AFTER-NOTE: 8th has just started so I hope it's still 7th at FF!
HAPPY SPRX FANGIRLS DAY! YES, TODAY IS THE 7TH OF JULY!
I'm wearing a red trouser, drinking from a red cup and would've worn my red specs...(but my eyesight has changed)
-Fangirl Squeal-
Long time no see
I lost my touch…and if it's still there it's probably too rusty for use, capiche?
DEAREST NEMESIS
She grinned, "Oh no you can't help it, you're the dumb monkey!"
"Did you hear what I just say?" Mandarin glared at her, his bony hand casting a small beam of light around them.
They were in one of the darkened hallways of the castle, going over Skeleton King's plans in whispers that reverberated around the castle, but they had nothing to fear.
Was it that obvious? Yes, it was, she was certain. She was familiar to the way her eyes widened in horror and her hands fell numbly to her sides whenever she had one of her flashbacks. Maybe the darkness…but she knew better. She began to panic inwardly but crossed her arms on her chest, retorting sorrowfully, "Of course I did, we have to wait," her hands gestured to the training arena, "we hardly have enough forces for tommorow!"
"Standing helpless like this," Mandarin shook his head in dismay, "It's despicable!" He sneered, then stared at her square in the eye, "Don't you want to help your lord Father?"
"You know I'll do anything for Father, anything." Her voice swelled with gratefulness, her devotion evident in the way she clenched and unclenched her fist. She couldn't help feeling grateful, they had saved her despite the fact that she had no re-collection of her memory and was a mere burden. Although Skeleton King, her Father, had never fully recounted the circumstances under which her "accident" occurred – he said it would be a distraction to have her fury directed at someone in particular – she had let the subject drop in consent.
This place is doing things to me...
"Do you know the reason we hadn't conquered Shuggazoom yet?" He inquired, his features sharper in the faint gleam of his hand.
"The Hyper Force, who else?" She replied, knowing that they were the only obstacle between her Father and Shuggazoom. Four cybernetic simians and a teenager, she had initially thought that they had hardly sounded like a threat but that was underestimating herself for she was a cybernetic simian, too.
"Who else?" He scoffed, "but who in particular?"
That was disobedience, she knew. She mustn't have grudges against one of them, but all of them collectively. She remembered her father recounting how Mandarin's bone-deep hatred towards the Hyper Force leader, Chiro, had caused him to lunge at Chiro although there were better opportunities of inflicting damage upon the Hyper Force. He wanted her to learn from her comrades mistakes and seemed frantic about her ever-flaring temper. Why was Mandarin now intent on changing that?
"You know that Father said it was rash to direct your vengeance at someone in particular." She began to snap, then remembered how she pursued some answers and felt self-loathe instead.
This place is doing things to me...
Ignoring her statement, he continued, "The same one who resurrected Lord Skeleton King." She definitely knew who, that was the only part that truly piqued her curiosity- she wasn't the curious type. Wars had predictable events and consequences; it's either to defeat or to get defeated. You are overwhelmed by ranks of soldiers and strategies, sleepless nights and training sessions. You find lots of wars in history, but not someone resurrected and so the subject became a source of her fascination until she quenched her own curiosity with a version in which her father starred as, "Ol' bag of bones" The memory made her guilt resurface.
"And most importantly," His grinned derisively, as though informing her was amusing him, "the one who threw you down that cliff."
That was worse than plunging an ice cold knife into her chest- WAS IT HIM? COULD IT BE? She plunged into the same darkness she had plunged into when she first recovered –partially- from the fall.
"Nova, are you alight?" She remembered her father's voice, the first she ever recalled hearing "You fell down a cliff during the war." To which she had replied with such bewilderment it ached her to remember any of it, "What war?" "What cliff?" "Who am I?"
She remembered their shock, even though it did seem a bit feigned- LIKE THEY KNEW YOU LOST YOUR MEMORY! She gasped inwardly at her thoughts, but the flood of memory assaulting her continued relentlessly. After a brief explanation, they had laid her thrashing figure on an examination table and attached some cables to her head. She remembered a half-full bar "Analysis in progress"…
"Analysis Complete"
Sprx pried off the cables and gracefully slid down the examination table, in rash haste to leave the laboratory, only to be stopped by Gibson, "Based on this report," he indicated an exceedingly long sheet of paper, "you're fine…physically, I suppose." The scientist added hesitantly after a moment's thought.
"Told ya I'm fine, brainiac!" The scarlet simian said dismissively, "It was just a headache."
"And your hallucinations?" He questioned, worry etched upon his face.
Here we start again…He groaned in exasperation, "I don't hallucinate!"
"You do hallucinate!" He admonished, "Do you still suffer from the feeling that something is missing?"
"Nah, I think I had banged my head during the war or something…then got those thoughts." Sprx stated for the umpteenth time, desperately endeavoring to quell his comrade's worries, "Nothing to worry about!" and dashed out.
Through his tube he reached the hall where their rooms were situated, five in total, in front of his room the metal bended inwardly and seemed as though it was constructed that way. But I know better…Sprx stared and began to try recalling what it looked like before the war. It was always like that…No, not really…
Although Sprx couldn't put a finger on it, he was certain that something was terribly wrong…Someone was missing…but who?how?when?where? the rest was a blur.
Antauri said that much, when he confronted him, "I believe there is some sort block on the Power Primate."
"What is that lock thing?"
"Nothing I've experienced before…I find myself unable to assess its extent."
"But –"
"And why you are the only one who noticed it is another question."
"Thanks for underestimating me, 'Tauri…does wonders to my ego!"
"I believe meditating will help," The silver simian urged him, "Try to remember the "blurred" parts of your memory."
That was the only useful piece of advice he had gotten in the span of 4 months after the Goddamn war he had caused. Gibson gave him sleeping pills and mild sedatives, but he didn't touch them.
It wasn't as though he wanted anyone to know about it, he knew they'll think that the fire of hate hadn't released its leach on him yet –or so his guilt-induced mind insisted. However, he couldn't conceal it once Otto found him transfixed before the metal in front of his room, eyes wide in horror and his hands hanging limply to his sides, telling them was an inevitability.
The worst part occurred in the lab, a week after the war, where he had burst shrieking, "Guys someone is missing…WE'RE SIX NOT FIVE, I SWEAR. DON'T YOU GET IT? THERE'S SPACE FOR A TUBE BESIDE MINE! AND THE SUPER ROBOT IS SUPPOSED TO DISENGAGE, I SWEAR! KID YOU DON'T RIDE IN FOOT CRUSHER CRUISER 6, YOU GET TURSO TANK DRIVER 1, THE ONE MANDARIN USED! SOMEONE IS MISSING…I JUST KNOW IT!" Since everyone looked at him as if he had lost it, his first outburst was his last and no one knew about his "memory flashes" except Antauri and her.
Now she was perhaps the only reason he began to engage in normal activities rather than the usual, "wake, eat, train, patrol, sleep, remember, remember, remember, remember, remember, remember, remember, and Holy Shuggazoom I'm gonna collide with a building!"
At first, it wasn't that she had intrigued him and it wasn't the lack of being intrigued. She was an opportunity, new to the dark world –the lousy one he remembered, anyway- and he needed means to reach Skeleton King's world. What's better than his feisty so-called daughter? Yeah, right, nothing is!
He had first seen her during Skeleton King's first attack on Shuggazoom after the war. It was a mild one, mainly to announce what they already knew "I'm back, fuckers, so don't take my absence for granted!" Sprx had been following the formless minions (the only thing that wasn't updated in them was their name!) down a narrow alley when he came face to face with her, a golden cybernetic simian with bubblegum pink eyes and all the bells in his head rang at once: SHE'S THE MISSING PIECE! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU SEE THE LIKES OF HER EVERYDAY!
But that was the logical approach to the matter, and Sprx doubted that logic could work on his case. Yet he felt drawn to her, as though a certain magnetism had sparked between them. He had been so certain it was her that it felt surreal. He felt euphoria he hadn't felt in months that the feeling had become foreign to his system. And then everything shattered in the span of two minutes.
"This is dangerous," He said the first thing that came to mind, after all I'm supposed to have lost my memory! "You are gonna get attacked!"
"Attacked?" Hands on hips, she glared at him nonchalantly, pink eyes glowing with fury.
A horde of minions came in their way, so he threw a magnetic ball on them, yelling "Manga Ball Blazer!"
"You're from the Hyper…Hyper Force?" He heard her asking in that "plain pissed off" tone she'd used earlier, although she did sound a bit disbelieving.
"Duh!" As soon as the words escaped his mouth she lunged at him, her giant fists pinning him to one of the walls. "DON'T. KILL. MY. MINIONS. YOU. NEMISIS" With every word she delivered a punch to his face. He coughed and spat a mouthful of blood in shock, feigning defeat. She readied her fist to deliver the final blow when he kicked her wildly, sending her flying across the alley. That started a bloody fight, with the minions an eerily calm audience.
In the end, he found himself breathlessly remarking between pants, "I rate you 10 outta 5!"
"That's not what they say." She replied wistfully. He thought that her eyes had a naïve shine to them, even though her fists were coated with a scarlet liquid. My blood…His stomach churned with nausea.
"Who?" He asked, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. And I thought…and I thought!
"Mandarin…" She paused as if contemplating whether to continue or not, "and Father."
"Father?" Sprx raised an eyebrow.
"Lord Skeleton King, who else, Nemesis?" She said proudly, reducing her fists to their normal size.
Crap, she's his daughter…Oh no, not "crap", not "crap"…..
"Nemesis? Shut up, feisty!" He retorted then muttered, mostly to himself, "and I thought 'Sparky' was a horror!"
Sparky…A key to another lock, but the locks were beyond count and the keys were beyond reach.
Transfixed, his magnets fell numbly to his sides and his eyes froze in a trance.
"I can and I will, Sparky!" A voice rang in his ears, so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time he couldn't decide which. Behind what felt like a translucent barrier, he saw a large screen –probably the one in the Super Robot- on which colors flickered. He saw Otto and the kid playing with him and…and –
"Are you okay?" Fies –bones'daugh –gaaaah, whatever! asked, her fury dissolving into worry. He noticed that his hands (when did he conceal his magnets?) were clammy with sweat and that he was panting, as though he had put so much effort to see those "memory flashes"
And I thought it sucked when the team knew, now my enemy –no, arch nemesis (heheheh) saw it all. This day sucked real bad…
"Okay…I'm okay." He muttered, suspicious of this new approach then tried to change the subject, "You know, he gotta put you there instead of Mandy" He gestured to where most minions crowded around the orange simian, the Hyper Force plunging through them in ease.
"I'm supposed to observe until I become familiar with battle ground." Her tone was sorrowful with a tint of rage.
"Yeah, I know you're new…Never saw you before around here." He replied.
She shot him a bewildered look that meant to say "really?" But Father and Mandarin said I had a battle record…Father said that I fought on the streets of Shuggazoom numerous times…What is he saying?
But then he had one of them –the Flashbacks…Maybe he had lost his memory too like me, but they had filled him with lies…
Yeah! Father never lies…
All the truths in her life, she realized, were based on a single truth: that her father was speaking truthfully.
She dismissed the topic and looked at the formless horde, reduced now to a dozen or so, "Won't you lend them a hand?" She asked, her hands on her hips.
"Nah, the party is over." He retorted morosely then his eyes sparked with interest as though he had gotten a brilliant idea, "So…see ya, fies–"
"Nova!" She interrupted him, "The name's Nova." Feisty, she had to admit, was a better nickname than she had expected, but she wasn't merely feisty. It was an underestimation.
"S-P-R-X-77, but call me Sparx, will ya?" And he left, the few minions who remained dissolving into ooze as he rammed through them.
Oddly enough, Skeleton King was glad that she hadn't interrupted –he never knew of her encounter with Ne –Sprx –but the worse part that he continued sending her to stand helplessly and watch as the entire world turns into havoc and leaves her behind. She itched to be allowed to fight, to draw blood with her fists and hear the enemy's shrieks of agony.
No…A small part of her mind was protesting
There's a difference between fighting and destroying!
She realized that the longer she spends there, the gorier she gets. Initially she thought her anticipation was making her more restless, but the dark presence around her was the real culprit. Sometimes she would feel as though she was possessed, but then dropped the thought.
Father knows what's good for me…It's not like it will make any difference if I got bloodier!
There was a difference; she noticed it after seven weeks in that alley while sparring with Sprx. She called it "sparring" because a) she wasn't supposed to fight and b) she wasn't planning on killing him. He seemed to help her vent out her built-up rage in the few minutes when they fought. She was cautious while talking with him; it was obvious he was luring her into some kind of trap to spill all her father's plans. But he would get nothing except those few enjoyable spars and perhaps some broken ribs.
"What's happened to you?" Sprx asked breathlessly, exhausted from the first minute of sparring.
"Nothing." She raised an eyebrow.
"You're more savage! Too savage!" He exclaimed and lightly touched a darkening bruise on his temple.
"But doesn't that mean that I'm improving?" Father was proud, wasn't he? He saw me training on the punching bag and approved!
"There's a difference between "getting better" and "getting more savage" " He coughed more blood on the pavement and she instantly felt a twinge of regret. "Look in a mirror and you'll get what I mean."
She listened, and her reflection was sickening shade of dark yellow, with wide blackish circles beneath her eyes. Her eyes were darker and even her pupils were no longer circular! She muffled a gasp of terror that threatened to escape her mouth by biting down on her lips, drawing blood almost instantly. She didn't recall her teeth being that sharp. What am I becoming?
And her last thoughts as she slammed her fist onto the mirror were: He was right…He was right!
On the next attack –which was two days later, she was occupying her usual spot in the alley and saw him walking towards her in stealth once the attacking horde had thinned considerably.
"Hey there, still observing?" He acknowledged her with a wave of his magnet, then stopped when he saw the look on her face: A mixture of fear and anxiety only enhanced by the shadows that dragged down her eyes. He'd seen her a lot lately and grown used to her furious and energetic demeanor and the powerful way with which she crossed her hands on her chest.
"I asked father if I was becoming, you know, savage…and he told me he was doing me a favour" She said weakly, "It's the castle…it's doing things to me."
Now was his turn to worry. Antauri had warned him of this, that he'll begin to get , compassionate as he's "good at nature" Sprx had to admit that he'd never heeded his warning , mainly because he had thought that Nova would be as evil as the rest and found no area for compassion while dealing with such evil.
"When do you feel the most savage?" He found himself asking, his eyes scanning the area for any threat to his comrades or himself.
She furrowed her brows, deep in thought. He couldn't help but note that she looked cute like that, and then drown in regret. You're supposed to look for the sixth member…not goggle at her! His subconscious chastised him harshly. He remembered the memory flashes and for the first time wondered, Why me? There are five heroes, for crying out loud! He wasn't the smartest or the strongest or even the wisest. What type of sick joke is it to pick a pilot and clog him with sick hallucinations that he ends up taking it upon his shoulders to unveil the mystery of the missing member and try to take advantage of an innocent while watching said innocent getting stripped of her innocence? It was like someone had strapped him down onto a chair and forced him to watch his sanity fading slowly, agonizingly away…As if that wasn't enough, he now had to watch Nova slowly drifting away and do nothing about it…because there's nothing he could do but watch. Antauri was Goddamn right! He shouldn't have done any of this. As if I didn't have enough on my mind!
Then the truth pierced him, sharper than a razor. The fire of hate wasn't really gone, now was it? He had even forgotten how he had snapped out of it! It was there all along, filling his mind with all those hallucinations and thoughts. Even Nova…no, especially Nova! Who in their right minds bothers an enemy's well-being? And she was no normal rival –but the so-called daughter of the Goddamn ol' bag of bones himself, the main culprit behind his misery! The fire of hate may have ebbed now, but it'll surely return in no time and he had to made sure he had done a good thing before he was possessed again and the chance was in front of him, waving a hand before his face to end his musings.
He reached up slowly and with a swift movement slammed her on to the wall, one of his hands reaching behind her shoulder to turn her giant fists off.
"No fair," She said, helplessly resisting against his restraint, "you should've told me you wanted to spar."
He began throttling her relentlessly, his hands closing around her neck but then realized that his magnets will finish the job easily.
He heard his own voice, so close yet so far, "...piece by piece" The crack of metal reverberated in his ears.
"Either you give me that skull..."
"I know who I am...and I know..."
"Sparx..." Another voice in great agony, to far to identify the speaker.
He let her go instantly, too overwhelmed to think clearly. That was the clearest memory he had of that night in the Pit of Doom. Him, tearing someone apart with his magnets, although who, he couldn't tell.
"I…always wanted to do that...at the beginning" He heard her in his trance-like thoughts. She looked pale, "Kill you. Father wouldn't have minded, now that I think about it. I knew you wanted to get information out of me, otherwise you wouldn't have coped with that beating I gave you everytime you entered this alley." She looked at the ground, miserably, "You know, the only reason I didn't was because you had this flashback the first time you were here…so I thought that maybe you were…MAYBE YOU WERE LIKE ME!"
"Like you?" He asked, no longer within the confines of his thoughts.
"You know I lost my memory, down to the point that I didn't remember who I was! But then I went on getting those weird flashback as if I'm looking through –"
"Glass…Translucent glass. You see someone, but you can't tell who. You see yourself, but you don't remember when. Then you snap back to reality with a look of horror on your face that everyone thinks you've lost it! Right, right? Am I RIGHT?"
"Yes, RIGHT, RIGHT!" She replied, "Is this a curse on us?"
"What else, Nova? What else?" He couldn't take it anymore and spilled it out, all the agony building up inside him in a single outburst. He confessed his crazed theories about their missing comrade and his flashes. He told her of the nights he'd lain sleepless, knowing his entire life was a lie and she replied in the affirmative, "Me too, I tried denying it but I knew…I just knew! That place is doing things to me!"
He started explaining the wild rage that consumed him when he'd tried to assault her and recounted some bits of the fire of hate incident he'd old her about three weeks earlier –she asked him about it and seemed pretty curious. And when he was done, he collapsed on the harsh floor, his face a mask of pain and agony. She comforted him as he sat there, and murmured soothing words at one point, while he apologized over and over. He couldn't help but feel déjà vu as if he, -no they had been in that position before. He hugged her briefly, saying, "I'm glad I've you." The feeling intensified but he let it drop.
"Hey," she punched him lightly on the arm, "you don't have me!" Then she became aware that what Sprx had referred to as "the party" was over, wholly and completely over.
"We lost track of time." Sprx assessed their surroundings, then stared fondly at her. The faint glow of moonlight illuminated her features, especially her pretty face. How he longed to lean closer and press his lips onto hers lightly, he wanted no more than a swift peck on the lips, but he restrained himself and realized that looking at her was sufficient –for the moment, anyway.
"Gotta go." She turned to leave, but he grabbed her hand, "so…friends?" he blurted, for the lack of an adequate farewell. Through all their earlier talks, they had never defined their relationship, but neither had they indulged in such deep conversations.
"Friends?" She scoffed "You," With a smile, she jabbed a finger at his chest, "are my nemesis, maybe my dearest nemesis but a nemesis nevertheless." She pecked him on the cheek and disappeared into the darkness. He remembered another night, and another peck, but he was too involved in the present to give a damn about the past.
When he returned to the robot, he found his comrades awaiting his return. And although he wanted to tell them, "I, SPRX-77, have fallen for my enemy…hard and I don't give a damn about anything!" but he assured him that they were getting closer, that she was beginning to trust him and consented to have Gibson analyze him. Now, he was assaulted by those memories in front of the metal before his room but knew better than to let it get under his skin. That night he drifted into sleep with ease he had never felt in months. If he had nothing, he still had hope. It's all gonna be alright…
"Do you know who's responsible for all this?" Mandarin's voice snapped Nova out of her musings. She shook her head, I'm not supposed to know…. And braced herself for what he was about to say.
"It's the red one, surely you've seen him." She nodded, she was expected to nod.
"Now, now…I know this might be a disobedience of your father's orders but think of how glad he'll be if you KILLED HIM?" His grin wasn't merely evil, but amused, so amused it daunted her.
"But I didn't even participate in a fight…let alone kill someone." She tried to protest. Surely now she doubts some of the things they had said, but the more she remained here the more her doubts ebbed. Even her last encounter with Sprx had begun to seem unrealistic, "This place is doing things to me!" She'd told him. She recalled asking Mandarin –right after her last, and most important, encounter with the scarlet simian- if any Hyper Force member was imprisoned (or dead) and the orange simian had denied with , "unfortunately" and wondered why she was asking. "Their Super Robot seems suited for six rather than five…I've been observing." Was her reply.
"That's why I'm entrusting this job to you…the element of surprise is on your side. He has no recollection of your abilities. You can take him down easily." Mandarin insisted, "You'll make lord Skeleton King glad."
There was no way out of it…
If she retreated, he wouldn't only grow suspicious but plan to take him down himself. She was compelled to consent, to buy time and warn him.
"I will"
The next attack occurred a day later. She remained in her place in the shadows, wanting to catch Sprx's sight and warn him before it was too late. Once he slipped into the alley, and before neither of them could speak a word, a large force of Skeleton king's suddenly closed on them. Mandarin stood proudly, ordered the minions to chain Sprx up, who resisted to no avail. He gestured to Nova, who was white with horror, "You've precisely followed my orders. I'm glad! Drag him away!"
She burst screaming, thrashing and kicking at him but the minions held her back, "Yesterday, I lied." He had a fit of hysteric laughter, "There was a missing member of the Hyper Force. That buffoon was right all along" She stared at him wide-eyed, "You searched the dungeons, didn't you? and found no one! It was you. IT WAS YOU."
THE END!
8 July has just started in my place now…so I'm praying that it's still 7th on FF… I had two writer's blocks that slowed me down :( Then the internet connection was too slow to load anything for a hour!
I know it sucked…you can think of vile ways to punish me to vent out…REMEMBER YOU CAN'T INFLICT ANY SORT OF PHYSICAL INJURY ON ME.
But on the bright side, there is a sequel…AND A HAPPY ENDING!
For those who are confused, Sprx and Nova are recalling.
Nova was at the point Mandarin told her that Sprx was responsible for her fall.
And SPRX was remembering while staring at the metal before his room.
The only procession of events was the last attack…that rest was all some memories.
Hope you don't hate me