Enter the Keymaster

Alarms blared and red lights flashed in every nook and cranny of the Hyperforce's home. However, Sprx was too focused on finding Nova to notice, much less care.

The only thing that was big enough to get his attention was in the control room. Sprx stopped for a moment and looked at the screen, which showed an outside camera. Apparently, a throng of tiny ships had crashed into them. The vast majority of them were black, but a lone multi-colored one was in the center of it all. The material the ships were made of was odd to say the least. In all his years of piloting, Sprx had never seen anything quite like these vessels.

Seconds later, Sprx's attention was pulled back to his original objective by the sound of a commotion from Nova's transport tube. He headed for the yellow tube and shot up it. When he reached the top, his jet pack gave out for a fraction of a second from the shock of what stood before him. He regained himself before he could fall out of the room.

Nova's room was filled with small, black creatures. They stood on all fours and were simple in design, but shadows seemed to seep out of their pores. To make matters worse, every one of them had turned their bright, yellow eyes to Sprx. Sprx continued to hover on his jet pack and started at the shadows.

"Okay, ya freaks. You asked for it!" Sprx pulled out his magnets and fired an attack at the strange shadows. He might as well have done nothing. Only a few were hurt, and none got destroyed.

Some didn't even flinch.

Sprx gulped. This may have been a bad idea. He looked down, considering getting the others and coming back. He gulped harder when he realized only more shadows were below, engulfing the route he'd entered by.

That's when he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a different yellow object. A body. A metal, robot monkey body.

That sight was all he needed to swallow his fears.

"Nobody hurts Nova! Nobody!" Of course, he knew this was an empty threat. The shadows crept towards him, and he closed his eyes, trying to think of a plan. At that moment, and light formed around his right hand. The shadows backed away. Sprx opened his eyes, surprised he wasn't fighting for his life by now, only to see the light that was now dimming.

When the light had vanished, Sprx's magnets had been deactivated. He held a gigantic key, only a little smaller than he was.

"What the-"

He couldn't finish before one of the shadows jumped at him. He went with reflexes over brains and swung the key at it.

The shadow vanished instantly.

Sprx blinked and looked at the key with curiosity and surprise.

A second later, the wall behind Sprx collapsed. The remainder of the Hyperforce charged in and began trying to slaughter every shadow in sight. A few seconds later, they were followed by a group of 3 that Sprx had never seen before in his life. His eyes immediately fell onto the only one of the 3 who appeared human, for he carried a weapon remarkably similar to the one Sprx had just received.

"Get out of here!" The human yelled, doing his best to stop any of the shadows that continued to reach for Sprx.

"No way! Nova-"

"Listen to me! You have to escape! If the heartless get you, then your friend isn't the only one who's in trouble!"

"Heartless? What?"

"Just go!"

Sprx hesitated, his eyes returning to the yellow body mostly hidden by the shadows. He felt like a traitor, but he had to trust this kid; he was the only one who seemed to have any idea what was happening.

"Nova! I don't know if you can hear me, but I'll be back! I promise!" Sprx shouted before dashing for the escape hatch.