GG: Arch-Type Chapter 3

Chapter 3
Artificial Sanity

“Ok Mr…err…what was you name again?” asked the incredibly tall doctor staring down at Ky.

“Ky. Ky-Kiske.” He replied calmly, leaning back on the psychiatrist’s chair that had suddenly appeared behind him. They were sitting in an office just a few blocks from where the “incident” occurred.

“Ok Mr Kiske. I’m going to ask you a few questions, and I want you to answer them as truthfully as you can.” The Doctor said equally calmly. Ky had never seen this man before, and he was a strange type. Other than being at least three times his height, he also wore a paper bag over his head, which only seemed to have one eyehole.

Ky was about to settle down, when suddenly the psychiatrists chair bent forward and the doctor shoved a wooden, chest high table in front of Ky, then turned out all the lights except one lamp on the table. He then reappeared shining the light into Ky’s face.

“Where were you on the day before this day after three decades after the birthday before last?!” he screamed, shoving the lamp closer into Ky’s face, startling him further.

“Err…what the hell do you think you are doing?” shouted Ky. “This is serious!” The Doctor leant forward so their faces almost touched.

“Yeah, well I’m serious too, punk!” he replied in an impersonated, harsh, gruff voice, as if he had a sore throat. Ky socked him in the face and made a dash for the door, but the head of the doctor, bag and all, bust up from the ground in front of him. “Ok, ok, ok, I’ll stop trying to do your job, I promise!” it said in its normal voice again. Ky was only further unnerved by this. “Tell me, does it hurt when I do this?” and before he could act, the head leant forward and knocked him back into the chair.

“Ow, yes, it does!” he shouted in a confused manner.

“Interesting…” the doctor had reappeared behind a desk, sitting on an office chair, which has also spontaneously appeared in the room. “…anyway, as you may already know, my name is Dr. Bal…I mean Dr. Faust.” He reached into the drawer and retrieved some papers. Ky stared bewildered as Faust scanned them. “Yes, it says here in the pre-diagnosis papers you sent me that you were in the middle of duelling with a certain “Sol-Badguy” when suddenly, you find yourself in the middle of a strip club with no memory of how you got there.” Faust looked up from the papers. “Is that correct?”

“Err…yes, that’s what happened, but how did you know that?” Ky asked confused. Faust stared dumbly at him.

“It’s on the form you filled in!” he pointed out surely.

“I never filled in any forms…” Ky replied confused by all this. Faust scratched the top of his head, then stood up and turned to face the wall.

“This is much more serious than I thought.” Faust replied in turn with despair in his voice. He turned briskly to Ky, who began to panic. “I do believe that you have a serious case of memory blackouts.”

“Well…yeah, that’s kind of obvious!” Ky replied impatiently. Faust, sitting back down on his office chair, coasted over to where Ky was lying.

“Of course it is, but that’s not the point! See, now I’ve diagnosed you, it’s time for me to seek out a cure.” Faust stood up from the chair, and walked back to the desk. “And in a case such as this, there is only one thing for it!” he yelled at the top of his voice, taking a six foot long scalpel from the desk. “BRAIN SURGERY!!!”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Ky screamed in fear, but as he did, the psychiatrists’ chair fell back into an operating table and the lights dimmed.

“I’m afraid not. It’s either this, or I’ll have to ram this baby up your colon. What’s it gonna be?”

---

“I’m telling you, a giant flaming mosquito kidnapped her!” shouted Johnny impatiently, as Testament slashed at him with his huge red scythe.

“Of course it did, and I suppose you got that dent in your ship’s wing due to pink whales falling from the sky?” replied Testament sarcastically.

“Well, not that dent, but…” replied Johnny chuckling at the irony, but was swiftly interrupted by another swing. Johnny blocked the initial attack, but as Testament tore away, he took Johnny’s sword with him.

“Are you going to tell me what really happened, or am I going to have to open you up and find out myself?” screamed Testament, as he held the point of his scythe at Johnny’s neck. As he did this, may writhed in the blood coloured net that held her to the ground.

“Leave him alone you big black meany!” she screamed as loud as she could.

“SILENCE, you obnoxious knat!” screamed Testament in reply, making May’s skin go as white as his. He turned his weapon again to Johnny.

“Look, I have about fourteen witnesses to back me up here!” Johnny replied surprising calmly.

“They aren’t considerable because all of them will be biased towards you!” replied Testament sternly.

“Then maybe you’ll listen to me!” called a voice from behind Testament. He turned, startled, to face what appeared to be a man of the same build as him, but with short brown hair, wearing jeans and leaning on a massive meat cleaver. Johnny raised his hat up to get a better view of the man, and may rubbed her eyes in disbelief. He wasn’t there a few seconds ago, and now, he just appeared out of thin air.

“And who might you be?” said Testament in an offensive stance. The person smiled, his dark eyes set on Testament’s.

“Don’t you recognise me, old friend?” replied the person. For a few moments, no one moved, then suddenly Testament abruptly lowered his weapon.

“I was hoping you weren’t involved in this.” Testament spoke slowly and regretfully.

“That’s no way to say “hi” to an old chum!” replied the person.

“Byron, what’s going on here?” Testament asked in a voice that could almost be mistaken for concerned.

“It’s Gonarch, he’s back.” Replied the being known as Byron. Testament’s eyes widened and he dropped his scythe in disbelief.

“No…no, it can’t be. He…you killed him! I…we saw him die!” screamed Testament like a man who had just been told he had only days to live. Byron, still smiling, clicked his tongue.

“I thought the same. When you eviscerate every atom in a person, they tend to die, but he’s somehow cheated that death, and now he’s back again.”

“Gonarch…has Dizzy?” whimpered Testament.

“If that creature was of his creation, then yes, he does.” Replied Byron coldly. Testament fell to he knees, almost in tears.

“Who is this “Gonarch” person you two are talking about?” Johnny asked as he approached them. Byron turned to him, but as he did, his smile faded. “What? Do I have something on my face?” Byron didn’t speak, but stared around the ship, as if he could see something everyone else couldn’t. He then noticed May, tied to the floor. Byron raised a hand and the net shattered. May scrambled up as Byron turned to Johnny again.

“Gonarch is a man who shouldn’t exist.” Byron spoke, with all humour removed from his voice.

“Don’t tell them!” Testament shouted in disproval, standing back up.

“Testament, they have a right to know!” replied Byron. He turned again to Johnny. “Gonarch was the first man to effectively pattern stable time travel. He exists in a parallel future to the one that should have occurred, and the one I come from. However, thanks to him, he has created a time paradox that brought him, and me, to this past, by changing something here, in this time.”

“You lost me after the words “Time Travel.”” replied Johnny, scratching his head. Byron sighed.

“Ok, I’ll put it in a way, you’ll understand. Gonarch is a psychopathic mechanical genius from an alternate universe.” replied Byron, as he turned to Testament again. “He’s planning something, and I need help to find out what…”

“So you’re telling me that this psycho has kidnapped my little blueberry muffin!?!?” shouted Johnny as he began to realise the scale of things. Before Byron could reply, Johnny ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders. “Where is he, I’ll wring his neck if he hurts her!!” Byron shoves Johnny off and dusts himself down in a manner similar to the way Johnny would.

“You won’t be able to find him. He doesn’t even exist yet. Not in this time, or even this version of time.” Said Byron. Johnny joined Testament on the floor, as they both fell into the horrible realisation that their friend was in the hands of this monster. “If you want to have so much as a chance of seeing her alive again, you will help me…”