Episode 5

The Final Guardian

“What just happened to us?” Brittany asked. “What’s going on?”

Rob took a deep breath and let it out slowly. How much of the story should he reveal? How much could they take in after the ordeal they had just gone through? “Well, like I said, it’s a long story. You may want to take a seat.”

He proceeded to fill the girls in on everything he knew, except, of course, for any information that could compromise his identity. He wasn't sure how they would take it, but Brittany and Tami seemed to listen with intense interest. After what they had seen, the further information didn't sound too far fetched to them.

“You’re serious…?” Tami said after he was through talking. “We’re seriously going to be under attack by creatures from another world…?”

“It sounds like something out of a second-rate sci-fi movie,” Brittany said.

“I know it sounds pretty scary,” Rob said, “but hey, you made quick work of those two goons earlier. If you’re anything like I was, you’ll learn to use your powers quickly.”

Tami pointed at him. “Speaking of which, just who are you, anyway? What’s with the getup?”

Hoo boy. This was it. “I--I can’t tell you,” Rob said, glancing away.

Tami looked at him suspiciously. “Can’t tell us? Why not?”

That was a good question. Why not? He wasn't sure, himself. But everything was hitting him at once. He needed time to sort things out. “It’s…for the safety of my friends and loved ones. Please understand.”

“Oh, come on, we’re all…Guardians or whatever, here. It’s not like we’d go blabbing to everyone.” Tami smiled at him. “Please, maybe we can figure things out together.”

Rob walked past them and stared into the open street. “I’m sorry…I just can’t. At least not yet. This is all happening so fast, I need to think things over a bit.”

Brittany rubbed her arm. “Then…what are we supposed to do?”

Rob turned back to the girls. Despite having Guardian powers, they looked so helpless. Could he really just leave them like that? He put his hands on their shoulders in an attempt to comfort them. “Don’t you worry. Everything will be okay. I won’t let anything bad happen to you girls, I promise.” At least he'd try. He had enough on his plate without having to worry about their safety. “We’ll meet again soon.”

He forced himself to run off, but wondered if he did the right thing. He had a lot of thinking to do.

---

“This has gone on long enough!” yelled the police chief to the group of policemen assembled in the main hall of the Feldnaut City Police Department. “For those of you not yet aware, we’re facing a menace that threatens to shake the foundation of our fair city to its core, a menace I can safely say I’ve never seen in all my years on the force. This week we’ve heard numerous eyewitness reports of attacks by strange creatures, seemingly both organic and inorganic in nature. What they are, we can’t say for certain, but we do know they’re hostile, destructive, and must be stopped at all costs. Thus, to insure the safety of our citizens, we are stepping up our activity. Our men will be on the watch 24/7, patrolling the city for signs of anything suspicious. Those of you who have volunteered to assist us in this matter, be assured that we greatly appreciate your efforts to help keep our city safe from any potential dangers we may continue to face. We can’t afford to let anything slip by our scope. If you see anything that appears suspicious, investigate it thoroughly. We will not rest until all threats have been eradicated from Feldnaut City!”

The department wasted no time in giving the officers their assignments. The first assigned shift—much to their dismay—was given to two younger officers named Derek and Nate. The boys in their mid-twenties weren't exactly well-known for their competency, which is precisely why they were given the “graveyard” shift. Feldnaut City was usually pretty quiet at night, and it hadn't changed much since the monster attacks had started.

“So, what do you think?” Nate asked his fellow officer as they slowly rolled down the barren midnight streets in their police car. “Alien attack or mass hysteria?”

“Beats me,” Derek replied, scratching the heavy stubble on his face. “This town is full of loonies, sure, but there have been too many eyewitness reports to call the whole thing crazy talk. But aliens? I dunno, seems pretty out there to me.”

“Same here. I guess we’ll just keep our eyes open for anything out of the ordinary.”

“Yeah, right. This city is practically dead. I should be in bed right now. I tell ya, I don’t know where I’d be without my coffee.”

“Speaking of which, I’m running out. Let’s make a pit stop.”

The convenience store cashier walked out into the humid night as the boys sipped their beverages. At the rate of business the station was getting, he could stay out and chat with them all night. “Boring night, I take it?”

Nate groaned. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“We’re supposed to be on the lookout for aliens…or monsters…or something,” said Derek. “I don’t even know.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard customers talking about that. Haven’t seen anything, have ya?”

Derek scanned the streets in both directions. “Nothing out of the ordinary so far. I guess all the action has been happening during the day, and yet we get stuck with the night shift. Sometimes I wonder if I should start looking for a new line of--”

He stopped as he spotted the vague silhouette of a strange-looking creature jetting up the road.

“Derek, what is it?” Nate asked.

“I just saw something running up the road. And it was fast.”

“Probably just a dog or something.”

“If it was, that was the fastest dog I’ve ever seen.”

The cashier opened the door to go back inside. “Looks like you guys have something to go after, eh?”

“It’s worth checking out. Let’s go, Nate.”

Nate sighed as he walked back to the car. “Better than nothing, I guess.”

“You boys be careful, now,” the cashier said.

“You know us,” Derek responded with a grin.

He returned the grin. “I sure do…”

They drove off.

“Can’t people learn to keep their animals chained up?” Nate grumbled.

“Hey, I see it. It’s way up there.” Derek pointed into the blackness ahead. Nate stepped on the gas, and they closed in on the creature. It began running faster.

“Okay, that ain’t no dog!” Nate said.

“Looks like we finally found something suspicious. Floor it!”

The creature continued running, coming close to the city limits.

“I’ve seen cheetahs run slower than that thing,” Nate said. “What the heck is it?”

“I don’t know, but it’s heading for the forest.”

“We’ll never be able to catch it in there.”

“We’ll just have to go in on foot.”

“Wha--are you crazy? Just let it go!”

“It must‘ve had a reason for being in the city in the first place before we started chasing it, so it‘s probably going to come back later. Besides, think of the promotion we’d get for bringing in one of those dangerous creatures.”

“Well, when you put it that way...”

They pulled to a stop in front of the sprawling forest and took off on foot after the creature.

Nate panted as he made his way around tree after tree, the thin beam of his flashlight barely lighting the way ahead of him. “Okay, I’ve changed my mind. This is a really stupid idea.

“It has to be getting tired by now,” Derek, who was gradually increasing the distance between them, called back to him.

“We don’t even know if it is one of those dangerous creatures or not, Derek!”

“It’s not like we have anything better to do.”

Finally, they made it to a large, open clearing. A strangely out of place crag shot up in the middle of it. The monster was nowhere to be seen.

“Nuts. Where’d it go?” Derek wondered.

“I told you it’d be a waste of time, but noooooo…”

“Darn it.”

Tired, Nate began walking back towards the car. “Ah well, at least the night wasn‘t a total snoozer. Let’s head back.”

“Hold on,” Derek panted, “I need a minute to catch my breath.”

“Take your time.” Nate continued looking the other way at Derek leaned against the crag…and fell right through it.

Derek suddenly found himself in a large, dark area, as if he had crossed from one dimension to another. He started to spaz out, but stifled himself. What the--what just happened? he wondered. Where am I? Last I checked, I was in a forest. Wha--oh man, this is too weird.

He shined his flashlight around the area. Walls. Corridors. He couldn't feel the light breeze whipping around him anymore. Wherever he was, he knew it wasn't outside. “Man, I’d say finding this place is probably good for two or three promotions,” he said to himself. “That is, if I manage to find my way out of here…wherever here even is. Wouldn’t surprise me if this is where all these monster things are coming from.”

As he walked, he suddenly tripped and fell on his face. He looked behind him to see what he tripped on. Some kind of coffee table. Whoever decorated this place really needed to rethink where they put their furniture.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the “coffee table” had eyes. And feet.

And it was snoring.

“T-that’s no table,” he said quietly, his eyes fixed on the bizarre sleeping creature. “I--I don’t know what that is! I must be going stark raving mad. I gotta get out of here.”

He scrambled to his feet and down the hallway in a panic. Where were the doors? Where were the windows? Where was anything?

“Wait. No one will believe my story unless I have some sort of evidence. I’ll see if I can snatch something alien-like before I leave.”

If he could leave.

He tiptoed through the first door he could find. It was a small room, almost like a normal, “human” room.

And little wonder; there was a pair of what looked to be teenage human boys sleeping in a bunk-bed like contraption in the corner. Just where had he ended up?

It didn't matter at that point. What was important was finding a way out without waking any evil alien monsters up. He spied some sort of bracelet on their nightstand. It looked freaky enough to him to make good evidence.

As he made his way back into the main hall, he could faintly hear his partner's voice. “Hey, Derek, where’d you go?”

“Is that…Nate?” Derek wondered. “I hear him clear as day. It’s like he’s right beside me.”

“Great,” Nate's voice continued. “Where on Earth is he? I don’t have the patience for his stupid games.”

Could it be…? Could that horribly out-of-place mountain thing be some sort of…cloak for these monsters’ hideout? If that was the case…

He stood in front of the wall. “It’s crazy…but then again, what isn’t around here?”

He slowly stuck his hand right through the rippling wall.

“Bingo!”

He ran through the wall so fast that he plowed right into Nate. “Derek, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Nate, you won’t believe this!” Derek said excitedly. “This mountain…isn’t really a mountain at all! It’s a secret entrance to some sort of…secret hideout! Look, I managed to snatch this alien monster bracelet thing!” He showed the Guardian band to his colleague.

“So you’re telling me you went into some secret dimension and came back with a bracelet?”

“Well…I guess so.”

Nate walked up to the side of the crag skeptically and watched as his hand went right through it. “Whoa, cool! I wanna see, too!”

Derek kept him from rushing through. “Hold up! It’s weird in there, full of creepy monsters that look like coffee tables.”

“Okay, now I definitely want to see!”

“Shush, will you? I could hear you from inside there, so everything else in there can probably hear, too. We need to get out of here before those monsters come after us.”

“What are you so worried about? We’re part of the FPD. No monsters can take us.”

“Fine, you stay and deal with the swarms of monsters. But I’m taking the car.” Bursting with excitement, Derek made a dash for the car.

“Hmph. Fine, wait for me!”

“I can’t wait to see the look on the chief’s face when we tell him what we found! We’re in for a promotion, dude, no doubt about it.”

Inside the hidden lair, Trey turned over in his bed. “Yes, yes, the oak coffee table definitely goes better with my curtains…”

---

The following morning, in one of the nicer suburban areas of the city, Chip Stamper and his dad were working on fixing a customer's computer in their workshop.

“Hey Chip, pass me the screwdriver, will ya?” his dad asked him.

“Sure, here you go.”

“Thanks. You know, Chip, it’s good to have you back helping me out. It gets really busy in the summer when the kids are home from school and breaking their parents’ computers. Lucky for me there aren’t many people in this town that know how to fix ‘em.”

“More money in the bank, huh?”

“You know it. Ah, rats, I broke one of the mounting screws.”

“Dad, you’re the only man I know who can break a mounting screw.”

“It’s a curse, I tell ya. Would you be willing to run a little errand for me?”

“I guess so, but it’ll cost you extra.”

“How about I feed, clothe, and shelter you for the next two years or so?”

“Point taken. I’ll go buy some more mounting screws.”

---

The master didn't take the loss of the Guardian band very well.

“Seriously, sir, we have no idea what happened to it,” said Troy, really starting to regret admitting that it was gone in the first place. “It was on the desk last time we--”

The master's hand blackened with dark energy. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t vaporize you both where you stand!”

Trey tried to smile despite his sheer terror. “Uh, because we’re charming and our antics are an endless source of amusement?”

The dark energy dissipated. “Hmph. You don’t know how many times I’ve come close to destroying you two for your incompetence. But for some reason, I can never seem to bring myself to do it. Perhaps I subconsciously feel pity for you.”

“That’s good enough for us,” Troy said. “Anyway, we can get it back, sir. We got it the first time, remember?”

“No, I’m afraid you’ll be sitting this one out. We’re going to have some fresh blood handle this. Speedash, come forth!”

A brown blur entered the room with blinding speed. It came to a screeching halt in front of them, revealing a sleek, dog-like Creturian. “At your service, my master,” he said almost too fast for the master to understand him. “I live to serve. What can I do for you? Whatever it is you want me to do, I’ll do it, yeah!”

“The task of recovering the lost Guardian power falls on you,” the master said. “Do not fail me.”

“Sir, yes, sir! I’ll have it back here before you can say, 'Wow, I wonder how long it’ll take him to get back.'” The second the last word left the Creturian's mouth, he was out the door.

“He really needs to cut down on the sugar,” Troy said.

The master turned to his servants. “As for you two…”

“You’re going to let us off with a warning?” Trey said hopefully.

“No, I was thinking more along the lines of commanding you to scrub the floors. Get to it!”

Trey and Troy groaned.

---

“Have you talked to the chief yet?” Nate asked Derek as he walked into the Police HQ break room.

“No,” Derek replied. “I want to wait for just the right moment, when he’s not so busy. You know how he hates to get excited when he’s working hard on something.”

“So, where’s that bracelet thing?”

“Out in my car.”

“Is that really a safe place to keep it?”

“Of course, Nate. Who in their right mind would break into someone’s car at a police station?”

Speedash dashed through the forest.

He would.

---

Brittany and Tami sat on Brittany's bed and examined their bracelets—or rather, as they now knew them, their Guardian bands.

“I don’t know about you,” Brittany said, “but I’m starting to regret ever having bought these stupid things.”

Tami nodded. “I’m with you. I don’t want to have to spend my summer afraid that something is going to kill me at any given moment.”

“I was thinking a bit more long-term than that. Our lives may never be the same after this.”

“Well, if that’s the case, at least we’re not the only ones out there that have to deal with it. The nerve of that guy, leaving us to fend for ourselves. You’d figure he’d want the company.”

“How exactly do we get these things working again?”

“Dimensional Guardians, power up!” Apparently Tami remembered. With a blinding light that filled the room, Tami transformed into her Guardian armor. “Ah. I was right.”

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Brittany said frantically. “Not in the house! If mom sees you--”

Her mom, who had seen the bright light emitting from the room, knocked on the door. “What are you girls doing in there?”

“Oh, n-nothing, mom,” Brittany stammered. “Just fiddling with the stereo. Uh, and the flashlight.”

“Well, I have some clothes for you to put away. Can I come in?”

“Eep!”

Her mom entered the room regardless. Both Brittany and Tami—who had jumped under the covers of Brittany's bed—smiled innocently at her.

“Hey mom,” Brittany said.

“Hello.” Her mom looked at Tami curiously. “Tami, are you sick?”

Tami grinned broadly. “Oh, uh, no, just cold. Brittany sure loves to keep that fan going. Heh heh.”

Her mom chuckled. “No kidding, that’s why I don’t let Brittany touch the thermostat anymore. We’d freeze to death if she controlled the temperature in this place.”

Brittany forced a laugh. “Oh, mom, you’re such a card. Thanks for the clothes, now, bye.”

“Er, have fun…” Her mom left the room and closed the door. Tami got out from under the covers, and Brittany heaved a sigh of relief.

“Wow, you’re right,” said Tami, for the first time noticing how she really looked in the armor. “The spandex isn’t very flattering, is it?”

Brittany sighed again, this time in exasperation.

---

Rob dug through his closet in search of a better disguise. There was no telling the next time he'd inadvertently run into someone he knew, and he wanted to be prepared for it. The sunglasses were fine, but the pink helmet—obviously—made him look like an idiot. Surely he could find something better.

He tried to imagine the costumes that out-of-the-ordinary people wore in comic books and TV shows when they had little to work with. The costume didn't have to be complex, but it had to hide his identity well.

The thought of what he was going to do about Brittany and Tami wrestled for dominance in his mind. Should he tell them his secret or not? They were in the same boat that he was now. And they were bound to be more helpful than Wyn was. Really, there was no reason not to tell them.

---

A car alarm began blaring in front of the police station, prompting several employees to race outside.

“My car!” Derek exclaimed.

A strangely familiar brown blur smashed out of the car's window and streaked down the road. Everyone around started chattering excitedly. “That’s the same thing from last night…” Derek said softly. “I gotta catch it!”

“You’re not seriously going to go after that thing again, are you?” Nate asked, following his partner to a parked police car.

“You bet I am,” Derek replied. “Tell the chief we’ll be needing backup, and plenty of it!”

Before Nate could get another word in, Derek peeled off recklessly after the creature. “…why do I have to be the one to tell him?”

One of the secretaries shook her head. “He is so going to get chewed out for this.”

Speedash continued running as he heard Derek’s voice over the loudspeaker. “Unidentified mutant animal, stop running right now. There is no escape.”

“It’s that guy from last night,” Speedash said to himself. “He stopped me from enjoying my nighttime run. I’ve had it with him. He’s going down!”

Derek slammed on the breaks as the monster stopped in front of his car. It was the first good look he'd gotten of the creature. “Whoa. What are you?”

“None your business,” Speedash said irritatingly fast. “I’m gonna get you back for causing me so much trouble last night, yeah!”

Derek slowly removed his gun from his holster. “D-Don’t move. I’ll do what I have to to--”

In the blink of an eye, Speedash sped past him, grabbed the gun from his trembling hands, and crushed it between his teeth.

“I don’t take kindly to threats,” Speedash said. “But it doesn’t matter anymore anyway because you don’t have your gun anymore because I broke it, so ha ha.” Speedash's mouth twisted upwards into a smirk as he edged his way toward the officer.

“I--I can’t believe it’s going to end this way,” Derek said. “And I was so close to getting a promotion, too.”

Speedash pounced...

And was knocked aside by a laser blast. Rob, decked out with a bandanna on his head and sunglasses over his eyes—his simple but effective new disguise—helped Derek to his feet. “Are you all right, officer?” he asked in his heroic voice.

“Y-You saved me? W-Who are you?”

Rob picked the bracelet up off the ground. “Just your local neighborhood Spider-Ma--er, Dimensional Guardian.”

“Are you one of those alien monster guys, too?”

“Me? Oh, no no no. That’s about all I can tell you, though. Sorry.”

“Hey, I’m still here, y’know,” Speedash broke in. “How rude! I’ll show you. Gimme that Guardian band!”

Rob panicked as Speedash rushed him. With all the power his Guardian armor gave him, he hurled the bracelet over the building tops. “Go get it, speedy!”

Speedash growled. “You punk! You’re lucky that you threw that bracelet because now I have to go after it instead of destroying you, but I’ll be back to deal with you later, yeah!” He took off in a blur.

Derek watched woefully as the bracelet flew through the air. There went his promotion.

“The Guardian power is far too dangerous to be in the hands of one who doesn‘t understand the power it holds,” Rob told him. “Just leave everything to me. Stay safe, citizen.” He raced off to get the Guardian band before Speedash could.

Derek simply stared. “Sheesh…this town is chock full of weirdos.”

Just then, the backup he had called for skidded to a halt in front of him.

And to his surprise, his chief emerged from the front car. And he didn't look happy.

“You…are in so…much…trouble.”

---

Chip entered the small computer shop at the corner of the street, as he found himself doing every week or so. In his dad's line of work, having computer parts readily available was a must, and whatever he needed, he knew his pal Jimmie would have it. “Hey, Jimmie, how’s it going?” he asked the man behind the counter.

“Ah, Chip. What’d the old man break this time?” Jimmie asked.

“Oh, just some mounting screws.”

“Heh, what a surprise. You need to tell him to take it easy on those computer parts.”

“You know as well as I do that he wouldn’t listen.”

Meanwhile, Rob continued his building-hopping. I didn’t want to make things complicated, but I didn’t want to risk that cop getting caught in the crossfire, either. I don’t know where that new Guardian power came from, but that Creturian isn't getting to it before I do.

“Thanks, Jimmie,” Chip said as he walked out of the store with his purchase in hand. “I’m sure I’ll be back before too long.”

He turned as he heard the sound of something hitting the sidewalk near him. He picked the object up. Some sort of bracelet, it looked like. Some sort of expensive, high tech bracelet. He was usually up to date on all the latest tech, but this was different than anything he'd ever seen before. Maybe his dad would know what it was.

“That kid is going to pay for this whenever I find him,” Speedash said as he ran. “And I will find him. He can be sure of that. But first I have to get that Guardian power, and then I’ll get him. Oh yeah, that’ll be fun.”

The longer Rob ran, the more he realized what a stupid idea it was to carelessly throw the Guardian band away like that. How was he supposed to find it? It wasn't like he could sense it as the monsters could.

Suddenly, he spotted Speedash running past him. Then it hit him. If Speedash knew where the Guardian band was, then all Rob had to do was wait for him to find it and then take him out.

A few minutes of strenuous running later, he ruefully acknowledged he had come up with another dumb idea. “I’ll--get him--eventually--” He stopped to catch his breath. “Sheesh. That thing’s faster than I thought.”

A short distance away, Chip stopped walking as he heard the quick patter of footsteps growing progressively louder, then whirled around to see Speedash running at him. Before he could move out of the way, Speedash pounced on top of him. “Hey, you can’t have that, my boss needs it. So I’m gonna take it off your hands, ‘kay thanks bye.”

“I-I--sure, whatever!” Chip stammered.

“Waitaminute here, what were you planning on doing with the Guardian band, anyway? I bet you‘re in cahoots with that other guy, yeah, I bet! Thought you could get away with it, huh? Well, you didn’t. You can’t hide it from me. Now I have to destroy you, sorry.”

“I--I don’t know who or what you are, or one word you just said…”

“Sorry, I have a bad habit of speaking fast. Wait, why am I apologizing to the likes of you? I should be destroying you!”

“Stop where you are, jabber jaw!”

“Hey, who’s that?”

Rob had caught up with the creature, but it looked like he was about to attack someone. He tried to make out who it was.

Was that...Chip? From school?

“Hey, you’re the one guy from before,” Speedash said. “I recognize your silly outfit. Your little plan failed, ‘cuz I found your partner, and now I’m gonna destroy him and take the Guardian power and then destroy you and take your Guardian power and then the boss is gonna be really happy with me.”

Rob tried to piece together what Speedash said. “…okay, I think I heard something about destroying my partner, but you’re not hurting anyone if I have anything to say about it. Get off of him right now unless you want to get blasted.”

Speedash smiled. “Go ahead and shoot if you want, ‘cuz I’m so super fast that I can move out of the way when you fire and then you’ll end up blasting your friend, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want that.”

Gah, he’s right, Rob thought. I can’t risk blasting Chip…but if I don’t do something, that monster will finish him off, anyway. The only thing I can think of…

He noticed Chip clutching the Guardian band tightly. He hated to do it, but...

“Chip! Say 'Dimensional Guardians, power up!'”

“H-How do you know my name?”

“Just say it! Now!”

“D-Dimensional Guardians…power up!”

“Hey, wait!” Speedash exclaimed. “Don’t do that!” The energy given off sent him flying.

There Chip went. The Guardian power was bonding with his DNA, and whether he liked it or not, he was going to become a Dimensional Guardian. Rob hated that it had to turn out that way.

Chip adjusted his eyes after the light subsided and looked down at his now-armored body in shock.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Speedash said.

“It looks like you have two Guardians to deal with now,” Rob told the monster. “Get out of here while you still can.”

Speedash snorted. “Yeah right! You’re both gonna get it! Lightspeed Dash!”

Speedash used his unmatched speed to slam into Rob repeatedly. Unable to keep up with his opponent, Rob could do little more than stand there and get pummeled until he finally managed to catch on to his pattern. Then, on one pass, he grabbed Speedash around his torso, stopping him in his tracks. “Not so fast now, are ya?” Rob sneered.

“I don’t need speed to beat you. Check this out.” Speedash flipped upwards, smacked Rob in the face with his tail, then firmly kicked him across the pavement.

“Ha, that was easy enough. Now for the other guy.”

Despite his body armor, Chip was still too terrified to move.

“Chip, don’t just stand there!” Rob said. “Use your weapon or something!”

Chip looked down at the strange blinking gauntlet on his right hand. “I--I--I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Press all the buttons!” Rob yelled as Speedash prepared to attack the petrified boy.

Chip pressed buttons frantically. As Speedash made his move, Chip's hand began to emit an eerie green glow, and a spiral of green energy smashed into the monster.

“All right!” Rob said. “And now to finish the job. Laser Blast!”

The light from the blasts cleared, and Speedash, like all the monsters before him, was gone.

Involuntarily, Chip de-transformed, then held his hands in front of him in amazement. “What did I just do...?”

“Pretty cool, huh?” Rob said, trying to make light of the situation.

Chip looked at Rob as if he had turned into a monster himself. “R-Rob??”

Puzzled, Rob felt on his face for his sunglasses and bandanna.

His sunglasses were gone and his bandanna was hanging off of his head.

He stared at Chip for a moment before speaking. “Uh…hey there?”

Chip continued staring back at him.

“Well…this is kind of awkward, huh?” Rob said, the silence getting to him. “I guess you’ll want me to tell you exactly what’s going on.”

Chip slowly backed away. “N-No. Whatever it is, I don’t want anything to do with it!” He threw his bracelet to the ground and took off for home.

“Wait! Chip!”

The boy had already disappeared over the hill. Rob de-transformed and sighed as he picked his bent sunglasses up off the ground. “Now what am I going to do?”

Chip's dad heard the workshop door open. “Welcome back,” he said without turning to look at his son. “Did they have what I needed?”

Chip didn't respond. His dad turned and noticed the mounting screws rattling in Chip’s shaking hands. “You okay, son? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

Chip handed the package to him and left without saying anything. His dad scratched his head in confusion.

Chip made his way into his room, closed the door, and tried to catch his breath, in total shock over the events that had just occurred.

Will Rob find a way to help Chip? And what will be poor Derek’s fate? These answers and more in the next exciting episode of Dimension Heroes!

TO BE CONTINUED…