First time writing for SRMTHFG! We'll see how this turns out...
His head slammed into the wall, making his vision blur for a brief moment. Shaking off the pain, he faced his attacker and transformed his hands into weapons. "Was that supposed to hurt?" he taunted.
His attacker smirked at him, making his heart skip a beat, and threw another hard punch his way.
He dodged—barely—and sent a ball of magnetic energy flying her way. It was low impact, of course, but it still had enough force to push her back.
"Sparx!" The yellow monkey yelled. "You're supposed to be on the offensive here! So why am I the only one really attacking?" She slammed her fists into the ground in front of him.
SPRX jumped out of the way and grinned. "Just waiting for the right time to make my move."
"Well, you better make it soon before- OW!" Nova crashed to the floor after being tripped halfway through the motion of kicking her teammate in the face. She looked up to see two large, glowing magnets only inches from her snout with a grinning, red-furred monkey looking back at her.
Her eyes widened in horror as her mind transported her back a few months to the time when SPRX had been tainted by the Fire of Hate and enslaved to the will of Skeleton King. "Sparx?" she whispered, suddenly afraid she had lost him again.
SPRX retracted his magnets, smiling smugly. "See? Told you I was the monkey with the moves." He chuckled proudly.
Nova pushed herself up and walked away a little too quickly.
SPRX's brow furrowed in confusion. "Nova? You okay?" he asked timidly. He knew it was dangerous to ask anything that might lead her to believe he doubted her courage.
"I'm fine," she answered without looking at him.
"Hey," SPRX said softly. "You can talk to me. Did I…" he didn't want to ask. "I, uh… I didn't hurt you, did I?"
Nova put on a brave face before turning to look at him. "What, me?" She grinned and waved him off. "Nah. You'd have to try a lot harder than that to hurt me."
"Uh, yeah," the red monkey replied, trying to keep his thoughts from returning to the dark day that plagued his dreams every night.
Nova stepped up to him and gave him a light punch in the arm. "We're cool, Sparky."
SPRX smiled at her. "You know I hate that nickname."
Nova shrugged. "You know I don't care."
"Heh. But, uh, there's something I wanted to say. I… I didn't-"
The alarm went off in the training room as Chiro's voice rang over the loudspeakers. "Monkey Team to the control room. Repeat, Monkey Team to control room."
All monkeys, from wherever they had been, dropped what they were doing and ran. The war with Skeleton King had been non-stop since his return. His attacks were savage, his power great, and his rekindled hatred toward the Hyper Force was enough to keep them all glancing over their shoulders.
They thought he had been tough before, but now, even with allies from across the cosmos gathered to assist them, they were struggling to survive. They were all tired and hungry with no time to rest and little food to eat. The super robot was running on fumes and everyone was on edge.
The monkeys bounded into the room, eyes immediately focusing in on their leader.
Chiro's back was to them. He and Gibson were staring at the monitor with rapt interest. "We're landing the robot," he stated.
"This planet is rich in ore that can be converted into energy to power the super robot," the blue monkey chimed in. "Unfortunately, this sector has been vastly influenced by the Skeleton King in the past. We've no way of knowing whether or not the inhabitants of the land will be friendly toward us."
Landing the robot to refuel had quickly become one of the Hyper Force's most stressful activities in the war. They had to be on constant alert and typically took turns scouting out their surroundings before they even considered preparing the robot to receive its fuel.
"Nova," Chiro said. "It's your turn to take point. You'll leave as soon as we touch down."
Nova nodded, taking note of how much Chiro had grown in such a short time. His determination to stop their enemy had developed to the point of needing reminders to relax. He was all business most of the time. He rarely smiled anymore.
The monkey went to their stations without a word being said. They prepared to land, monitoring the robot's system, scanning for signs of life, checking radiation levels in the ground and oxygen levels in the atmosphere. They did systems checks to look for any weakness in the robot's armor that might need repairing, they checked, rechecked and readied their weapons system. Then they held their breath as they slowly but surely made contact with solid ground below them.
Nova headed for the transport tube that would allow her to exit the robot from the ground. SPRX quickly fell in behind her.
It had become an understood fact that wherever Nova went, SPRX would accompany her. Antauri had questioned him on his growing protectiveness of her, realizing that it stemmed from his actions while influenced by the Fire of Hate, and had insinuated that he thought it might cause complications with SPRX's focus and dedication to their mission if he could not allow Nova to be sent on missions without him once in a while.
SPRX told him exactly what he thought of that theory and had yet to miss a mission with Nova since.
Antauri determined it wise to simple observe for the time.
The door opened and Nova and SPRX cautiously exited the robot, scanning their surroundings for any sign of life or threat.
The terrain was shrouded in thick forests making it difficult to see very far ahead. An unnerving silence made their ears ring in search for even the tiniest of sounds. No birds sang, no bugs chirped, even the braches made no rustle as an eerie breeze moved them in a silent dance.
They could hear their own hearts beating, the smallest of gears turning within their cybernetic frame. They could feel the trees and grass growing around them.
"This is weird," SPRX whispered, though it sounded more like a yell given the deafening silence around them.
The wind ceased and even the trees seemed to halt in their very life as if disturbed by the sudden noise.
Nova looked at him uneasily for a moment before moving deeper into the trees.
Golden eyes watched in curiosity as the metal giant came to rest in Yren-Sil, The Silent Wood. Lifting his snout to the air, he attempted to catch its scent.
Cold. Metal. Lifeless. And yet living. Cold life?
Interesting.
His ears perked forward, listening for the life he could not smell, but still sensed. He was confused and intrigued. Maybe he could get closer. Maybe he should get closer.
He shook his excitement off and trotted down the path he had made on his many treks to the hilltop. He weaved through thick underbrush, nose twitching at the many scents that bombarded him. He could hear small creatures scurrying through the branches above him, but the farther south he journeyed, toward Yren-Sil, the less life he could detect. It was haunting and made his fur rise, but he pressed on.
Soon he found himself wading through the smaller of three rivers that divided the rest of the world from Yren-Sil and fed into the southern ocean at the base of Ēen, his home.
A pang of sorrow filled his chest at the memory of the land he'd left. How many moons had he been away? Nearly ten? And still he had not found the hunting they needed.
He wondered, as he reached the other shore, if he should not abandon his curiosity and return to his home. A sickness had befallen the land and all life now paid the price. He had been sent out in search of food, yet here he stood, not in Ēen, but three days northeast on the bank of Yren-Sil, the Silent Wood. The forbidden land.
Return home with no news of hunting or journey on to discover secrets of the wood?
His ears flicked forward suddenly. In a single heartbeat he found himself back in the river, eyes and ears scanning his surrounding anxiously.
A voice had broken the silence.
Thoughts?