Alternate Lives

The Green Lion

Castle of Lions

Hiro and Tadashi make their way through the forest, following the beacon.  They arrive at a river and spot a boat with a lion head on it.  Suddenly, a strange sloth-like creature appears next to them.  “Ah!” Hiro exclaims jumping onto Tadashi, “It’s just a…whatever that thing is.”
The creature walks towards the boat and guestures for them to follow.  “I…I think he wants us to get in his canoe,” Hiro says.

“Then I guess we should go,” Tadashi shrugs before seeing Hiro’s face, “I’ve been locked up by aliens for a year.  This is nothing.”  The older brother walks over to the alien’s boat and Hiro follows.

They travel down the river in peace and Hiro laughs as they pass under an arch with a lion carved into it, “I wonder if Wasabi and Fred are having as good a time as us.”

As they get closer to lion, Hiro begins to question himself, “I know the Princess said this was supposed to be my lion, but what if he’s wrong?  I mean she’s probably not wrong.  She’s a princess, but I’m not a pilot, even though I’ve always wanted to be a pilot.  I mean I read all the fighter manuals, but I never got to fly the simulator.  But I can’t be worse than Fred.  He crashed all the time.  What if I get in and it doesn’t respond?  What if I get in there and it’s too big and my feet don’t touch the pedals?  What if there aren’t even pedals!”

“You’re rambling,” Tadashi reminds him, “Listen, and I’m not just saying this because you’re my little brother.  You are one of the smartest people I know, and if anyone can fly a giant space lion, it’s you.”

Hiro smiles before gasping at the sight ahead of them.  They had reached the end of the river and before them was a huge mess of vines growing over a stone structure.  Both Hamadas stare at it in shock as the boat reaches the shore.  As they walk closer the carvings of lions begin to glow green.
Tadashi stops, “Go.  Be great,” he says giving Hiro a smile.

Hiro smiles back before running up the steps and climbing to the top of the vines.  Once on top he realizes there’s nothing there.  Hiro looks around confused before hearing a growl emanating from under the vines.  He grins before jumping down into the vines.

Soon, they’re back in the Castle of Lions, “You made it,” Honey Lemon exclaims.

“Yeah, just barely,” Fred replies massaging his arm, “That was a nightmare.  I almost puked out there.  I felt like Wasabi!”

“Think how I felt, I am Wasabi,” Wasabi mutters.

“Yeah, we had a tough time too,” Hiro smirks.

A few hours later, they have everything, lion, bayards, and armor, however Hiro never felt more out of place.

“Hey Tadashi,” Hiro says seeing his brother in the hallway, “Can we talk?”

“Of course,” Tadashi replies stopping and turning towards Hiro, “What’s up?”

Hiro looks around nervously before pulling Tadashi into his room, “Do you ever feel like something’s wrong?  Like this is not what our life was supposed to be like.”

Tadashi kneels down in front of Hiro, “I know everything has been super crazy, and it’s okay to be scared.  Before this, you probably would have never believed that you would meet an alien…”

“No,” Hiro interrupts, “It’s not that.  Something about our whole lives seems off, like this was not who we were supposed to be.  And I know you’re probably going to think I’m crazy, but I keep having these dreams.  It’s of a city, and it seems so familiar, but I know I’ve never been there.  Also, there is a robot, he’s white, round, and looks like a marshmallow…” Hiro pauses, “This is crazy, I sound crazy.”

“No, you don’t,” Tadashi speaks up.

“Really?” Hiro asks.

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to remember what happened when I was being held prisoner,” Tadashi starts, “But all I can remember is going to college and working on a robot.  And we both know that I didn’t go to college, just the Garrison.  Also, the robot was exactly as you described it.  There was also…” Tadashi trails off.

“What?” Hiro asks curious.

“Nothing,” Tadashi mutters, “Let’s go find the others.  Maybe they’ve had similar thoughts.”

“I mean, I believe it,” Wasabi says after Tadashi and Hiro are done explaining, “What?  It’s not the strangest thing I’ve heard in the last week.”

“Me too,” Fred says, “I’ve been having this reoccurring dream about a fire-breathing lizard costume, also a non-fire-breathing lizard costume, and a man with a nice mustache and sunglasses.  Though obviously not at fabulous as yours Coran.”

“Same,” Go-Go says blowing a piece of bubble gum, “Well not about the lizard, but something does seem off.”

“I thought it just the fact that I had been in sleep chamber for 10,000 years,” Honey Lemon starts, “but something is definitely wrong.  I keep having this dream about going to a school and studying alchemy, or something like that.  Also, everyone was Earthlings, which is weird because I have never met anyone like you guys until a few days ago.”

“Do you think it’s Zarkon.  I mean we’re all definitely real, right?” Fred asks looks around suspiciously.

“Yeah,” Wasabi replies nervously, “I mean what else would it be?  This isn’t a Garrison simulation, is it?”

“I don’t the Garrison could have made all this up,” Tadashi says, “They don’t have enough imagnination.”

“What about Zarkon?” Wasabi asks looking around as if Zarkon was going to pop out of nowhere.

“Zarkon is too bloodthirsty, he would just kill us.  He has no reason to keep us around, trapped,” Honey Lemon explains.

“A lot of you are having visons of a university.  Maybe someone is trying to send us a message,” Hiro says.

“A message that gives us visions, sound like science fiction,” Go-Go mutters.

“Go-Go, how many things have we seen in the past week that we thought were science fiction?” Fred asks, “A lot, my mind is blown!”

“Fred’s right,” Tadashi says, “At this point, someone sending messages via brainwaves is not the strangest thing I’ve heard.”

“Yeah,” Hiro says before yawning, “We have to get to the bottom of it.”

Tadashi looks around and realizes that everyone else is also looking very tired.  “How about we get some sleep now, and we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”  Everyone agrees and they head off to bed.