The Inner Man (Working title)

[Andromeda]

Well I am back from the last story I submitted, though this one is going to be a lot different than the last one. This story, is actually an idea I have for a new animation/manga/anime you get the idea. I had this idea while back and never really did much with it until recently. I saw a review about an anime in the Newtype magazine which happened to have a few parallels with my story. So I wanted to get it down before I lost it and before someone else makes another anime very similar to mine. While to a certain degree the originality is lost as I have read a few others that have some similar circumstances, I am still going ahead with it. It is how things are different that makes it interesting anyway.

Well I will be posting episodes of this, I really do not know how long I am going to make it, I figure I could go for 26 or even more. But seeing as where I am at the moment, I think I am going to stick to the 26 episode idea and see if it popular enough for me to write more.

Also this is not really in script form, but book form, since setting in the details of the environment and the character's reactions are rather important. If it was a script it would be 22 pages long rough, one page a minute, 22 minutes for an episode. I am not sure about anime if they have different guidelines, but 22 minutes is the norm for American TV, and I am pretty certain most anime fall into that category, unless it be OVA. But since this is in book form, there is a little more packed into the pages, so it is roughly 16/17 pages long, but in script form would probably be close 22 minutes, maybe a touch longer.

As I said in the thread title, the title is a working title, I needed to call it something until I figured out a more suitable name. Anyway, to introduce the story would be spoiliing one of the important elements of the entire show. So I will not provide the summaries I made. However, this is a Pseudo-Futuristic/Comedy Drama. Yeah, does not make a lot of sense, but it is a drama with a lot of comedic value as the show progresses. The first episode though is violent and bloody, which will set an odd mood for the show, seeing as it is more comedy than anything else at times. But there will be serious points.

Also I wanted to try out this idea someone had, about doing an OoC thread for the story. So go to the link that I will provide in a few minutes to the thread for you to post your comments and thoughts. I welcome whatever you have to say about it.

http://www.thefinalfantasy.com/forum...805#post789805

The link for the OoC thread.

So then here it is, first/second draft of Episode 1 - Protection (Also working title)
Author - Chris DuBois

Tokyo, flung into the future it seems that technology can solve any problem mankind has making life easy. But technology cannot solve all of man’s flaws, they are still prone to illness, greed, desire and death. This is a fact that many forget relying and living off of the good graces technology. One such person is Chiko Toyozama, who lives a simple life, carefree of problems taking up drawing and painting as a side hobby almost despite the fact it is his career. Chiko lived in small apartment and lived off of his work, such was his talent that he could make enough to live in a Spartan squalor and still not work more than one week out of a month.

The life he led was the desire of every man, making enough to live and still maintain a carefree life style that had no worries. The day he sleeps his hangovers off and the night hits bars and clubs dancing his life away. He spends the late hours of the night in the vast company of women all clinging around him because of his fame. He was simply living off his success and had nothing to worry about. There was nothing he wanted to change and would be pleased to live the rest of his life in the same repeating pattern.

However, fate had something in store for him switching the lines of his life bringing him to face his own self and everything he took for granted. It began one night; he was making his usual rounds to the different clubs having found a few women to accompany him from a bar. They had been waiting for their dates none of them knowing each other, but have the fortune of all meeting in the same bar. This was his usual method, finding a woman that was alone, she would be waiting a little longer than she wanted for her date and thinking about leaving. He would approach them and seemly offer to keep them company, buy a drink or something to eat, anything that would start a conversation. Then laying a few hints down if necessary, they would realize that he was the famous Chiko Toyozama. After that they were simple paints in his brush to control, and he would invite them to follow him to a club, he was rarely turned down.

This night was no different; he had found a couple sisters that were waiting for a double date, and another woman who seemed to be a fan of his work. He did not care, for him the more the better, he figured that he would end up sleeping with the fan since they were usually the most eager to follow him where ever he went. The thought made him grin slightly, though currently on his mind of more importance was thinking of a club to go for a couple hours. Most of the clubs he had been to in the last week and had been rather boring for him. But as he walked arm in arm with the three women he remembered a club that a friend of his was telling him about that was a little farther away than usual his hangouts. However, he felt like celebrating, his painting he finished a couple weeks ago was now sold and he would be able to live a couple months off of it before needing to paint again.

“Ladies, I have a real treat for you tonight, we are celebrating the sale of my painting and there is a new club that opened,” he shouted. “It is VIPs night, all your dreams are about to come true tonight.” The three women giggled and cheered him showing their enthusiasm whether it was faux or not he would never know.

Coming to the block where the club was supposed to be on they entered a dark street. An ominous fog hung across the street left behind by an automated street cleaner that had recently passed by, its mechanical humming echoing around the buildings. Chiko looked around cautious trying to find a light or sign, anything that would point out the club’s location. But he saw nothing until the sound of weapon’s fire shattered the eerie silence.

The women quickly hung around him frighten, but not nearly as scared as he was, he was completely clueless and worried about what it was that was taking place. As the sounds of weapon’s fire grew louder to a deafening point crawling up to a climax broke by the sudden appearance of a group of men in business suits. They were all carrying military issue weapons, but their enemy was still not in view. But that quickly changed as weapon’s fire from the opposite direction from a nearby building spread out across the street bringing down four of the men in a matter of moments.

Before Chiko knew it, he was in the middle of a firefight unable to move, praying that he would not die. Weapon’s fire crossed his view striking a nearby car starting a chain reaction within the engine igniting the fuel. In moments the car exploded knocking the four unfortunate beings to the ground and lighting up the street in flames. Now with a constant light he could see that the street filled with men, many of them on the ground dead or dying. The explosion had awakened his senses and he tried to stand to get away. But before he could do more than stand, a large explosion in the building where the shooting was focused to blew up. Several of the floors burst into billowing flames ceasing the fight. The shoot out was over.

The men in the street had won it seemed, and now were coming over towards him. Chiko helped up the women trying to get them moving away, but they were shaking in horror unable to move. Two men stopped in front of him while the others continued past. They raised their weapons up and without hesitation fired two shots each. The three women all receive a quick death with a bullet in the forehead, but since they were around him the final bullet for him did not going through his head, but chest. Their bodies fell limb around him as he collapse blood dripping across his clothes on to the ground.

Before his consciousness faded his eyes fixed on the man that shot him, long black hair tied with a long scar from his forehead down around to his chin. The man eyes were deep black almost, cold and merciless having seen more death than anyone could know. The man aimed his weapon at his head starting to pull the trigger to kill Chiko, but a secondary explosion from the building set the lower floors a blaze sending debris across the street. Pieces of debris dug into the man’s arm and face drawing lines of blood across his cheek. This man shook off the attack and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed. Chiko lost consciousness afterwards unable to know what happened.


Chiko woke up to the sound of beeping and machine hissing. He looked around to find himself in a hospital unable to move with a tube in his mouth. There was no one else in the room, he wanted to call for a nurse, but before he could he passed out. While he was unconscious he had a dream, a nightmare that replayed the terror of that night. It was like a recording that just kept reaching the end and jumped back to the beginning to repeat it over and over again. He could not escape it and the haunting image of that scarred man hung in his mind’s eye unable to disappear.

Chiko awoke again, but this time the tube in his mouth was gone and the room seemed quiet. He looked around to find a nurse checking one of the machines that was on his left. He slowly reached out with his arm touching the wrist of the nurse. She turned and looked down at him smiling warmly at him. “You are have woken up, Mr. Toyozama.”

“You are a sight for sore eyes.”

“How are you feeling, Mr. Toyozama?”

“Better than the last time I was awake.”

“I am sorry, but I do not understand.”

“Huh…never mind, so what is your name?”

“I am Miimo, the Tokyo General Hospital’s Automated Nurse Robot.”

Chiko coughed suddenly realizing his mistake, “They making you pretty life like these days.”

“Thank you, Mr. Toyozama, the doctor will be with you in a minute, I have informed him that you have woken up.”

Chiko laid back into his pillow looking towards the ceiling, the image of that man still haunting his waking thoughts. As his mind began to go back to that moment, the seconds before he lost consciousness he tried to think what happened. It was fuzzy, but he knew from the look of that man that he would not leave a job unfinished. That thought began to make him wonder why he was alive; he was pleased that he was alive of course, but it seemed strange. He did not understand why, something must have happened that stopped the man. But then he remember the women with him, they were all dead instantly. They were the only thing that saved him from certain death. He realized that it was because of them that he was alive; it was a terrible feeling, one that he was rather unfamiliar with…regret.

“Good afternoon Mr. Toyozama, I see you are awake now. I am Doctor Kuroaki. Feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you doctor. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Well I do not know much, but I can tell you that you were shot through the heart. We were barely able to save you, if you had arrived any later to the hospital you would have died.” As the doctor finished, two men in business suits entered the room. Chiko did not recognize them, but they stopped the doctor from continuing.

“We need to speak to Mr. Toyozama alone.”

“I must protest, he is not fully recovered yet, he still needs time before he can answer your questions.”

“We’ll be judge of that.”

“But…fine, but only a couple minutes, he needs more rest.”

“Questions?” Chiko asked.

“Yes, Mr. Toyozama, we are with the government internal security defense section 3.” The other man escorted the doctor out of the room while the other spoke, Chiko started to grow nervous as to why the government had an interest in him. It seemed like what happened was a police problem than government. “We need you to answer our questions the best you can, it is very important.”

“Yeah, sure, but first why is the government involved and not the police?”

“I cannot tell you much, but simply put, what you were witness to was a criminal act by a syndicate called The Awaking Dragons. We have been investigating their activities for a while and need to know what you saw.”

“I see…well it was pretty dark most of the time so I could not see a lot. But what I can remember was there was big shoot out between some guys in the street and someone in the building. I could see that the guys in the street were wearing suits. I don’t remember how long it went on, but eventually the building blew up and they left. Two men came up to me and shot the women I was with.”

“Do you remember what they looked like?”

“I remember one of them, he had a scar from his chin to his forehead and long black hair. He had a strange aura about him, he was cold.” The image of the man’s face came back to him, the thought made him cough. His hand shock a little thinking about the man, he had gone so close to death. The image would not leave his mind as he began to cough more, his stomach churned up sending nausea throughout him.

The doctor came rushing in looking at the vitals on the machine, “You are finished here for now, go and let him rest.” The doctor helped Chiko back down to his bed trying to comfort him. He checked the tubes that were in his arm and the machines that were feeding liquids into Chiko’s body. The doctor continued to monitor his body checking various things that Chiko was unsure about.

“Fine doctor, we will be back tomorrow. Thank you for your time Mr. Toyozama.” As the two men left his room the nurse robot entered walking over to the doctor. Chiko closed his eyes, while the two talked to each other their voices to soft for him to hear. The image was beginning to fade away, but he was still worried. How long would he continue to be in fear, it was not as though the man even knew if he was alive. The man could have even died himself from that explosion, and yet no matter what he thought he could not relax the idea. Chiko slowly faded into sleep again.

The next day Chiko woke up and was greeted by the two men from the government again. They asked him more questions, which he was not able to answer completely. But it was the idea that he had been nearly killed by a man from a syndicate. He knew a little about some of the darker things that happened in Tokyo, and this syndicate was well known, most people in the city knew it. Most did not know where it was, who they were or much more than the name, but when a syndicate is as large and powerful as The Awaking Dragons it was hard not to know. Yet despite the fact that they were known, it was the fact that people knew nothing else that they were so dangerous. The syndicate worked so quietly and carefully that no one knew anything more than rumors about them. So this act that they had happened in the street was of great interest to the government, it was a change in tactics and that worried them.

As the week past Chiko began feeling better now able to walk around leaving the bed for at least a short period of time. His chest still hurt some, but the doctor said the pain should go away in time; it was from the surgery and transplant. So it was only natural that he would experience pain for a while. But he was off the painkiller now as well as most of the medicine and started eating real food.


Two weeks since Chiko had been shot he was released from the hospital with a full bill of health, and a full bill of costs. He knew his insurance would cover most of it, but he still had a decent bill to pay. It seemed wrong to save someone’s life and then turn around and slap them with a bill as though they would take your life away from you if you did not pay. But he was just glad to be getting out of the hospital, getting shot, nearly killed scared him, however he wanted to get back to his life and was already planning a party.

Unfortunately for him, the two men from the government were following him for his safety they had said. Since he was nearly killed by the syndicate, if they knew he was not dead, they would come to kill him. Plus he was apparently an important witness since he was the only person to have lived and would make their case against the syndicate far stronger. So they were his bodyguards to protect him.

He made it back to his apartment, still left in the same mess as he had left it. The maid had apparently stopped coming since he did not put in a call. Chiko started to look through some of his things trying to get his bearings, trying to find a piece to start his life again. He continued looking around noticing something strange, a wooden box, “I do not remember this box, maybe I got something from a fan while I was in the hospital.”

“What?!” Suddenly the two men grabbed him and pulled him out of his apartment running through the hallway throwing him to ground and falling on top of him. A moment later an explosion shook the floor, his apartment had just blown up. His door was sent flying across the hallway hitting one of the men in the back snapping his back. The man coughed blood that sprayed across Chiko’s face as images of that night two weeks ago ignited in his mind. It felt like it was happening all over again, his ears rang with the echoes of the explosion and fire alarms blaring.

Soon water began to fall from the ceiling trying to put out the fire, unfortunately the explosion destroyed the entire room and most of the ceiling, so it was a futile effort. But the water did begin to wash away the blood on his face. He looked around while trying to get up; one of the men was dead and the other checking his partner. The floor began to flood turning red from the blood; it crept towards him crawling up the walls surrounding him until there was nothing but blood all around him. He got up and started running finding the stairs at the corner.

He tripped after the first step falling to the landing between floors, his head hitting the corner of the railing. Blood now dripped from his forehead, his sight blurred, as he wanted to run again. All he could see was blood, it was everywhere, and he could not escape it. He began to claw at the wall with his hands trying to get out, the images of the three women’s flashed back to him. The sights of their dead bodies could not escape his mind.

As Chiko tried to get the images out of his head, the man that was with him as bodyguard came to him. The bodyguard tried to shake him lose of his delusions, but unsuccessful he picked up Chiko and carried him out of the apartment. As Chiko is carried out of his building he sees the flames that are coming out of his windows. It reminded him of that night again, there were too many things recalling back to him. His mind began to be swallowed by images, voices, and sounds until he cannot take it anymore and overloads, passing out.

[Andromeda]

Waking up once again, he found himself sitting in a chair staring at a small room with a mirror on his left and the door on his right. There was a table in front of him with another chair; his first thought was that he was in a police station. He had seen enough shows to know what it looked inside, but he began to wonder if it was not somewhere else. If it had anything to do with his apartment blowing up it he could be in a government building. The syndicate was trying to kill him now, that bomb was not a warning.

Chiko began to look around in a panic, if the syndicate knew where he lived what else did they know? How much did they know about his life, where he visited, the people he associated with? How far would they go to kill him? What was it that he had seen that was so important to kill him? There was nothing that he had seen that night that he thought was important enough to kill him over. Of course he saw some faces, but could having seen their faces be so important to kill someone over? Did they know that he was in this building? Would they be waiting for him outside when he left to shot him down? There were too many questions and no one was answering any of them. He needed to know why he was so important to both of these parties.

The door opened suddenly in mid thought, it was the same man that had been walking him back to his apartment and someone else. But there was a different air about the new man, he seemed important simply by the stance and his motions. Who was this man, could he be the one in charge or at least someone with more answers? His bodyguard stood up, but the new man sat down looking directly at Chiko. The man’s glance was piercing, not unlike that scarred man’s eye, though he did not see the same senseless malice in these eyes. But he did see a man that would get a job done, even if meant playing dirty, getting the job done was important no matter how it was carried out. It was this stare that worried him, what did this mean for his future?

“Mr. Toyozama, welcome to section three. I am Shinzaburo Honichi director of section three.”

“Finally a name, first name I have gotten from any of these people,” he thought. “Mr. Honichi can you answer for me then what is going on?”

“I can understand feeling like you are in the dark, however I cannot tell you what is happening simply because it would make your life even more of risk than it already is. Currently The Awaking Dragons want you dead for having survived and witness one of their operations. This makes put your life in jeopardy already, I cannot add reason for them to kill you, especially if in the future they think you know something and capture you. I cannot allow our work to go waste.”

“But doesn’t me just being here make them think I know something?”

“They can think all they want, and if they do capture you, I know you will not be able to give up information for which you do not know. As long as they wish to kill you the better.”

“How is that better for me?”

“However, because they want to kill you, we cannot allow this. We need you to help make our case against them and with the recent bomb in your apartment we are left with only one choice.”

“What choice is that?”

“For your safety we are placing you in our witness protection program. Much like previous government agencies in the past would change important witness’ identities we will change yours. However, it will not be so simple as a new identity, living somewhere else. We will transfer your mind into a cloned body we have made. Each body is completely unique with genetic difference that would make it seem like any normal human being other than it was grown and not born. It will be your choice the general age, appearance and gender, but we do hold the final say, since we cannot have you looking like yourself.”

“You can’t be serious, I have a life, a job. I’m an artist. I’m famous. You can’t simply make me disappear.”

“On the contrary, you have already disappeared. That explosion in your apartment, we have leaked information to the media that you were in your apartment when it exploded. You body was found with one of my men.”

“You can’t do this to me, I have rights!”

“In the interest of protecting your life, we can do what we need. The fact of the matter is that the people think you are dead.”

“No! What do you expect me to do? I have a career, a talent. How am I supposed to live?”

“We will support you until you are able to get on your feet, just do not think you will be able to lead the extravagant lifestyle that you are so accustom to. The arrangements have already been for you for a new life in Osaka.”

“Osaka, but I have never been to Osaka.”

“Then I guess you better start learning the city. Good day, Mr. Toyozama.” Shinzaburo stood up and walked out of the room leaving Chiko alone with the man that was his bodyguard. Chiko clinched his hands together angry, he had just lost what was left of his life to someone that he did not even know. He lost it to a man who apparently knew more about him that he realized. There seemed like nothing that he could do, he was in a position where he could only accept what was given to him. Leaving meant death, if he was not shot immediately, the syndicate would kill him eventually.

“Mr. Toyozama I will take you through the process for selection of a new body as well as brief you on your new life.”

“Why…”

“Excuse me? Did you say something, sir?”

“Its nothing.”

“Well then, to begin, which gender do you wish to be?”

“Gender, as if you need to ask. Why would I want to be anything but a guy? However, being a woman might prove entertaining. Bah…Male.” The idea of being a woman had a certain appeal, but he was used to being a man. He wanted to remain himself as much as he could seeing as he was losing everything else, he did not want to lose what dignity he had left.

“Male, okay then, now age. Depending on how old you wish to be will vary on the growth process. Older bodies will take a couple days to grow, while younger ones a day at most.”

“Age, I really prefer the way I am, he probably will not let me be my own age or anywhere close to it. But if they change my face I could probably still be the same age. Late twenties I guess.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Does it really matter?”

“Well yes, we need to know how old to make the body.”

“Fine, 26.”

The process continued for what seemed like hours, questions about hair, eyes, facial features, and body features. The list seemed to continue forever and Chiko was growing tired. He wondered how much of what he picked would remain and how much they would change because it suited them. The idea of stealing his identity and removing it seemed wrong, completely immoral. There had to be some law against this, the government could not possibly have the right to make changes to a person’s life. What sort of government was this taking away his life?

The process finally finished and he was told to wait, in a couple hours they would have an image of what he would look like in the new body. In the meantime he was tired and quickly fell asleep with his head on the table. It felt uncomfortable, but at the point he was at, he really did not care anymore what was comfortable. Nothing would be comfortable anymore, and soon not even his own skin would be comfortable.

Chiko was shook awake by the bodyguard and told that they were ready for him. They escorted him out of the building, it seemed that the lab where they did the work was in another building across town. It worried him though the number of men that were around him, it was as though they were expecting something to happen. He thought that having the increased number of men around him would look rather suspicious, but he could not be allowed to die either.

The vehicle was only a few more steps away when the men started to handle him roughly trying to get him into the vehicle. But as the door opened a gunshot echoed across the square in front of the building. One of the men around him went down, he had been in front of Chiko and the bullet went clean through the man’s skull grazing Chiko’s arm. He bit his lip in pain as he held his wound with his other hand. Blood began to drip through his fingers as the men shoved him into the car. Moments later two more successive shots rang out taking down two more men, the ones shoving him into the car.

The driver was already in the front seat waiting for Chiko to be in fully. Chiko scrambled into the back seat as an explosion in front of the car shook the ground. They fortunately had missed a direct hit, but were getting more serious. The driver looked back quickly and then sped the car off with the door still open. Chiko could hear gunshots still echoing and another explosion near to the car. The glass of the back of the car shattered falling into the seat.

“Get up front!”

Chiko obeyed quickly and climbed over the car seat falling down into the seat still shaking. “They are going to follow us aren’t they?”

“Most likely, but I can shake them.”

“How?”

“Just watch.”

As Chiko looked behind him he could see two cars following them both of them getting closer weaving through traffic. Turning back to look forward, Chiko was slammed into his seat as the car accelerated. The high-speed skyway was crowded today and as they came up to the peak of the skyway he could see down across the road ahead. It was heavily back up, everyone was moving slowly, he did not know how this man was going to get through that and still come out alive at these speeds.

They came down the sloping road as cars and trucks began to slow down, the gaps between becoming smaller and yet the driver was increasing speed. He was turning in front of cars with mere inches between them; Chiko could have sworn he heard metal scraping at one point. But the traffic was getting thicker, soon the driver would have no choice but to slow down or crash. However, the driver refused to slow down and turned sharply in front of a large semi. The car spun quickly, the driver having let the steering wheel go and then suddenly grasped it hard braking and turned counter to the spinning. In one mere circle the car stopped and thrust forward along the very narrow strip of road before the railing.

The driver then proceeded to perform an insane stunt of ramming the car into the side rail when the road began to turn. The wheels caught the railing acting as a ramp launching the car into the air and on to the roof of a building. The roof cracked a little giving to the stress of the car, but the driver did not waste time stopping and continued to accelerate breaking through several roof ends until he came to an off ramp for the skyway that they had leaped off from only a minute before.

Speeding up even faster the last roof end launched the car into the air once again sending it as a projectile into the off ramp. The wheels bumped over the railing and the undercarriage sparked as it scraped across the railing. The momentum of the car pushed it over and back on to the road cutting off a car that was trying to get off. Their car continued down the ramp, while the cut off car crashed into the rail shattering the glass and crushing the front end of the car.

The driver did not even look back to see how the car was, he continued focusing on the road, speeding through the downtown streets of Tokyo with equal recklessness that he had shown on the skyway. However, there was a semi coming up behind them that Chiko noticed in the rear view mirror, part of it cracked off.

“When I say to, get out of the car!”

“What?”

“Just do what I say!”

Ahead Chiko could see a short tunnel of a building that was built across the street. Though as he looked back the semi was growing closer until it was on top of them. But as he was realizing the their speed was also dropping. The driver quickly spun the car around switching lanes in the process just after it entered the tunnel. The semi past them and as he could see the back, he noticed that its back was open with a ramp. The driver quickly drove up it. The car jumped into the semi’s back and stopped immediately nearly sending Chiko through the glass.

“Out now!”

Chiko did not know what was going on, but he quickly obeyed and leaped out of the car. The moment he stepped out the car that they were driving in it rolled out of the semi hitting the road. The car then sped away, but the driver was not in it. The car seemed to have a computer controlled system that was popular in the luxury cars. But as he saw the car leave, the ceiling of the semi started to fall down. But what he soon saw was it being lifted down, a new car resting on a platform.

“Get in!”

He quickly got in the new car and the driver pulled out of it the semi’s back returning to the road. However, he was not driving like a maniac now, but at a normal speed with the rest of the cars obeying the traffic laws. The tunnel ended and the driver made a right turn as the semi continued straight along with the car he had just been in a minute ago.

“Well that should send them off on a chase for a while, I doubt my stunt on the building roof actually lost them. But now that we are safe, how are you doing? My name is Mashiro.”

“Safe! What crazy lunatic are you?”

“The same crazy lunatic that managed to save your life.”

“Right, not how I see it. You nearly killed the both of us, several times!”

“Nah, I’ve been in far worse. This was easy, frankly it was boring.”

“Boring…you are a lunatic.”

“Thanks.”

Chiko looked forward in a huff sighing out loud. The man nearly got him killed and all he can say is thanks. Just when he thought that his day, or days, could not get any worse someone manages to find a new more inventive way to screw up his already blown up life. He would wonder how much worse it could get after this, but if he did it would only jinx himself into discovering what was worse than this.

After an uneventful drive through the downtown streets of Tokyo the car came to rest into a parking garage. The driver had gone all the way down to the bottom of the garage even though there was plenty of parking on the upper levels. But before Chiko could question it, the driver locked the car doors and the car shook for a moment. He looked around only to find himself sinking into the ground. The car was being lowered down even deeper into the ground. What had been an old, rusty garage that needed to be rebuilt became a clean metal shaft that was new.

The car continued down for a minute or so until finally stopping. The doors unlocked and the driver stepped out. “Well, we are here.” Chiko stepped out of the car, his legs a little shaky still from the drive. Mashiro walked towards the only door in the room and Chiko followed expecting to have some answers soon. But as the door open he knew where he was, or at least was fairly certain.

Computer panels, screens, lights and other electronic devices littered the room. It was one massive control room and on several of the screens were bodies in tubes. He could only guess that this was the cloning facility where he would receive his new body. Mashiro walked into the middle of the room waving to someone out of sight. “Hey doc, I got your newest patient.”

“Hello Mashiro, you do? I am coming right now!” Chiko could hear footsteps coming closer until he a man appeared from behind the computers. He was a tall man with long black hair that hung around his shoulders and down his back. The doctor had small glasses that hung at the edge of his nose and a transparent panel in his hand that he was glancing at before looking up. “Chiko Toyozama? It is you, oh wow this is pleasure.”

“Huh?”

“I am quite the fan of your art, it is most expressive. Even a scientist like me can appreciate some fine art, oh this is a pleasure.” The doctor smiled taking Chiko’s hand and shaking it firmly and repeatedly. “A real pleasure.”

“Ah, excuse me, my hand.”

“Oh yes, yes, sorry about that,” the doctor said patting his hair with his hand in slight embarrassment. “It truly is a shame that I have to give you a new body.”

“Why is that?”

“Your new body will not be same as your current body, so it is doubtful that your art style will remain the same since the body will function a little different. Truly regretful, yes.”

“What?!”

“Well in time you might be able to train it to work the way you want, but it is highly unlikely you will have the same abilities. Most of talent is in the mind, but the rest lies in the body, and your mind will not be used to your body. No it will not, no not yet.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“But worry not, when this is all over we will be able to return you to your original body. We keep them status, yes, yes. But we are only able to perform two mind transfers, afterwards the mind seems to go to mush and we lose things. It is a real shame, the mind just cannot deal with the transfer and it puts a great strain on the brain. Yes, yes, you cannot imagine how long it took us to make this work. So many poor, poor people… But anyway, I have started on your body already; it is a real masterpiece I must say. I worked on it personally.” The doctor moved close to Chiko when he said that looking at him strangely.

“Ah, right, so how long do I have left with my body?”

“Well lets see, lets see…” The doctor stared down at his panel, his fingers rapidly moving across it. This doctor was an expert or at the least experienced in what he was doing, even if he seemed eccentric. “Ah there we are…the body has another 12 hours to grow before being ready. However, in the meantime I must examine your mind and start the process. The computer will need some time to analyze your mind and make the copy of it required to transfer.”

“Copy?”

“It is all part of the process, and the reason for why we have limited transfers. The copy gets worse, since we copy back, and a copy of a copy is never the same now is it. No it is not. But see we take the copy and the original and bring the two together in your new mind, it helps to re-enforce the new existence. It is all perfectly safe.”

“For the first two times.”

“Yes!”

Chiko sighed, “So where do I go?”

“Sit down here,” the doctor said pointing to a chair that rose from the ground. Once Chiko sat down in the chair, he was strapped down quickly and his head forced back. He could barely look around let alone move any part of his body. All the while the doctor whistled some strange tone and began to type on the panel again. The doctor walked over to the computer consoles, though all he could hear were sounds. It worried him that he could not see what was going on, though he had very little choice in what he could do.

Time passed slowly and after 12 hours of sitting in the chair unable to fall asleep strangely enough, the doctor said he was ready. The entire time the doctor had gone about his work, and telling him his opinions of Chiko’s entire art history. Not even Chiko could remember half of the things painted and as much as he enjoyed a fan, it was boring. He had the constant urge to reach out and strangle the man where he stood just to shut him up; the man never stopped talking.

[Andromeda]

“Your body is ready,” the doctor said pushing a button that turned the chair around. “I will let you see it for yourself.”

“That mind thing you did, it’s a little strange it finished the same time as my body.”

“Oh that, I did all that in an hour.”

“What?! Why you-”

“There you are, your new body, handsome isn’t he?”

Chiko stared at the new body; it would soon be what he would be staring at in a mirror, looking at when he raised his hand. It was a strange feeling looking at what he would be going into soon. The body was pretty close to what he imagined, they did not seem to change it much, “The wacko doctor does have a point, he is a handsome devil. I always wanted a stronger chin and a smaller nose; this might not be so bad after all. Well then doc, when do we start?”

“Everything is ready, all I have to do is push the button and the process will begin. The transfer will be almost instant, has to be in order to-”

“Enough, I do not need to know. Just get on with it.”

“Alright then, beginning mind transfer now!” The computer started to warm up, sounds grew louder from it as it began to work. The entire room began to light up nearly blinding everyone in the room. The doctor quickly looked over his panel before pushing the button that would transfer Chiko’s mind into the new body changing his life forever. “All system green, transfer commencing.” The doctor monitored everything from his panel scanning it with his eyes making sure everything was working correctly. Suddenly the entire room turned from green to red, alarms flashed around the room them. “Uh oh. Ooops…”

“Ooops? Hey doc what is going on,” Mashiro asked.

“It seems the body rejected him and the computer sent it into the nearest compatible body before he was lost completely.”

“How did that happened?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well which did he get transferred into then?”

“No! NO! NO! My precious,” the doctor fell down to the ground starting to cry. “Not my precious…precious…”

“What is it doc?” Mashiro tried to shake the doctor to get him back to his senses, but it was no use. He picked up the panel that the doctor had been holding hoping to find an answer in whatever sort of mess there was on the screen. Mashiro looked at the screen in shock dropping it to the ground, the doctor grabbing it quickly still crying uncontrollably.

Mashiro ran to the door that led into the clone tubes looking around for where Chiko was suppose to be now. He finally found him back in the corner, his tube isolated from all of the others. The tube was opening now, gases and liquids poured out from the tube and surrounding environment filling the area completely. His shoes splashed in the liquid that spilled out across the floor. Breaking through the mist of gases he found Chiko still held up in the tube with liquids pouring out of the tube rapidly. “It is true then.” He saw Chiko’s eyes open suddenly and he was not going to like what would come next.

Chiko stared out through a glass plate; a thick mist surrounded the area around him preventing him from seeing past the glass. But he looked down to see Mashiro staring up at him with an expression of bewilderment. He did not know why Mashiro was staring at him, aside from not having a clothes on what should there be strange. “Mashiro!” a soft, high-pitched voice said. The sound echoed around in the tube, Chiko heard it, but looked around trying to figure out who said it. “Mashiro!” he said again, but he only heard that same high-pitched voice. His eyes widened suddenly realizing why Mashiro was staring at him, he was not in a man’s body. It was a woman’s body, what happened? “I am going to kill that doctor when I get out of here. Get me out of here now, Mashiro! I am going to kill that doc for putting me in a woman’s body.” The tube slid up completely opening the tube to Mashiro, who was still staring at Chiko. “Stop staring at me you pervert, haven’t you seen a woman’s body before!?”

“Umm…”

“What?” The tube suddenly released Chiko dropping him down to the ground. The fall was a lot farther than he expected. “How short am I?” He looked down at the ground seeing his hands, they were petite, tiny hardly the size of a woman’s hand. Chiko pushed himself up standing and looked straight at Mashiro’s waist. “What?! No…no. NO! I am going to kill that doctor let me at him right now!”

To be continued…

[Andromeda]

The Inner Man - Episode 2 – Lost

“I am going to kill that doctor, let me at him right now!” Chiko shout at the top of his lungs, even as Mashiro grabbed him up preventing him from running away. Chiko’s tiny new body flailed about trying to get free from Mashiro’s grasp, there was only one simple thing on his mind, beating that crazed, insane doctor to a pulp. “I am going to kill him!” he screamed again.

“What are you going to do, kick him in the shins?”

“Huh?”

“Well look at yourself!”

“Don’t remind me. Its bad enough without you needing to rub it in!” Chiko trying to worm his way out of Mashiro’s grasp but found that his new body was hard to move. There was only one thing he really could do; he started to kick as hard as he could into Mashiro’s waist and thigh. After a couple quick kicks Mashiro’s grip loosened and he slipped down out of his arms. Chiko ran off looking for the way to the computer control room.

Chiko ran from hallway to hallway of cloning tubes looking for the entrance to the control room. Unfortunately since he did not pay attention to where everything was when he was looking around at the facility not to mention having been simply transferred he did not know where it was he needed to go. All of the stretches of rows looked the same, but he kept searching hearing Mashiro’s footsteps coming nearer. His urgency to punch that doctor before Mashiro stopped him rose as he could hear Mashiro coming closer.

It had felt like he had gone in circles, all the hallways looking the same, but finally he found the hallway he needed. Down at the end he could see someone look on the floor, if it was not the doctor at least he would be out of the endless maze. Chiko ran down the hallway as it slowly opened up into the control room that he recognized, this was where his body should be and that doctor. His tiny fists clinched together with the urge to beat the doctor senseless for screwing up his life so completely to make everything before seem almost meaningless.

Well it was true that his life was in danger and an entire syndicate was after him even at this moment. It was also true that his former life was over, his apartment building completely destroyed. Anything and anyone he knew was gone, he could not see them again. And yet in spite of all that, this felt like the worst of it all, he was stuck in the body of a child, even worse a girl. How was he suppose to live his life now like this stuck as a little girl?

On the floor the doctor was crying about something precious, Chiko really did not care at this point. He stopped at the entrance of the control room staring down the doctor and shouted, “Doctor! I am going to kill you!” In the moment afterwards Chiko jumped into the air towards the doctor ready to pin him to the ground and unleash all his anger. He really did not care if this body would not hurt him; he was mad and needed to release everything. That doctor was going to know his pain one way or another.

As his small arms stretched out lunging at the doctor’s throat, he halted in mid-air. Someone had grabbed him it was Mashiro again. He had grabbed him just before Chiko was able to land his hands around the doctor’s neck. The doctor however was still in a dazed state that he had not even acknowledged Chiko failed assault. The fact the doctor did not even seem to care about his current situation infuriated Chiko even more as he flailed his arms and legs about trying to get free of Mashiro’s grip. Unfortunately like last time, his new body was too small and weak to actually give him any sort of advantage when being held. Chiko was just too small to be able to make a difference.

Chiko slowly stopped moving until his arms fall to his sides and his head turned down looking at the ground. Mashiro set Chiko back down to the floor, but Chiko do not move from his spot. It was quickly coming to his realization that there was nothing he could do. This was just another way of saying that it was all out of his control, gone left to spinning in the wind without control. The idea of being unable to affect his life slowly set in at that moment as it seemed to be the final end to everything.

His small legs collapsed on the floor as he did not know what else to do anymore. He was at his end without a course or direction. What would become of him now stuck in this body forced to live his life like this? Suddenly he had the urge to cry, he did not know why but it just came over him. It was strange since he was not normally this emotional letting something even as terrible like this get to him. Angry, definitely, anger seemed only natural, revenge the desire to beat something up, but not sadness or tears. What was this that was coming over him?

Chiko lay on the floor in tears unable to control himself anymore. He looked at the doctor through blurry eyes still in a similar state as himself. “What is wrong with him?” Standing up slowly, Chiko walked over to the doctor. Mashiro got ready to step in again, but Chiko looked back at him and Mashiro stopped nodding to him seeing that he was not interested in assaulting the man again. He walked up to the doctor who was about as tall as him kneeling on the floor. The doctor was still consumed by whatever troubles it was that he was moaning about, Chiko do not really know what it was over. But he needed the doctor explain what happened to him, he needed to bring the doctor, idiot doctor back to reality. He was not sure how he was going to do that but he started to place a hand on the man’s shoulder, the man that completely ruined his life in an instant. It was so quickly and easily done his life being destroyed, the doctor was going to wake up now.

Chiko stepped in front of his face staring directly at him, “Listen here doctor, snap out of it!” There was no response and Chiko repeated himself a little louder. The doctor was still quiet so Chiko slapped him and then punched him twice. Chiko started to kick him when Mashiro stepped in to stop him. Quickly Chiko turned his head at Mashiro glaring at him with the eyes of a demon, Mashiro stopped pausing uncertain what to do to stop him. Mashiro face twitched slightly and sighed regret as he heared Chiko start to yell at the doctor, “Now listen you stupid, half-wit doctor, I have enough of your games and this is going to end now! Either you snapped out of it or I will beat you so senseless you will be my newest work of art.”

The lines around Chiko’s face darkened accenting his emotions and he stared down at the man that ruined his life with the same crazed, demonic eyes that glared at Mashiro with. “Do not mess with me anymore!” At those words the doctor for some reason brought his attention to Chiko finally after having ignored him for so long. The doctor yelped at the sight and retreated back against the computers. Chiko walked towards him still angry though feeling a little better about having given the man a good beating.

“My precious that you? Oh Chiko, no, no that is such a delicate work do not go stretching the skin with those horrible looks,” the doctor said pressing his hands on Chiko’s face removing the signs of anger that Chiko had, though leaving a confused, dazed look on his face in return. “No, no, stop looking so strange.” The doctor continued to pat and rub his hands across Chiko’s face.

“Hey, stop that, this is my face now thanks to you.”

“Oh, yes you are right, but still it is my precious girl that you are in.”

The doctor had stopped rubbing his hands for a moment, but then started to again annoying Chiko causing a vein on his forehead to pop up. “Now, get this straight doctor this is mine now, stop touching me!”

“Aw, but you would look so pretty if you stop making all those horrible expressions.”

“Just stop already this already,” Chiko said as the doctor finally backed away even if it was for a moment, “Now you wouldn’t happen to have some clothes laying around do you?”

“Actually I do have a few things, now let me go look to see where I left it…”

“Somehow that does not surprise me.” Chiko stood on the ground crossing his arms looking around. At least the doctor has finally stopped crying and sobbing of his precious girl. Though, Chiko wondered what was actually worse the creepy doctor’s hobby or him on the floor crying unresponsive. By this point, Chiko just hoped that he did not have to hear any more opinions of his art that he could hardly remember.

When the doctor returned he held a large case that seemed like a suitcase and set it down on the floor knocking a little dust up. Chiko looked a little puzzled, but could only imagine that it had the clothes that he had asked for. The doctor opened the case sliding the top like a door wide open showing off drawers, clothes on a rack and a mirror as well all inside the suitcase.

“That is some hobby doc,” Mashiro said.

“You are telling me…how many outfits you got in there?” Chiko asked not certain if he really wanted the answer.

“Well only ten in this case, but I plenty more in the closet if you do not like any of these.”

Chiko mouth hung open agape at the sight and what he heard; this doctor was getting even stranger by the minute. There were so many children’s clothes and the fact that this doctor had all of them, he must have a lot of spare time on his hands. This was getting a little disturbing for Chiko as the doctor began pulling out outfits to match up on him in the mirror. Chiko could do little but feel like a mannequin while the doctor was putting things in front of him. The depths of this man’s hobby was frightening as he was giving tips about wearing the clothes as he went through them.

The doctor had pulled out every conceivable outfit imaginable it seemed as Chiko was slowly buried under clothes as they were finished examining them on Chiko’s body. Chiko threw the dresses aside standing up finally able to breath and stared down the doctor. He did not have the faintest idea about what a girl should wear; the only women’s clothing he knew about was for adults. If nothing else he knew that would not serve him well at all. “I don’t know, I just take the blue dress there seems comfortable enough. I have to wear something anyway.” He walked over to the dress just glad to shut up the doctor’s endless babble. “Last time I wore a dress was two years on a dare to a party. I swore I never would again, how depressing.”

When he had finished putting on the dress the doctor eye’s seemed to sparkle with excitement, Chiko tried to back away quite frightened by the look. “Oh, to see you move, brings tears to my eyes. Turn around!”

“Huh?” Chiko looked up at Mashiro who shrugged back, seemed like he was trying to stay out of this. Chiko let out of huff of air and quickly turned around for the crazed doctor.

“Again, slower!”

“Don’t press your luck. I am not your doll to play with!”

“Come, come now, please.”

“I still have questions to ask you crazy doctor.”

“Questions can come later, now please, I won’t be seeing her again allow me some leniency.”

Chiko sighed heavily and turned around for the doctor one more time.

“Now try this one on!”

“Doctor! Mashiro, I am going to kill him now!”

“Hey, I’m not getting involved again, my body still hurts from the last two times I stopped you. You can sure pack a punch for a little girl.”

“Well of course she does,” the doctor chimed in, “My precious little girl was made with enhanced physical attributes making her better than a normal human being.”

“Say, what?” Chiko could not believe what he was hearing from the doctor. This little body was stronger than an average human? Mashiro seemed to be able take all of his hits without falling down; he could not be that strong if Mashiro was not in severe pain. “So out with it doctor, what is this body you put me in, this is more than just a play toy for you play dress up on.”

“Well actually there is more…”

“Stop the suspense and just get out with it already.”

“I am a little embarrassed to say this, but I am a fan of the magical girl series, so I tried to make her special like that.”

“What!?” Chiko and Mashiro practically fell over, they were really expecting some secret about her being some weapon for section three or something. And Chiko was now going to be even more in debt with them for being in some special technology of theirs that he should not be in to begin. It almost seems too strange to be true at this point, a crazy doctor with a doll fetish drops him in his is life size doll that is suppose to be like some magical girl. If there were a god he would laughing right now. “Let me get this straight you made this body to be stronger than the normal human, because of some fictitious genre?”

“Well I never planned on her to be actually used.”

“If this was not so stupid, I would probably laugh, so how strong is the body supposed to be?”

“I’m not too sure, definitely stronger than an average adult, but nothing excessive.”

“Nothing excessive, right, then how come I could not knock down Mashiro if I am suppose to be so strong, I think there is something wrong in your design.”

“No, never, it is the mind transfer, all your nerve connections are still growing, so you will not have full mobility or access to all of the strengths of the body for a few days. You’ll be stronger than an average eight year old right now. It might feel right now that you have complete control but that is just because we make sure the muscles, joints and ligaments get proper exercise so that they do not waste away from disuse. But complicated tasks that require a lot of hand eye coordination or just flexibility you will not have yet. Try touching your fingers together behind your back.”

Chiko tried to do what the doctor said but he was correct, his arms barely reached around. He knew that a little child should be able to; they were far more flexible than an adult was. “I see what you mean.”

“So how long before he is able to have full mobility and strength?”

“Well, it really depends on him, if he makes use of his body and does not sit around doing nothing then everything should a hundred percent in a month. Naturally you should notice some significant leaps in how the body performs in the first week or two. By the time a month comes you probably will not notice the final major nerve pathways being created, most will have been made in the beginning. It will all be a process of trial and error, so try what you do not think you can do, within safe margin and you will break those limits quicker.”

“And how long must I be stuck in this small body?” Chiko said throwing his arms down to his side almost looking like he was going to throw a tantrum. He stared up at them waiting for an answer that seemed not to come, the two just stared back and forth scratching their heads. The fact that they did not know when he would get put back into his own body worried them.

“Well simple answer would be whenever the case if closed,” Mashiro said, “but this is The Awaking Dragons, for as long as they consider you a threat to their plans or wish you dead then you will have to remain in this body.”

“So no actually time frame?”

“Sorry, I am just the driver I am not told about most of the details.”

“Hrmph.”

“Well then is there anything else you have questions about?”

“Yeah, this body of yours doctor, does it age?”

“Oh my but of course it does, I would not have made her if she did not age, she is not a lifeless doll. See I even have bras and panties for her when she gets older.”

Chiko stepped back away from the doctor. “That just takes this creepy thing to a whole new level,” Chiko whispered to Mashiro.

“Yeah, you want to leave?” Mashiro whispered back.

“Oh, panties, I forgot,” Chiko said blushing slightly, “I need some to wear, I hardly feel like going around in my bare butt when sitting down.”

“By all means, they have all be hand washed and dried.”

“Is he just trying to creep us out now, this is too weird,” Chiko whispered again. “Hehe, yeah well…thanks doctor.” He grabbed the stack the doctor was holding and slipped a pair on quickly. Chiko backed away from the doctor and his hobby looking ready to bolt out of the room. Mashiro was quick to follow his lead as well. “Well doctor thanks for everything and adding your personal touch to screwing up my life. The next time we meet will be too soon for me. And take good care of my body, I plan on using it again.”

“Before you leave, here are a few more clothes for you, since you do not have anything wear and do not know your size, have these until you can get your own.”

“Thanks, doctor.”

“Well, we have a long drive to Osaka and I think it is still night. Let’s go Chiko.”

“Hey, I am not child, do not treat me like one!” Chiko and Mashiro walked out of the computer room making their way back to the parking garage and the car that they left parked at the bottom of this facility.

“Well, guess what you are child now Chiko, you may not actually be one in mind but you are one in appearance. So unless you want to be making more trouble for yourself than you already have you need to start acting the part.”

“Oh really? Aren’t I supposed to be living on my own?”

“As a child, I do not think so, someone will have to be there with you to keep up appearances. An eight-year-old child alone in a house is strange, section three will not allow you to cause further complications to the already complicated situation.”

“So then who will be staying with me then?”


“I don’t know, I am just the driver, I just telling you what I know from working with section three.”

The two entered the car for what would be his late time in Tokyo. Chiko just stared out of the window as best as he could in his new body. There was going to be a lot of adjustments that he was going to have to make with his new situation. He did not know where he was going to start in all of this mess; he was being lead out of the city that he had grown up in. Tokyo was the only city he had known, he might have been out in the country or visit other cities for an exhibit he had there, but he would always return to Tokyo. His apartment had been his life and now that was gone with all of his possessions, and if something might have survived it was probably water damaged beyond repair.

He tried not to think about it too much, the thought of it just made him sad. Tokyo was slowly falling out of sight as only the skyscrapers of Shinjuku could be seen anymore. Chiko stood up partly staring out at the city falling away, tears falling down his face. Home was gone now and he did not where his new home was and if he could even be calling it home.

A family car drove up next to them on the skyway, the children in the back seat looked back at him. They waved to him smiling; he did not really know how to respond to them. He did not feel happy at all inside; he could not manage a smile or grin just more tears sniffing quietly. The children looked back at him confused and waved again smiling. Chiko could not help but feel envious of them; they were so innocence right now in life without a care in the world. They had their entire lives ahead of them and did not have to worry about what was going to happen next, they were free. He was stuck inside a body of a child like them yet he was not free, he was aware of his situation. If he had any remote amount of innocence it was lost a long time ago.

The family drove on leaving Chiko to sit back in his seat again looking at Tokyo leave him building by building. They had reached the outer edge of Tokyo already and most of the buildings now he did not recognize. He could not remember if he had even been this far out of the city before. If he had been it would have been for a club, it was not often that he actually saw the city from above in the skyway. He had usually walked through the streets of the city, which seemed a little unusual for most people in this day and age when technology was making life easier and people lazier. He did enjoy the perks of technology, but there was something about walking through the city that he enjoyed it was hard to explain. “I’ll miss Tokyo, the parks, the people, the sights of the building in the evening all lit up, walking through the city listening to sounds.”

“You’ll see it again someday.”

“Maybe…”

What was he going to do in Osaka? He had to pretend to be a child; children did not have responsibilities, worries, cares, finances, and a life. How was he going to live a life like that when he had more troubles for himself than even an average adult had? He had a syndicate hunting him now viciously to kill him for whatever reason that they had. That alone was enough to make sure he could not live without worries and being a child pretending to be something he was not and have to deal with the fact that he was stuck like this for who knows how long. How was he going to manage to live like this?

Chiko soon fell asleep from the long day that he had already had. So many things had happened, car chase, his apartment blowing up, section three, switching bodies, being forced to be awake for twelve hours listening to the doctor, and all the excitement after being transferred. He finally was able to relax and sit back not worrying what was going to happen next. It had felt like he had been going for a week the way his life had been recently. There were too many things for him to keep straight; he just knew it all happened at this point.


Mashiro nugged Chiko waking him up, “We have arrived, this is the house.”

“Huh, the house?” Chiko said blinking and pulling himself up to look over the dashboard of the car. The house was a two story white and yellow house with some steps coming down from the entrance. There were even a few flowers in the front and curtains were blowing in the breeze on the second floor window that was open. Chiko was expecting an apartment.

“Section three has already dropped out equipment and the movers were here the day before. So there will be boxes and furniture inside. Ready to see your new place?”

“I guess.” Mashiro opened the car door letting Chiko out. Chiko slowly walked around Mashiro looking up at the house, it was strange to get the sense that everything was so much larger than you. He was so short and everything around him reminded him that he was, it was disorienting the size difference. How was he going to reach anything being so short now? Chiko tried to dismiss the thought from his mind and move towards the house with Mashiro following behind. “Where are the keys?”

“I was told that they left a set outside and another inside, let’s see.” Mashiro looked around the entrance looking in all of the usual places but did not have any luck. The two looked at each other and started a more thorough search of the outside trying to figure out where they might leave the keys.

“Why couldn’t have just put it on the mat?”

“Have to keep it a secret I guess.”

“That is just stupid, they expect us to stand around all day and night looking for some keys we can’t find?” Chiko said hitting a rock out of the way in frustration, which hit the house and then bounced off hitting the tree and back at him smacking him in the side of the head. “Grr, I haven’t with this.” Chiko walked up the steps rubbing the side of his head and raised a foot to kick the door in. “Stronger than the average eight-year-old.”

“Hey, wait!” Mashiro rushed down the stairs while Chiko stared at him blankly. He walked around the stairs to the wall of the house where Chiko had kicked the rock at and found a compartment. “Look, seems you found the hiding spot of the keys.”

“What idiot leaves the keys in a hidden place?”

“Well strange or not, we have the key let’s go inside.” Mashiro unlocked the door letting Chiko in first to see the house. Mashiro followed behind quickly looking around letting Chiko just explore the house on his own. Chiko saw the stairs immediately at the front going up to the second floor, he was tempted to go up them but they seemed so tall to him. Instead he walked around into the living room, as Mashiro happened to be leaving.

There were boxes along the wall, but there was already a couch, table and even television with some other furniture around the room. It seemed that they went to the trouble of completely filling out the house, Chiko could only guess that it was to give the appearance that it was a lived in house. That he actually owned things and it did not seem so false that he was just living in an empty house with no things.

Chiko moved on to the hallway that ran in the back of the stairs dividing between the living room and the kitchen and dining room in the back. As he walked through the hallway and turned right around the stairs on the opposite wall he came to a small room with a few chairs and table. He did not know what its purpose really was meant to be; it seemed like a meeting room or an extension of the living room. Chiko was used to being in an apartment that just simply was three rooms, bedroom, kitchen and main room and the kitchen was more of extrusion from the main room.

He continued to follow the room around coming to the stairs, when he suddenly had a strange sense of dread. It felt ill rational for him to be afraid of going up the stairs, yet he did it was a paralyzing feeling that took a hold of his legs. There was nothing to be afraid of yet he was for some unknown reason, “What is this feeling?” He wanted to go upstairs and see the rest of the house, but how was he going to get up there if his legs would not budge for him. Chiko lifted a foot slowly as his entire body was shaking uncontrollable. “What is going on that I can’t move? Why am I so afraid of these stairs? I have never been afraid of stairs or heights. Is this something to do with my body? That doctor…what weird things did he do this is body?”

For several minutes Chiko just stood there at the bottom of the stairs, one foot on the first step and the other safely on the ground. Both legs were shaking profusely and sweat was dripping down his face as he tried to get his next foot up. After a few more minutes of paralyzed fear, he took his foot off the stair and backed way a little. “Alright, just run up the stairs, there are only twenty or thirty of them…” As he looked up at all of the stairs his stomach fell to his feet as he collapsed on the floor feeling sick and unable to stand.

Chiko sat on the floor for a couple more minutes trying to regain his lost composure and attempt the stairs again. He pulled himself up getting back on his feet and stared down the stairs like he was getting ready to attack them. His stance was ready, in a sprinting pose he counted down to himself when he was going to go charging up the stairs and reach the top. Chiko waited, drawing out the count as long as he could as his fear mounted and sweat poured down his face. But he could not wait any longer and he charged the stairs. The foot hit the first step not phased by his fear and the second as well, but the third step made him choke. Then it was the fourth and the fifth that left him in another paralyzed state of fear. He was shaking and found himself stranded between the landing and the ground floor.

Stuck between safe ground Chiko started to panic, he did not want to or even thought he should be, but he still could not help himself. He jumped off of the stairs back to the floor where he was safe clinging on to the nearest object that he could find. It happened to be a coat rack that was placed next to the door outside. “Why can’t I get up these stairs, this is stupid? They are not going to beat me!”

Chiko was once again staring at the stairs ready to attack them. He had managed to make it halfway to the landing; he was going to make it all of the way this time. Even though the stairs seemed ominous to him and so much taller than him, even farther away he was going to get up the stairs if it was the last thing he did that day. Chiko counted down again and charged the stairs, the first step, second step, third step, fourth and fifth as well. He continued up the stairs not allowing himself to slow down keeping the fear away from his mind as much as possible.

Mashiro was looking through the things that section three had provided them. There was even food in the kitchen and soap, towels everything that they could think of. “How much did they spend on this to keep an illusion?” The entire house had been given an attention to detail to make it seem as though they owned everything. But Mashiro was still concerned how effective this was going to be. The syndicate that was after Chiko was one of the most powerful in Japan and it ran most of the underground of Tokyo. Osaka was a long way from Tokyo but how far would their reach go just to kill one man? How safe would Chiko be anywhere in Japan?

Suddenly Mashiro heard the scream of a little girl, and taking a moment to process it he rushed to the sound realizing it was Chiko. He did not know why Chiko had screamed but he had to have had a reason for doing it. When he finally found Chiko he was sitting in a corner of the landing shaking with his arms wrapped around his legs. “What’s wrong, I heard you scream?”

Chiko did not respond for a minute and Mashiro knelt down to look at him at his level. “I’m scared and I don’t know why.”

“Scared of what?”

“These stairs.”

“Huh? What do you mean the stairs?”

“I don’t know…they just scare me for some reason. I can’t go anywhere, I’m too afraid to go up or back down. I’m stuck here.”

“You have a fear of stairs, how did you get through life?”


“I don’t have a fear a stairs, at least I did not before. It is something weird about this body and the mind, it makes me feel weird.”

“I see, well fine were you wanting to go upstairs or downstairs?”

“Umm, upstairs,” Chiko said as Mashiro picked him up and began to carry him when the fear gripped him again, “On second thought, downstairs.”

“Whatever, here you go, you’re safe now.”

“Thanks,” Chiko said giving a little smile.”

“The doctor does do good work, you actually looked cute there when you smiled.”

“Hrmph.” Chiko walked off into another room leaving Mashiro scratching his head. He continued to look through the things that the organization had left in the house there were still packed. Most of the things that he found were normal everyday odds and ends that no one would think twice about. Though he did find a box that was unmarked and looked suspicious. It was tucked away from everything separate, carefully placed not to have been noticed with the rest of the boxes. This was what he was looking for, specifically from section three for him.

He opened the box finding the usual things that he would expect inside, weapons of various designs and use including ammunition. Then under that was a computer device, what he was really looking for since it had the information on it that he was needing. He pulled it out and took it to the back of the house away from Chiko leaving the box hidden in its location with everything returned inside. Mashiro needed to know more about what was going on and hopefully this would explain things to him.

At the back door with the kitchen blocked off Mashiro sat down starting up the computer. The screen turned on and a record message started for him. “This message has been recorded for you Mashiro Takama. Due to last minute changes to the mission as we learned of the incident at the lab the mission has been changed. It has been decided that you will act at Chiko Toyozawa’s guardian for the duration of the assignment. We do not know how long of an assignment this will be as the situation with The Awaking Dragons has been escalated due to the recent attacks that were made on our people. Expect them to eventually find Chiko, we have done all we can to protect you and from what I read about the body that Chiko has this incident maybe to our fortune in the future. Never the less, it will be your duty to protect Chiko at any cost; he remains an important witness in our case. The fact remains he is the only one of our witnesses that has survived for more than two weeks. This will be your toughest assignment, but we trust with your background that you will be able to succeed. Best of luck.”

“This message has ended, it will be deleted and wiped from memory in ten seconds,” the computer’s voice said to Mashiro.

“Well that was a waste, but Chiko’s guardian,” Mashiro said sighing, “Couldn’t they have gotten someone more qualified to baby sit a spoiled celebrity.” Mashiro set the computer down on the table and walked back into the living room to look for Chiko. There were few places for Chiko to be sitting since he had this sudden fear of stairs. But after a quick search around the first floor of the house he could not find Chiko anywhere. It was unlikely that Chiko was upstairs but he had to check it anyway. Mashiro checked the entire second floor and did not find him anywhere either, it started to worry him where Chiko might have run off. Osaka was no Tokyo, but it was still a big city with plenty of places to get lost in since Chiko did not know the city at all.

Mashiro ran out of the house and started down the street looking around for him. He was reluctant to shout out his name at this point since they were suppose to be blending into the city rather than making a scene. Unfortunately he did not know Chiko very well at all and had no idea where to start looking for him.

After more than an hour of searching the sun was starting to fall and night was coming, it would be even harder to find him as night came. Mashiro tried to think where he might have gone. It did seem like parts of the child’s body was affecting him, so maybe he was looking in the wrong place. But it was still Chiko inside for the most part, where would Chiko go? Then Mashiro remembered what Chiko had said, he liked to see the city light up and see the view.


“What am I doing here?” Chiko said, “This city is so much different from Tokyo, everything is different now.” Chiko looked out at the city of Osaka from the ledge of a wall that looked from a hill. The city looked beautiful in the sunset, he had not seen Osaka from this view. He had not really even seen Tokyo from a view like this; it was always tall and crowded, packed in tightly so that everyone could fit. It was more spread out here, there were still plenty of tall buildings, but Osaka had a different feel he could tell. “What is going to happen to me? I can’t even say I’m myself anymore. This body is affecting me, in ways I can’t understand. I’m so alone here. Even in Tokyo I was alone, but I felt like there was always someone with me. I don’t know what to think now, everything is out of my control, I couldn’t even pick my own body.” Chiko started to cry, he did not know why, but he did not care at that point. He looked at the red sky setting through his tear filled eyes hoping that things would get better.

“You won’t be alone anymore, Chiko,” Mashiro said standing at the entrance to the playground that Mashiro finally found Chiko in. It had a view of the city that Chiko did not know and yet was a place a child could have fun.

“But you’re going to be leaving once they find a replacement for you. You’re just a driver you said.”

“Well, I’m more than a driver, I’m your new guardian. I will protect you from now on.”

“What?”

“Yeah, that’s right, I just found out and came looking for you.”

“How did you find me?”

“Wasn’t easy, but I figured this is where you would be if you wanted to a good view of the city,” Mashiro said sitting down next to him. “Don’t worry, I will be here for you whatever happens.”

“I’m so lost right now, everything happened so quickly I’ve not had time to think about what happ