Disclaimer: Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! and all characters and events related to them are not mine; they are property of Jetix Animation Concepts and Ciro Nieli.


In Response to Chapter One's Reviews

leavingyouforme: I can tell you're a reader for detail. I like that. You're the first and currently only person who noticed that brief section at the beginning.

jinmay-4-ever: Thanks for the compliment, and no, I won't give up on this one. It's too good.

yuki101: Well, here it is.

Emerald Shapeshifter 777: Yes, I'm back. Thanks for your compliment on my series. And yes, I've read your version of the War Between the Living and the Dead. It's very well written.

Netbug009: … … … … Okay, let it be known to all in the monkey team fandom world that I know from past experience that this reviewer is a VERY hard person to impress. I am pleasantly surprised and very honored by this review. Thank you.


Chapter Two

Jiro giggled as he held up his latest work triumphantly, a complete airplane model, although he wasn't sure if he should paint it green in honor of he who built planes and such or red in honor of he who flew them. He tried to decide one way or the other but ended up putting it down, certain he would make his choice later. He looked over at his blue notebook of grid paper, where he was drawing his complex mazes, then at his yellow punching bag, which was really nothing as impressive as a typical punching bag since he was only ten.

But at the moment, none of these interested him. And for good reason; it was well past sundown, a thunderstorm was raging outside, and Jiro was unusually drowsy. It was the beginning of summer, but Jiro couldn't decide for himself if he was feeling hot or cold.

He looked over at his father, sitting in his favorite easy chair next to the blazing fireplace and reading a thick black book. And although he wore a pair of reading glasses, Jiro could easily see that his father's eyes were starting to tear up.

"What's wrong, Dad?" Jiro asked.

"What?" a startled Chiro replied, looking up from the book. He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. "Oh, it's nothing, son. Just the effect from the fireplace."

"What are you reading?"

"It's a Varonite book of philosophy. Antauri gave it to me…on my first birthday with the Monkey Team."

"The year they gave you weird presents?"

Chiro chuckled and closed the book, pulling his son onto his lap. "I wouldn't say they were weird. The Monkeys didn't have a very good idea of the kinds of things I liked, so they made educated guesses. I hadn't been with them very long at that time, less than a year, in fact."

"I think I'm ready for bed, Dad."

Smiling, Chiro carefully stood up, carrying his half-asleep son in his arms as he climbed up the stairway. "Ready to sleep and dream of Monkeys and monsters and battles and adventures? And you'll tell me all about your dreams? Good boy."

He used one elbow to push down the handle and entered the little bedroom, left neat and organized after the maids had been through. His silent steps gliding over the fine carpet, Chiro walked over to a bed of maple wood and a thick mattress. The top of the mattress was filled with down, giving it a luxurious feel. And on the headboard, the Hyperforce emblem was carved into the woodwork. After tucking his son between the white sheets, he quietly left the room and closed the door behind him.

Sighing happily, he stared at the closed door for a few moments. Watching his son grow up, little by little and day by day, brought joy to Chiro unlike any he had ever felt. If only the Monkeys and Jinmay were still alive and with him, that joy would be shared and complete.

Chiro quietly walked down the stairs. One of the butlers had just finished stoking the fire. With a smile, he picked up the unpainted model airplane and the blue notebook, setting them on a nearby coffee table. He then returned to his easy chair, picked up the Varonite book, and continued to read.

He had turned only a few pages when a sound startled him: glass breaking. At first, he thought it was one of the maids who had dropped a dinner plate as some of them do every now and then when they're rushed. But he changed his mind when he realized it came from upstairs. He knew the thunderstorm was raging outside, so he then thought that a branch had been torn off a tree and crashed into the window. He got up and began up the stairs again to inspect the damage and see what he could do to fix it.

He had barely even entered the hallway where the broken window was when he noticed a figure standing in front of the curtain flapping in the wind. He could barely believe his eyes; even though he couldn't see the figure very well, he could tell enough by the size and shape and position who it was.

"You?" he gasped breathlessly. "It can't be…"

"Greetings, Chiro," the voice he hated to hear hissed at him. "It's been a long time…my hairless monkey."

A thunderbolt flashed outside the window, illuminating the hallway for several moments. There, with a glare in the red pupils in his black eyes and a twisted grin on his orange face, stood Mandarin. It wasn't the Mandarin clone, for he was one of Skeleton King's creations that was destroyed all of those years ago. No, this was the original Mandarin, and he wasn't in the grossly muscled and bulky form he had the last time they met, for that was also part of Skeleton King's effect on him, which was also destroyed.

Those facts made Chiro wonder, if only for a brief moment, why Mandarin himself wasn't destroyed.

But that moment quickly passed as Mandarin held up his claws, edging down the hall in his approach.

"There's no need for us to fight, Mandarin," Chiro calmly stated as he took one step back. "Skeleton King is gone."

"So are my brothers…" Mandarin growled in reply. "As is your girlfriend."

If Mandarin had arrived during Chiro's depression or during the first year or two after Myra's death, that statement would have affected Chiro the way Mandarin wanted. But having these experiences and letting go of his hatred, slowly and over time, had strengthened his heart against these taunts.

He only kept a straight frown and stepped back again. If a fight was going to be inevitable, he wasn't sure how long he would last in the fight; true, he was physically stronger now than as a boy, but it had been so long since he used his powers. He wondered to himself if he even had the Power Primate at all anymore.

But nothing could have prepared either of them for the shock both were about to experience. Much to Mandarin's surprise and Chiro's horror, a door in between the two yet closer to Mandarin opened, and out poked Jiro's head. His soft green eyes were droopy as he groggily peeked out to see what all the noise was about, but then they were wide open in the next instant when he saw the unwelcomed visitor. He gasped softly, too scared to move.

"Well, well," Mandarin sneered. "What have we here?"

Chiro dashed for his son's bedroom, but Mandarin was closer and faster. He tackled the young boy, and both rolled into the bedroom. There was a very brief scuffle, but Mandarin managed to pin Jiro against his chest, one of his arms keeping both of the boy's down to his sides and his paw covering the boy's mouth, and force him to his feet before Chiro even entered the room.

"Let him go, Mandarin," Chiro threatened. "Your fight is with me."

"Typical," Mandarin jeered. "Nobility always was your weakness. Your attempt at self-sacrifice will not help you this time, Chiro, nor will it save the child."

Believing that Mandarin was going to kill him very quickly, Jiro barely gave any thought to what he was doing before actually doing it. He struggled and freed his head enough to bite the paw that covered his mouth. Mandarin screeched painfully but managed to keep his grip. Jiro tried to struggle and shove his elbows into Mandarin's chest, but the monkey, although slightly smaller, was much stronger than he looked.

Chiro ran forward to take Mandarin in both hands and force him to let go of his son. But the moment Mandarin realized he made a slight misjudgment of what he was facing, he levitated backwards, taking Jiro in tow, and held up his free hand to Jiro's window. It immediately smashed under his telekinetic command, and all of the broken glass scattered outside. He then took Jiro and fled.

"Dad!" Jiro screamed, his voice fading quickly behind the rain and thunder.

Chiro ran to the window and looked out, but Mandarin and his son had already disappeared in the storm.


The next morning, Chiro was outside the mansion with one of his friends: Teela, Captain of Shuggazoom's police force. She was almost ten years older than he, yet both of them had started in their new lives at about the same time: Chiro with the Hyperforce, Teela with the police.

He didn't see much of her in his younger days because the Hyperforce dealt with only emergencies beyond what the police could handle, such as the monster attacks and the Formless invasions. Teela and the police enforced the law and captured the criminals of the more civilized nature such as burglars, saboteurs, and murderers. The only time their missions coincided was when the Hyperforce sought documentations from Teela, who was a sergeant at the time, to declare Gyrus Krinkle legally insane.

But since the War Between the Living and the Dead, Chiro had faded into the background and allowed Teela and her squadron to take over.

After Chiro showed her the side of the house where the two damaged windows were, Teela's sergeants had the whole yard roped with yellow tape. Inside the space, they examined the windows, the wall, the trees, and the grass. But they discovered what Chiro already knew; that Mandarin did not use any weapons to break the windows, that there were no claw marks on the wall or the trees for his entrance, and that there were no footprints left behind during his escape.

"Chiro, despite the amount of evidence pointing the other way, I know you well enough to know that you are telling the truth," the police captain told him while the sergeants were still searching. "I know you would never do anything to harm your son. My entire squadron is at your disposal, and the civilians are already volunteering in searching the city; Shuggazoom will not rest until Jiro is safe."

"Thank you for your generosity, captain," Chiro began, "but I think a smaller party has a better chance at recovering Jiro. There's no telling what Mandarin will do to him if he sees the entire squadron going his way."

"Do we have an idea where Mandarin could have taken him?"

He sighed and thought for a minute. "Most likely somewhere far, someplace deserted. So he can goad me into meeting him alone…"


Deep in the heart of the Prosperous Precinct, Mandarin levitated across the plains and into the forest before he finally stopped at a cave. He still had Jiro tucked under his arm, but the boy had long fallen asleep both from the excited fear of what happened and from fatigue in trying to escape. Neither of them really knew where they were, but Mandarin wasn't going to take any chances of Chiro following him, at least not right away.

The cave they went through was remarkably warm inside, which made Mandarin more curious than he had ever felt. The shivering Jiro was cold and wet from the rainfall, and although Mandarin cared nothing for this young boy, it wouldn't do him well if Jiro would be ill when Chiro finds them.

He found what seemed to be a large purple cloth on the cave floor. He picked it up, discovering that it was more than large enough to make a suitable blanket for both of them if they needed to share it, but the idea of sharing was absurd to him. Instead, he took the cloth and wrapped it around the young boy a few times, still pinning the arms down but making it a little more comfortable. Slowly, Jiro stopped shivering, but he did sneeze several times.

Mandarin decided to take the opportunity to rest himself. Jiro was fast asleep. Even if he did manage to free himself from the cloth in which he was wrapped, they were deep enough inside the cave to make it confusing which way was out. And even if he did get out, the cave was inside unfamiliar territory. He knew Jiro was too young to have left Shuggazoom City, even with an escort.

The odds of this boy escaping were next to nothing. Mandarin was certain of that as he fell asleep.


Chiro didn't find it odd to receive a call from Captain Teela that early afternoon, but he did that she had asked him to meet her at the Museum of Shuggazoomian History.

He would have felt awkward about visiting this place. The first time he made a visit could have most likely been his last because of the Curator. But right after that incident, the museum was shut down for three years. And after all of the artifacts belonging to the Curator were removed, including the bewitched organ, it had opened up again and became a prosperous wealth of historical knowledge for the whole city.

It was Jiro's favorite place to visit on school field trips, especially the exhibits involving the Hyperforce. Chiro had donated most of the items inside the Super Robot to the museum, including his bedroom décor, before leaving the Super Robot. He had rather enjoyed going into this museum on father/son outings and showing him what was his.

The museum was closed, but Captain Teela and the new curator were waiting for him at the door. The curator opened the door and let both of them in, and Captain Teela led Chiro to the Hyperforce exhibits.

Once they were in, the curator left the pair alone.

"Yes, Captain?" Chiro asked.

Captain Teela sighed. "As of yet, we've had no sighting of Mandarin or Jiro. They are nowhere in the city. I am preparing a small search-and-rescue party to investigate the Valley of Hope and the Prosperous Precinct, but I have to tell you that without any trail for us to follow, the chances of us finding them are very slim."

Chiro sighed and hung his head.

"There is, however, another way," the captain continued. She held up what looked like a big black jewelry box with the white and cyan colors of the Hyperforce embelm.

Curious, Chiro slowly took the box from her hands and stared at it. He wasn't sure what would be inside, but his doubts made him hesitate. However, his curiosity overpowered his fear, so he slowly undid the silver lock on the box and opened it.

The instant he saw what was inside, he slammed the box lid shut. "You must be joking."

The captain kept a serious frown. "Was there ever a time I spoke with you that I was joking? The scientists here in the museum have studied this. They have found that it's still functional. And you know more about Mandarin than any of us."

"Captain, it's been fifteen years. All of the evil in this world is perished. The Power Primate is gone. … The Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce…is no more."

"If that was true, you wouldn't still be alive. Chiro, fifteen years ago, you made all the difference. You established the Hyperforce without meaning to. Now, I may not know much about this…Power Primate, but I do know that something so good would not die so easily. You, who made all the difference, are still alive."

Chiro thought about it for several silent minutes. Could it be possible? Could it actually work? Could he really carry on alone?

"This is huge…" he whispered.

"I understand," the captain replied. "And this is something not asked lightly. You should give yourself some time to think about it, but remember…the more time we spend here, the smaller the chance of capturing Mandarin and recovering Jiro."