Okay chapter 2! Things get a little more interesting I think...why? You'll see, please enjoy!
"Okay kid we need to make a place just for them." Sprx said as Violet chased Angela.
Chiro nodded. It was getting a little cramped and if Skeleton King started attacking again they need to keep them in a safe place. Chiro turned to Otto, an idea forming.
"You think we can get something like that up and running?" He asked.
Otto nodded as he was drawing with Kuzon.
"Sure can, I can probably build something like that underground and blocked off so it won't get damaged when the robot takes off." He said.
Chiro smiled as Otto drew up a model.
"We'll need a few rooms...and a bathroom...and a kitchen...and a living room...we can just build an entire house underneath the robot!" Otto babbled as Violet listened intently.
"Can we have a pool?" Violet asked.
Otto looked up at her and smiled sadly.
"I don't think we'll have time for that, but we can always make the bathtub really big!"
Violet smiled widely and hopped in place.
"Ooh! I want that!" She chirped.
Angela ran over and sat next to Otto.
"Can I have radio p'ease?" She asked.
"I just wanna draw..." Kuzon muttered, not looking up.
Maurice looked back at them. Having a room to themselves would be nice but he wasn't sure what he wanted in his room. Otto laughed and got up.
"Well you guys write down what you want and I'll go and make the rooms." He said.
"How long will it take?" Antauri asked.
"Umm just making the rooms could take a few weeks? Furniture and stuff like that is up to you guys." Otto said.
Antauri nodded as the kids started to discuss what they wanted in their room.
Chiro kept looking through the camera footage, hoping to find some clue to who set them here. However it's as if one moment no one is there and the next thing there was either a baby or a toddler left behind. Chiro rubbed his head in frustration and sighed. What was going on? This was so weird! He then felt Jinmay place a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry Chiro, we'll find them." She said comfortingly.
Chiro smiled and nodded. Hopefully. She gave him a kiss before walking back over to Angela.
They will find answers soon.
One day when a few of the allies decided to visit, they were awfully surprised by the new monkeys with them. However they became aquanted with them as Angela and Kuzon happily talked to them while Violet was hanging around Gibson, but was still pretty social as well. The only shy one seemed to be Maurice, who clung to Antauri.
"I thought you guys only had one baby monkey." Johnny Sunspot said as Angela circled him.
Sprx sighed as he sat in his bubble chair.
"We did, I guess whoever dropped her off had more." He said.
"You got big gloves." Angela commented, about to touch them when Johnny put his hand up.
Angela pouted, unsure why she wasn't allowed to touch them. Suupa worriedly looked at Angela before looking back at Gibson. Gibson noticed his worried stare.
"They age fast. We aren't sure what's causing it but I'm working on a treatment to stop it." He explained before Violet giggled.
"You're busy." She teased, holding up her puzzle.
Gibson rolled his eyes but smiled.
"I suppose I am." He sighed.
Violet looked up at Suupa and patted the seat next to her.
"C'mon froggy guy, play with us! Please!" She begged with pleading eyes.
Suupa looked over to his leader, Kero, who nodded. He then sat down and worked on the puzzle with them.
Kero looked over to Antauri and Maurice.
"We tried to lookout for someone leaving babies at your robot but nothing." He said.
Maurice's posture drooped as Antauri narrowed his eyes. Has the person stopped their baby leaving? Or were they waiting to give them another?
"Did you see anyone suspicious?" He asked.
Kero shook his head. When they heard of this mystery person dropping off baby monkeys, they quickly got into gear and kept an eye out for anything suspicious. Unfortunately their search was turning up nothing so far, which was frustrating yet it was still something. The city has been boringly quiet, the others have been getting a little antsy. Yet to him and a few of his fellow allies like Quint and Oliana were enjoying what relaxation time they had. Who knows when Skeleton King will start back up in fighting them.
"We can always keep looking if you want." He offered.
Antauri shook his head.
"Oh no we can have one of us keep an eye out just in case." He said before Maurice was dragged off by Kuzon.
Kuzon dragged him over to Nikita as Angela was talking to her about dolls and cupcakes. Kero tilted his body, something bothering him.
"So is she okay with looking after them if something happens?" He asked for clarification.
Antauri nodded.
"She says she doesn't mind, though if there will be any more children coming along she says it'll be a lot of work." He said before smiling.
Kero sighed but also smiled.
"Yeah no kidding, if I had to take care of that many kids I'd be exhausted too." Kero chortled.
Antauri chuckled and nodded. The black frog, Centaur, overheard their conversation and walked over.
"Do you have any idea who is sending these infants?" He asked.
Antauri looked down and burrowed his eyebrows.
"We are not sure, yet I sense it is someone familiar. The name of who it could be escapes me." He told him, eyes clouded with frustration and suspicion.
Centaur and Kero looked at each other, wondering who it could be. The two heard loud whining as Nova dragged Otto from the tube. Otto looked exhausted as he had dark circles under his eyes and sweat beading his forehead.
"You need a break! You can't keep working yourself to death down there!" She barked.
"But I'm almost done with Violet's room!" Otto whined before being set into his bubble chair.
"Finish it later, I'll get you some water." Nova said before going into the kitchen.
Otto let out one more whine before sitting back. Kuzon ran over to him, worried.
"You okay 'tto?" He asked, tilting his head.
Otto raised his thumb up before dropping it, staring at the ceiling.
"Just tired bud." He replied.
"Nap time for 'tto?" Kuzon questioned, trying to sound like the grown ups when they ask him that.
Otto quickly got back up.
"I'm almost done with Violet's room! I can't take a nap yet!" Otto wheezed before getting a head rush.
"Take nap!" Kuzon scolded, stomping his foot.
Kero looked at Centaur and whispered something to him. Centaur went over to Otto.
"If you want, I can ask Patton to assist you." He offered, thinking of his own green machanic.
Otto raised his head and thought about it. He was awfully tired from just building the base alone, having some help would be nice.
"Okay." Otto whispered before Nova came back to give him some water.
"Your dress pretty." Angela cooed, patting Nikita's dress.
Nikita smiled warmly as she patted her head.
"Aww what sweet children." She said, looking at Jinmay.
Jinmay giggled.
"Well we always tell them to be nice to others and that a compliment goes a long way." She said.
Maurice tapped the cat woman's arm and leaned to Nikita.
"I don't know what 'a long way' means." He whispered.
"Sounds nice though!" Angela piped up before grabbing one of her dolls and sat next to Nikita.
Nikita blinked but shrugged it off. Seems the Hyperforce was doing better than they thought.
After a week the underground base was almost done, they just had to clean up a few more things. They also had a especially chaotic time finding/building the furniture the kids wanted. It was costly, but they knew that it was worth it. Otto also built an extra room or two just in case any more babies would pop up.
Antauri early one morning was about to go on a walk. He doesn't usually get to do such things anymore and thought it would be a nice change of pace. He opened the door to the foot of the robot, took one step out and was greeted by another bundle with a baby monkey. The light green furred baby seemed to be asleep as they yawned and snuggled into the blankets. Antauri stepped back and flinched. He then closely looked at the infant, who looked to be about a year old given their size. quickly looked around, hoping to see whoever dropped this little one off. As usual he saw no one. He picked up the bundle and took him inside.
When picking up the baby however, it seemed to wake the monkey up as they opened their purple eyes. When they saw Antauri carrying him, they shrieked and tried to scratch him. Antauri flinched back and held the baby out as they furiously tried to scratch him.
"Hey settle down you're alright!" Antauri assured the angry child.
The baby growled before looking around, confused. Antauri held them close and stroked his head. Well this was surely an interesting child, usually they'd cry but this one was just angry!
"You're alright, you're safe here." He said softly.
The baby frowned before their growls silenced. Antauri sighed as he took them up to the command center. So much for his walk.
"Roland?! The kid's name is Roland?!" Sprx laughed, falling to the floor.
Roland growled before hissing at Sprx, not pleased that he found his name hilarious.
"Sprx don't laugh at him, you'll only make him angry." Antauri scolded, trying to soothe the child.
Sprx giggled.
"S-sorry it's just the poor kid is gonna have to deal with so much for having the name Roland." He breathed, having the giggles.
Roland growled and clung to Antauri.
Angela giggled and walked up to him.
"He cute." Angela said.
Roland curiously stared at Angela before trying to grab at her. Maurice tilted his head at his behavior before he took his hand.
"Nice to meet you." He said softly.
Roland gave him a really weird look, causing Violet to laugh. Gibson took Roland from Antauri and set him in a playpen. He scanned the baby as Roland frowned and tried to grab for the scanner.
"He had the same fast aging issue as the others, which means I'll have to up the amount of treatment." Gibson said as Violet bounded over to him.
"Can I help?" She asked.
Gibson smiled and patted her head.
"Maybe another day, you and Sprx have quite the day together." He said.
Violet's eyes lit up.
"Oh yeah!" She said before running over to Sprx.
Nova watched her go before looking at Otto.
"You think we got enough supplies for this little guy?" She asked.
Otto nodded and grinned.
"Of course we do, we just give him one of the kids old cribs. We got plenty of diapers, toys, and baby food to last them for at least a few weeks!" He said confidently.
Nova smiled and looked at Roland as she picked him up.
"Well that's good. That also means we can get you ready for potty training soon, right tiny?" She asked as she placed him in a playpen.
Roland stared at her before nodding. Roland then noticed a fuzzy toy and grabbed it. Chiro sighed, if they get anymore kids they may just drop from exhaustion. His attention was then pulled back when Roland threw the fuzzy toy at him. Roland babbled and raised his arms.
And from the looks of it, it seems this one will be very difficult to deal with.
Antauri stared down at the light orange infant as it slept silently. Violet peeked over Antauri's head and squeaked loudly in happiness. Antauri sighed and picked up the infant. This was the sixth baby they had to take in in over a few weeks and they still had no idea who keeps sending them! This was getting ridiculous! Antauri went up to the command center as Violet tried to grab for the small infant.
"Team, there's another." He said, as if the situation has turned into something of finding mail.
Nova whipped her head up as Angela ran over to Antauri. Which was a bit hard due to her new prosthetic leg.
"Another one?! Where do they keep coming from?" She asked.
"I see baby, 'Tauri? I see?" Angela asked.
Antauri sighed as Violet hopped down and went over to Kuzon, who was drawing with Otto. The team gathered around to look at their newest baby.
"I'm not sure but if this keeps up there will be too many of them for us to take care of." He sighed.
Sprx rolled his eyes as Angela patted the baby's cheek.
"C'mon Antauri, these kids age fast. They'll probably be adults before the year's over." He joked.
"That's not funny Sprx! We still need to find a way to stop it. Gibson how is the treatment going?" Chiro asked.
Gibson smiled.
"Well, I can find a way stop the aging process in about...a few months?"
Nova looked down at Angela, who didn't know what the heck Gibson was talking about as usual. They'll be so much older...would that really be okay? Who is sending all of these babies to them and why? There were so many questions and no one knew anything! Chiro sighed, enough was enough. Otto took the baby and smiled as they woke up.
"Hey lil guy, did you just wake u-" He began to ask when they started wailing.
"Oh! Boy! This one has a set of lungs!" Otto wheezed as Sprx took the crying monkey.
"C'mon kiddo, you're okay." He shushed.
Angela whimpered as Roland stomped over.
"Loud!" He huffed.
"It's a baby Roland, they tend to cry loudly." Jinmay said to him.
Roland crossed his arms.
"Loud." He repeated, quieter this time.
Chiro turned to Antauri.
"We need to find out who is sending these babies and fast. if this person is sending so many babies to us, there may be an underlying problem that may endanger them." He said, causing Roland to flinch.
"Danger?" He asked.
Everyone agreed, it was time for this to stop.
"Gibson do you know the rate and time of children being put here?" Antauri asked.
Gibson took out his scanner.
"Ermm at least a few months in between, and around midnight to seven in the morning." He answered.
"Then in the next few months we need to look at the cameras around that time and look for the person dropping the babies monkeys. We'll ask for the citizens that are up that late and ask if they've seen anything." Antauri said.
Everyone agreed. Sprx held up the baby, who was still fussing.
"And we need to welcome this new member too. With some food first."
Otto smiled and went into the kitchen for a bottle. They had so many bottles and baby formulas at this point that they'd be ready if another kid would come along. After feeding the small infant, they soon figured out that the new baby was another girl, which excited Angela and Violet greatly, having another sister to play with. Maurice and Kuzon were okay with it, while Roland just pouted the whole way through.
"So...what are we gonna name this one?" Sprx asked as the baby slept in his arms.
The team thought on it as Angela bounced a bit, thinking.
"Penny!" She chirped.
Chiro turned to her.
"Penny?" He asked, causing Angela to nod.
"It pretty." She chirped, causing Roland to think.
"Rausdauer." He smiled, seeming to pronounce the name quite well.
Angela glared at him.
"No! Penny!"
"Rausdauer!" Roland argued.
Gibson groaned, not this again! He broke between the two before they got into another argument.
"Look! How about we make Rausdauer her nickname and Penny her regular name?"
Roland frowned.
"It's like another name." Nova explained.
Roland blinked and looked off to the side.
"Oh." He said before walking away, now wanting to play with blocks. Angela smirked and crossed her arms, thinking she'd won. Violet looked up at Penny and tried to reach for her but Gibson picked her up.
"Alright you, time for a nap." He said, causing her to whine.
"Nooooo!"
"It nap time!" Kuzon cheered before grabbing his art supplies.
"Kuzon it's only-!" Chiro began before the chubbier monkey rushed off to bed.
"That boy and his love for sleep is so hilarious." Sprx laughed as Penny yawned.
Chiro sighed, that was true.
The next few months did pass as the kids shot up in age, now aging from twelve to four years old. Roland's temper and overall brash nature stuck with him, getting mad over the smallest of things and tending to be very protective of those closest to him. Angela's demeanor changed from hyper and bubbly to sweet and mature. Kuzon and Maurice both were the second oldest and were very different in their interests and appearances. Kuzon was still chubby and a huge lover of art and music while Maurice was still more into reading and spending time with Antauri, yet their personalities were still on the same wavelength of being quiet and reserved. Violet spent a lot of time with Gibson and it showed, with her experimenting and reading every book that he had. Though she did have a tendency to be a little bit overly into her experiments and block out everything. That and she picked up Sprx's trickster ways and played pranks on people.
As for their new sister Penny? She gave everyone cavities from how sweet she was as she became very helpful, mature for her age, and kind. Though that kindness comes with some naivety.
"Hi! I'm Penny!" She greeted a random citizen, walking over to him.
Nova quickly took her back with them as everyone went inside for the night.
"Penny what have we talked about?"
Penny tilted her head.
"Look both ways before crossin' a street?"
Nova sighed.
"No, don't talk to strangers. You don't know who's nice or not yet."
Penny looked back at the citizen.
"He seems nice." She said, still smiling.
Nova sighed, knowing she'd have to have this conversation with her for the tenth time in a row. Roland frowned and crossed his arms.
"You don't know that! What if he's a weirdo or one of those bad guys?" He asked.
Penny shrugged.
"Maybe he can be nice later!" She suggested.
Roland sighed and closed his eyes. He heard a lot about the villians the team faced up against and how a few of them berayed them. Though that was only when he couldn't sleep and he overheard the team talking with the allies. Roland knew there was a war going on, and that scared him to think what could happen to the team or his brothers and sisters.
"Not everyone can become nice." He said.
"Like Mandarin." Sprx silently huffed before getting the attention of Maurice.
"Mandarin? Who's that?" He asked, causing everyone to freeze.
"Yeah what kind of a name is Mandarin?" Roland giggled.
"Kinda like what kind of a name is Roland?" Violet teased.
"Hey my name is named after a hero and it's fancy!" Roland snapped, pointing at her before being calmed down by Nova.
Angela looked back at the Hyperforce, curious. The team looked at each other, unsure if they should tell them about one of their greatest enemies. Antauri gave them a nod, indicating that the kids deserve the right to at least know about him.
"Mandarin was...one of us...before Chiro and I came along." Jinmay started.
The children looked at each other, surprised.
"He used to be our leader but he wanted to take over Shuggazoom." Antauri said.
"Why?" Kuzon asked.
"He thought he was above being a hero, self conceited jerk." Nova growled before seeing Penny step back and whimper, worried.
"Sorry Pen." She said softly before pulling her in a side hug.
"He also had a lot of darkness in his soul, something we tried to get rid of but we were unable to." Antauri continued.
"Was he nice?" Penny asked.
Otto smiled.
"Yeah! Before he started to go bad he was very kind but tried to cover that up." He said.
Penny smiled a bit, maybe if they find this Mandarin guy he can be nice again!
Kuzon looked to the ground.
"That's still sad...if he was that kind but became evil…" He muttered.
Sprx patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, kid. Besides we have Chiro, Jinmay, and you guys. That's all we need really." He said, causing the dark orange monkey to smile.
"Yeah.."
Maurice blinked and placed a hand on his chin, very interested in the history of what he considered family. He turned towards Antauri.
"Can you tell me more about him? He seems very interesting." He said.
"Tomorrow, it's time for dinner and then bed. You got Power Primate lessons in the morning." Chiro reminded them.
All of the kids, minus Kuzon and Maurice, groaned. Getting up so early was such a drag!
"Yes! Sleep!" He cheered as he rushed inside.
Maurice sighed as he held the bridge of his snout.
"Sleep isn't that great Kuzon." He sighed.
Everyone began to pile in before Antauri looked back at Roland, who was still standing outside. He sighed, he can't keep trying to play outside like this. However, he noticed that Roland was deep in thought. He puffed one side of his cheek out and tapped his foot.
"Mandarin...that name is so dumb but why do I know it?" He mumbled before thinking hard.
Which soon turned into an explosion of yelling as he rushed inside, stressed that he can't place where he knows this name. Antauri blinked before shutting the doors.
Later that night after everyone went to bed, Otto stayed up to watch the cameras. Chiro peeked in on him.
"Anything yet?" He asked.
Otto yawned.
"Nada, probably another dud night." He said.
Chiro patted his head. It's been a few months, but so far they haven't found anything on the person leaving the baby monkeys behind. The citizens said they haven't found anything out of the ordinary at night, so whoever was leaving them behind was swift. Chiro patted Otto's shoulder.
"In that case, don't worry if you go to bed early. They might not even come tonight."
Otto smiled, that's true. Chiro went to his transportation tube and went down for the night. Otto kept watching the foot of the robot until he decided to watch some videos to pass the time. He laughed as a dog was scared off by a small puppy and clicked on a cat playing in a box. A baby's cry soon interrupted his video watching, causing Otto to switch over to the cameras.
"Please quiet down, you'll wake them up." A gruff voice said softly.
Otto's eyes widened when he saw a huge figure set down a small bundle of something at the doorstep. The small bundle cried harder.
"I don't want to do this either, but you'll be safer with them than...than with me." The figure choked before backing up.
Otto quickly got up before darting towards his tube. Oh no he was not going to lose this chance! Not this time!
The small grey monkey cried hard as the figure backed up. It broke their heart to do this as they had to hear the cries of each baby they left. However, if it was going to stop Skeleton King they will do whatever it takes to make sure he will be stopped. They turned and began to walk off when a chain wrapped around their large waist and arms. The figure fell to their knees and looked back.
"Oh no you don't! You're not gonna run away again!" Otto huffed as he held up the baby with one arm as he used heavy chains to tie the figure up.
The figure quickly began to panic as they began to struggle to get out. Otto went up to him and saw some light reflect the figure, showing skin and something purple.
Otto turned towards the lamps and turned them on with his tail.
"Alright you time to-!" Otto began but saw that the figure was ungodly familiar and to him, very dangerous.
The original Mandarin shook as Otto stared at him.
"Let go of me." He said above a whisper.
Otto's eyes were stuck on him as the baby whimpered. Wait, what?! What was he doing here? Didn't Skeleton King replace him?! Did he escape? Otto wasn't sure but it was so shocking to see this version of Mandarin after so long. Mandarin also looked terrible, he had dark spots under his eyes, was paler, and his belly was slightly bloated and covered in scars.
"What...what are you doing?!" He asked.
Mandarin continued to struggle, sweat beading down from his forehead as his breathing labored.
"Let go! If he finds out that I've escaped-!" He begged.
"Wait...were you the one dropping off all of these babies?" Otto questioned.
His question was answered when he saw the fear in his eyes.
"Just let me go! If he realizes I am gone everything will- he-!" Mandarin stammered.
Otto gripped the chains harder. That didn't sound good.
"Who? Who will realize you're gone? Is it Skeleton King?" He asked.
"Otto please just take him-!"
Roland then stomped out of the robot, clearly cranky.
"Why is everyone yelling at midnight?!" He demanded before seeing Mandarin.
Mandarin went cold as he saw Roland, his stomach twisting. All of the memories of everything that happened to him suddenly rushing back. Roland cocked his head back a bit in surprise at this huge creature.
"What is that?" He asked.
Otto looked at Mandarin before looking at Roland.
"Wake the team up and get them down here as quickly as you can!" He said to him, causing Mandarin to struggle more.
Roland blinked.
"Does that mean I get to use pots and pans to wake them up?" He asked.
Otto smiled and nodded.
"Yes!" Roland cheered, throwing his arms in the air.
"Yep! Now hurry!" He said as Roland ran back inside the robot.
Mandarin watched as he went, feeling sick. He then turned towards the small grey monkey, who sniffled and whimpered.
"Don't worry tiny, you're okay." Otto comforted, bouncing the baby a bit.
Mandarin gulped, knowing that they wouldn't.
Chapter 2 and shit is already happening! We found our baby leaving culprit but Mandy has a lot of explaining to do! But that will be in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!