Destiny: Hi again!
Chiro: What was that about?
Destiny: What was what about?
Chiro: How come I don't know the monkeys?
Destiny: It's a surprise! I won't be telling for a while, so sit down and just read.
Chiro: Fine…
Chapter 2: Exploration
Chiro shot up in his bed after another nightmare, sweating. He looked at his clock to see it was 10:00.
"Tamera must be working right now," he thought, "Maybe Gabe and I should visit her."
He got out of bed and got ready. He then grabbed a silver phone on his bed stand and dialed a number. Somebody picked the phone up after two rings.
"Hello," Gabe asked.
"Hey Gabe, it's me," Chiro replied.
"Oh hi," Gabe's voice had a hint of nervousness, "What's up?"
"Want to head down and visit Tamera?"
Gabe paused for a minute, probably thinking. "Sure, I'll head out right now. Bye."
"Bye." Both hung up their phones. Chiro put his cell phone in his pocket and ran out the door.
After 10 minutes, the boys finally met up.
Chiro noticed that Gabe was a little fidgety. "Uh… Gabe," he asked.
Gabe jumped. "Yeah?"
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah! I mean, yes. Just didn't get much sleep, that's all." Gabe rubbed the back of his head, laughing awkwardly.
Chiro shrugged it off.
They made it to a small building with a burger on it, Mr. Gagslapper's. They walked up to a small, balding man.
"Chiro, Gabriel," he exclaimed, "What can I do for you?"
"Um…" Chiro looked at Gabe, "How about just two regular hover burgers?"
"Okay," Mr. Gagslapper nodded, "Two large hoverburgers on the house."
"No, you don't have t—"
"Tamera! Two hoverburgers," Mr. Gagslapper called out.
"Okay," she called back.
Inside, she prepared the burgers, sadly glancing at bald little creatures, shivering in a cage. She quickly opened it up and put a soft purple blanket around them, then shutting it again. She then washed her hands and put the hoverburgers on a plate. She felt bad for the little creatures.
Mr. Gagslapper turned to her. "Tamera, you did a good job today. I think I'll let you leave early."
"Really?"
He nodded.
"Thank you boss!"
She took her blue apron and hat off and grabbed a brown paper bag with her lunch in it. She then walked out, and took the two hoverburgers with her.
She walked up to her friends who were sitting at a table and said, "Here you go!" She handed them each a burger and sat down next to them. She then grabbed a regular burger out of her bag. Both boys looked at her and shrugged, never asking why she didn't eat hover burgers.
"Mmm," was Chiro's response when they dug in, "You two make good burgers!"
"Man, I wish I knew how they made them float like this," came Gabe's.
"You really don't," Tamera thought, thinking of the shivering creatures. That's right, you guessed it. The hair/fur of those creatures actually makes the burgers float. She couldn't tell the secret recipe though. Instead, she treated them with care and avoided eating hoverburgers.
"Today is the day we'll explore the outskirts," Tamera announced, "You guys ready?"
Chiro nodded, about to say the same, except had a mouth full of burger. Both looked at Gabe.
"I'm sorry, I can't."
"Why not," Chiro asked, "It'll be fun!"
"I'm sorry, I'm too busy today. You two can go ahead without me."
Gabe got up and left.
"Well," Chiro said, turning to Tamera, "Let's go."
They walked down a busy street of people towards the outskirts. Right when they goy to the bridge…
"Hey freaks!"
"Oh no," Tamera said, faltering.
Glenny laughed. "Payback time, losers."
"Leave us alone pig nose," Tamera shouted.
Glenny laughed.
"Shut it pipsqueak!"
He lunged at Tamera, but Chiro pulled her out of the way. Both escaped into the Zone of Wasted Years.
Eventually, they stopped at a barren part of the planet to catch their breaths.
"Okay," Tamera said, bent over with her hands on her knees, "This was your idea wise guy, so what's next?"
Chiro looked around, sensing something. "I-I dunno…"
Tamera looked up at Chiro, still in the same position before getting up to look him in the eye. "What's up. What're you hiding?"
"I'm not hiding anything," Chiro quickly replied, acting like Gabe did earlier.
Tamera stared at him for a few more seconds before giving up. She sat down on the ground and pulled out a water bottle from the backpack they had prepared. She then looked back up at Chiro. "Any ideas?"
"Umm…" Chiro looked around until he spotted green. "I guess we can head south to that green spot. If we get lost, we have are own supplies and we have a compass. Shuggazoom City is always north."
Tamera got up again, slinging a white and blue backpack onto her back again. She gave Chiro a thumbs up and they walked towards the green.
Together, they trudged through the landscape, occasionally taking brake then continuing again.
Everything was silent until they got close enough to a tropical jungle called the Savage Lands.
"Looks like we're here," Chiro said, running ahead.
Tamera smiled as she watched him go ahead, then blinked. "Hey! Wait for me!"
She ran to catch up with him, nearly tripping before regaining balance and catching up to him. However, he stopped short and she almost ran into him before skidding to a halt. However, Chiro turned out of the way, and she landed in the bank of a wide, black river of putrid ooze. Her nose wrinkled in disgust and Chiro laughed, pointing at her.
"Aw, shut up!" She stood and shook the ooze off of her, purposely flinging some on him and his face; he quickly stopped with widened eyes and tried brushing it off him as fast as he could.
"So, how do you want to cross," Chiro asked, "Hopping across the rock, swing on the vines, or are you too much of a girl that you want to go home, call it a night, and bathe?"
Tamera smirked at him, pulling vines down and tossing one to him. She climbed one of the trees and stood on a branch before jumping down and flying across the river and landing safely on the other side. She looked back at Chiro.
Chiro took a few steps backwards then flew across the river, but slipped and fell onto a rock. It began to move, but only Tamera noticed.
"CHIRO, LOOK OUT!"
Chiro saw a black, crocodile-like monster turn its head and open its humungous jaws. Inside were thousands of sharp, jagged teeth and bacteria as well as bad breath that was WORSE than the river. Chiro looked like he was going to be sick.
"Come on," Tamera shouted, snapping him out of it. She threw back a vine and he grabbed it right as the creature chomped, swinging to safety.
Through the sludge, the creature crawled after them, and they ran for their lives.
Chiro noticed a low branch coming up and nudged Tamera, who looked up then nodded.
"1," Chiro counted down.
"2…"
"THREE," at the same time, they both jumped up onto the branch and climbed the tree to the upper levels, away from the monster. They didn't stop climbing and swinging across to other trees until they were sure the monster gave up.
Tamera took a deep breath and sat down on the branch.
"Want to go back now," Chiro asked. An uneasy look was settled across his face.
"Yeah," Tamera said, taking more breaths, "I don't think I can handle another chase."
"True," Chiro replied, looking around.
"Is something wrong?" Tamera looked down at first, wondering if it was the monster, but saw nothing.
"Nah, it's probably nothing."
Tamera shrugged. "Let's go. If we're not back soon, Gabe's gonna freak."
Chiro chuckled. "Good think he didn't come with us. We should've brought our cameras!"
Tamera looked disappointed. "Well, how about we come back in a few weeks."
Chiro nodded.
Both then hopped across some of the branches and swung back to the other side of the river, retracing their steps. However, they came across an orchard on their way back to the city.
"That's odd," Tamera thought out loud, "Why would there be apple trees and grass out here?"
"I dunno," Chiro said, tensing up.
Tamera noticed this. "How about we explore here when we go back to the Savage Lands?"
Chiro smiled a bit and they left again for home. As they did, Chiro looked back one long time.
When they made it back, it was around 5:30. They both stood on the large bridge that led out of the city
Tamera yawned, "Well, I'm going to go back home and take an early nap. What're you going to do Cherry?"
Chiro winced. "I guess I'll go home and watch the Sun Riders, what else?"
Tamera smiled then waved goodbye.
Chiro then walked back to his place.
When he got back, he didn't turn on the TV. He immediately went to the bathroom and washed up. Then, when he got to his bed, he fell asleep. His head fell into his pillow and he entered a world of slumber.
The one thought that was in his head last was, "Another spark? What's going on? That place. Both look so familiar… But, I've never been outside the cit—"
The large ivory moon hung over the large field of long, green grass. The cool wind blew through each of the blades that were covered in specks of dew, sparkling with the moonlight.
Past the apple trees and thick bushes lay a tall, moss covered robot.
Inside the seemingly lifeless giant were dimly illuminated machinery. At the end of a large room were five tall tubes of neon green, blue, purple, red, and yellow. Inside five of them lay five, cybernetic monkeys of the same color, one being black.
The black one seemed to spark for a second then it opened its yellow green eyes. The corner of its left one beeped and flashed a dot for a few seconds before it was fully awake. The robotic monkey groaned, rubbing its head before the tube or capsule, whatever you want to call it, opened with grey mist pouring out.
It looked left and right, but didn't seem to find what it was looking for. The monkey looked confused and worried, but shook the thoughts away. It turned to the other monkeys and pressed a button and awakened them.
There were several groans.
"Uh…what hit me," the red one asked.
The yellow one stretched its arms.
The green monkey was curled up in a ball, still sleeping.
The last monkey, the blue one, sat cross-legged and blinked before asking in an English accent, "Where is he, Antauri?"
Everyone awake turned to the black monkey, who said, "I don't know, Gibson."
"How can you not know," the red one asked.
"Did something happen," the yellow one, the only female, asked.
Antauri shook his head. "Sprx, Nova, I really don't know. The Power Primate woke me. I sensed the Chosen One was near. Yet, something doesn't feel right."
"I feel it too," Gibson replied, while the other two nodded. "Perhaps I'll check the scanners when we get everything up and running."
Antauri nodded, but his gaze seemed to be diverted. That all stopped when the green monkey's stomach growled and he moaned in his sleep.
Okay, that chapter's done with. Any questions?
Chiro: Yeah, I have one. What the heck is going on? I'm confused.
Destiny: Yep. If I could add a third genre to the story, it would be mystery. I am going to keep you guys guessing until I officially end this. There is one question I want everyone to have on their minds, but I won't ask until later.
Chiro: Shouldn't you make it a mystery story then?
Tamera: She's probably having a lot involving hurt, friendship, and comfort as well, obviously.
Destiny: Right you are, Tamera! Would you like to do the honors?
Tamera: Sure. Please read and review!