Vampire Monkey

Gibson/Antauri (Gibby and 'tauri)

SPRX/Nova (Sparky and his pimp. 'cause Nova's awesome like that.)

Chiro/Jinmay (Monkey boy and Robotgirl. LOL)

Otto/Machines! (… poor Otto, so alone…)

"Antauri!" SPRX shouted, running over, magnets ready, "Let go of Gibson!"

The black monkey smirked. His usually yellow-green eyes now the color of blood, spikes ripping through his helmet and demonic wings forming on his back.

"Holy Suggazoom…" Chiro whispered.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Antauri lifted a clawed hand, "I'm more powerful than ever before. I can FEEL the power coursing through me."

"Antauri, come back with us." Nova begged.

"Why?" Antauri chuckled, "If I go with you, I lose the power. What could I possibly gain?"

"You could give Gibson back his will." SPRX smiled, "Come on, Antauri. You can't tell Gibson how you feel if you've killed him. Please."

"You misunderstand, SPRX. Hal will always return my affections if I keep him under my bind."

"But it isn't real!" SPRX protested, "Real love is mutual. Real love isn't this crap you're putting Gibson through!"

Antauri snarled.

"How would you understand? You've yet to obtain the one person who has your affections and you are highly unlikely to!"

"Ouch. Low blow, man. Low blow."

"'tauri?"

The black monkey smirked, "Hello, Hal."

Gibson walked over, wrapping his arms around Antauri from behind him.

"What are you doing?" Gibson asked, "Why did you leave me alone?"

"I have something to take care of."

Gibson kissed Antauri's cheek, "Please hurry."

Antauri turned to put an arm around Gibson's waist, "You see, SPRX, you have nothing. Hal is finally mine indefinitely."

"How do you know?" Otto asked.

"What?"

Otto shrugged, "How do you know Gibby loves you? Do you even know how he acts around people he loves? I know it's not this, because I've seen him around the person he loves."

"What are you saying?" Antauri growled.

"That this isn't Gibson, it's a figment of your imagination possessing his body. I think you're afraid."

"Afraid? Me? Ha!" Antauri smirked, "I fear nothing!"

"Then release Gibson from your spell." Nova challenged, "And tell him you love him."

Gibson was leaning on Antauri's shoulder, his eyes blank and an empty smile on his face. Antauri looked from the team to Gibson, worried.

"I can't." Antauri looked back at the team, "No one would care for me when I'm a monster like this!" he pushed Gibson away and ran off.

"Antauri!" SPRX shouted, running after him.

Otto ran over to Gibson, helping him sit up.

"Gibby?"

The life returned to Gibson's eyes.

"Wh-where am I?" he winced in pain, "Oh, my neck hurts…"

~~…~~

SPRX chased after Antauri, calling his name but receiving no response. He turned backwards and used a blast from his magnets to shoot him towards Antauri, tackling the black monkey.

"We can help you!" SPRX told him.

Antauri turned and grabbed SPRX by the point on his helmet. He swung the red monkey, throwing him on a wall. SPRX screeched in pain, trying to gather the strength to attack Antauri. The black monkey grabbed him by his throat and held him up in the air, smirking.

"No… A-Antauri… don't you… see what's happening to you?" SPRX gasped for air, "You're turning into… Mandarin!"

Antauri's eyes widened and he dropped SPRX, "No… SPRX, forgive me, please. I can't control myself!"

'Kill the red one. Kill him and drain his body. It would be so easy.'

Antauri screeched, "Get out of my head!"

"Antauri!"

The mutated simian ran off once again, tears forming in his discolored eyes.

"Antauri!"

"Leave me be! I do not wish to cause pain to any of you!" Antauri shouted.

"We just want to help you!"

Antauri looked back and saw SPRX chasing him. He turned, his tears falling freely.

"Antauri, just let us help you…"

"Monkey Mind Scream!"

SPRX was thrown back, watching as Antauri used his ghost claws to destroy his hopes of following him. Rocks and rubble blocked his path of the black monkey, and by the time he would be able to get through, Antauri would be long gone…

~~…~~

Antauri ran. He didn't know where he was running to or how far he'd run. He just wanted to get out of there.

"Antauri?"

He froze and turned, his eyes landing on Mandarin.

"Wh-what in the world?" Mandarin looked him over, "Oh… oh, no… why is the Monkey team not trying to help you? You cannot remain like this."

Antauri didn't hear Mandarin's words, his mind only registering the hatred he had for this simian.

"Look, Antauri, I know I'm supposed to hate you, but this is not something you can fight, it'll take you over and you'll be worse off than Skeleton King!" Mandarin held out his hands in surrender, "I'm not going to fight you, I promise."

Antauri saw this gesture and jumped on the orange monkey. Mandarin shouted in horror.

"Antauri, no!"

~~…~~

Otto tried finding Antauri, but the tracking device was gone.

"I can trace the last place we had it at… but that's as good as I can do." Otto pinpointed the spot, "The tracker should be here."

"The Blasted Lands? He got that far?" Chiro paused, "We have to go after him."

The team nodded.

"But, wait… we can't pilot the Super Robot without the Brain Scrambler." SPRX paused, "And there's no way the Torso tank and the Foot Crusher Cruisers can get over the unstable land."

Nova smiled, "Looks like we're goin' without the Super Robot on this one."

The team got to the Super Robot's shoulder, activating their jet packs and flying off. Gibson used his scanner to follow the tracker's signal.

"It shouldn't be too far now. Land carefully, everyone."

Using light steps, the Monkey Team landed, looking around for any sign of Antauri or the tracker.

"Uh… guys?"

Gisbon jumped, "What is it, Otto? Did you find Antauri?"

"No… but I found someone else."

The team ran over, shocked to find Mandarin a beaten and bloody mess.

"Is he alive?" Otto asked.

Gibson ran his scanner over the orange monkey, "Yes, but just barely. He's lucky I brought my MedKit…" Gibson quickly began healing the orange simian.

"I found the tracker!" Nova called, "It's over here!" She picked up the device and walked over, "Do you want it, Otto?"

"Nah, I'll make a new one."

She shrugged and tossed the device down.

Gibson sighed, "I've stabilized him, but I need to get him back to Sickbay to make sure he won't die."

"The question is: do we want him in the Super Robot?" Chiro asked.

"Uhhh…"

"Mandarin?" Otto knelt next to the orange monkey.

"Antauri… oh, jeez, Antauri…" his eyes focused on Otto and he gasped, "Otto! Antauri, he's in trouble!" He froze and shrieked in pain.

"Mandarin? What happened?"

Mandarin smirked, "Seems he stills has a lot of anger towards me… he saw me and attacked… but I deserved it. But, you have to save Antauri. If you don't, he'll be like that forever. He'll lose every bit of morality he has left…" Mandarin shuddered, "Have you ever had those ghost claws go through you?"

"Mandarin, I'm going to have to lift you to take you to the Super Robot." Gibson told him.

Mandarin groaned and nodded, "Alright…"

"This may a bit painful since you're so injured." Gibson warned him.

"Can't be anything worse than what I get when you guys beat me." Mandarin winced.

Gibson carefully lifted Mandarin off the ground. Mandarin ground his teeth together in pain, resisting the urge to slap Gibson or yell out.

~~…~~

I'm so sorry, everyone… I promise that I'll make it get better. I just need to actually get Mandarin into the action…

Thanks to Jasper Dragonfly, EvilAntauri, and Skaternova for the reviews! Love you!

You have no idea how hard it is not to post my Valentine's Day special today… but I'm going to hold my ground and wait for tomorrow! Happy pre-Valentine's Day, everyone!