The Training Sessions Chapter 4: Aftermath

It was a dark place to be in. No lights. No life. It was cold too. No warmth out there at all. Just the little boy by himself, stranded in a place where only he exists. He feels scared, worried, and lonely, like everyone else who was left out by themselves. He doesn't know why he's in this position. He doesn't know HOW he ended up in this position. The last thing he remembers was his face being pushed down to the surface of the earth. And strangely enough, that led him to this.

He couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He could think, but he thought too much. Millions of questions transferring over to his silicon mind. He thinks he's done for. He believes he's done for. He knows he's done for.

All was thought, believed, and known to be lost for him, until he saw something so bright in the distance.

"Hope?", a new thought has been sent to his mind.

More of these branded thoughts have been carried. In an eventual short while, he managed to move his thin arms and skinny legs. Not knowing how to swim, he crawled his way over to the hope-bringing light. He feels a new - a somewhat typical - feeling... Happiness. Yes. Happiness. What else is there?

Eagerness? Satisfaction? Are they even actual emotions?

Whatever he's feeling, he wants to feel that forever. Forever and ever.

How long has he been crawling for? He doesn't know. He doesn't care either. All he knows is that there is a light that is miles ahead of him. He wants to get there, he needs to get there. He only needs to crawl more... And he'll find it.

Meanwhile in the living room of a house, Setuh and Dynamo were arguing their twisted arses off, disagreeing with the ideas they both come up with.

"Listen!", Dynamo scowled, "I make the rules around here! And I say that we shouldn't tell him the truth yet!".

"Yet?!", Setuh shrieked in a fit of rage, "YET?! What? We're gonna tell him in 50 years time and expect ourselves not to forget it?!".

"Setuh! He is only a small child!".

"Well, he has to find out willy nilly!".

"Willy nilly?! Ridiculous! What if he begins to not trust us?! Eh?! What if he decides to move away without us even noticing, just because we are just a band of... of...".

"Of monsters? Is that what you think the three of us really are?!".

"..."

"..."

"Setuh listen-",

"No! YOU LISTEN! The secret's out already! I already put his life in danger! He needs to know what that was! We're already monsters from the beginning anyways..."

Dynamo taken aback by his sister’s desperate, infuriated behaviour paused. Almost seeing tears run down from her face, he looked down I disappointment. He looked away to cool himself down. He’s right though. Ricos only a small child, who is naive and created less than ten weeks ago. He shouldn’t go through all of that, knowing that there is something often wrong with his elders. To him, it’s too soon, but to her, it’s either the right time, or it’s too late.

“Very well… But if he truly does turn our back against us…”, Dynamo calmly warned, “Then there’s no use in convincing him to return to us.”

Setuh didn’t say a word. She quietly turned around, and left the room. Hours before this, Setuh and Byrd came back home with Rico’s body lying on his shoulders. That’s how the argument sprung up from chaos. She remembered where she put him… In his room, charging his battery.

She stopped for a minute. How could she f**k it all up? She said she won’t go all out on him. She lied. She couldn’t hold herself back. This wasn’t the first time she’s been like this. It’s not normal! SHE’S not normal! She nearly killed her son!

Instantly, she broke down, bursting into a river of tears, collapsing onto the floor like a broken tower. She cried to herself, and blamed herself. This is like all those other years that had happened.

Meanwhile, Rico had been crawling for hours in darkness. At least, he’s getting closer to the light. He can almost feel its savoury warmth in his programming. That playful, positive, juicy feeling…

“Come on…”, he struggled and encouraged, “Nearly there… Just a few more crawls… And you’ll touch that light in no time! Come on, Rico! Come on!”.

He’s so close now… One more push… Just. One. More. Push.

…

Hang on a second… Why did he stop moving? What’s wrong with him?

No. Worse…

What’s wrong with that light?

It’s not like it was back then. Raving with good vibes and pure joy. All of that just… disappeared. It was the same colour, but the mood has drastically changed. Somehow, Rico is getting something chilling down his hardware. In that light, he's seeing something else...

A black, hideous spot hides yet flares at the centre of that light, like a small wildfire getting ready to burn down a whole forest, beginning with its green leaves. Despite not having any eyes, the spot menacingly gives a glance back at the robot. Completely frozen was the robot now. Eyes, blinded. Limbs, automatically disconnected. Body, deactivated. All of this then slowly disappeared into the unknown, leaving Rico's helpless core behind.

The next thing it knew was the light suddenly expanding itself to surround the little core. Enlarged yellow lines, accompanied by black and white, filled the area. And, the flaring spot that laid in the light's centre, crawled closer to the core. The closer and closer it got, the place grew colder and colder. And even though it's just a little core - a teeny, innocent heart of a child - it started to hear voices.

"L... L... Y... D... U... W... C... O...", the voices spoke.

The words weren't clear enough. They weren't loud enough either. Too quiet. Too blurry. Too cold.

"W... A... M... R..."

"M..."

"What... are you... saying...", the core weakly mumbled.

"I... S... S... R... Y... S... H... T... E... T..."

"I... S... S..."

And then the dark ball shaped itself like a triangle, and grew two yellow eyes with black pupils. An unlikely signature of fright. Soon, the core started losing track of its pulse. Its brightness was faltering away, failing itself. Little Rico is scared now; little Rico needs help. No one is out there. It's just his core, slowly dying away in the darkness, waiting for someone to save him, while the triangular figure looks down at him.

Rico is dead.

The nightmare has ended.

"Rico."

Rico snapped back to reality as he woke up on the bed from his slumber. He fearfully gasped as he came online. He still looked all roughed up from the fight earlier ago. His clothes are dirty. Some areas of his steel skin rusted, while other parts have exposed holes worth of wires and whatnots. Additionally, he doesn't have his hat anymore. Artificial hair that had been transplanted into his head with a narrow variety of green colours was all that had been revealed.

He was deeply traumatised by the nightmare which he had. Confusion had suffocated the kid, forcing him to have questions in his mind. While he was glad that the entire thing was nothing more or less than a dream, he hugged himself as he sat on the floor. Those eyes... That shape... Those voices... They sounded just like mother.

He closed his eyes, just thinking about these things. Then, he remembered the fight. Setuh's eyes, her shade of darkness cursing her head. It's just so...

"Hey, Rico, honey."

Rico gasped again, caught off-guard by Setuh who was standing right beside him. He then hyperventilated himself.

"Oh my god, mum!", he yowled, smacking his face in horror, "D-Don't do that!".

"Oh. I-I'm sorry...", she quickly apologised.

She gave him a hug, comforting him of his frightened misery.

"Are you okay?", she said.

"Y-Yeah. I am...", said Rico, calming down.

"No. Really, are you okay?".

"Wha... What do you mean?".

Setuh stopped hugging, and touched his injuries.

"That fight just hours ago... I'm really, really sorry! I-I nearly killed you! I d-didn't know what I was thinking! I promised you I'll go easy! I..."

"Mum. It's fine-".

"NO! IT'S NOT!".

"..."

"It's not! Okay?! P-Please... Just tell me the truth, Rico... A-Are you okay?".

Uncertain on what to say, Rico looked away from Setuh's distressed eyes, and onto the floor. He lives, yet is disturbed by Setuh's... behaviour... Was that really his mother back there?

"I... I don't know.", Rico whimpered, hugging himself tightly, "I don't know anymore...".

He looked back at his mother.

"Mummy... What was that? What are you- No... Who are you really?!".

Taken aback by his words, Setuh closed her eyes and facepalmed herself in bitter sadness. She was again on the verge of tearing up. She then looked away into the distance on her left. She sniffled as her mouth wobbled downwards. She even held back tears to hold herself together.

After a minute or two, she retained herself, and took a deep breath.

"Rico, dear...", she uttered, "I know you already realised now that... We're not who... what you thought us to be..."

Rico sat, patiently waiting for Setuh to continue.

"Baby... Let me tell you a story..."

THE END

Crabs