Been a while since I published anything here, huh? I thought I'd try some stories again with the free time I have. This one was gonna be a one-shot, but it turned out to be way too long for that, so I decided to divide it into a few easy to digest Chapters. I hope you all like it. I will post more chapters soon, so keep an eye out for them.
I just recently binge-watched this series, I only caught glimpses of when Jetix was still around, and ended up loving it so much I wanted to write a story of my own taking place back when Mandarin was in charge.
Also to note: No I'm NOT trying to ship Mandarin and Otto in this fic. Considering that it's been implied these two were best friends at some point, I think Otto was the only one he had a soft spot for, but that's about it. Like very close brothers basically. (There is a little bit of Sparx and Nova, however.)
Chapter 1: The Training Arena
It was late afternoon in Shuggazoom City. It was comfortable autumn weather with a light shower of rain briskly approaching from the grey clouds above. By now, citizens had started prepping their shops and heading indoors before the storm showed itself, going about their day with content.
On the horizon of the nearby buildings stood it's sole protectors, the Super Robot and it's 6 pilots within it. The Hyperforce, known by many as the Super Robot Monkey Team, were relatively new to Shuggazoom, having shown up only a few months ago.
Despite the fact that they were, well, sentient talking robot monkeys, they quickly gained the favor of the city's residents when they saved them from a giant alien slug. The monster was the lovely courtesy of an equally new threat, Skeleton King, and his reign of terror over the cosmos that the team swore to fight against.
They've not only continuously rescued the city from the forces of Skeleton King and beyond, but their influence alone has helped with crime rates and efforts to rebuild.
Inside the Super Robot, the team was hard at work with their new training exercises their leader, Mandarin, imposed on them a few weeks ago.
These sessions made them fight and move in various types of severe weather conditions simulated inside of the Robot's high-tech training room. Normally this wouldn't be a bad thing, they had to stay prepared after all, but it had been hours since they started and some of them were starting to get tired.
"Oh come on, did you HAVE to make it this hot?"
"Of course I did. That's the whole point of this exercise. How are we supposed to protect Shuggazoom if we can't take some bad weather?" The orange monkey known as Mandarin cast his red eyes to Sparx, looking rigid, "If you're too weak to handle a little heat, maybe you shouldn't be on the team, Sparky."
The red monkey glared at his leader, baring his teeth some, "DON'T call me that, Mandarin. You know I hate it-"
"Look out!" Next thing Sparx saw was a blur of yellow as he was thrown and pinned to the ground by another body right as a saw whizzed by. Blinking at the ceiling, he craned his neck downwards and smirked when he saw a teammate laying on him, staring at him with large pink eyes.
"Aww Nova, I didn't know you cared." he teased, shifting some under her. Though his voice had that confident air to it as always, he inwardly did his best not to blush with the female monkey being this close.
Grimacing in disgust, she stood up from him quickly and dusted herself off, "Yeah I do. Who's going to pilot the other fist rocket if you're gone?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her irritated tone.
He huffed, wincing when he felt a gloved metal hand wedge under his arm and jerk him upwards. Looking to the side, he flinched slightly under Mandarin's cold gaze. He would never, ever, admit it, but their oh so glorious 'leader' was scary when he was mad.
"Stay focused." he roughly shoved Sparx backwards, standing between him and Nova. His scowl never faltered for a moment, "Your team might not always be there to save your sorry circuitry."
With that he dodged backwards at a laser that fired in his and Nova's direction, pulling both warriors right back into the fray of fighting. It was interesting for anyone to watch, both monkeys never seeming to break a sweat in battle even at a temperature more suited to a desert. Almost in unison they skirted, zoomed, punched and sliced both on the ground and in the air as if it were a dance.
"He's right you know." Gibson flew past Sparx, firing an electric blast from one of his drills into a floating robot droid as it lunged at him, "We must remain vigilant and prepared in case we're ever separated."
He zipped gracefully in the air, zapping three other droids while shouting his battle cry, "Cyber vac drill blaster!"
His blue companion only served to irritate the red pilot monkey further, his fur starting to stand on edge.
Gibson and his stupid smart mouth.
Still, he took a deep breath and tried to focus despite the blistering heat, "I know. I know he's right." Sparx grumpily admitted, transforming his hands into two red magnets, "But he doesn't have to be such a jerk about it."
Across the room, a black monkey held up his claws towards a metal pillar that was targeting him with several laser guns. They glowed with a powerful green energy that engulfed the opposing weapons before he jerked downwards, forcing several of the guns to snap off their supports. The remaining ones shot at him, but he to jolted to the side and avoided them completely.
Hmmn, unfortunate. I was trying to destroy all of them in one go. I need to work harder if I want to master my psychokinesis...
"Heh heh, technical difficulties Antauri?" Otto, the team's mechanic, teased him as he sliced through the left over laser weapons with one of his whirling saws. The thought of Antauri getting hurt wasn't amusing in the slightest, but the flustered look on his face sure was.
Antauri gave him a curt nod, slashing with his Ghost Claws at an incoming missile and jumping away as it exploded, "You could say that."
His green friend only got more giddy as a joke spawned, wiping the sweat off his brow and holding a finger up to waggle at him, "Seems to me like you need a tune-up and oil change Mister-AUUCK?!" he didn't get to finish when a spiked sphere smashed into his back, crushing him to the ground.
"Otto!" Antauri disposed of yet another missile before rocketing forwards, using his psychokinesis to grab the swinging ball and throw it into the opposing wall. The crash caught the attention of the rest of group.
Seeing a member of his team incapacitated, Mandarin snapped his gaze to the monkey closest to the controls, "Gibson! Shut it down now!" he barked as he pointed to the opposite end of the arena.
The scientist dodged a few incoming attacks before flying ahead and grabbing at the control pad. In a moment of fervent panic, he practically punched a few buttons with his finger tips before pulling the lever down, turning everything off.
Immediately the heat wave went away as the temperature fell to normal degrees and all the weapons that were still intact descended back to their designated spots inside the Robot's walls.
Once it was safe, the rest of the group gathered around their injured companion, Antauri rolling him onto his back and trying to sit him up, "Can you hear me Otto?" he asked, a look of worry crossing his stern gaze.
Nova and Gibson were shoved aside as Mandarin came forward, a frown growing on his muzzle, "Come on, you can take bigger hits than that." he grumbled, his voice a mixture of both annoyance and confidence in that Otto wasn't that weak.
It seemed to work as the green monkey groaned in response, rubbing his chest, "Ugh...I feel like I was pummeled by a giant spiky ball..."
"You were, you idiot." their leader responded with only the briefest hint of teasing cadence in his voice even though his expression said otherwise. The orange simian even crossed his arms to insinuate this point.
The rest of the squad took notice, giving each other brief glances. Mandarin never teased nor joked around other than to be condescending, but Otto was always an exception to this. No one knew why the two got along so well, but if they had to guess it was because they balanced each other well.
Otto's goofy nature did a good job mellowing out Mandarin's vicious determination, more than usual at least, and Mandarin's iron will was an inspiration for Otto to work harder. For some reason these differences made them share a form of comradery over the others ever since they woke up in that robot.
"Oh...right." Otto weakly replied with a half-hearted smile before suddenly falling unconscious, the whirling part of his machinery dying out with a soft hum.
Everyone looked concerned besides their leader who only seemed briefly perturbed before he waved a hand, "He'll be fine, the ball just hit his energy pack. Lets take a break and get him to Med Bay, stat." he huffed as he turned around when Antauri picked their wounded mechanic up.
Greatly annoyed, Nova suddenly grabbed Mandarin's shoulder in a firm grip, refusing to flinch even after Mandarin shot her an evil look, "What do you want?"
"What I want is for your attitude to straighten out!" Nova spat, pointing to Otto as Antauri paused in his stride to look at the two, "He's your friend isn't he? He just got smeared into the floor and you're acting like you don't care!"
"I do care, Nova." he bluntly retorted, grabbing her hand in a vice grip to force her to let go, "But unlike the rest of you, I know better than to let my emotions get the better of me. Distraction is the last thing you want in battle, especially if it gets you hurt. Case and point." he gestured back to Otto before moving on, "You'd all be best to remember that, especially you, Nova. I expected better."
Rubbing her paw in pain, Nova grumbled as the others followed behind the orange simian. Sparx put a hand on her back to guide her forward, "Hey, don't let him get to you." he whispered to her, "We all know he's just grumpy cause he's named after produce." he joked to lighten her mood.
It seemed to work when the signs of a smile tugged at the corners of her snarl. She had to admit that Sparx COULD be funny on rare occasions.
Mandarin noticed how the two were lingering behind before moving past the others in large strides and grabbing Nova's hand, tugging her to make her walk with him, "The more you two fool around, the worse his condition will be. Get a move on, that's an order."
Shooting him a venomous gaze over his shoulder, the armor-clad monkey left Sparx behind as a resistant Nova was made to go with him until she yanked free of his grasp, sticking to Gibson's side in the back of the group.
If it were anyone else, they would have gotten a fist in their face for that little stunt. The only reason Mandarin got away with that kind of manhandling was because he was in charge. Didn't mean she had to like it.
Sparx ground his teeth a little as everyone else exited the training room together. He briefly thought about just staying behind to cool off, but his concern for Otto was greater than his disdain for Mandarin. Resigning himself with a sigh, he eventually followed them and closed the doors behind him.
In the Med Bay, Gibson was hard at work running several diagnostics on his computer screens and applying the necessary repairs. He worked with focused determination in his dark eyes, mumbling softly to himself about which parts go where and how the electrical currents needed to flow.
The Hyperforce stood in a half circle around the medical bed Otto was laying on. The mechanic had his back facing the ceiling to make it easier for Gibson to access, still unconscious from the pack's damage. Everyone was silent for the past several minutes, not knowing what to say in such a grim situation.
Finally the silence was broken when Sparx softly asked Gibson, "Is he going to be okay?"
Gibson had his back to the group on the adjacent wall, his eyes locked to the computer screen as he responded, "Yes yes, it would seem Mandarin was right about the energy pack. The impact was mostly absorbed by it, thankfully, and protected any vital organs. He'll be sore for a while, but our cybernetic friend will live to fight another day."
There was a sigh of relief as Gibson replaced Otto's pack with a new once, screwing it into place and jump starting it with a carefully pinpointed zap from his drill.
With a jolt, Otto jerked upwards so quickly that the group took a surprised step backwards. Mandarin was the exception as he instead snapped into a fighting stance in response to the false threat, his laser shield and sword drawn in record time.
"Whoa?!" Otto looked around, briefly on his hands and knees before he pulled himself into a sitting position and saw his robotic companions staring at him. Without missing a beat, he gave them a big goofy smile, "Heya guys! We gonna have a party or somethin'?"
Grunting, Mandarin put his weapons away and patted Otto's shoulder a few times, "Welcome back to the land of the living, old friend."
Otto's expression feel from innocent eagerness to dread, gawking at his leader, "Was...was I dead?!"
"Not exactly." Gibson wiped his hands off with a cloth as he walked to his bedside, "But you were momentarily discharged."
Nova took a step forward, her brow furrowing, "Don't you remember anything?"
"Eh, sorta? Now that I think about it." The green monkey raised a brow and tapped his chin a few times, looking into space, "Somethin' about technical difficulties and Antauri needin' an oil change...?"
"...What?" Sparx felt a smirk encroaching despite himself and gave Antauri an amused glance, to which the elder monkey shrugged in response.
The conversation was interrupted with a deliberate cough.
Casting their eyes over, they all looked at Mandarin who by now was a few steps away from Otto to better face the group head on. His arms were held behind his back and he wore a solemn gaze, "Monkey Team, as 'fun' as this chit chat is, I'm afraid we have more serious matters to discuss."
Shaking his head, he turned around to face the computer screen that Gibson had been running his diagnostics on, scanning over them, "This si the third time one of us has gotten hurt since we started these training exercises a few weeks ago. It's starting to become ridiculous."
He looked over his shoulder and shot an accusatory glance between the offending monkeys, addressing them as he went, "Nova, you busted up both of your arms so badly that it took you a week to recover, all because you got too sluggish cause of a little cold. Then with you, Gibson, you almost dislodged your tail cause you got overheated from forgetting to check your cooling tanks. It wasn't even as hot back then as it was this time."
"Give me a break." Nova growled, clenching her fingers together, "That temperature was far below freezing and my Robotic Fists locked up so I couldn't use them. How is that fair?"
Mandarin frowned, pointing at her, "The enemy won't play 'fair', Nova. We're not babies and I expect better from my hand to hand specialist than childish excuses. If we fought Skeleton King's Formless in the dead of winter at your current level, you'd be taken out in a matter of seconds. Is that what you want?"
She didn't answer him, just looked down to the ground and shuffled on her feet.
Gibson butted in with a grumble, "I would have been able to keep an eye on my temperature levels if someone wasn't distracting me with their buffoonery." he growled, frowning over at an offended Sparx.
"H-Hey! Don't pin all your problems on me. I was just joking around a bit!" the red monkey insisted, waving his hands a few times, "How was I supposed to know you were dumb enough to let yourself get dehydrated?"
Gibson glowered at him, poking the other simian in the chest, "Oh I'm the dumb one? How is constantly calling your teammate a 'Brain Strain' and making fun of his less than adequate jumping skills during a fight supposed to help anyone in battle?! Did you ever think of that?!"
Sparx's tone was starting to reach a fevered pitch as Gibson pushed his buttons, "Well MAYBE if you would stop criticizing me on every single tactic that I used, I wouldn't need to call you-"
"Ahem."
They both fell silent when Antauri's deep voice broke in, looking at them both like a father would to his rowdy kids, "If you are both quite done acting like children, I believe I've reached a conclusion. It seems that we aren't quite ready for such a difficult training session without getting seriously hurt."
"I agree." Mandarin chimed, walking towards them with a disappointed stare, "It would seem I overestimated your abilities, Monkey Team, and now I'm at a loss of what to do for our next few exercises..."
Antauri frowned at his words and the dejected looks of his robotic companions. Thinking of a solution, he reached out an patted Mandarin on the back a few times to get their leader's attention, "If I may make a suggestion, why don't we try this? How about we continue with these sessions, but turn it down a notch. The same theme still applies but in a less extreme manner."
"Hmmn...a simplified version, huh?" Mandarin pondered quietly to himself. Antauri was the only one of the group that he would ever consider taking suggestions from, especially when it came to his own ideas. After thinking for a moment, a tiny smile broke across his face, "Antauri, that's a great idea."
Turning to everyone again, he cleared his throat, "Starting next week, we will resume our training anew. However, this time it'll be tweaked slightly. Since I can't trust you all to work as a team in such conditions, I'm going to train each of you individually until you perfect it on your own. Then we'll see about working as a group again."
Everyone was a little taken aback and Antauri tried to back peddle some, "Mandarin, is that wise? Making us work alone could be even more dangerous than as a group."
"That's why I will personally be there for each and every one of you if something should go wrong." He assured the dark-furred monkey, "It will take some extra time, but I think it'll be worth it in the end."
The older simian nodded at him, but a frown made itself known the longer he stood there. Antauri couldn't place his finger on it, but there was something...off about how Mandarin was going about this. A strange kind of glee rested in his tone, as if he had come up with a secret plan on the spot.
Still, he decided to keep his suspicions to himself. It wasn't fair to go after their leader like this when he doesn't have a scrap of proof. For all he knew, perhaps he was just happy that they found a solution to their problem.
Nova however felt a chill run up her spine as such an eerie thought of being alone with Mandarin for a one on one training sessions. The very notion creeped her out and put a bad pit in her stomach. A squirmy feeling that made her frustration and resentment towards the orange monkey turn into anger.
Sparx seemed to agree with her as he vibrantly shook his head, "Uh uh no way am I doing that! You're out of your mind if you think I'm gonna let you hammer me with your lectures and-"
His voice fell when he saw the glare his leader was giving him. Monkey doodle, if looks could kill he was sure he would have exploded a second later.
Hesitating, Sparx tried to deflect the uncomfortable feeling between them, "C-Could you at least give me some time? It's going to take more than week to mentally prepare myself to bask in your radiance. Ha ha...ha...?"
Mandarin didn't laugh. Didn't even grin.
Instead he furrowed his brows at his companion and said lowly, "I'm sorry, did I say this was a vote? No, this is an order and you're going to follow it, Sparky."
He turned his red eyes from am unnerved Sparx to the rest, "I know it seems frivolous, but team, can't you see that we need these sessions? Skeleton King has all sorts of horrifying powers in his wake, the weather could be one of them or at the very least accompanying one of his monsters. If we can't fight in less ideal conditions, he'd easily take us down in seconds and destroy Shuggazoom. I refuse to let him rip MY city away from me, got it?"
No one liked how he said that in such a possessive manner, but in the moment no one dared question him when he was already on edge.
Getting the hint, he nodded, "Good. You're all dismissed." he looked to Otto, "You however need rest. I better not see you out of this room without Gibson's go-ahead or I swear I will carry you back in myself."
"Awwww..." Otto whined, not picking up on the increasing tension in the air, "But medical beds are so uncomfortable. I'll never be able to sleep."
Only a tiny chortle that vaguely resembled laughter left Mandarin as he patted the bed a few times, "And your workshop that I constantly have to drag you out of is any better? You'll live."
His playful tone left him as soon as he noticed the others giving him a weird look, scowling, "Are you guys deaf? I said you were dismissed." He pushed past them and walked to the exit, "If anyone needs me, I'll be meditating in my room."
"I'll accompany you." Antauri offered, following after him, "I need to hone my skills in the Power Primate."
Mandarin gave him a crooked grin in that patronizing way only he could, "That's because you're not a natural like me, Antauri."
"Quite." he responded without a hint of irritation, leaving the rest of the group with Otto as the doors shut behind them.
As soon as he was sure they were out of earshot, Sparx angrily kicked the side of the bed, "Ugh! How can Antauri put up with that...that...little orange pain?!"
"I know." Nova groaned, shaking her head, "It took every ounce of willpower I had not to slug him in his smug little face."
The red monkey snickered to himself as he rubbed the foot he used, "Maybe one of the gifts the Power Primate gives Antauri is an unending patience for idiots."
"Illogical. If that were true, Sparx, then Mandarin would be a little less on edge thanks to the Power Primate." Gibson pointed out, organizing some of his beakers while he was there and not noticing the annoyed look his friend gave him for missing the joke. He was surprised though when Gibson teased, "Then again, maybe it's not general incompetence that annoys him, but you."
"Wha-ME?! Why would Mandarin target me?" he gave exaggerated gestures to himself, "I didn't even do anything to the guy!"
Gibson had a smirk that just wouldn't leave his face, "I'm not insinuating anything. I'm just saying that you do seem to get the brunt of his ire. I mean, how many of us has he given pet names to just to get an angry reaction? Just you, Sparky."
Sparx was about to retort until Otto interrupted, "Aw come on guys, give Mandarin a break. He's really stressed out about being the leader, ya know. Yeah he's grumpy but he's not so bad when you get past it. In fact he's pretty fun to hang out with. Haven't any of you seen his high game score lately? That was an all night session we had and he still wanted to train in the mornin'."
"Hmph, we all know he's a perfectionist. Of course he'd want to be the best at everything, even video games." The red monkey grumbled, the thought of Mandarin being a swell guy a foreign concept to him, "No offense Otto, but you're just saying that cause you're chummy with the creep."
"He's not a creep." Otto pouted at him, "I mean it, he's really not that bad. He's just trying his best, yeah? If you'd just stop fightin' with him and give Mandarin a chance I think you two could be friends."
"...Maybe Otto's right." Gibson chimed in, much to both of their surprise, "Look Sparx, I don't like him much either, but he is still our leader. He was picked for a reason, and the Power Primate is the strongest within him. He's new to being in charge and protecting an entire city, maybe even the planet, from an abomination like Skeleton King. It doesn't give him an excuse to be so, eh, disagreeable...but maybe we can at least try giving him the benefit of the doubt."
The image of his arrogant grin crossed Nova's mind the moment she pictured him, forcing the yellow warrior to clench her fists tightly, anger briefly gripping her, "...Hmph, emphasis on the word 'try' Gibson."
"Pleaaase?" Otto gave the three of them big eyes, "I don't like it when everyone's arguin'. We're supposed to be a team, right?"
A moment of awkward silence fell over the room until Nova exhaled loudly. She was quicker to relent than the others, "...Aw, you know I can't say no to that face." They smirked at one another, "...But if he grabs at me again like he did earlier I wont be able to stop his face from meeting the floor."
Gibson and Sparx exchanged glances before the blue monkey let out an exasperated sigh, "It wouldn't hurt I suppose. Sparx, I'm sorry about the name calling. It was immature of me."
"Yeah...I'm sorry about the training exercise. I really didn't mean for your tail to get hurt." Sparx scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, not used to swallowing his pride. The next part was harder to agree to, but he had to relent under Otto's admittedly innocent gaze, "...And I guess...I'll give Mandarin a chance."
"Yay!" Otto jerked his arms upwards in his small victory, only to wince and lower them at once, "Ow, ow, ow."