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"Watch out!"
The warning call had come just a moment too late. Sakito turned to the left just in time to see an orb of light flying at him. Before he had even a sliver of a chance to make any movement, it had hit him.
Light absorbed into his body and when it finally faded, the rest of the Boonboongers were faced by a troublesome fact. Sakito was... a child now.
The young boy looked around, seeming confused and slightly scared. The automonster seemed to like that as it began to stalk toward Sakito. Taiya and Jou were the first to rush forward, blocking the monster's path and forcing it to fight them. Ishiro quickly came to assist them as well.
Sakito had taken a few steps backwards, looking at the fight in fear. Genba reached the young boy, untransforming to try to not scare him more.
"Hey... it's alright. Come with me, okay? Let's get you out of here." Genba spoke calmly to him.
Sakito looked at him, some distrust appearing on his face. After a moment of debate, he hesitantly nodded and hugged Genba tightly. Genba patted him on the head and then scooped him into his arms.
He took Sakito back to the base, not knowing where else to take him. It seemed like the safest option for now. Mira rushed to catch up with him.
"What do we do, Genba?" Mira asked worriedly as they approached the base.
"I don't know..." Genba replied. "We'll just have to do it as we go."
Sakito had wrapped his arms tightly around Genba's neck, hiding his face from sight. At least he seemed calm as of now. Genba was grateful the kid hadn't put up more of a fight. He had been worried that might happen. He was glad to have been proven wrong.
The three of them made it to the base. Bundorio and Byun D were there. Both seemed equally surprised at the scene.
Byun D took a step forward. "Sak-"
Mira waved her hands in a 'stop' motion, making him shut up. She went over to the two and spoke quietly. "He doesn't seem to know us in this state. Please stay out of this. You might scare him."
Both of them nodded and kept their distance. Genba had taken a seat on a couch. Sakito was refusing to let go of him.
"It's okay. You're safe here." Genba spoke softly to him.
Sakito hesitantly unburied his head from Genba's shoulder and looked at him. He cautiously looked around the room, tensing up as he did lay sight on the two robotic ones.
"I'm Genba. That's Mira. And those two are Bundorio and Byun Diesel." Genba introduced everyone.
Sakito nodded, which seemed to confirm to everyone he didn't have his memories. He finally mumbled his name back to them. "Sakito..."
"It's nice to meet you." Genba smiled at him. "You can explore the room, if you want. Just don't touch anything, okay? You might get hurt."
Sakito shook his head and tightened his hold on Genba. He didn't seem to have any desire to let go. Genba held him close. There wasn't much else he could do.
"Onii-chan? Where are my parents?" Sakito asked quietly.
"Oh... they had to go do something and asked us to look after you for a while." Genba quickly came up with a story.
"Onii-chan?" Byun D whispered, low enough only Mira and Bundorio heard him. Both just offered shrugs.
"They couldn't take me with them again...?" Sakito sounded defeated. "Why don't they love me, onii-chan? Why did they adopt me if they don't want to do anything with me?"
Genba frowned at the information he was given. They only knew so much about Sakito's past and this was not a subject they had ever gotten to learn. It broke his heart to hear a kid have to ask such a thing.
"I don't know, Sakito." Genba ruffled his hair. "I wish I had an answer."
"I hate them..."
Genba didn't know how to respond to that. He just pulled the boy closer. He glanced over at the others. Mira was equally concerned by the information they learned.
...
"We lost the automonster..." Taiya entered the base, Jou and Ishiro behind him.
"We can tell." Genba replied, nodding to the still-a-child Sakito. Sakito had yet to let go of him and seemed to have fallen asleep in his arms now.
"So, the monster can turn people into kids." Ishiro sighed.
"And they mentally regress as well." Mira said. "He doesn't know us anymore."
"At least he seems to trust you." Jou commented.
"I have a feeling this is the most affection he's had in his mind." Genba said quietly. "He's... said some concerning things about his past to us."
"So, what do we do?" Bundorio asked.
"We need to defeat the automonster." Byun D replied. "That should reverse this."
"We'll be down two people though." Ishiro said. "I don't see him wanting to be left alone."
"I'll stay with him." Genba offered. "Since he is already like this with me."
"Let's hope we don't have too much trouble defeating that monster."
They all fell silent and began trying to find the new location of the automonster. During that time, Sakito stirred. He lifted his head and looked around the room. He moved closer to Genba.
Genba pointed to each of the new faces and introduced them as well. Sakito nodded, but didn't move. He was wary of them. At least he seemed to trust one of them enough.
"Hi there." Jou walked over to them.
Sakito looked at him warily.
"Do you want to play some games? We have some you can play with." Jou said, offering a warm smile to the boy.
Sakito hesitated, seeming to be debating his options heavily. He eventually gave a small nod and slowly slid off of Genba and stood on the ground.
Jou pulled out some activities and showed them all to Sakito. Mira joined him and they entertained the boy for a bit.
"This is certainly something." Ishiro commented as he watched.
"At least we got him to cooperate." Taiya replied.
"True."
"He's quite adorable." Genba smiled.
"It's just weird." Taiya said.
"I found them." Ishiro interrupted the conversation.
Everyone gathered to see the location. Sakito walked over, seeming interested. Taiya picked him up so he could see the screen as well.
"That's not too far." Jou said.
"We should hurry and stop it before more people get hurt." Mira stated.
Taiya set Sakito down again. "You're going to hang out with Genba for a bit while we go do something, okay?"
"I can't go?" Sakito asked.
Taiya shook his head. "It's too dangerous for you. But, I'm sure you guys can watch us from here."
"Okay..." Sakito nodded.
Genba patted him on the head. He wished the rest of them luck as they all departed. Now it was just the two of them.
Genba pulled up a feed of the area and let Sakito watch with him.
"What's that thing?" Sakito pointed to the monster.
"An automonster. It's a bad monster that wants to hurt people." Genba explained. "We fight them to make sure they can't hurt people."
"That's cool. I wanna do that."
"I'm sure one day you will."
The two watched as the others arrived and began to battle the monster. They managed to get the upper hand and take it down. But, of course, it grew.
Genba had hoped that after the first death, Sakito would return to normal so they could help. Unfortunately, that was not appearing to be the case. At least it didn't take them too long to defeat the monster a second time considering they were down two fighters.
And then, Sakito reverted to normal. He stared for a while, not really looking at anything in particular. Eventually, he glanced at Genba.
"Do you... remember what happened?" Genba asked.
Sakito averted his gaze. He quickly made an exit, only saying one thing to Genba before he left. "Forget what you saw."
Genba just shook his head fondly.
Sakito left the base and wandered into a secluded area. He sat down on a half-wall and let out a sigh. A tear fell down his face.
"Why...? Why couldn't... why couldn't I have found an adult like you all back then..?"