Disclaimer- This author does not own the glorious Monkey Team. If she did, she would be very happy and hug Antauri and Otto a lot. Ciro Neili has the honor, and we should honor him.
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Red
Chapter Four: Disturbances
Chiro paced repeatedly around the Control Room in semi-perfect circles. Horrible images came to him. They were like the ones in his dreams. The ones that scratched his pale skin, seared his bones, and brought terrible omens and memories from a past Chiro didn't care to repeat. He bowed his head, as if he were ashamed of remembering the sins of yesterday. Perhaps, remembering and accepting the fate you had chosen was the first step to rebuilding.
"Chiro." Nova sighed in a tired voice as her eyelids fluttered from lack of sleep. "Stop moving around. You're making me dizzy." Chiro stopped, Nova was the type to give in to petty excuses such as exhaustion or sickness, unless driven to it. He looked into her darkened eyes sheepishly.
"Sorry." Chiro mumbled, rubbing the back of his head and smiling slightly. The yellow monkey simply nodded wearily and stared at the shut door that she was near. Nova's arms were crossed and her shoulders leaned against the wall, slumped lazily. Her head was bent as the medical bay remained hidden. Chiro knew that she was worried about Otto. Nova cared about him, Chiro wasn't sure if the relationship differed from any of the other bonds, but he knew she still cared. Everybody cared, What he had seen last night had been the worst experience in his life. Why Otto? Why? His fist tightened and his thin lips pursed.
Gibson furiously slaved away inside the dim med bay, speedily working machines and repairing wounds, while he and Nova stood with determination and great fatigue. For Chiro, the need to eat and go to the bathroom were horrible, but every second counted. Both wanted to be inside, just in case Otto woke up, but Gibson refused and rebuked. "I simply will not allow extra visitors lounging about. I apologize, but this process requires very intensive concentration, and I do not any of you disrupting the process and risking dead Otto's life." He seemed more agitated that usual. Then again, they all were.
Wait ... What about Antauri? Chiro resisted the urge to groan. Antauri was probably somewhere meditating. He automatically felt remorse for his robotic friend. Antauri had trained him and protecting him with a technique akin to paternal compassion. Unfortunately, Antauri was Antauri, and he did what he always did in any situation, he evaded the company and went to think. It made Chiro sad, and then flaming hot with anger at the same. The silver simian seemed heartless, but he was a faithful mentor. Antauri's motives confused Chiro, but only made him more interested in his spiritual mentor's background.
A pang of regret passed through him as he remembered what he had said to Antauri, and he wondered if he had made the situation worse. I may have even pulled Antauri farther away from the team when we need him the most.
No way. Antauri wouldn't drift off and forget the team like that. He was too strong and too good for that. Still, what have I done?
"Chiro?"
I've been so stupid and I feel weird. What's wrong...
"Chiro?"
...with me? Why do I feel so strange? I need to talk to Antauri.
"Chiro!" Chiro flushed, and abruptly looked at Nova, and blinked. That was all he did, all he could do. Nova raised her eyes and then lowered them in a deep expression. "Are you okay? You keep blacking out? Maybe you should go to bed..."
"No!" Chiro jumped and shivered. His eyes widened and were filled with the wildness of an untamed animal. "Uh. I'm fine. Maybe I do need to lie down." Nova smiled weakly.
"Need any help?" Her metallic arms reached for him. He pushed them away with one swat.
"No...um... Thanks though." Chiro backed away, and then turned in an abrupt sprint.
(Antauri's Room)
Antauri's calm exterior levitated a few mere inches from the ground, but it seemed like miles. His cobalt eyes were closed in absolute concentration and his mind was cleared of all thoughts. It was harder than one could imagine, especially for some with a complex mind like the silver monkey. Suddenly, a feeling invaded his thoughts. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, but it was as if the atmosphere had suddenly changed and had altered ever so slightly.
"Antauri?" So that was it. It was the sense that told him that someone was near, or if they were out of their usual locations. It was almost like a throbbing in his temple. The simian opened his eyes and they were greeted by the warm sight of a teenage boy with messy black hair. He lowered himself to the ground, feeling no lightheadedness at all. The boy's slanted orbs followed him. Inside Antauri, something stirred. He felt that the young male was disturbed.
"Chiro, is something wrong?" Antauri said gently in a low tone. His student bowed his head, as if he was ashamed about something. He shook his head, and then lifted it, adorning his face with a wide smile.
"Nah. I just wanted to talk." He sounded so laid back, and the silver monkey wondered why he would try to hide his emotions.
"Chiro." Antauri whispered sternly to the teen. "Is there something you're meaning to tell me?" Chiro was flustered. He didn't know why, but being around the sterling monkey made him feel awkward. It was as if Antauri could read him like a book. Also, after their last argument (which was actually the first heated argument) he felt as if a larger rift had separated him from his mentor. Chiro recalled the time after the Hyperforce vanquished Skeleton King and the Citadel of Bone. The evil had seemed to cease, and two minor evils (Mandarin and Sakko) had disappeared from sight. All seemed perfect.
Then the nightmares came. Large and quick shadows groped him in silent caverns and crushed his bones. They crept up on him, and as he began to freak out, they attacked. Sometimes they even massed into one humongous phantasm with squirming tentacles made from the darkest shadows of the night. Only when they had devoured him completely did the leader wake up from his doom. He would be soaking wet with reeking sweat around his face and screaming shrilly. The second-in-command, who was black at the time, would examine him with deep amber eyes, looking for signs of unusual patterns or disturbances. Chiro didn't tell the others, he knew that Gibson, the only one out of the other four that could analyze the situation deeply enough, would simply dismiss the issue as a phenomenon developed by the growing boy's hormones.
Chiro insisted that he could handle himself, and felt silly if he were to ask Antauri to stay for him, but the spiritual monkey insisted on at least checking up on him ever few hours. Was it to make sure I was still breathing? Chiro didn't know. One fatal night, the nightmares reached a crescendo, and it was Chiro who checked in on Antauri. The simian had been sleeping peacefully, but had awoken to the teenager's presence. He attempted to soothe the boy with words of wisdom and philosophy. The alarm sounded.
His dreams took on a new terrifying proportion when he realized that he had dreamed about waking up, and dreamed throughout the night while he was in the grips of the Skeleton King's evil plot. He had learned about his team's mysterious past.
But he was not grateful for it.
The pale boy blinked and stared at his second-in-command. The silver monkey had his arms crossed and eyes closed. Chiro sighed and placed a hand on his aching head. He had drifted off again. Thinking of his dreams and his past and how he would give anything to change them.
If he changed them, would it make his life better, or worse?
"Chiro," Antauri repeated, his expression soft with wisdom. "is something wrong?"
"Are you mad at me?" Chiro pleaded. Antauri didn't appear shocked, but something inside him felt surprised.
"No, you could never make me stay mad at you, Chiro." The sterling monkey answered, but his leader seemed frantic.
"Oh yeah? What about when I barely got Sprx killed, or when I ran off in that spaceship and took Surthanna and Korlianne from their homes? I still didn't disappoint you?" Chiro didn't know where he was going with this, but he wanted to see inside his spiritual mentor's head, just once.
"Chiro, I..." Chiro didn't let him finish.
"Why do you have to be such a rock, Antauri?" Chiro looked on the verge of tears. "You hide from all of us. I thought at first it was kinda okay and that you were just quieter than everyone else, but you don't seem to feel. Honestly, don't you feel? Don't you feel anything?" Far from trying to anger the simian, Chiro was trying to reach to him.
"What about when I put you back in that new body? I just thought I was saving you ... in a way. But now, you can't do a lot of stuff we can do and you seem more distant. What did I do wrong?" Chiro recalled the time when Antauri had nearly destroyed him because of Mandarin's deceptive plans to expose the team to their worst fears. What confused Chiro was what Antauri had said after Sprx's Fist Rocket collided into the chest of the Super Robot and created a large dent in the once smooth surface. Later, when the berry red simian was finally able to stand (although he was blinded and had to wear off-white bandages and had to be held by the hand) The silver primate had stated that a vast scheme was coming to fruition, and their most terrifying fears were taking on a new devastating level. Chiro briefly remembered faintly in his mind that his mentor admitted that his greatest fear was to lose control of his new robotic body that still continued to stun him with its powers and attacks. He always called his body "the silver monkey," as if it were a separate piece of work. Eventually along the line, Mandarin's clever clone (now known as just "Mandarin") had revealed his revolting countenance and had transformed Chiro into a helpless little child while Antauri remained stuck in a shut door in an attempt to phase through it and turn off the Robot's defense systems, which were conspiring against them.
The cunning, orange mutant didn't stop there. He declared that he would demolish the powerless, weeping boy that sat on his cotton pants with his head in his powder soft hands. Then he blasted a beam at the spiritual simian that was still struggling futilely to regain control over his powers.
"But not by my own hand." The deformed creature's words were drowned by the small Chiro's fear and despair.
A-A-Antauri? W-What's happening?
"But your friend's." Mandarin cackled, which seemed to be a hobby for the wretched scrap. "Now your greatest fear has been realized Antauri, now your will is not your own!" The orange creature's mismatched eyes were gleaming with hatred and sadism as the monkey in his power briefly cried out. Mandarin didn't stop. He apparently fed off their troubles and it made him much more powerful...
"Chiro..." Antauri's eyes softened in a gentle expression.
"Antauri, I-I'm sorry." Chiro flustered. There he went, shooting off his stupid mouth again...
"Chiro..." The other's voice seemed so distant, and his obscure mutterings seemed to be mostly to himself. Chiro stared at the monkey with bewildered eyes.
"Antauri, I didn't mean it." The sterling primate shook his head sadly.
"It's all right, Chiro. I know I haven't been there for the team, and that I have done nothing worthwhile ever since Sprx and Otto went missing. It is I who should be sorry." The leader was taken back by Antauri's self-blame.
"Are you kidding me? Without you, we wouldn't have even spotted Otto! He would be..." Chiro trailed off, unable to bear the continuing images of another teammate dying and losing them forever. "Listen Antauri, I'm sorry I yelled at you before. I wasn't thinking. You were right, and everything else I did was stupid too." The leader bit his lip, waiting for the silver monkeys response. He widened his eyes when he saw that there was sadness in those deep, blue orbs.
"It's not your fault Chiro. It would appear that I have detached from the team spiritually..." Antauri's voice was disturbed, yet somewhat relieved. His deep gaze met the teenager's briefly and he set one cold, white hand on his clear chest. "And I apologize. No Monkey Team member should ever be alone in their troubles. I should've learnt that a long time ago. Your actions were acceptable, for a child your age, and I know I should've been there for you." The simian's mouth was twisted in a contemplative frown as the boy stepped forward. The leader smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes. Antauri was blown away when Chiro opened his arms and embraced his spiritual mentor in a gentle embrace.
Chiro wasn't sure whether he should've been ashamed by his actions or not, but Antauri was a very important person to him. He was about the only creature that had mentored and helped Chiro, almost like a father...
(Medical Bay)
Gibson furiously checked the monitors and machines. Beside him, Otto was laying on the cold slab of a medical table, looking somewhat better than the state he was in earlier. His verdant helmet was propped up against the wall and well out of Gibson's way. Otto's oddly large (odd for Otto that is) was exposed and many tiny wires were connected that monitored his cerebral impulses and heart pulses (which were growing more faint, just as the blue monkey feared) along with his heart rate (growing increasingly slow)
The intellectual monkey did the best he could. Many spots on Otto's fur coat were coated and spiked with his own blood and his friend had taken his time gently massaging it until it finally regained a green hue. It was paler than usual, but maybe that was Gibson's imagination. The once lively, humorous simian looked so frail and small. Gibson felt even more melancholy just knowing that what had done this to him was still out there, probably waiting to strike.
"Wha!" The earth beneath the Robot's feet rumbled and shifted, causing a violent rift through the room. Gibson landed flat on his muzzle with a muffled "Oof!" before lifting himself clumsily with his trembling hands. He laid there for a moment. Nothing. That was unusual, most trembles were followed by immediate, devastating earthquakes. One time, shortly after the apocalyptic event with the Dark One Worm's release, Shuggazoom City was in ruins and then Chiro had run off into the sunset as a primal humanoid. An earthquake had shaken the earth only a few mere seconds from a short rumbling under the crust, as if the long battle had caused some sort of imbalance in the earth. Very few buildings collapsed (there weren't very many left) and Otto, who was searching for any trapped civilians, had unwittingly gotten stuck in the discarded rubble and it had taken awhile to remove him.
Gibson dusted the dust particles from his fur while he managed to stand. He knew that he had to warn the team before any more destruction occurred. He groaned mentally as a few medicine bottles fell on the floor and spilled, creating a vibrant array of strewn pills and multicolored capsules. Suddenly, Gibson's mind felt like t was shutting down slowly as he heard a gruff sigh. It was so relaxed and comforted, as if all its pains and troubles were finally relieved. No more pain.
The monitor beeped as the dark line trailing through the pitch black screen went flat.
That's when a deafening roar came, and the Super Robot crumbled down and Gibson's legs buckled.
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Author's Note- Thank you for the reviews. You people are too kind. Haha, that mutant in the last chapter remended me of Mutant Gibson, but it isn't an exact duplicate. It isn't as tall, as thin, and ... a Mutant Gibson? ... And you wonder why it gave me nightmares. This is so emotional, I think I may cry. I WAS going to make a long battle and a dramatic scene, but I suppose you guys have waited long enough. My great-grandmother died, so my priorities have shifted. Sorry.
Started: October 26, 2006. 8:17 P.M.
Finished: October 31, 2006. 4:20 P.M.