonna ignore you..."
"Do you need some help up the stairs, Serge?" Sprit asked him, watching him jump up the stairs.
"No, I'm goo-... hey!" Before he could finish, Sprit grabbed him and flew up to the second floor.
"It looks like they're good friends already." My mom stated. "So cute!"
"Heheh..."
"But y'know, Sérgio, what's the deal with you leaving in the middle of the night like that? And on top of that, making poor Jemily go with you?!"
"B-but... I had to go! Duty calls, you know?"
"Don't confuse acts of heroism with going to the bathroom!"
"Actually, I'm the one that decided to go with him, Mrs. Gi." Jemily told her. "I was worried and wanted to see what he did on his adventures."
"Really? So, how was it?"
"It was scary, but..." She looked at me and smiled. "... Sérgio was really brave. A-and sort of cool, too... I've never seen Sérgio like that before; I was kind of impressed."
"Does this mean you're okay with me going on adventures then, Jemily?"
"Yeah, I am. But don't be reckless! There are people here that would be really worried if something bad happened to you! Your mom, your dad, Kylade..." Her stern look softened. "A-and me..."
"... Okay, I'll forgive you this once." My mom said to me. "You're lucky tomorrow is Saturday. I'd better not catch you trying to do this again on a night before a school day!"
"So, can I go on adventures during school, then?"
"Absolutely not!"
"Absolutely not times two!" Jemily added.
"Aw man..."
"By the way, what happened to your pants?" My mom asked me.
I looked down at my right leg, and noticed half of the pant leg and my right shoe had been burnt off.
"Ack! They must've been burnt off when I used my Fire Kick..."
"You just noticed that?!" Jemily exclaimed.
"Fire Kick?" Mom questioned.
"A new technique; a combination attack! Speaking of which..." I held up my fist in the air triumphiantly. "Alright! I learned Fi-..."
"It's too late for that now, Sérgio..." Jemily uttered.
"A combination attack, huh? That's pretty neat! That's my son for you!" My mom said in excitement. "But if you're going to be doing things like this from now on, I should prepare that for you..."
"Huh? What do you mean, mom?"
"Don't worry about it. Be careful with your fire in the meantime, alright? Well, you should be anyway since it's still underdeveloped, but you know what I mean."
"Uh, okay..."
"Now, go ahead and head to bed, you two. I've already set up a comforter for you, Jemily."
"Thank you, Mrs. Gi."
--
We went upstairs, got changed into our pajamas (Jemily's mom brought hers over earlier), and headed to bed.
I hopped into bed immediately, getting under the covers and lying my head on my pillow.
"Already tired, Sérgio?" Jemily asked me. "You usually want to talk or something before we go to sleep whenever I sleep over."
"Sorry, not today..." I yawned. "I'm super pooped right now..."
"Me too..." Serge added, already on my bed, curled up in a ball. "Night..."
"Night, Serge." I said to him. "Night... Sprit?"
I noticed Sprit floating around strangely over us.
"What're you doing, Sprit?" I asked him.
He flipped his body around, his sleeping face becoming visible.
"That looks weird." I stated.
"Really weird." Jemily added.
"Well, at least we don't have to worry about finding him a place to sleep..."
"It seems you all are really tired, huh? Then I'll get some shut-eye, too. Let me just take this off, first..." Jemily took off her hair ribbon and placed it neatly near her, then lied down on her pillow. "Okay. Night."
"You sure like that ribbon, huh?" I remarked. "You wear it all the time, and you're always taking such good care of it..."
"Of course, it's one of my most important possessions. After all..." Her face turned red as she looked away from me. "It's the very first thing you gave me, Sérgio..."
"Wait, I gave it to you?!" I stated in surprise.
"You don't remember? It was supposed to be for my 4th birthday, but I was really sad about something, so you gave it to me a month early to cheer me up."
"I really did something like that...?"
"Yeah..." Jemily sighed. "It was a long time ago though, so I guess it makes sense you don't remember..."
"Sorry for forgetting about it..."
"Don't worry about it. Good night, Sérgio."
--
"Your power is needed to protect the CS Region from the approaching chaos. The approaching chaos is in fact, your dark side."
Dark side... I still haven't met him yet. What is he like? Is he scary? Is he mean? Or maybe he's actually nice? Well, he's my dark half, so I doubt it...
Does he know about me? Is he looking for me, or is he waiting for us to have a "final duel" after I take down all of his minions? I'm kind of excited to see what'll happen, but I'm also kind of afraid, too...
Just how powerful is he, really?
All of a sudden, a mirror appeared before me, in an area surrounded by darkness. Unlike myself, my reflection looked... angry. His eyes began to glow a sinister red as he continued to glare at me.
"W-wait, what's the matter? Why do you look so mad...?"
Darkness began to surround him, as he slowly stepped closer.
"H-hold on...!"
"Do you know who I am?"
"M-my reflection...?"
"A reflection... of what?"
"U-uh... myself? N-no wait, my dark self?" I suddenly realized. "Are you my dark half?!"
"..."
He paused for a little while, then stepped out of the mirror, his angry look growing harsher.
"Just who do you think you are, really?!"
"W-who me?" I puffed up my chest, putting on a braver face. "I-I'm Sérgio, a hero in training! T-that means I'll be a superhero someday! So I'm not scared of you, dark me!"
He looked down, flashing a smile. The smile didn't seem like a happy one, though...
He then looked back up at me, the white of his deep red eyes turning black. "You really are a fool, aren't you?!"
He suddenly lunged his arm at my neck, grabbing me up with his dark-filled hand.
"E-ergh..." I felt the darkness leaking out of his fingers, pain filling the upper part of my body. But since my neck was being squeezed so hard, I couldn't utter a word.
"You know... NOTHING!"
--
"AHH!" I jolted up from bed, breathing heavily.
A-a dream? But it felt so real...
But just what was that about, anyway?!
"Sérgio...? Is something wrong?" Jemily asked, leaning up from her comforter, rubbing her eyes lazily.
"I-I'm fine. Just a bad dream, is all..."
"Okay then... I hope you have sweeter dreams."
After that, we went back to sleep. I didn't really have any other noteworthy dreams the rest of the night.
--
"Yaawwhhnn..." I woke up from bed lazily.
"That sure was a weird sounding yawn..." Jemily uttered, standing next to my bed, already fully awake but still in her pajamas. "Did you have any better dreams, Sérgio?"
"Yeah, the rest of the night was okay."
"Did you have a nightmare, Sérgio?" Sprit popped up in front of me suddenly.
"Wah!" I cried, startled by him.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..."
"It's okay. It's just... after that dream I had..."
"What was the dream about?" Jemily asked, looking at me worriedly.
"U-uh..." I said nothing afterward. "..."
"Sérgio...?"
"Sorry, I'd rather not talk about it..." If I don't talk about it, it'll probably be easier to forget about the dream, too. I hope I never meet anyone like that dark guy...
... my dark side isn't actually like that, is he...?
"A-are you okay, Sérgio? You're shaking..." Sprit asked, looking concerned.
"No need to worry, buddy!" I exclaimed, improving my mood and jumping out of bed. "I'm as right as rain... whatever that means!"
I turned my attention to Serge, sleeping curled up in a ball on my bed, as usual.
"Hey Serge, rise and shine! Up and at 'em!"
"No matter how many times I see him like that, it always looks so strange..." Jemily said, poking Serge's perfectly round body.
"Ah... Mornin' everyone..." Someone said sleepily, yawning loudly. But it wasn't Serge, it was...
"Oh, morning mom." I greeted, turning around to look at her.
"I know you're really excited to use your fire powers, Sérgio, so I prepared something for you... It should make things a lot easier for y-... Yaaawwwnn..."
"Mom, are you okay? You look really tired..."
"Yaaawwwnn... That's because I stayed up all night working on it; it's in my room right now..." My mom rubbed her eyes lazily. "It's nice out so I'm going to take a nap in the hammock outside... La-..."
Serge sprang up suddenly. "I'm awake!"
"The heck?! That was so random!" I yelped.
"Oh...!" My mom started giggling softly to herself. "Heheh, I think I might've finally figured out how to train him..."
"Huh?"
"But first, to get some shut-eye..." She dragged her feet out of my room, with a strange grin on her face.
"What was your mom saying? Aw whatever." Serge stated. "So, now that I'm awake, what you all wanna d-..."
"I wonder what mom made for me?" I wondered out loud.
"Let's go see!" Jemily told me.
"Hey, don't ignore me!" Serge said angrily, "flapping" his arms and legs while jumping up and down on my bed.
Neither of us payed attention to him as we rushed to my mom's room to see what she had left for me.
When I had made it there, I lifted it up and looked at it questioningly.
"Clothes...?" More specifically: a red shirt, white shorts, some plain looking socks, and brown boots. My gift from mom was apparently... and outfit?
Something slipped out from between the clothes I was holding. Jemily caught it before it hit the floor.
"It's a note." She told me.
"What's it say?"
"Let's see...
'Since your fire powers are developing, you'll need some duds as resistant to flames as you are. With this on, you can feel free to go as wild with your powers as you want!
Love, Momma❤'"
"Neat, now I can use my Fire Kick without worrying about burning my clothes! ... But what did she mean by 'resistant to flames as I am'? Does she mean mine?"
"I don't know, but I can't believe she's actually encouraging you to go 'wild' with your powers now. I thought she was going to handle this more responsibly..."
"I'm gonna put it on right now!" I said in excitement, while beginning to take off my pajamas.
"Kyahh! Not in front of me, stupid!" Jemily screamed, running out of the room in a flash.
"Huh? What's her problem...?"
--
After I had finished changing, I left the room to tell Jemily I was done, but she wasn't out there waiting for me.
"Where'd she go?"
"Oh, hello Sérgio." Sprit greeted me, floating up from the first floor. "That outfit you're wearing is what your mother made for you, right? It looks pretty nifty!"
"Heh, thanks, Sprit." I chuckled at Sprit's unique compliment. "Do you know where Jemily went?"
"Jemily is making breakfast downstairs. Serge is down there too, impatiently waiting for the food to be done."
"Why is Jemily making breakfast? I thought mom would'v-... Ah right, she's taking a nap right now!"
Now that he mentions it, I can smell food from downstairs... I wonder what she's making? It doesn't smell that familiar...
I decided it would be better if I just went downstairs to ask her myself. I headed down there with Sprit.
"Hey, Sérgio!" Serge exclaimed, after I noticed him sitting on top of my kitchen table for some reason. "Tell cootie girl to hurry up with breakfast; I'm starving over here!"
"Shut up, ball thing! Be patient! Hmph!" Jemily yelled at Serge, while cooking breakfast. She was making it using a frying pan on the stove, while wearing my mom's apron (which was too big on her).
"Don't be mean, Serge! Be happy that she's even making food for us!" I turned my attention to Jemily. "Sorry about having to make our breakfast, Jemily. You're supposed to be our guest..."
"It's okay, I don't mind it at all. Besides, making breakfast for you is..."
"Making breakfast for me is... what?" I questioned, noticing Jemily's face turn pink.
"N-nothing, never mind!" She looked away from me, and continued focusing on her cooking.
"By the way, what're you making, anyway?" I asked her, noticing some unfamiliar things frying in the pan.
"You'll see when I'm done. Go take and seat with the others and wait."
I sighed. "Okay..."
I sat down at the table and waited. We were too hungry to concentrate on anything but food, so we didn't say a word until Jemily was done.
"Here it is!" Jemily told us, carrying a tray with four plates of the breakfast she made to the table. She set the plates in front of all of our seats and put the tray away afterward.
"Um, Jemily? What... is this?" I asked her.
She sat down and looked at me questioningly. "It's scrambled eggs, of course..."
"But isn't it just egg? What are all of these... things mixed with it?"
"Let's see... There's garlic, black pepper, and small pieces of ham. I didn't know if your mom was okay with using too many ingredients, so I didn't add that much."
"The ham sounds good, but those other things..." I groaned. "Don't sound good at all..."
"Figures cootie girl would make such gross food." Serge added. "I don't even know why I'm surprised..."
"Don't be picky, you two! At least try it first!"
I hesitantly picked up my fork, which was already on the table, and dug through some of the "egg" Jemily had made. Then I put it in my mouth, expecting the worst... But...
"... Hey, this is actually tasty! Really tasty!" I said to her, happily eating more of it.
"Yeah, it's... U-um, okay I guess." Serge added. "Not bad for a cootie girl like you. I give it three stars."
"Out of how many?" I asked.
"... A hundred." Serge answered flatly.
That doesn't sound like an "okay" score at all!
"See? I told you so." Jemily said.
"This is probably the best breakfast I've ever had! I'm kind of happy that mom didn't end up making it now."
"Y-you really mean that?" She started fidgeting, her face turning pink again. "T-thanks, Sérgio..."
"I like mom's cooking, but I think your food is my all-time favorite, Jemily!"
"Jeez, do you always have to say nice things about cootie girl?" Serge uttered, looking upset. "If you like her food that much, why don't you just marry her?! If she becomes your wife, then you can have her food all the time, right?"
"W-w-wha-what!?" Jemily squealed. "W-wife?!" Her face became really red, and she covered her face completely in her hands.
"Serge, don't be silly. She can't be my wife. Jemily's my best friend; that'd be too weird." I turned to her. "Right, Jemily?"
"Y-yeah, right..." She released her face from her hands, her face returning to her normal color. "Me, be your wife? T-that'll never happen... Heheh..." She looked down, with a frown on her face.
"Huh? Are you okay, Jemily?" I asked her, but she didn't answer.
"Hey Sprit, aren't you gonna eat?" Serge asked him suddenly.
"U-uh... Um..." Sprit put his hands together apologetically. "I-I'm so sorry!"
"That's okay; I can understand why you wouldn't want to eat her food. For all we know, she could've infested it with cooties..."
"Wow, ball thing, I'm surprised you figured out what my secret ingredient was." Jemily told Serge with a smirk on her face.
"Wha...!" Serge dropped the fork he was holding in shock (by the way, I have no idea how he can hold forks with his stubby arms). "S-serious...?!"
"Relax, I'm sure she's just messing with you." I assured him. "But what's wrong, Sprit? Are you not hungry right now?"
"A-actually, the truth is... I can't eat."
"How come? Are you allergic to eggs?" Jemily asked him.
"N-no, I mean... I can't eat anything. I'm completely incapable of consuming food."
"But then, how does your body gain any nutrients?" She questioned.
"My body absorbs stray, surrounding energy in the air." Sprit explained. "There are CSmon that eat food regularly, like Serge, but not all of them are like that. Like... me."
"I see..." I looked at Serge, gobbling down food without a care in the world.
"I-I apologize. I thought that maybe you all wouldn't want to be my friend anymore because I'm so strange..." Sprit began to sob. "Y-you even went through the trouble to prepare food for me... I-I'm so sorry..."
"Hey, hey, don't be like that!" I patted Sprit's back comfortingly. "Something like that won't stop us from being friends!"
"I agree." Jemily added. "And don't worry about the food; I'm sure Serge won't mind eating your share."
Serge nodded in agreement, continuing to gobble down food.
"T-thank you, everyone..." Sprit said, with a small smile.
--
After we all ate, I decided to immediately go to the training area to test out my Fire Kick with my new outfit. But Jemily had something to say to that...
"No! Homework! Now!" Jemily stated angrily.
"No! Homework later!" I said back with the same angry tone.
Eventually Jemily gave up and let me train outside for a little while.
"Alright, time to try out my Fire Kick with my new outfit on!"
"New outfit?" Serge said in confusion.
I breathed fire on my foot, and performed a Spin Kick. "Fire Kick!" After using it successfully, the fire went out, completely unaffecting my outfit.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Jemily gasped in awe. "There isn't even a small mark on your boot from that!"
"It really is just as resistant to flames as me!" I added, just as awed. "But I still don't know if it's mine or..."
"Fire Ball!" Serge cut in suddenly, shooting flames at me. The force from it was strong, so it pushed me to the ground.
"O-ow..." I uttered, rubbing my butt, which kind of hurt now.
"What the heck is wrong with you?!" Jemily yelled at Serge. "What if you hurt Sérgio?!"
"Uh, he did hurt me... kinda."
"I just wanted to see if his outfit worked against my fire too... I already know my fire doesn't hurt him! I'm not stupid, cootie girl!"
"Well... it was still too dangerous, ball thing!"
"Are you okay, Sérgio?" Sprit asked me worriedly, offering me a hand up.
"Yeah, thanks Sprit." I accepted his hand and got up.
"Let me help you..." Sprit started to make his body glow, and then he sent the glowing energy at me. "Better?"
"Hey, my butt doesn't hurt anymore!"
"W-what was that just now?" Jemily questioned.
"It was healing magic." Sprit explained. "I-I'm not that good at it, though..."
"H-healing magic!? That's a thing?!" She said, looking excited. "That's incredible!"
"R-really?"
"I want to be a doctor someday, so if I could learn something like that..." Jemily eyes looked like they were glowing. "It'd be amazing! I'd be able to help so many people!"
"I'm not sure if you can even learn something like that though..." I uttered. "Uh, can you?"
"U-unfortunately, I doubt that it's possible... For the most part, excluding CSmon, only people in high nobility are able to use it."
"You mean, like the king and stuff?" I asked. "Wait, how do you even know something like that, Sprit?"
"I used to read a lot of books were I used to live. S-since I had nothing else better to do..."
"That's a bummer..." Jemily sighed. "But oh well. I'm sure that one day, we'll have many scientific breakthroughs in medical technology that'll trump even healing magic!"
I didn't understand a thing she said just now...
"Ah, whatever. Time for more training! I'll come up with even better fire techniques!"
"I'll come up with even betterer fire techniques!" Serge added.
--
After training was done, Jemily dragged all of us back inside to do homework. Serge took a nap like before, but Sprit decided to watch what we were doing.
"Homework, huh? The concept of such a thing is so interesting!" Sprit said cheerfully.
"You really think so? That's great, Sprit!" Jemily said happily. "I wish the other boys had the same passion as you!"
"I used to only learn about things by reading. Maybe I should learn to write?"
"I'd be glad to teach you!"
"Ugh, no, Sprit. Homework is stupid and boring..."
"Says you! Hurry up and finish already; you've barely done any of it still!"
"What do you mean?! I already finished my maths, didn't I?"
"Only your maths!"
"Well, I've worked hard, so I'm going to take a break..."
"No way, not this time! At this rate, the weekend will be over before you're done!"
"U-um... Maybe Crystana will call me for help again?" I hoped. "I need to be prepared..."
"Sérgio, something like that won't conveniently happen a second time!"
But then...
"All of you, listen to me." Crystana's voice echoed throughout my room. "Your help is needed."
"Hooray!" "Aw, c'mon!" Me and Jemily said at the same time.
"Wait, all of us this time?" Serge questioned.
"When did you wake up?!" I exclaimed.
"There's a place I would like you to investigate for me." Crystana explained. "It is very urgent."
Crystana doesn't sound as calm as she usually does... And why is she speaking out loud this time instead of to just me?
"I need you to go to Mechaopolis. It is far from your current location, but is still fairly close to the CS Region."
"Mechaopolis? I've never heard of such a place..." Jemily said uneasily.
"I have. It's on a small isle between this region and the region of Lopan." Sprit said. "But no one's been there in over 20 years... supposedly."
"That is correct. But there appears to be some unusual activity there currently. I'm detecting signs of dark energy..."
"But... does it matter?" Serge asked. "I mean, that place's been abandoned for so long, so who cares what happens to it?"
"That... is exactly the problem."
"Huh...?" Serge uttered in confusion.
"'What purpose do dark beings have at an abandoned area like Mechaopolis?' This is a mystery I would like you to solve. You and your two CSmon companions."
"Them too?" That's weird, I thought it didn't matter if they were with me or not...
"This may be quite arduous this time, so I will give you time to make preparations. I will leave the portal in the usual place outside your home."
Jemily sighed. "I'll prepare some snacks for your guys' 'trip'. I'll try not to take too long."
"Thanks, Jemily." I said, then decided to wait outside with the others near the portal.
--
After a few minutes of waiting, Jemily came outside to where we were, holding something.
"Here, take this." Jemily told me, handing me a knapsack. "I packed two sandwiches, two donuts, and some crackers in there."
"Donuts?! Oh boy!" Serge said with joy.
I took the bag and put it over my back. "Alright, now it feels like we're going to go on a real adventure! I'm so excited!"
"So, we're going to see that Crystana being again..." Sprit said, looking kind of afraid.
"What? You don't like her, Sprit?" I asked him.
"I don't either!" Serge cut in. "Seriously, why doesn't she just check that 'Mechaplus' place or whatever by herself?! I mean, if it's so important..."
"What's with you two?! Jemily, you liked her, right?"
"Um, I guess? She seemed okay to me..." She answered, looking fine, unlike the others.
"See? Besides, she's going to bring us to a place to go on an adventure again! It'll be fun!"
"Jeez, how come you're always so happy go lucky all the time?!" Serge sighed. "But yeah, I guess you're right. I did say I wanted to go on adventures, after all..."
"'kay, then let's go!" I grabbed Serge and one of Sprit's hands and brought them with me through the portal, to where Crystana was waiting...
--
... or not.
"Where the heck are we?!" Serge exclaimed. "And would you let go of me already, stupid?"
Before I could, Serge jumped out of my grip on his own.
"Is this... Mechaopolis...?" Sprit said, still clutching my hand nervously.
"Weird, why'd she bring us directly here? This is the first time that's happened..." I thought about it for a little while, then decided to forget about it. "Oh well, let's just explore!
We all walked around (Sprit floated), and looked at our surroundings. There was a whole bunch of weird things, things I hadn't seen before or could even describe, but I knew that they were all metal. Even the ground was made of metal, which is weird, since we were clearly outside. The sky was an odd color though, it was darkish yellow instead of light blue.
"This place is weird." I stated.
"Yeah, no duh, idiot." Serge responded. "That's all you have to say?"
"Well... I noticed something strange." I continued. "Where are all the dark beings?"
"That's right, there's no one else anywhere..." Sprit said, looking as confused as I was. "Are they hiding for some reason?"
"Maybe over there?" Serge pointed at a strange building in front of us, covered by a large fence.
"Why's it so high up? Is there something important in there?" I questioned, once we were right in front of the fence.
"I don't know if it's even possible to make it over to that side..." Serge uttered.
"I can probably manage to bring you guys over if you need me to." Sprit told us.
"Thanks, buddy! But there's still a lot of this place we haven't checked yet, so we can just leave it..."
"I dunno... I have a feeling there's something important there, like you said." Serge argued.
"Should we split up, then?" I suggested. "That way Sprit won't have to lug us up the barricade..."
"I feel bad about leaving Sprit by himself, though. So I'll go with him."
"B-but then Sérgio will be alone, then..." Sprit said worriedly.
"It's no problem! I'm a hero in training, after all!"
"I don't really get what being a 'hero in training' has to do with anything, but whatever." Serge looked up above the fence. "Now to find a way over this..."
"I'll carry you, Serge!"
"That's okay Sprit, I got this!" I exclaimed confidently, lifting up Serge over my head.
"W-what're you doing?! Put me down, stupid!" Serge said angrily, pointlessly wiggling his arms and legs around.
"Wow, Sérgio's eyes are glowing! He looks so excited!"
"Sprit, don't say that in such a happy voice! That's not a good thing!"
"Get ready, Serge!" I stated cheerfully.
"You'd better not do what I think you're going t-..."
"Toorryyaaahh!!!" I tossed him over the barricade as hard as I could.
"NOOOOOooooo...!!!" I heard the thud from him hit the ground on the other side.
"How's it over there, Serge?" I asked him.
"I hate you sooo much right now!"
--
After leaving Serge and Sprit to do their own thing, I decided to wander in a random direction away from the barricaded area they were searching. Everything looked pretty much the same to me, so I only walked in a straight line, to make sure I didn't get lost.
Strange, there doesn't seem to be any hostile life anywhere... Or any life anywhere, for that matter...
"Are they really hiding, like Sprit said? Or am I going the wrong way?"
Along the path I took, I noticed a crane sticking out of an abandoned lab. It looked rusty and dirty, like it hadn't been used in a long time.
"So, we meet at last! I bet you're surprised that I recognized you, huh?" I pointed at it dramatically. "You're one of Jalapeño Man's nemeses, aren't you? 'The Claw'!"
"The Claw" said nothing in response, of course.
"Heheh, maybe not." I sighed. "It's actually kinda boring, not having Serge around to react to the things I do..."
But seriously though, what is that crane for?
"Maybe... it's a trap set up by my enemies! It won't fool me!"
I should find a way to deactivate it somehow, or at least find out what it does...
"If only Serge were here, then I could throw him at it... Just kidding."
I noticed a rock by my feet, only slightly smaller than Serge.
"Since Serge's not here... I choose you! Rocky!"
I chucked the rock at the crane. The crane immediately began shaking in response.
"Ack! T-the trap... it's activating!"
Part of the crane fell down, sending dust all over the place. I closed my eyes and started to cough a little from all of it.
When the dust cleared, I saw what actually happened. Apparently, me throwing the rock at it caused it to break apart.
"Oh..." I paused, in disbelief at what just happened. "Whoopsie~!" I uttered in embarrassment.
No one needed that crane for anything, right...?
I continued onward, trying to forget what just happened...
... It was then I heard something I wasn't expecting.
"Is that... water? Does that mean the ocean is nearby?"
I don't think looking at the water will help with anything, but I might as well check it out...
The path to my destination required a few turns, but not enough to get lost. As I wondered if what I was doing was worth it, I saw something. Something I didn't think I would find on this island...
"A person!"
There was a boy, standing on a cliff by himself, staring off into the distance. I was about to call out to him, but...
Wait, he seems awfully familiar...Even though I hadn't uttered a word to him, he noticed me, and turned around. When he did so, I immediately realized who it was.
He was... me. Or rather...
"M-my dark side?!"
To be continued, in Chapter 7...
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Writer's Comments:
Dun dun dun! Sérgio has finally come face-to-face with his dark half! What will happen next?! Stay tuned to find out!
... Okay, but seriously, is having the beginning of each chapter be full of casual dialogue before the main event starts gonna be a recurring thing? My gosh! I actually made an outline for this chapter to make sure I didn't suffer from writer's block (outlines are very rare for me, by the way), and the first portion describing the part before Mechaopolis was a lot smaller in the outline than here. I honestly have no idea why things like this keep happening. It's not bad or anything, it's just... weird. I guess, since there are regularly 3-4 characters talking at once now (instead of the usual 2 I'm used to in Paint & Treble)...
Eh, whatever. I guess I should mention why I didn't upload a single chapter (of anything) in April. For some reason, that month was very busy for me, so I had no time to work on any chapters then. Because, unfortunately, one or two hours free time per day is not enough. The same thing goes with the first half of May as well, but it's been getting better. Hence, the outline. I'll probably be using those for other chapters besides this one. Hopefully it'll make things easier.
So yeah, glad this one is done. Because, believe it or not, I actually started this one in the middle of February. ... Yeah.
Instead of taking a break for the rest of the month like usual, I'm going to try and work on the next one right away, to make up for last month. Hopefully, you'll see the next chapter soon!
Because it'll be an interesting one...
- CS-Masyet