Tauria: Another long chapter! Yay! Not quite as long as the last one, but it still breaks three thousand words . . . which I am happy for.

Chiro: -mutters- the rest of us aren't. And you aren't even happy.

Tauria: Hush Chiro. I know you don't like this chapter. In fact, you don't like the whole story. So hush.

Chiro: And I don't like the new idea you came up with one bit neither.

Tauria: I know Chiro, I know. Anyway, hopefully I will update more regularly over fall break . . . well . . . I may not. I'll explain why at the bottom!

Disclaimer: Tauria does not own SRMT, or anything else belonging to someone else.


Chapter Three

No One's Point of View

Once the monkeys had recovered, they had set about looking for Chiro. Slowly at first, thinking that Chiro was just looking for a cure to the illness they had come down with. They began to think that he too, had become ill, and was somewhere on Shuggazoom, unable to care for himself. But the found several clues that suggested he was still alive. They got the allies to search as well, and even some of the citizens joined in. Each day, they would set out, and one monkey and a team of allies would stay behind and patrol the city or stay in the Robot while the others looked.

They were slowly giving up hope that they would ever find him. It hit them all hard. Especially Antauri, who blamed himself, but was trying not to. It seemed impossible that Chiro would leave. It seemed impossible that he would put the monkeys through this. Everyone agreed that this was very out of character for Chiro. No one could figure out why he had left, though. Everyone who knew the legends blamed the old king. They thought he was behind it all. Others claimed it was Skeleton King. Still others thought he was dead. No one really agreed on what happened, just that it was unlike Chiro.

No one wanted to believe that one such as Chiro had gone missing. Everyone looked up to him. Even those who were supposed to be his superiors. He was the very opposite of that which he fought. Perhaps that is what made him such a good Chosen One.

Three months had passed since Chiro had been declared missing, and no one knew what to do anymore. It was as if Chiro had disappeared off the face of the planet. How everyone hoped he would be found . . .


Three Months After Chiro Was Declared Missing

Antauri's Point of View

We had been searching for Chiro for three months now. I was getting very worried. Chiro should have turned up by now, unless he wasn't on Shuggazoom. I sat down in my chair and held my head in my hands. How could he do this to us? I knew Chiro . . . or thought I did. He had to have a just cause for leaving. It can't be because of his Power Primate going missing. It has to be something other then that. Chiro had always been responsible. He knew better then to leave just because his Power Primate was gone.

Of course, there are many things we do not know about Chiro . . . and it is those things that are giving me these doubts . . . these little uncertainties that maybe we over, or under, estimated Chiro. Or that perhaps, we never really knew Chiro at all. They are just little doubts, fueled by nothing more then the fact that I wish I knew my son better. I knew that he would never betray us, or Shuggazoom, out of his own free will . . . and if he did, something had to have caused it.

I felt that his disappearance was related to the fact that we had all fallen ill, yet he had not. I also suspected that it had something to do with the fact that his Power Primate had gone missing. I felt that all of those links led back to one source. The evil king.

I wondered what could have possessed him to leave like he did. What could the king had bribed him with to get him to leave. Us falling ill with Ortus Morbus may have done it, combined with his lack of Power Primate. I closed my eyes and thought back to the day that Otto had gotten sick. Chiro's steps had been slow, and he seemed to feel very guilty. He seemed lost in thought, and at times, his eyes would be distant, as if he was talking to someone telepathically.

I frowned. It had all been right under my nose, and I couldn't see it. I decided not to blame myself, although it was very much something I could have prevented. Blaming myself will not get my son back, and nor will it help our cause.

Not that we can search forever.

I sighed. Sooner or later, I was going to have call the searches off . . . I didn't want to. I wasn't ready for the fact that my son might be gone for good. I wasn't ready for the fact that one day, I may face my son in battle. It was hard enough with my brother. We have lost our second leader. I will have to step up to that place once more. I sighed heavily. I stood and headed to the door, each of my steps heavy and out of place.


Otto's Point of View

I searched everywhere for Chiro. I missed him. It was like having a little brother and another big brother all in one. It was gonna be just like losing Mandarin again. I sighed. If only we hadn't gotten sick. Then maybe Chiro would still be here . . .

I heard Antauri and Gibson talking the other day, and they mentioned something about an evil king. I remembered hearing all those old legends about him. Antauri and Gibson seem to think we came down with Ortus Morbus. I remembered Gibson talking about that. I had never paid much attention to any of Gibson's lectures, but I remember thinking that this one sounded interesting. And it was. Even Gibson, no offense to him, couldn't make it boring! Even Sprx hadn't slept through that lecture!

Of course, that was when Mandarin was here, so Chiro had never gotten to hear it. I wonder if it would have helped him . . . I sighed softly. It was so depressing thinking about Chiro leaving. All the other monkeys depended on me to be their happy-go-lucky monkey. And I usually was.

But lately? Not so much.

Sprx has left punch lines wide open for me to fill, like I normally would. Gibson has given me plenty of opportunities to be confused, or come into his lab and annoy him. Nova has given me worried looks, and reasons to joke. Antauri is the only one who seems to understand. Mandarin leaving? Sure. I could get over that. I could joke and laugh about that. But Chiro? He was a little harder to get over his leaving. When Mandarin left, we had all been looking forward to the Chosen One coming. We had looked forward to ending the war.

This time, the Chosen One is gone, and we have no one to look forward to coming. The only hope we have is to find him and convince him to come back to us. The only problem is . . . finding him isn't going so well . . . I wonder where he could have gotten. I missed him so much, but I knew that we could only look for him for so long before the search had to be called off. I may not be Antauri, but I sense that time is coming soon.

"Monkey Team?" Antauri called. I frowned. That time was coming now, I feared. I wasn't ready to quit searching. I wanted to pretend I hadn't heard . . . pretend he hadn't called. I wanted to be out here, searching for my brother. Someone I very much needed in my life right now. I needed to see Chiro smiling as he laughed and joked with us . . . I needed to play video games with him . . . I needed to see that he was okay . . . I needed to assure him that we loved him, very much. But . . . I also wanted news. News that only Antauri could give. So . . . I turned and headed inside . . .


Sprx's Point of View

We had been searching for Chiro for months now. I missed the Kid. It was weird not seeing him at the breakfast table, laughing and joking like always. It was weird not hearing him shout out orders and make sure that everything was running smoothly despite the fact he should be getting what little rest he gets. It was weird not hearing him tell us what to do in training. It was weird not looking up and him being there. It was weird walking past his room at night and him not being in there. It was weird being sad, and his kind voice saying, "What's wrong Sprx?" It was weird not being able to go to him . . .

We had been able to count on him when I disappeared. He had helped us find Antauri, and had even pulled him back from the grave. He had helped us find Nova when she fell into the wormhole. Beyond that, he has done much more then just find us. He has risked his life again and again, over and over again to save ours. We all owe him our lives. He had led us through battles, and none of us had fallen. He had led us through prison escapes, and through the galaxies and back home again. Every time we had a problem, Chiro helped fix it.

The Kid was dependable, and he was smart. He knew what he was doing, and most of the time he acted more like an adult then a teenager. But he was still a kid, and he acted like it to. He loved the Sun Riders, and video games. He tried to get out of training and lectures. He was cocky. But at the same time, it was easy to forget he was still a child. After all, he was very responsible, and he planned things out. He gave orders like a born leader. He took on more responsibility then necessary sometimes, and he usually always owned up to things he had done. He was also much more powerful then most kids his age would be if they had powers. He was selfless, and he often risked his own life for the safety of other's lives.

I ached inside to know that he was gone, and that it most likely had to do with an evil king that had supposedly been imprisoned years ago. Decades ago even. I searched everywhere for any sign of Chiro, the evil king, Skeleton King, Mandarin, anything that could be important. I had found nothing. I knew sooner or later that Antauri was going to call us inside and call off the search . . . but I wasn't ready to let go just yet. We needed the Kid . . .

"Monkey Team?" Antauri called. Frowning, I turned to go. I was half tempted to stay out here and keep looking, but I also hoped for any kind of news. Good or bad at this point. I sighed, and I turned and headed inside, joining a sullen Otto. I patted his back.


Gibson's Point of View

I searched for Chiro, with no regard for what got on me. I was even able to ignore all the bugs. Once Chiro was back, I would panic. But for now, these bugs were meaningless. I hated the fact they were crawling on me, but at this point in time I no longer cared. At first, I had been hesitant to look, because I was afraid of the bugs. I had been convinced Chiro would come back. When he hadn't, I eventually joined the others. Sprx had been very angry at me for not searching like the rest of them. He had given me the silent treatment for a whole week. When the week had been over, I was finally convinced that Chiro wasn't going to come back on his own. For three months we have been searching for Chiro. For three months we have been looking for any trace of our beloved leader.

And not just because he was the Chosen One, as some had liked to say in the past. Some of the citizens had gotten it into their heads that we only cared about Chiro because he was the Chosen One. We, or rather Chiro, had set them straight. Chiro was Antauri's son, the other's brother, and I wasn't sure what to call him. Sometimes he was my brother, and sometimes he was my nephew. We needed our leader back, because he was our family. We needed our leader back because we loved him. We needed our leader back because he was someone we could always count on. We needed our leader back because he was one of the most important people in our lives.

But we all knew that soon the search was going to be called off. We couldn't look forever. Shuggazoom needs defending. Chiro wouldn't want us out here looking for him all the time if it meant leaving the city. We weren't leaving the city defenseless, of course. There was always a team of allies, and one of us monkeys there. Today it was Antauri's turn.

"Monkey Team?" Antauri called. Oh monkey doodle. Here we go. He's going to call off the search . . .I sighed . . . and although I needed to search more, I wanted news from Antauri. News that only he could give . . . So, I joined a sullen Otto, and a depressed, but still attempting to joke and be sarcastic Sprx.


Nova's Point of View

I searched everywhere for Chiro. I missed him. It was weird not seeing bright blue eyes staring at me as I taught him a new move. It was weird not being able to hug him, or get hugs from him when I was scared, or he was scared, or we were both scared and trying to be strong and failing. I sighed. I needed him back. He was like my brother. I needed my brother back. I loved him. We all did. He was family. He needed to be back with us. He needed to be here with us, where we loved him and appreciated him and needed him.

He needed to be here . . . safe . . . and sound . . . Where we loved him, and he loved us. He needed to be here . . . We needed him here . . . I hoped it didn't have anything to do with that evil king! That would be horrible! I didn't like to think that the only reason we got better could be because Chiro joined with the dark side. But I like even less to think that he only joined because he thought he needed his Power Primate to fight with us. Chiro wasn't that selfish anyway.

I also didn't like thinking that he was gone. But it was hard not to. He had always played an important part in each of our lives, but we had never noticed. We had never noticed how important Chiro was to us sometimes. We had never noticed how important of a role he played, because we never paid attention. We took our time together for granted. Even in the midst of war, we forgot how easily a life could be taken. Whether to die or to be kidnapped or to run away. Any of those. It didn't matter. I regretted not telling him how much I loved him like a brother while he was here.

And now he was missing. He was gone. And the search would soon have to be called off. And that is what really hurt. I hated that we were going to have to call off the search for something so important. I was angry. I needed some time in the training room later. I sighed, and continued looking, needed something to keep me occupied.

"Monkey Team," I heard Antauri called. I sighed and joined the other monkeys. I took Sprx's hand, and he let my hand go. A little hurt at first, it was soon gone when he slid his arm around my waist. I leaned against him slightly as we walked. We all entered the Robot, trying to be strong together. We all knew it had hit Antauri the hardest when Chiro had gone missing.


No One's Point of View

One they were all inside, Antauri turned to them all. He was pained, and you could tell. "I am afraid that we will have to end the search for Chiro. But for one reason. Skeleton King has not attacked lately. He could be related to Chiro's mysterious disappearance. We will have to find out where Skeleton King is, and from there, we can find Chiro. Hopefully."

The monkeys nodded, glad for anything to do that might help Chiro. They needed their leader. He was their Chosen One. But he was more then that to them. He was . . . he was someone they loved very much. He was their loved one. They loved him, and he loved them. They needed him.

"Alright, Antauri. How do you want us to start?" Otto said.

Antauri smiled a little. "Let's catch up on training and repairs first. Each of us will do a training session, while the rest of us work on repairs. Then, we'll do a group session, and then all of us will finish our repairs. And as we are doing that, we can run the scanner to scan for Skeleton King, or the Citadel of Bone."

The monkeys nodded, and set to work.


Tauria: I know . . . crappy ending. Anyway, the reason I may not update is 1. Vacations. 2. Anna is leaving. Yup. That's right. She is going back to her mom's on Saturday. She has been living with me since January, so we've gotten really close in that time period. It was like having a twin sister, that wasn't really your sister. It's going to be really hard to say goodbye since we have gotten so close. So, there may or may not be updates over fall break. There most likely will be, since I write better when I'm depressed. If you wanna know why, you can PM me. Just because I don't feel like explaining right now. Anyway, I mean, today, I couldn't go to school because I had a panic attack over a lot going on. My dad remarried two weeks ago, and then Anna's leaving, plus I have anxiety and there are too many people at school . . . yeah . . . I'm having a bit of a rough time. But this is how I deal with it. Anyway, thanks if you read my little rant. If you want to know anything more or if I left anything out, PM me. I don't mind talking . . . In fact, I love to talk.

Chiro: Ooh! I have something to add!

Tauria: What?

Chiro: Tauria might be moving . . . she'll still be able to update and stuff, but she might be moving to a smaller town so it will be easier on her. Also, she'll be closer to Anna. Plus, she'll be able to make new friends, because as of this moment in time, she has no close friends in school. I'm done.

Tauria: I'm not sure what to say to that. Anyway, I may update again today . . . or I might update a different story or something. But anyway . . . thanks for reading my rant if you did :DD I love you guys! Please leave more of those wonderful reviews! They make me happy both inside and out! :DD