Previously on Mech X4...
The first monster the team battled jumped up on Mech X4 and bit the right arm of the robot.
Ryan yelled in pain, "Why did it hurt?!"
"You are bonded to the robot," Harris reasoned.
The scene cuts to Ryan riding his skateboard through the Mech.
He stoped and picked up the skateboard outside of Harris' lab.
"Oh hey, Ryan, check this out. I'm trying to create a weapon for the chest. I figured we could use something more powerful after we got out butts kicked by clawboon," Harris said as the scene cut to the monster kicking their collective butts.
There's a reverberating boom as the scene cuts back to Ryan walking through the Mech.
He passed Spyder, working on some tech and the sound of the metal on metal reminded him of an explosion that sent him flying.
He winced in pain, making a slightly annoyed and pained sound.
The sound of Mark hammering some more tech is what put him over the edge.
He remembered the first monster they fought and how it attacked with its tail. More importantly, he remembered the pain.
The voices of his team seem to swirl as they fill the air and the room seems to spin. The booming of his brother's tech echoing.
"Would everyone just shut it, for like, three seconds!"
The scene cut again, "I have all these people depending on me. And I've just been having all these flashbacks..."
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Ryan sits on the couch playing video games as Mark opens the front door and flops down beside him.
"Hard day?" Ryan asks, amusement working its way into his voice as his eyes stay trained on the game.
"Shut it, dingus," Mark replies, standing up, "Or next time you'll be the one who gets covered in oil trying to fix your brother's robot."
Ryan makes a face, turning to face Mark, "You don't have a robot."
"Exactly," Mark says, pointing at Ryan as he repeats himself, "Exactly."
"Whatever, weirdo," Ryan comments, shaking his head as he turns his attention back to his game.
Mark rolls his eyes as he shrugs off his jacket and walks back over to the couch, watching his brother's gameplay.
"You gonna start talking to yourself again?" Mark asks playfully.
"Hey! Self coaching is a true method. It really works!" Ryan defends as a bomb explodes on screen.
Mark rolls his eyes again but stops when he spots his brother's wince, "Ryan?"
Ryan doesn't respond. His eyes are lost in a thousand-yard stare.
The electronics in the house begin going haywire.
"Ryan?" Mark asks again, urgency clear in his voice as he shakes his younger brother.
Somewhere in the house, Mark hears something drop and another something explode.
"Ryan!" Mark shouts, and Ryan seems to snap out of whatever trance he was in.
"What- What happened?" Ryan asks, panicking as he looks around quickly, scanning his surrounding and using his powers to shut off the electronics.
He looks at his brother, fear in his eyes, "What's happening to me?"
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"Just try to get some rest. Harris said he'd meet us tomorrow, so he'll meet us tomorrow," Mark says, patting Ryan's shoulder twice in what he hoped was a sign of comfort, "Night bro."
"Night," Ryan said, watching Mark walk down the hall heading for his bedroom.
Ryan turned back to look at the blank tv. The two had called Spyder and Harris immediately, assuming it was a problem with the Mech. Harris was quick to reassure them that it didn't seem to be the case.
Unfortunately, both Harris and Spyder were busy for the night so the four couldn't meet up until the next day.
Which meant a long night for one Ryan Walker.
It's two thirty in the morning when Ryan shoots up in bed, a scream still tearing his throat and beads of sweat dripping down his face and back.
Mark and his mother burst into the room.
His mom immediately sat down on the bed while Mark hangs back in the doorframe. Ryan hadn't had nightmares like this since their dad left.
Their mom began soothing Ryan, but he wouldn't calm down. He continues shaking and staring blankly at the wall until his mom finally lays him down.
Ryan closes his eyes and their mother stands, whispering something to Mark about getting more sleep. Mark nods but doesn't move.
He waits until he hears her bedroom door shut to approach the bed.
"Ryan," He whispers, running his hand though his brother's hair. Ryan flinches at the touch, his eyes shooting open.
They widen at seeing Mark, and Ryan jumps back as much as possible on the bed.
"Woah, Ryan," Mark says, raising his hands in a surrendering motion as he attempts to placate his frightened brother. He offers a shaky smile, "Just me. You know, Mark."
"No..." Ryan says confusedly, before becoming defensive, "No, I don't. Why should I? Who are you?"
"Mark," Mark says slowly, lowering his head and moving to sit on the bed, "Your brother? The Most Awesome Mark Walker? Ringing any bells?"
Ryan tilts his head, his eyes squinting in confusion, "No... Why? Should it?"
"You know what, why don't you just try to get some sleep. I'm sure this'll all make more sense in the morning," Mark says, trying to calm his brother.
"O-Okay...? But you'll tell me where I am then, won't you? Where I am... Who I am... Wait," Ryan looks up sharply, eyes locking onto Marks, "Who am I?"
Mark freezes, "Just... Just get some sleep, buddy. I'll explain everything in the morning."
Mark begins to walk out of the room when Ryan calls out.
"No," Ryan argues, "You'll tell me now, or I'll start screaming."
Mark stops in place, "You're Ryan Walker, adopted brother of me, Mark Walker. You're a technopath, but only you, I, and two of your closest friends know. We're the pilots of a robot called Mech-X4 which was built by Leo Mendel, the man who also dropped you off at the orphanage."
"Okay now I know that's bull," Ryan argues, gradually growing louder, "Tell me who I am now!"
Ryan's alarm clock begins wailing as the lights flicker on and off.
Ryan looks around in shock, "What?"
"See, technopath," Mark says like he's talking to a three year old. That, or a psychotic killer.
"What?" Ryan asks again, dumbly, before speaking quietly to himself, "I'm gonna pass out now."
He then went limp, eyes rolling back in his head.
Mark shakes his head. Unsure of what else to do, he settles for moving his brother into a comfortable position and tucking him in.
"We'll deal with this tomorrow," Mark murmurs near Ryan before walking to his room, "Or in my case, now."
Activating the Mech-link Harris had made, he contacted its creator.
"Harris? How quickly can you get here?"
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"I don't understand, you're saying he didn't remember anything?" Harris asks, baffled.
"I'm telling you, nothing. Not even that he's a you-know-what." Mark spoke, muttering the last part into the device as he navigated the darkness of his house.
"Just focus on the rode and get to the Mech. You're leaving a note for your mom, right?"
"Of course, I'd be crazy not to. Are you at the Mech yet?" Mark asks, scribbling some excuse about an early project he and Ryan had to finish on a piece of paper before getting back to the topic at hand.
"Got here five minutes ago, son. You'd better up your game," Harris says, much to cheery for someone who'd been woken up in the middle of the night.
"Say that after you carry your unconscious technopathic brother to the car. I keep stopping every five feet in fear he'll short out the house," Mark complains, "Is Splinter there yet?"
"You mean master of the teenage mutant ninja turtles? No. Spyder? Yes. He fell asleep again, though. Not everyone can shoot awake at three am," Harris says dryly, "You almost at your car yet?"
Silence.
"Mark?"
There's a string of curses before Mark comes back on, "Yeah, just got in. Sorry, stubbed my toe on a chair or something."
Harris couldn't help but laugh, "The great Mark Walker stubs his toe like us lowly mortals? How embarrassing."
"Shut it," Mark orders sharply, "I'm on my way."
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"Anything?" Mark asks, there the group was again. The three of them surrounding one medical table with the team's pilot and resident technopath laying there, unconscious.
Harris shakes his head no, pulling a face, "By all means it makes no sense. His brain scans are normal in areas of main memory functionality but... wait. Spyder, can you get Ryan's file out from my desk over there."
"You have a file on Ryan?" Mark asks as Spyder hurries over to the desk draw and pulls out a file.
"Have had one since I learned of his abilities. I wanted to see the differences in his brain patterns compared to that of a normal human without doing any tests. Now here," Harris says, taking the file, "This is a normal brain."
Harris holds up a picture with three different brain scans on it before holding up one identical to it but with some differences, "This is Ryan's brain. Some of the differences are normal. Some people have parts of the brain that are larger than others and vice versa. All I'm saying is take in what Ryan's brain looks like right after we found Mech X4.
"Now," Harris continues, "Look at the monitor."
The group looks at the x-ray looking picture of Ryan's brain. Spyder leans in for a closer look, "It looks... scrunched?"
"Sort of," Harris explains, "This is the same before picture of a normal brain compared to one that now looks like Ryan's. Can you guess what the person in the second person has?"
Harris pauses for effect but Spyder butts in, "Technopathic abilities!"
Harris deadpans at him as Mark shoots him an, 'Are you serious?' Look.
"No," Harris continues.
Spyder 'aw's but Harris ignores him.
"It's a brain with PTSD. I've been studying brains trying to figure out Ryan's abilities when I stumbled upon brain scans of people with mental illnesses. I knew I recognized the look of his brain from somewhere!"
"So, he has post traumatic stress disorder," Mark says, shrugging his shoulder once as Spyder cuts in once again.
In a moment of tiredness, Spyder comments, "No, he has PTSD." While rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"PTSD is post traumatic stress disorder, dingus," Mark cuts back in, muttering and 'idiot' under his breath.
Spyder must've heard, because he shouts, "Hey! It's early and I'm worried, so sorry I don't know everything!"
Harris shushes them both and Spyder huffs.
With a roll of the eyes, Mark finishes off his earlier statement, "So he has PTSD, what do we do - what can we do - about it?"
"Get him diagnosed?" Harris suggest, "I honestly don't know. Mental disabilities aren't my specialty. Sure, I can do research, but it's best to get him diagnosed and see what they say."
"And when they find out about what he's stressed about, then what?" Mark argues and Harris shushes him, pointing at Ryan before putting a finger to his lip.
Harris bites his lip in thought, "I guess we'll just have to do everything in our power to help him then. Be there for him, you know... We'll have to watch out for flashback, though. That much I know of. They're fairly common in PTSD patients and little things can trigger them."
"Little things... like what?" Mark asks, crossing his arms as Spyder leans back against the wall.
"I don't know, we'll have to ask Ryan when he wakes up."
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What do you guys think? Should I have a PTSD Part Two? Also, the next two chapters will tie in directly with this one so there's that. I'm just not sure if I should have an extra chapter for it or not.
Yeah I wasn't really sure how confused was confused when it came to the PTSD symptom so I took and educated guess and ran with it. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, it'll help I swear.
Also, there's a 'Previously on Mech X4 instead of a summery since you can get everything you need to know from the title and 'Previously on...'
Sorry about the weird way the characters are acting or if they're OOC, just know that they're tired and tiredness makes people cranky and crazy. So yeah...
Sorry about the PTSD brain description as well. Unless you wanted to deal with and read three hours worth of description, I'm gonna stick with "Scrunched."
Shoutout to :
@stardust1621
@random_girl_2020
For their awesome comments! Thanks guys!
Until next time, live long and love PINEAPPLES!!!