[i]Fourteen oh-nine, Oa Standard Time. Still no contact with Ch'p or Aya in orbit in Scylla. I'm departing Oa en route back to Sector 2814. My name is Kai-ro. I carry a ring.[/i] [center][b]"Mary Jane's Last Dance" [ Epilogue ] [ [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQVop3-OOXc]Breathe[/url] ][/b][/center] The green light enveloped his body. Permeated his being in a way that he didn't understand, and probably couldn't fathom. As the world of Oa fell away, the boy existed alone in the vastness of space. He felt neither its cold nor its heat. He was not out of breath, even in the vacuum in which he now lingered. It was beautiful in a way he had never even imagined. As a child, he had looked up from the grounds of the temple and viewed the stars in the night's sky never imagining how plentiful they were. Or how bright. Or that he could be its guardian. Extending his arms out, the child closed his eyes. Tilting his head back, he succumbed to the complete and total freedom even as the vertigo tip-toed at the edge of his sanity, his sense of time or location, as he allowed the ring to orient him toward the area of the unending darkness. Somewhere across that sea of stars was a place called Sector 2814. A pulse of emerald light and Kai-ro was suddenly propelled through the heavens. Opening his eyes, the light of all the stars he could not see as a boy on Earth streamed past him now. He'd never asked to be Green Lantern, yet never did he want anything more. This moment. This freedom. This... [i]Something was wrong.[/i] He barely had time to realize the pit forming in his stomach before the green light flickered. In an instant, in the blink of an eye, Kai-ro lost control. Endless darkness, punctuated by distant points of light, tumbling around in a disorienting array as the boy spun wildly through space, caught in the inertia of a momentum he no longer controlled. The child tried to muster his willpower, before he slipped into the cold embrace of unconsciousness... [center][img]http://baku-panda.org/images/OU_gldivider.png[/img][/center] [color=lime][i]...he was back on Xabas. Kilowog had just taken down the door. The Xudarian and Ch'p were vying to be the first ones through, but [b]he[/b] got there first. Jumping up into the air, Abin Sur cleared the steps leading up to the door. Even as the green construct of a Zim & Axion .370 OM-P materialized in his hand, the Ungaran planed out so that he slid through the foyer like a running baseman sliding to home plate. Two quick trigger pulls sent green pulses sailing straight through the interior, catching where the drug czars and mafioso wannabes were going for their guns. Some were going to shoot and run. Some were going to try to make a stand. Kicking up from the floor, he heard Salaak's voice shout out, [b]"GREEN LANTERNS! EVERYBODY DOWN!"[/b] A large fist connected with the side of Abin Sur's head. It dazed him, staggering him, right before Ch'p came out of [b]nowhere[/b]. A rabid gerbal of doom atop a pale green horse. A pale horse that just bodychecked the dusthead right through the drywall. Recovering, the Ungaran fell in line behind Kilowog. The Bolovaxian clearing house was plowing straight into the line of fire with a green barricade. So imagine the surprise when a rocket-propelled [b]ion charge[/b] slammed into Kilowog's barrier, taking the Bolovaxian back a step. Shots were coming from all around them. This wasn't a drug house. It was a god damn [b]shooting barrel[/b]. And they were the fish. Dropping to a knee, Abin Sur took cover behind a bannister. Ch'p was giving them some air support. The Xudarian was down. "Shit," he swore loudly, realizing that his team was coming apart. "Shit," he repeated again. This hadn't been in the plan. Why hadn't they planned for this? Glancing around, the Ungaran timed his movements carefully. Breaking into a spring, he ducked and dove behind where Salaak had found some cover. Not much of a firing position. But, right now, they were outnumbered to shit. [b]"YOU SAID THIS WAS A DUST HOUSE, NOT AN ARMORY!"[/b] Abin Sur roared, shouting to be heard over the seemingly endless din of laser fire. The look on the Slyggian's face shocked the Ungaran. It was the first time that he'd ever seen Salaak speechless. [b]"NONE OF THESE WEAPONS WERE HERE TWO DAYS AGO,"[/b] the Slyggian shouted back. The Ungaran's eyes connected with the Slyggian. They'd both arrived at the same conclusion. ...provided that they got out of here alive, what did that suspicion bode for the Corps?[/i][/color] [center][img]http://baku-panda.org/images/OU_gldivider.png[/img][/center] He awoke with a start. A shiver sending his whole body into a seizure, as cold leeched into his bones. No, cold wasn't leeching [i]in[/i]. His body warmth was leaving his body, pulled away by the unending depths of space. Pulling himself into a fetal ball, the young Tibetan boy tried to huddle for warmth. Hugging his knees to his chest as he spun in a slow orbit through nothing. Greenish-yellow frost lingering in the space around him gave evidence that he'd thrown up sometime between spinning out of control, blacking out, and waking up to find himself here. His hand was trembling as he brought it up. A green light status indicator was slow to materialized, flickering as though it were unstable. [color=azure][i]Power level 0.017%[/i][/color] The construct faltered, blinked out of existence as confusion and fear started to take their toll. No, he'd just re-charged it. He'd just stood in the Central Power Battery. He'd just recited the oath. It wasn't fair. This... this wasn't how it was supposed to be. Drawing in a deep breath, the boy's cleansing meditation was interrupted by the painful spasm that wracked his body. The shivering began again. Uncontrolled. He just gripped his knees and hugged them against his chest, gritting his teeth against the cold. Drifting through space. Alone. [center][img]http://baku-panda.org/images/OU_gldivider.png[/img][/center] [color=lime][i]...the monks had presented him with another tray of toys and objects. They wanted him to pick one, so that they could discern who he was. Or, rather, who he'd [b]been[/b]. Except, it didn't work. Time and time again, from one age to the next, they brought the child different objects. Different toys. He didn't pick any of them. Instead, the toddler that they had named Kai-ro shuffled over to where the elder monk was seated, dropped a W-sit posture at the man's feet, and pulled on the jade ring that he was wearing.[/i][/color] [center][img]http://baku-panda.org/images/OU_gldivider.png[/img][/center] Hypothermia had set in. [i]"Gotta admit, it's a great view."[/i] He was no longer cold, even though layer of frost had started to appear across the child's face and arms, as what little bit of green energy there was left to shield him against the vacuum of space was fading paper thin. He was drifting in view of a stellar nursery. From here, it looked like a Monet watercolor, except painted with fire instead of watercolors. He was hallucinating. In some detached, distant part of his mind, he knew that Ch'p wasn't really here. He was just really glad not to be alone anymore. [color=lime][i]"H-hey, C-Ch'p-p?"[/i][/color] He struggled to whisper. Swallowing repeatedly in vain to try and wet his palette, his throat dry and raw. He was no longer wracked by shivers, through his muscles didn't seem to work the way that they were supposed to. [i]"Yeah, kid?"[/i] [color=lime][i]"D-do y-y-you th-ink we... we c-could g-g-go ba-ck t-to th..."[/i][/color] [i]"That place on Asteroid Blue Heaven you like?"[/i] The young Tibetan tried to respond, but the affirmation just came out as a gurgling sound. He tried, but he was having a hard time swallowing. [i]"Yeah, kid. We can go back there tomorrow."[/i] [b]He was dying.[/b] The realization seemed to arrive with a seizure. His conscious mind striking back against a body that was out of time. It's willpower slipping away as both fear and hope eroded until there was only the reality of his own mortality. He was shaking, but it was not the shiver of the cold or the meek trembling before fear... it was [b]anger[/b]. He was quivering with rage at a body that was quitting, when he wanted to fight on. [color=lime][b]"Ch'p!"[/b][/color] When had that become the name of god? Like, the voice of Charlton Heston in a 1960s Biblical feature, only instead of Charlton Heston the role of god would be played by a 2 foot tall chipmunk. Tears sprang from his eyes, running down his face as the child struggled in vain and refused to see the vanity in it. [color=lime]"I don't wanna die, Ch'p!"[/color] Except, Ch'p wasn't there. Kai-ro was drifting, alone. [color=lime][i]"Ch'p... I don't wanna die."[/i][/color] The green light surrounding his body flickered. [indent]Fading. [indent][sub][color=lime]"Please, I don't wanna...[/color][/sub][/indent][/indent] The boy's eyes opened. They were no longer green. They were brown. The finger on his right hand twitched, as the ring started to pull away. [hr][hr][center]Ultimate Comics Presents A Bounce Production[h1][color=lime]G R E E N L A N T E R N[/color][/h1]in [b]"[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aowSGxim_O8]Mary Jane's Last Dance[/url]"[hr][hr][sub][i]GREEN LANTERN WILL RETURN..?[/i][/sub][/b][/center]