Mechanid World - Hybrid Racer part 3

Part 3:

His head was swimming, the world seemed to spin when he finally woke up. He felt dizzy as he sat up looking around.

Daylight streamed in from the windows, he was sitting in a small amount of the liquid he had been thrown into. The previous nights events came rushing back as his eyes widened.

“They tried to kill me!” He growled.  Oh gosh… His anger faded to fear quickly. Not from nearly drowning in strange glowing liquid.

But because he was out past curfew… And still recovering.

“CHET IS GONNA KILL ME!”

He hurried home, praying to every deity he ever knew of that Chet was asleep, that he wasn’t calling in the army or the navy.

“Or whatever forces he calls in…” I’m just hoping he’s not freaking out…. Theo thought as he entered his house.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

He started to go passed the living room to go up to his room thinking he was home free.

“Theodore Nash….” A very annoyed and irritated voice growled from the living room.

Oh goodness goddess… Full name!

Theo doubled back and put on his brightest smile. “Hey brother!”

Chet raised an eyebrow. “And where were you young man?”

“... Out.”

“Out? OUT WHERE!? All night!?”

Theo weighed his options of telling his brother the entire story or telling him part of it. “I… was um… Out… With some colleagues-”

“Colleagues? You have colleagues now?” Chet gave an unimpressed look.

Theo’s smile fell. “I uh...Um...Well you see… It’s like…” He trailed off rubbing the back of his neck. “Can we just skip to the “Your grounded for two weeks” so I can go to bed?”

“I’ll find out what the heck you were doing… But for now…” Chet sighed and pointed to the stairs. “Go to bed…”

“Okay…” He mumbled feeling guilty as he went up to his room.

He barely had the door closed before sneezing the darkened room lit up by two bright lights.

What the…?! Theo looked around the beams of light following. He made his way further into the room turning to the mirror on his dresser.

And letting out a yelp when two beams of light hit him right in the eyes. ‘ACK!” He stumbled back landing on the floor in a heap as he bit his tongue. “Ow!”

The lights went off after this though. The heck…?

Theo sat up rubbing his head as he backed up, parts of his shoes lighting up as a noise similar to an old car shell backing up were made. “The heck!?” He kicked his dresser. “C’mon, c’mon…!”

It turned off as he gulped.

“Theo?” Chet called. “You okay?”

“Uh… Can’t a guy get some sleep!?” He yelled back.

“Alright, don’t bite my head off!”

Sorry, sorry…. He thought looking himself over. He looked alright for the most part, same red hair, same skin and freckles, same eyes looking back at him in the mirror.

Or at least… Supposed to be the same eyes…

He sighed and changed out of his racing gear into his pajamas halting when he was buttoning up his shirt, looking at the scar from his surgery.

It had still been healing but now it was just a faint line. Alright… That’s weird… It was still pretty fresh looking yesterday…

… I can’t tell my brother about any of this. He’ll freak out and die of a heart attack if I do.

Theo finished buttoning up his pajamas before lying down in his bed, looking up at the ceiling.

I just hope I didn’t possibly make myself worse because of that liquid stuff.

He sighed a bit closing his eyes. Guess I’ll find out… Eventually he drifted off dreaming about racing on a beach of glowing water.

The next day he was trying to tone down on his nerves from the strange things that started happening in the night. He coughed and loud music started playing out of no where. He had to hit his head on his nightstand to turn it off. There was also the feeling of hyperness even though he was half asleep.

“Theo?”

“Mm…?” The boy didn’t look up from his cereal picking at it more than he was eating it. “What’s up?”

“You have your follow up on Friday remember? Post op.”

“Oh right… What time is that?”

“Ten AM.”

“Joy… I’ll be good promise… Heck I can go by myself I know where it is.” Theo for once wasn’t in the mood to complain or whine about having to go to another appointment. He was curious about what the doctor would say at seeing a fully healed scar when it had only been a couple of weeks.

Chet was skeptical the last time he had let him go by himself he “got lost” and missed the appointment altogether. “Can I trust you?” He asked seriously.

“Yes. I’ll even call you when I’m there, I’m sure they’ll let me use the phone.” Theo nodded quickly. “Promise…”

“Alright…” Chet looked at the time and sighed. “I have to get to work, can you please just rest today?”

“I will, I have been resting… Yesterday was just an accident…”

“Alright…” Chet wanted to believe him but part of him said Theo wasn’t telling him everything… And if he were to be honest with himself… He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“Just be safe.”

“Will do brother.”

Chet nodded before heading out to work, grabbing his coat on the way out.

Theo waited until he was sure his brother was gone before getting up and calling one of the FAST crew members.

“Hey Skid… Call the guys… I got something weird to show you.”

“Define weird… were you abducted by aliens?” Skidmark asked.

“I might be a mutant.” Theo deadpanned.

“... Okay, get on over.”

“On my way.” He hung up. Note to self run if Skid starts saying “dissection” in a creepy voice as an answer… Who knows what that guy might do…

Soon enough he was with his team explaining what happened.

“And then the jerks threw me down into this glowing stuff!”

“That’s just low.” Whiplashed huffed, crossing his arms.

Burn cracked her knuckles. “If I get my hands on the weasels who messed with our boy they’re gonna WISH you had just beat them.”

“Oh it gets worse. I choked down a lot of that stuff and passed out, didn’t wake up til the next day and then...THIS happened.” He bit his tongue as the lights from his eyes turned on. “Look at this!”

The whole crew gasped backing up in astonishment.

“Whoa!”

Theo bit his tongue again as they turned off. “It’s not just that either… And Smoove you’re gonna find this one pretty cool…” He cleared his throat before opening his mouth as a rock and roll music station started playing.

“That...Is just plain weird.” Whiplash commented wide eyed.

“What did you fall in again?”  Skidmark asked.

The boy hummed in thought thinking back to that night trying to remember if he had seen any identifying words on the vat. “I think it was nitrous something or other… The rest of the words were blurred out...Or it was my vision blurring, I just felt really sick and dizzy after getting out and then passed out. It was glowing and blue though.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is nitrous oxide… but that’s the stuff that makes laughing gas.”

“Well no one was laughing that’s for sure.” Theo cringed. “And trust me I’ve had that stuff before but..I don’t know… Isn’t there another form of it or something?”

“There’s a liquid form I believe… sometimes Car Mechanids use it to go faster.”

“That explains it…And probably explains why it made me feel so weird. I’m a Car mechanid hybrid, those parts just...Well they don’t work…” He let the “Or I thought” hang in the air. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m a freak of nature...Joy…”

“That… might not actually be a bad thing Garden Boy.” Whiplash said, putting a hand on Theo’s shoulder. “Tell me something, how do you feel compared to how you usually feel?”

Theo looked him in the eyes. “Healthy. No coughing, at all, it’s not a chore to breathe and I’m not sore from the surgery I had two weeks back. I feel… I feel great.”

“Then this is probably a good thing, maybe that stuff helped you more than you think.”

“Yeah… You’re right.” Theo smiled a bit. “And when I woke up my scar was healed too… Heh… Guess running my mouth to two cheaters was a good idea after all.”

“So you tell Chet?” Burn asked.

“... If I told Chet, he’d call in the reserves and I’d be poked and prodded until my arms were black and blue from the needles.”

Whiplash winced at the visual. “Thanks for that image, but yeah he is the kind to flip his lid on a major scale and because of that we’ll keep our lips sealed.”

“Darn right we will.” Smoove nodded.

“Oo, oo if you’re a mutant now, you can train to become a ninja and save the world!” Skidmark said excitedly.

“I think I’m more suited to be a racer than a ninja…” Theo smirked thinking of something. “Hey Whip… How much training would I need to be able to compete in the Indy 500?”

“Hm… a good month amount of training since you’re way behind.”

“I can’t train Friday cause follow up with the surgeon… But I think it’s high time I got back to training… And not being slowed down anymore… Indy 500’s a good ways away… But doesn’t mean I can’t train.” He grinned. I can finally become a real racer….I’m healthy…

“Well let’s see how you are right now, we’ll start with a staight away to see how you’re doing on a speed and such.”

Theo nodded clipping his skates on. “Deal me in.”

Soon they were racing through the track, Theo keeping his pace easily instead of struggling like before.

“How’s this!?”

Whiplash’s eyes got wide. “Um… kid… YOUR SKATES!”

“What!?” Theo looked down to see a blue streak leading from them as the wheels spun faster than they had before. “Holy smokes..!”

“Mutant speed!” Skidmark yelled.

Theo looked up and focused. C’mon...Let’s get ahead… There was the sound of an engine starting as he shot forward a streak of light trailing behind him.

His skates snapped off as he started running becoming a blur as he went through the track.

Whiplash’s jaw dropped as he skidded to a hault. “I think we got a contender gentlemen and lady.”

The team nodded looks of shock on their faces. “We don’t just got a contender… We got a winner in the making.”

Theo skidded to a stop as he looked around there was some skidmarks, smoking marks at that from where he had skidded on his turns. “That...Was… AWESOME!!!”

NOTHING WILL RUIN THIS MOMENT!!!

----------------------
He sighed looking at his brother with an unimpressed look as he started to head out. “Aren’t you late for college or something?” Theo said as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

“What are you wearing?” Chet gave him a look raising an eyebrow. Theo sighed as he was dressed in his racing duds, a new pair of skates slung over his shoulder.

“You said if the doctor said if I was ready to go out skating again I could go straight over to the Plaza and have fun. Remember?”

“Your going in full out racing gear? You know you have to get x-rayed right? No metal.”

Theo rolled his eyes. “They’ll probably give me a vest or somethin’. I’m gonna be late if you keep worrying…”

Chet gave him a concerned look. “I just want you to be okay… And to know that you might still not be fully healed…”

“I know… But that’s why Dr. Cunning sent me to him right? Cause he’s the best hybrid doctor there ever was?”



“True… Just be safe..” Chet squeezed his shoulder. “And… If you don’t mind can you please come straight home? There’s things I need to talk to you about.”

Theo sighed giving him an annoyed look but it faded. Chet had been doing his best to take care of him these last two weeks, even staying up with him when the pain medication he had been given wasn’t kicking in. “Okay…. And… Sorry if I’ve been bratty…”

Chet ruffled his hair a little. “You’ve been through a lot lately...  It’s okay… And you weren’t bratty… You were just being you… Besides…” He nudged him a bit with a small smirk. “I’d be worried if you weren’t your usual sarcastic self.”

“And I’d be worried if you weren’t your cleanliness obsessed self.” Theo smirked back nudging him. “I mean not like you have a stash of salami sticks under your bed. That’d be weird!”

“Ahahah yeah… Weird. You better get going.” Chet said quickly as Theo waved and headed out.

Chet sighed to himself. “Whew… What he doesn’t know about the salami is for the better…”

Theo shook his head making sure Chet wasn’t watching him go. He wasn’t. Theo blinked, as he realized that  Chet was keeping his word in trusting him to go alone.

Aw great I really better be on time after all. There goes that plan to speed over to the Lucky Cat for Ms. Hamada’s doughnuts before…. I mean San Francisco is like over an hour away…

Theo jogged making sure to keep the speed in check before ducking into an alleyway and revving up. He cheered feeling the adrenaline going through him before he was off a flash of blue light following him.

I’ll be in and out of there so fast the doc will be paying ME for the visit.

---------------

Black Jack hummed in thought as he examined the teenager, Theo was being oddly compliant. The boy wasn’t a bad kid but the last time he had seen him his stubborn streak was showing.

On the inside Theo was trying his best to keep calm. To not do anything to aggravate his new powers. Doctors appointments even if he LIKED the doctor who worked on him were nerve wracking and they acted up more in the days counting up to this one due to it.

“Theo?”

“H-huh? What?”

“Did you hear me?” Black Jack asked giving him a concerned look. “I said have you been resting enough?”

Theo blinked and nodded quickly. “A-ahuh! My brother’s been taking good care of me… Made sure I got lots of rest… I’m feeling better honest! Why?”

“Because your not acting like yourself… You look nervous…”

“I… I just wanna know if the operation worked…” Theo lied in reality wanting nothing to do with it. He just wanted to get out of there before anything weird happened. I need to cough… But when I do music plays… “C-can you just wrap this up so I can go home?”

The surgeon noted the way his voice sounded. He’s trying not to cough… He grabbed his stethoscope pressing it to the boy’s chest.

“H-hey! You did that already!”

“Doesn’t hurt to double check…”

Theo cringed and turned his head to the side covering his mouth as he coughed hard… As a music station started to play.

Black Jack pulled back looking at the boy in shock. Megumi who was assisting had wide eyes. “What in Machina…?”

Theo cringed as he bit his tongue until the music finally shut off. He was silent looking at the two doctors with a look of fear. “I… I need to go.” He jumped off the exam table and went for the door.

“Ah ah!” Black Jack clamped a hand down on his shoulder keeping him in place. “You're not going anywhere young man. What. Is. Going. On?”

Great… He’ll wanna cut me up…

“I… I’m all better…  Honest… I’m… I’m fine… I’m okay…” He insisted.

“Theo…” Black Jack sighed kneeling to his level. “Look at me…”

Theo brought his gaze up gulping. “Don’t make me get more surgery…”

“I wasn’t going to just pick you up and take you to the OR… That’s not how we do things… I ask because you were so ill before…. And now this?”

“I… I…” He bit his lip. “....I had a freak accident…”

Black Jack’s gaze softened a bit. “Can you tell us?”

Theo sighed. “Only if you don’t tell anyone…”

“Theo-” Megumi started. “We have to tell your brother-”

“It won’t leave this room.” Her husband interrupted. The boy relaxed before resuming his seat on the exam table.

“It started a few days ago…”

He explained everything from the beginning, how he wound up roped into the race, the cheating, his powers including the incident regarding his old pair of skates breaking off from the force of the speed.

“And… That’s all… “

The doctors were quiet before looking to each other and talking quietly in a language Theo didn’t understand.

Well her name is Megumi… So they’re speaking Japanese…?

...Great they don’t want me to hear it…

For Theo when people started whispering or talking in a language they knew he didn’t know, took this as a sign of things going south.

Chet was whispering with Dr. Cunning when I was in the hospital last before they did those stupid stress tests…

“Alright… From what you’ve told us it seems your body’s come to a bit of an awakening as it were…” The surgeon began. “But to figure out just what… I would like to see some of these abilities in action and perhaps run a few tests to see what’s coming active.”

“You're not slicing me open again…. Or telling my brother.” Theo narrowed his eyes. “Those are my terms. I’ll do it… But only on those conditions.”

“Fair enough… And I only promise not to operate if there’s nothing TO be operated on. Deal?”

“Deal.” Theo shook the doctor’s hand before they headed outside. Theo looked to the end of the driveway which was far down the hill and smirked before focusing.

The doctor’s heard what sounded like an engine starting to rev up before Theo took off running down the hill, a blue streak of light following him as he did. Theo skidded to a stop at the end of the hill before starting up again halting before them within a moment, not even breaking a sweat.

“Well?”

“That…. Was amazing…”

“Faster then most Car mechanids I’ve seen… That was racecar type speed…” Black Jack agreed. “The other abilities?”

Theo went through them, the eyelights, once more with the music, and while he didn’t intend to… He managed to bump into a tree as what sounded almost like an alarm was heard. “ACK! That one’s new!” He yelled hitting his head a few times to get it to stop.

Megumi cringed uncovering her ears. “It seems there’s some things still to be discovered… But that engine noise… Kuroo?”

Black Jack nodded. “That’s something I’d like to see for myself… Your father was a Car mechanid correct?”

“Yep. Chet says I look just like he did.” Theo said giving a sheepish look. “But uh… I don’t think I have an engine… I’ve seen my back I don’t have an engine panel.”

“Still… Let’s just take a look at you one more time…”

Theo sighed as he followed them back inside. Black Jack ran a few more tests including several x-ray’s from the front and back before looking over the results.

As for the boy himself he was pacing nervous. Pinoko, Black Jack’s daughter followed him curious. “What’s got you so freaked out?”



“Your dad’s trying to figure out if there’s anything else wrong with me… I feel fine though.” He sighed before looking to her. “What’s your story? Mechanid or…?”

“Papa and Mama are forklift mechanids. I’m a hybrid… Plane hybrid.”

“Wow…” His gaze softened before ruffling her hair. “Guess I really did come to the right place.”

“Yep.” She giggled. “Papa fixed me up when I was a baby and they adopted me right after… I’ve been here ever since.”

“Cool…” Theo nodded.

“Theo? Come in here.”

“...Great…” He sighed heading back over. “Well?”

“... Judging from these results… You don’t have an engine… Or what would’ve developed into your engine is now just simply part of your back. There’s no way for a panel to have ever developed. Your fine however…. As for where that noise is coming from… I honestly can say I’m not sure. I’ve never seen a hybrid who bounced back like this.” Black Jack explained showing Theo the x-ray of his back, the teen cringing a little at the images.

“Yuck…. But I’m alright enough to race?”

“Yes… But try not to push yourself… I have no idea what will happen if you push yourself past what your current limits are.”

Theo nodded sighing in relief leaning against the wall. “I’m okay… I’m really okay…”

“Not all hybrids stay ill forever…” Black Jack smiled gently as Theo smiled back. “And you can always count on us if you need us.”

“Just come straight to us… Or we’ll find you.” Megumi added ruffling the boy’s hair a little.

“T-thanks…. Seriously.” He said before straightening up and looking at the time. “... Is… Is that the right time?”

“Yes-”

“GOTTARUN!” Theo sped off.

“Do you think he’ll really be alright dear?” Megumi asked watching him go.

“I know he will… He’s stronger than he looks.”

------------------------------------------------------------------

Chet was pacing when Theo finally came in the door out of breath for once in awhile. “Theo? That you?” He called.

“Yep!” Theo hurried to where he was. “Sorry I took so long, Dr. Black Jack really wanted to be thorough in how I was doing, he wanted to do some extra tests to make sure nothing else is going screwy.”

“Are you alright?” Chet asked concern in his eyes as he went over to his little brother. “No complications?”



“Nope.” Theo smiled hugging him. “I’m all better!”

“Y-your…” Chet couldn’t help it as tears came to his eyes. “You're alright…” He hugged him tightly.

“W-whoa! Chet! Choking not hugging!”

“Sorry just…. I’ve waited your entire life to hear those words…” Chet wiped the tears away quickly smiling in relief. “That officially has made my week. I’m so glad…”

“Me too bro… Me too… So what’s the news?”

“Well…. Remember how later this summer we plan to visit my friend Dottie?”

Theo nodded. “Yup, the one who moved away when you were eight right?”



“Right. We kept in touch all these years and well… She invited us down to Propwash for their annual Corn Festival… And since you're okay we’ll be going for sure but…. You know how you haven’t been able to be in school?”

“... Yeah…” Theo’s face fell a little. “I’ve always been too sick to go… So mom and dad homeschooled me before….Before. And you signed me up for online school after you became my legal guardian.”

“That’s right… Well… I have news… You’ll be going in the winter to a new school… One of the best in LA.”

“W-what!?”

Chet laughed as Theo threw himself at him. “When do I go!? When exactly!? Where!? What school!?”

“THEO! Calm down!” He laughed tousling his brother’s hair. “We’ll get all the details out when it’s time. For right now let’s just focus on having a good summer okay?”

Theo beamed. “Okay bro! Thanks!”

He cheered.

“THIS IS GONNA BE THE BEST YEAR YET!”

I’m not just some hybrid…

I’m a racer too….

I’ll get stronger, Whiplash Will train me… Maybe I’ll make friends my own age…

Everything’s looking up….

FIN