I'm back with another update! Warning: This chapter is full of sweetness and fluff ;)

Chapter 6

Otto

Well, I really messed up.

I was in a pranking mood and decided to switch Nova's shampoo with pink hair dye before it was her turn to take a bath. Then I'd hide and have a little laugh at the sight of my sister sporting cotton candy pink fur.

What I hadn't expected was for Mandarin to have his bath before Nova on that day.

While the rest of the team found it funny – even the Alchemist chuckled at the sight of him – Mandarin was not. And it didn't take long for him to figure out which of us did the deed.

"Of all the childish pranks, Otto! Must you be such a child?!" he'd shouted at me before stomping off to the bathroom to try and wash all the hair dye off.

That really hurt, mostly because I knew that he was telling the truth. I'm probably the most childish member of the team. But I can't help it if I want to have a little fun. I know I don't have Sparx's cool personality, Gibson's intelligence, Nova's fierceness, or Antauri's serene sense of calm; the only thing that I have is a knack for fixing gadgets and inventing gizmos as well as the desire to make people laugh.

It's not bad to want to make people laugh, right?

Anyway that had been one of those rare days where I felt gloomy. Not even being allowed to play outside by the Alchemist could lift my spirits up. On days like this, I found myself confiding in Antauri. Out of all my siblings, he was the one I could go to whenever I had problems. There's just something about him that makes it easy for me to talk to him, unload whatever troubles I have.

We sat on the wooden railing of our jungle home, watching our siblings play down below in the foliage.

"I didn't mean to make Mandarin mad. I just thought it'd be funny. And the prank wasn't even intended for him. I was planning on pranking Nova," I admitted, sighing. "…which probably would have been a whole lot worse because of her temper…"

"I'm sure she would have suspected and gone after Sparx first," Antauri joked, the two of us laughing at the mental image of a pink Nova chasing after our pilot.

"Hey, Antauri… you don't think I'm too childish, do you?" I asked, my tail twitching.

Antauri smiled, assuming that lotus position he always does whenever he wants to meditate or levitate. "Not at all, Otto. In fact, your ebullience is one of the many qualities I admire about you," he told me.

"My ebulli-what?" I tilted my head at him, confused.

"Your ebullience. Your joy and exuberance. Being happy all the time, you go with the flow and embrace the uncertainty of what tomorrow may bring." Antauri shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "I wish I can be like you," he admitted.

'Antauri wants to be like me…? Wow!' I thought then grinned. "Well, you kind of already are… whenever Yinya's around," I giggled as Antauri's eyes snapped open and he looked at me, a light red blush on his cheeks.

I chuckled. I knew that what I'd just said was true. Whenever Yinya was around, Antauri became less serious, less zen and all that. He smiled more widely and just became much happier and more enthusiastic about things. Sometimes, he even joined Yinya and I in pranking our creator and the rest of our siblings… which always ended with us laughing until our faces turned either bright red like Sparx's or blue like Gibson's because we were having so much fun.

And whenever Yinya made him laugh, Antauri didn't restrain himself and really laughed, his deep voice going just a quarter of an octave higher as he let out those big laughs of his. There was no doubt in my mind that Yinya was the sun to Antauri's sky. As long as she was around, my brother stopped holding back and allowed himself to really feel. He was always keeping his emotions in check, to not be too expressive as that was what was expected of him. He was going to be second-in-command of the team so, according to the Alchemist and Mandarin, he had to be strong, serious, and have a spirit of steel. In short, he had to be a little more guarded about his feelings which, for me, just sounded dull and depressing.

That's why I was so glad that we had Yinya. She was the only one among the rest of us who could get Antauri to drop down his walls so we could all see that he was as much of a monkey as the rest of us.

Speaking of Yinya…

"That's weird… I don't see Yinya…" I muttered, scanning the jungle underneath us. Antauri, the blush fading from his cheeks, shut his eyes and I knew what he was doing – trying to sense Yinya's Power Primate. Among the seven of us, Antauri, Mandarin, and Yinya were the ones with the deepest connection to the Power Primate.

After about a minute, Antauri opened his eyes and motioned for me to follow him. We jumped from the railing and landed on the ground. While Mandarin (his fur now back to its orange hue) and Gibson discussed strategy for their next game, and Sparx and Nova were racing each other up the giant trees growing in our backyard, Antauri and I trekked through the jungle.

I could hear strains of beautiful music coming from up ahead. Quiet as church mice, Antauri and I peered through the foliage. I grinned upon seeing Yinya sitting under a tree, playing the mandolin Captain Shuggazoom had taken from one of his many mortal foes. He'd wanted to give it to Mandarin, probably as a joke since 'mandolin' more or less rhymed with 'mandarin,' but my eldest brother hadn't wanted it. Yinya, on the other hand, had been fascinated by the instrument and wanted to learn how to play it. So Captain Shuggazoom gave it to her and, a couple of weeks later, gave her a memory disk filled with tutorials on how to play and care for her mandolin.

Yinya had had the mandolin for about a month now but none of us had ever heard her play apart from just plucking a few notes.

On this day, Antauri and I were lucky to hear her first full performance.

Yinya hummed as she played, her mandolin singing out these beautiful clear notes that were alluring, cheerful, and… just a little bit sad. I closed my eyes, my tail swishing side to side in time with her melody. When I opened them again, I found Antauri gazing at Yinya with a look that I could only best describe in one word.

Love, which was also something Yinya had a lot of for him and a whole lot of things.

Grinning, I whispered into Antauri's ear, "Let's sneak over there and catch her just as she's about to go for the big finish." Making my brother's dark green eyes glint with mischief.

Staying as quiet as we could, we shimmied up the surrounding trees and leapt from branch to branch until we were in the branches of the very tree Yinya was sitting under.

"Three… Two… One…!" I whispered then Antauri and I swung down the branches and yelled out, "HI!"

"Stars!" Yinya yelped, clutching her mandolin to her chest, her tail standing straight up. Antauri and I both laughed, dangling from the branches by our tails.

Once she'd gotten over her shock, Yinya glared half-heartedly at us. "Otto… 'Tauri…" she sighed, cheeks turning bright pink. "You guys scared me…"

"We're sorry, Yinya. But we couldn't help but hear such a beautiful melody," Antauri said, his cheeks also turning pink. "It was a beautiful song, by the way."

"O-oh you… you think so…? Thanks…" Yinya mumbled, unable to meet my brother's gaze.

"We haven't heard you play before until now." I got down from the tree and sat next to Yinya on her right side, bouncing slightly in place. "Did you compose it yourself?" I asked her.

"Yes… But it's not yet that good…" Yinya's cheeks turned even pinker as she tried to hide the mandolin behind her back.

"We loved it! Can we hear more? Pleeeeeaaasssseeee?" I did my best puppy dog expression, clasping my hands in front of me as I begged.

Yinya stared at us, her face practically turning a darker shade of her magenta hue, before smiling shyly and nodded.

Antauri sat next to Yinya on the left as she began to play once more. Hauntingly beautiful music filled our ears. As I listened to Yinya's melody, I couldn't help but think that it was like a lullaby. I could feel myself getting sleepy as the music continued. Glancing at Antauri, I saw him smiling softly at Yinya, his eyes half-closed in contentment. Yinya was smiling too, her gaze never leaving Antauri's as she skillfully plucked her mandolin's strings.

I didn't need to be psychic to hear whatever conversations they were having through their eyes. Whatever silent words were being exchanged in that moment, I knew that they contained love.

Present Day (Normal POV)

Otto had tears in his eyes as he concluded his tale. "I'd give anything to hear Yinya play again… and to see Antauri happy again. When Yinya… Antauri, he… he just wasn't the same," he sniffed, rubbing his eyes.

Gibson, Sparx, and Nova looked at each other somberly. Otto was right. Ever since they lost Yinya, Antauri had changed. While he was still wise, calm, and cared deeply for the team, his smiles no longer reached his eyes, his laughter became more restrained, and he wasn't as expressive as he used to be.

When Yinya had been around, Antauri had been so much… happier.

And, like Otto, the rest of the Monkey Team would give anything to have their second-in-command be happy again.

Chiro and Jinmay looked at the monkeys, sadness in their eyes. Then Chiro glanced at Sparx. The red monkey smiled sadly, knowing that it was his turn to share a precious memory of their sweet little sister.

"It wasn't just music she was good at. Remember when the seven of us used to play tag?" At Gibson, Nova, and Otto's nods, he chuckled. "Yinya was a master at that game…"

If you're wondering what melody Yinya plays on her mandolin, listen to "Isabella's Lullaby (Mandolin Version)" on YouTube.

Read and review! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

-GuardianDragon98