Eternal Chibi Goretti had made it to his homeworld, finally.

He arrived, clutching his phone and holding his breath and waiting to be devoured by a sea of glue--but after a few seconds he shifted positions impatiently and realized that he was on solid ground. Surprised, he cracked one eye.

He gasped in surprise and was suddenly looking around him, entranced by the world.

The night sky was easily visible and bright stars peppered the sky, but that wasn’t what caught his eye.

Great white trees stretched towards the sky, taller than any he’d ever seen before. Their branches were long and stretched in all directions and each tree was covered with beautiful white leaves. The leaves were beautiful, but from far away he couldn’t see much detail; besides, he couldn’t stop staring at the large, glowing berries that clung to every branch.

There were other plants, mostly tall green grass and pretty white flowers that seemed like they’d been painted with glow-in-the dark paint. The only light source here seemed to be from the plants; there was no moon.

It was eerie, but he didn’t realize how so until he hesitantly approached the forest in front of him.

The closer he got, the worse he felt. From a distance, the trees seemed tall and powerful, but up close he noticed that the bark was cracked strangely. The trunks of the tree were swollen and white ooze dripped from the cracks. It momentarily made him think of an oozing injury and he grimaced, quickly looking away.

But, the trees were all around him. He’d arrived in a small clearing, and while it looked like there might be mountains far, behind him, there were still trees surrounding him. Foolishly, he started walking without keeping his eyes on the ground. His foot met a root after only a few steps and he stumbled forward, hand outstretched to catch himself.

He managed to keep upright, but at the cost of planting his hand right into a stream of the dripping ooze.

“Augh!” he exclaimed, scrambling to pull his hand away.

It was not easy; the sludge left a trail between his hand and the tree and even when he pulled it stuck.

‘Senshi of Glue’ suddenly made sense, and after a few more seconds of struggling he pulled away from thee tree. Trails of the strange sap clung to his glove and he considered wiping it off on his pants before he just caved and peeled it off. He left it by the tree with a promise, “I’ll be back for that. Probably.”

He gave the tree one last look and began walking. If there was ever a path, it was long since faded; he kept his eyes on the ground to make sure he didn’t trip again, but he couldn’t help looking around and trying to understand just where it was he’d landed.

Of course, he knew it was Goretti, but it didn’t feel right. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but all this time and he’d hoped that it would feel a little more welcoming. Instead, he had goosebumps and kept looking over his shoulder uncertainly.

Fifteen minutes in and he was already lost. His brain couldn’t process where he was or where he was going, but his feet seemed to know. The longer he spent on his homeworld, the more confident he was with where he was going...even though he had no idea where he was headed, he was confident that he was going to reach it.

He had to be; he had tried everything else. He needed to get stronger. This was the only thing he had left.

Fifteen minutes after that and his confidence was wavering; the forest was silent, except for a strange, melodic song that played whenever wind rustled the tree branches. It was unnerving and his heart was pounding; he was on edge, waiting for a monster to jump out.

So distracted with looking around him and over his shoulder, behind him, he almost screamed when his foot hit something. Worried that he was going to get stuck to a tree again, he stumbled away until he could get his bearings. It took a few seconds for everything to click and he suddenly found himself staring in surprise when he realized that his feet had lead him straight to a small bunker-like door.

It was white stone, and when he reached to touch it found that it was cool. He circled the small building but it seemed like it was a small room, maybe five foot by five. The only notable feature was the door on the side he’d bumped into, though it had no handle. Instead, it lock embedded in it.

His lips pursed and he reached out to brush his fingers along it when he was suddenly hit with an image.

The sensation was jarring and while the memory felt fluid, the images shifted frequently; he saw a gloved hand sliding a key into the lock and twisting. The door swung inward but the image turned to black before he could see inside. He felt the sensation of picking things up, moving things--running. He saw the trees, as if he were running by them--only the bark was cleaner, and they weren’t oozing sickly. The trees were powerful, with buckets stuck up and...draining? Collecting? It was vague and hurt to focus on; the image ended and he found a rock with a strange feature. Again, Goretti saw the gloves. Frantic digging in the black soil.

A box.

The hands shoved the key in the box and into the hole before sweeping dirt over it. Running, again.

And then the memory ended.

Goretti reached a hand to his temple and rubbed; it hadn’t hurt, but he didn’t know just what that was. But he knew he needed to find out. He needed to get stronger.

Where his mind was lost, his feet knew the way. Sort of. He cast one last look at the bunker and started wandering, searching for the anything. This time, he was wandering around for half an hour before he spotted the rock.

He was tired; it was late, but he was fueled by curiosity and willpower.

The rock on its own was probably nothing special; there were dozen of oddly shaped rocks lying on the ground, but this one...this one, he recognized. He ran to the rock and dropped to his knees, pulling back the grass and digging through the cold, black dirt.

He was elbow deep and losing hope when he felt his fingers scrape against something. Another moment of digging and he had pulled loose the box. It hadn’t been locked and flung open when he tried, though it creaked and the lid fell off. “Sorry,” Goretti apologized to it.

The key, looking more like an antique than a usable key, was there.

His heart soared and he grinned. He ran his fingers over it carefully but now his curiosity was burning; he gathered the lid and pushed dirt back into the hole before he ran back to the bunker.

He only tripped twice but never fell, and while his feet seemed to know the way there once, it was harder to find the second time. He started thinking about if his father was going to find out, or if he was going to get himself into trouble but he had to keep telling himself that this was worth. This could lead to everything he’d been looking for.

Maybe.

He reached the bunker breathless but in good spirits; he set the box down and held out the key.

Or, half of the key, he realized, when he tried to stick it into the door.

“What?” he demanded. “No--no, no, what?”

He turned to the box and saw the other half of the key and a wave of dread flooded through him.

Of course, the poor, antique key would be damaged. His only hope to get some answers, to grow, and somehow he’s broken it. Begrudgingly, Goretti slumped to the ground, picking up the other piece to examine it.

It was a clean break and the important piece was long enough that he probably could have wiggled it in and opened the door still--he just wouldn’t have been able to pull it out or twist it easily.

He sighed, wondering why he hadn’t thought to prepare supplies. Glue would have been a life saver.

He paused.

Glue.

Glue, like the glue that was leaking from trees all around him?

His brows furrowed and he looked up at the nearest one. A large bubble popped as the glue slowly oozed out of a gruesome crack. Slowly, Goretti lifted himself and stood in front of it. Hesitantly, he took one end of the broken key and dipped it in the sap. While it was bit difficult to pull out of the sap, when the trail of goop finally broke he was left with a good little dab.

Holding his breath, he carefully stuck the other broken end to it.

When he let go a moment later, it was still sticking--but he could see that the sap was far from hardened.

Okay. It was a good start. He could wait.

Carrying the key like a fragile treasure, he sat down in front of the door again and hoped. It was hard to sit when his heart was pounding, when his mind was reeling.

What was inside? Was it something to make him stronger? Was it something that would impress Lenka?

He chewed on his lip impatiently. He wasn’t doing this all just for Lenka--he really did want to be able to protect people. Himself, his father, her…

Not that she needed it, of course.

But the helpless civilians? And the people without his powers? They deserved someone better. Being an Eternal Chibi was a good start, but no one was going to take him seriously if he was still a chibi--especially with how old he was.

He sighed and pushed the two pieces together again, watching as the sap held tightly.

But then, what if it was a trap? What if there was a monster inside, or skeletons? What if this failed?

A nagging voice in the back of his head told him to give up and go home.

A stronger voice told him to suck it up.

He rested his head on his shoulder and waited.

Without knowing how long had actually passed, Goretti could only assume it had been an eternity when he finally stood up again. He held his breath and tugged on the key carefully, at first--and then with a moderate amount of strength.

A good sign: the glue held fast.

With trepidation and excitement, he slid the key into the lock carefully. There must have been a fair amount of dust and grime in it because when he tried to turn it, it stuck. At first. Then slowly, the key began to turn. He could hear the creaking inside the door and finally, with a creak, he was able to push it open.

Elated, Goretti looked inside and found--

Shadows and emptiness, and a single, small box in front of the door. He looked around, searching for traps or tricks or anything, and carefully stepped in. The door seemed to stay where he put it so he wasn’t worried about getting trapped inside. There was dust in the room and it smelled musty; he didn’t know how long ago the last time someone had been in here was but he figured they must have left in a hurry. This room must have stored something; there were dust trails outlining what looked like boxes, but whatever had been in here was long gone, and once the door had sealed the dust had stayed put.

But he wasn’t interested in dust, he was interested in the one chest that remained.

Goretti tiptoed to the box and dropped to his knees, carefully running his fingers over it. .

This one was locked, and was too heavy to move. He eyed the keyhole but easily saw that it was much smaller than the key he’d found.

He tried to loosen the lock or the lid but each held fast, and when he couldn’t pick up the box no matter how hard he struggled, he figured maybe this time he should give up. At the very least, he should get supplies. He drew out his phone and snapped a picture of the little locked chest--and then kicked himself for not taking a picture of the rock. He made up for it by taking pictures of the room, and the door, and then he stepped outside and removed the key. The moment it was out, the door swung shut; he took a picture of the door and the key while pouting. Four more pictures--the ground, the swollen trees, the sky, the dirt.

He didn’t know that he’d really accomplished anything today; it wasn’t exactly the answer he’d wanted.

He found some glue, was covered in dirt, had lost a glove, and found a key and something else. No monsters had attacked him, and he had no answers.

But...maybe he had something to work with.

He looked at the trees and felt a pang of guilt.

He definitely had something to work with.

But right now, he needed to go home and do some research.

Maybe getting power could wait.

Goretti drew in one more breath and set his attention on returning home. He closed his eyes and hoped he could manage this.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in Destiny City.

He felt a pang of loneliness, like he actually missed his weird, scary asteroid. He looked up at the sky and tried to find it, but he couldn’t pick out where he’d come from.

...But he’d go back.

Goretti began the trek home after he carefully slid both the key and his phone in his pocket.

He was so distracted by what he was going to do on his asteroid that he didn’t even realize his outfit had changed again on the way home.

Chibi Goretti was gone.