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The operation “B.P.H.” was close to fruition. Begin Purging Humans. A robotic entity that Sarge and Chomby had been tailing had let its guard down enough for them to breach its defenses. What was thought to be an ordinary building was actually harboring a factory in the basement that was meant to mass produce a line of destructive robots.

After calling the authorities, the two infiltrated the building, only to be met with a giant robot – the first off the production line. Sarge knew it was dangerous, but Chomby insisted the two proceed. Though the battle was long fought, Chomby finally managed to get the upper-hand and win. With the final blow, the area was covered in a cloud of dust.

Chomby dropped himself to the ground. He breathed heavily as he stared forward at his target. The dust took almost a minute to fade before he could see what had become of the robotic destroyer. It was lying in a heap on the ground. Good.

Chomby tried to speak out loud, but it only came out as a strained whisper. “It’s down. The detonator short-circuited, Sarge.”

Chomby heard a reply from his headphones. “That’s great, Chomby, but are you okay? You don’t sound too good. That Sonic scream of yours went on a minute longer than it should have.”

Chomby looked at the robot again. Over a minute? That’s how long it took to down the robot. It was resilient enough to avoid falling apart during a loud, and destructive crash of soundwaves. He wished it didn’t take as long as it did, because Chomby was now feeling the aftereffects… though something felt off.

“I’m fine,” he said.

“Chomby, did you want a break? We can switch back now. The only thing left to do is take down the computer that’s making these things.”

Chomby looked around the area. They were in an abandoned warehouse. More accurately, they were in a warehouse abandoned by humans. There still happened to be an entity of the cybernetic variant that was trying to manufacture robots here. If these robots were peaceful, Chomby wouldn’t have minded, but these robots were far from peaceful… especially if that robotic destroyer was the first thing that came off the belt.

“I’ve got this, Sarge,” Chomby choked out as he walked around a column of boxes. He remembered seeing a computer terminal in the administrative office at the back of the warehouse. Once he found the office, he noticed the door was a weathered wood. It looked like it hadn’t been used in ages.

Chomby took a deep breath and opened the door. He held his breath, getting ready to unleash a sonic scream if he needed to.

He could see the remnants of someone’s “personal office space” with inspirational posters on the walls along with a long-past-neglected house plant that had wilted into a small, black mass of decay. There was a single coat hanging in the corner of the room on a peeled off portion of the metal wall that acted as a make-shift coat rack.

And then he saw it. A small, dated computer monitor sitting on a desk right next to the door. It was too dark to properly see much of its details, but he could see that the computer screen was on, albeit dimly lit.

Chomby snuck around the desk until he was directly in front of the computer. He could see some faint words on the screen: “Connection with Unit_001 lost. Attempting to reconnect… Connection failed. Terminating program.”

“Anything?” Sarge asked through the headphones.

“A computer monitor,” Chomby wheezed. He coughed into his hand and looked around the desk. “I don’t see the computer, though.”

“Probably a built-in computer. The motherboard might actually be inside that computer. This particular thing didn’t really need a human-friendly interface, so its core functions shouldn’t take too much power.”

“It’s not even plugged in.”

“You’re surprised by that?”

“Well, I mean…” Chomby looked up and coughed. “I guess not.”

“You are a talking jacket,” Sarge clarified with a hint of teasing. “A functioning, unplugged computer shouldn’t be too difficult to think about.”

“Hahaha,” Chomby rolled his eyes. “Let’s just break it, then.”

“That should stop the production line, yes. Did you contact the authorities?”

“They should be here in around two minutes now. You can talk to them then. I don’t do well with explaining.”

“I getcha. Now, let’s destroy the computer.”

“On it.” Chomby took a deep breath and attempted to let out a sonic scream. He felt his voice catch and immediately stopped, placing a hand to his throat. “Seems I’m all outa juice.”

“You did a full, two minute and thirty-three second scream. That’s a lot, even for your standards… are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” Chomby said, though he felt doubtful about this. When looking back on the fight he just had, he hadn’t fully thought about what happened. He had to fight against large, destructive claws that could pierce through metal, a concentrated heat ray that could burn anything on contact, and even a weird electromagnetic pulse thingy that made Chomby feel funny.

Chomby gritted his teeth and shook his head. He had time to think about it later. Right now, he had to deal with the problem.

He lifted the computer off the desk and stared at its dim screen. He blew on it, dislodging some of the dust. He could see that its text changed again.

“Who are you?” the screen asked.

“Chomby,” Chomby replied.

“Why are you here?” it asked.

“You’ve been hurting a lot of people. It’s time to end it.” Chomby tensed his muscles, ready to chuck the computer at the wall….

He stopped short when it replied, “am I doing something bad?”

Chomby gritted his teeth. “Yes.”

“Are you doing something bad?”

“I have to destroy you.” Chomby replied. He looked away and coughed. “Sarge, I think this computer is sentient.”

“I knew it was an artificial intelligence, but…” Sarge paused. “Chomby, please, unzip. I can handle this.”

Chomby put the computer back on the desk and lifted a hand to his chest. He caught a claw on the zipper and began to pull it down… but it snagged. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

“It’s stuck.”

“Is that what happens if we go over time?” Sarge asked, panic in his voice.

“No. The zipper would disappear completely. It’s just… stuck?” Chomby tried tugging it again. He felt his heart literally lurch with each successive tug. This caused him to sputter into fits of coughing as he fell to the ground. “Sarge! I can’t get the zipper off!” He wheezed out.

“Don’t panic… maybe it has to do with that EMP the robot did? Maybe it’s messing with something.”

Chomby looked up at the computer. He could see it had typed out another bit of text.

“Are you hurting?” it asked.

“I’m fine…. That EMP from the robot you made really messed me up.” Chomby huffed and stood up. “What was its purpose?”

The computer seemed to take a moment to reply, “To kill you.”

“Fat load of good that did you, huh?” Chomby snarled. “I’m still here.”

“You are deteriorating.”

“I’m what?”

“Core integrity of your being is at 83%. The EMP is successful… but”

Chomby’s eyes widened. He tried to blurt out his next question but a fit of coughing came up.

“You’re what?!” Sarge screamed through the headphones.

Chomby saw the computer was continuing to type. “… I have remorse for this now. I realize now that you, and humans, experience pain. I inflicted pain. You hurt my Unit_001. You hurt me. Hurt is not good.”

“It’s not good at all.” Chomby wheezed. “Now, how do I fix this? I’d like to stop deteriorating now!” Chomby felt his knees become heavy.

“There is no stopping. The only way to stop is to unplug. If the computer is turned on again, it will continue the deterioration until completely destroyed.” The computer typed this out faster than the previous text.

“Sarge! What does that even mean?” Chomby asked.

There was no reply.

“Sarge! I need your smarts to figure this out! We gotta fix this!”

“Chomby…” Sarge’s voice came in quietly. Chomby recognized this tone. Sarge had realized something serious.

“Sarge?” Chomby asked, now feeling his gut wrench.

“We’re both going to die.”

“What? You can’t die, too!” Chomby looked back at the computer. “Computer, don’t you DARE kill Sarge!”

“It is out of my control. The computer must be unplugged,” it replied.

“FINE!” Chomby coughed, forcing himself to his feet. He walked over to the computer and, without hesitation, threw it to the ground, smashing the screen. He then saw the inside of the motherboard and immediately slammed his foot into the computer. He felt the hard, electronic shards pierce into his paw pads as the computer’s innards shattered.

“There!” Chomby huffed. “Sarge! Did that fix it?”

There was silence.

“Sarge! Now’s not the time to get thoughtful! Did we fix it or not?”

Several seconds passed before Sarge replied. “No.”

“What do you mean no?!” Chomby coughed out. His legs buckled again, and he fell to his knees.

“The computer doesn’t understand human life. It only knows us as computers. It said we need to unplug to stop it.”

“But that’s impossible!” Chomby growled. He closed his eyes and felt his vision appear in the mindscape that Sarge created for the both of them, so they could talk face to face. Though it wasn’t real, it was real enough to them. “We can’t just unplug ourselves, Sarge! We need to think of something!”

As Chomby’s view finished materializing, he saw Sarge was in front of him. The familiar, happy face of a werewolf was now looking hollow. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he looked past Chomby.

“S-Sarge! You’re… you’re crying.” Chomby gasped, lifting his hands to Sarge’s shoulders. “Please, talk to me here! Think! We need an answer to this.”

“I-I’m trying.” Sarge replied. His voice was beginning to come out in sobs. “It’s an EMP. They usually mess with electronics. But what am I supposed to do with a sentient jacket? You’re not electronic! Why is it affecting you? How?!”

Chomby could see Sarge begin to visibly shake. The werewolf was trying not to sob. Chomby hugged around Sarge. “You’re going to be okay, Sarge. I’m not going to let anything hurt you.”

“Chomby, we’re going to die.” Sarge said. “I didn’t think it would end out this way. There was so much I was going to do!”

“We can still find a way out of this!” Chomby felt his body outside of the mindscape begin to fall. It was losing its motor functions fast. “We still have time!”

Chomby’s mind began to race with as many possibilities he could think of. His usual aversion tactics, switching between himself and Sarge, combat maneuvers, and even last-ditch attempts came to mind. But none of them seemed to be a fix. None of them seemed to work.

Chomby felt his breathing become shallow as he tried to think of a solution. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t connect anything he knew to a metaphorical “unplugging the computer” …

A thought occurred to him.

“Sarge?” Chomby asked.

Sarge didn’t reply, but Chomby knew the werewolf could hear him.

“If we had to choose between both of us dying, and just one of us dying, I’d go with the latter. You are a logical thinker. That makes sense to you, yes?”

Sarge nodded.

“Then I have an idea. You aren’t going to like it.” Chomby felt a tear come to his eye as he choked on his words. “You’ve dealt with so much pain and heartache, that I hate to do this… but I know how to fix this.”

Sarge looked up, eyes now fully streaming with tears. He looked confused, but Chomby knew he was already thinking of what was about to happen.

“It’s like turning off a computer, right? Unplugging it?”

Sarge nodded.

“Then I’ll just remove my conscience from the jacket.” Chomby said.

“W-wait, you’re going to what?” Sarge asked.

“Remove myself. This is an EMP, right? It messes with electronics. If you were hit by it, you would have been okay, but because I was hit by it, neither of us are okay… apparently.”

“You can’t just remove yourself, Chomby!”

“I can.” Chomby looked up at their mindscape. He could see the lights were beginning to fade. “Thing is, I always seemed to know I could do it… but I never did it. Never felt I needed to. You kept me safe for so long that I never thought I’d have to resort to removing myself.”

“No, Chomby, I mean you can’t!” Sarge yelled. “If we’re dying, then we’re dying together!” Sarge’s lip quivered. “I… I can’t lose another friend!”

Chomby knew there wasn’t any time left. He closed his eyes and looked at the back of his mind. He imagined a button. It simply said, “Unplug”. It was that metaphorical fix the computer alluded to. He placed a hand in front of it. His fingers pressed gently against its surface, but he hesitated. He knew that when he pressed this metaphorical button, the process would begin. He took a deep breath then shoved his hand into the button.

He immediately felt a gnawing sensation on his hand as he opened his eyes to stare back at Sarge. “It’s done, Sarge. I’ll be gone soon.”

“Wait-” Sarge said, immediately cupping a hand to his mouth. “Chomby! Please! Don’t do it!”

“It’s too late. I had to.” Chomby felt his eyes now fully well with tears. “I can’t lose you, Sarge. You’re my best friend.”

“And you’re mine, you idiot!” Sarge yelled, shoving himself onto Chomby’s chest. He buried his face into Chomby’s fluff and began to sob. “Please… please don’t go! Please!”

Chomby tried to rest a hand on Sarge’s head… but he saw the hand was gone. The gnawing sensation was now going up his arm.

“If there’s a chance either of us can make it out alive, I’m going to take it. You can keep moving on. You can be a hero, too. You don’t need me for that anymore.”


“But the songs! We actually had an entire duet planned! A friend even volunteered to wear you so we could sing together!” Sarge tightened his grip. “Chomby! Please! Tell me there’s another way!”

“You’re the idea person, Sarge,” Chomby choked out. “If you don’t have an idea, then I’m not going to.” Chomby felt the gnawing move to his shoulder.

“So that’s it?!” Sarge screamed, pushing himself out of Chomby’s chest. “This is goodbye? Is that what you’re telling me? I didn’t even get to tell you so many things! If it was goodbye, I would have had a speech prepared!”

Chomby bent over and placed his single hand on Sarge’s cheek. He could feel his fingers begin to gnaw away. “I have a lot I want to say to you, too.” Chomby squinted his eyes shut as he remembered a song that came to mind. “I don’t know if I’d have time to say it, though…. I might have to sing it.”

Sarge continued to sob as he rested his cheek in Chomby’s hand.

Chomby took a deep breath and sang:

I lived a life of being your shadow,
but I grew to accept it as me.
I felt I’d be stuck there, with nowhere to go,
but you chose to let me be free.

You gave me a life that I wanted to live,
you trusted me with your whole heart.
And now that it’s come to my time to give,
I’m sorry that we’ll be thrown apart.

Don’t ever doubt that your heart is kind,
I’ve learned this from being in your mind.
I’m proud of you, Sarge, my dearest friend,
but it’s now becoming time for this to e-

Chomby felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He looked down and saw that his torso was beginning to fade. He tried to continue singing but found his voice only came out as a whisper.

“I love you, Sarge.” Chomby whispered. “Please continue being kind.”

“C-chomby,” Sarge could barely choke out through staggered breaths. “I love you, too.”

The hole in Chomby’s torso grew. He wanted to give Sarge a hug, but he had lost his arms by this point. “Remember that I will ALWAYS love you. Even if I’m not there anymore… because I don’t know what’s supposed to happen after thi-”

Chomby could no longer whisper. He looked down and saw that he had no torso anymore.

He looked up to catch Sarge’s gaze. The two stared at each other in silence. Sarge was holding his breath, both horrified and mesmerized by what was happening.
Chomby felt the gnawing sensation on his face….

Sarge gave a stuttered gasp and immediately began sobbing. “C-chomby… you’re… smiling?”

Chomby couldn’t figure out why, or how. For his entire life, he’d never been able to show any expression aside from anger. But now that it was coming to an end, he could finally smile? He knew he couldn’t say anything, but he wanted to mouth out the words.

His vision went dark, and he knew he had lost his eyes. But his mouth was still there…. He needed to just mouth out “I love you, Sarge, goodbye…”

He hoped it worked…

He hoped…

He…

~~~~~
Epilogue

Sarge gasped awake. Putting a hand to his chest, he breathed heavily. He tried to steady himself as he examined his surroundings. He was still in the warehouse. Someone was shining a flashlight into his eyes.

“He’s awake!” they said.

There was a bunch of cheering.

Sarge rubbed his eyes. He could barely see several officers, paramedics, and military personnel standing around him.

“Easy there, big guy. You’re alright now.” The person shining a flashlight on him clicked the flashlight off. He signaled for someone to Sarge’s right to move back and give him space.

Once the area was clear, Sarge sat up. He was still dazed, but he knew something was off. It took him a few moments to realize it, but when he did, he panicked and immediately looked at his jacket.

Though it was dark, he could see the outline of the Fluffmaster logo on the jacket’s torso. He could also see the color patterns on his arms. The jacket was still there… but….

Sarge closed his eyes, imagining his mindscape. If he was correct, Chomby would be sitting there, waiting to talk with him. Chomby was always patient like that….

But Chomby wasn’t there.

“C-chomby?” Sarge whispered.

“What was that?” The officer asked.

Sarge felt frantic desperation wash over him. He stood up and fastened the zipper of his jacket back up. Grabbing the hood, he shoved it over his face. This was how he usually activated the shift between himself and Chomby.

When Sarge released the hood and opened his eyes, he could only see the several, confused people standing in the room.

“C-chomby?” Sarge asked again, a bit louder this time. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the mindscape again…. There was no Chomby.

“Sergeant Wolf, are you okay?” The officer asked, placing a hand on Sarge’s shoulder. “I’m Officer Stanford. We got your call. We have people investigating the basement right now. You did a good job… but, we need to know if you need help.”

Sarge remembered that Chomby would do this to calm Sarge down. But in this case, it made Sarge begin to cry uncontrollably. “Chomby’s… Chomby… Chomby’s,” Sarge tried to formulate the words, but he couldn’t manage to say them.

“Chomby’s where?” Officer Stanford asked. They looked at the personnel behind them. “Charel, check the warehouse for any other survivors. Someone named ‘Chomby’?”

A female officer with black hair tied in a bun nodded and left the room.

“We’ll try to find this Chomby person, Sergeant Wolf,” the officer said quietly. “Please, we have an ambulance here. We can take you to the hospital.”

Sarge grabbed Stanford’s hand and took it off his shoulder. He shook his head. “N-no… Chomby’s… Chomby’s…” Sarge clenched his fists and stared down at the ground. “Chomby’s gone!” He blurted the words so loud that the world around him turned quiet.

“Chomby’s… gone,” Sarge repeated as he clutched the jacket around his chest. He’d usually feel a warmth from the jacket. Chomby told him that warmth was Chomby giving him a hug… but he didn’t feel any warmth. The jacket was just cold.

~~~~~

When I was working on the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku cover... I couldn't stop myself from crying. Chomby and Sarge mean the world to me, and even if he's just performing a song, it made me upset as if I had actually lost him. But I realized that this scenario parallels perfectly with what I have been dealing with the past year -- loss. So, I wanted to write a story to go with the song. I sat down, and I started writing. This is what I came to.... The story was originally meant to just go with the music, but it unintentionally turned into a vent piece, a piece where I could say goodbye to a loved one before they passed on. Both Sarge and Chomby are how I'd imagine myself in either of their shoes. I love them dearly, and I thank you all for taking the time to read this story. It means a lot. <3

I wrote out a little song to go with this. It's disjointed, not fully working, but conveys the melody that Chomby tried to sing to Sarge as a goodbye.
Here's the song: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11y.....ew?usp=sharing

(And to anyone who is worried, I need to note: This isn't "goodbye to Chomby". It's a vent piece. He's doing well, he's got more songs coming, etc.!)

~~~~~

Sarge/Chomby/Art/Story/Song (C)  pikminpedia Me