Ok so I have news...my external hard drive is totally fried. I couldn't recover any data. So to all my Pokemon readers, that means there will be an even longer delay in the updating of that story...it's making me sick to my stomach, believe me. I'm no happier about it than you all are. But unbeknownst to even myself, I had actually saved my SRMTHFG notes into my actual hard drive onto my computer, so I was able to write another chapter of this fairly easily. Life throws me curveballs, I try to go for a homerun, but I'm content just to get on base. This chapter is like hitting a double. So without further ado, here is the next chapter. I own nothing except the story and Kikaido.
_
"Nikita...got married? When? How?!" Chiro gaped in shock, now suddenly Kikaido's intensity towards anything related to Nikita made sense, but one thing was extremely confusing, "If Kikaido is Nikita's husband, then why does Tikudo seem to hate him?"
"He doesn't hate me," Kikaido said nonchalantly, "We just have disagreements every once in a while."
Tikudo simply snarled before placing his sword back in its sheath. "How dare you defile this place with your presence?"
Kikaido's weapons disappeared and he crossed his arms with a non-caring expression, "You know one of these days you really should do something about that scowl, it can't be healthy for you to never smile."
Tikudo simply snarled again and grabbed the handle of his sword, "Get out. Now."
Kikaido's weapons suddenly appeared in his hands again, "Wanna go another round? Iron sharpens iron after all." he smirked. The tall grey cat unsheathed his yellow and green samurai sword and snarled, while Kikaido chuckled and his flames started warming up, "I won't lose this round."
"Are they really about to fight?!" Nova exclaimed in horror.
"This is crazy!" Chiro added.
Just as the two cats were about to reach each other, a booming voice sounded throughout the room, "ENOUGH!" The Hyperforce turned around and looked up to see a large, imposing black figure standing behind them. "This battle is over." The large black cat lumbered over to Tikudo and Kikaido with a disapproving frown, "You know the rules of the shrine Kikaido, although we have accepted you into our tribe, you are not a true Kathorian, and you are not allowed to enter here."
"Got it." Kikaido mumbled.
The huge Kathorian turned his attention to Tikudo, "And as for you Tikudo."
"Po, I haven't done anything to earn this scolding, I was simply trying to-"
Tikudo was quickly cut-off. "To distribute justice which was far too severe for the crime at hand."
"But Po-"
The Kathorian leader stomped his foot, making the area rumble, "Mind your place Tikudo, your vendetta against Kikaido does not coincide with the Kathorian way of life. I suggest you strive to remember that."
Tikudo got down on one knee and lowered his head in front of Po, "I ask forgiveness, great wise one." With that, Tikudo rose and hastily left the room.
Po then turned his attention back to Kikaido, "We will see to the nature of your punishment later, right now, your wife has been asking for you." At Po's statement, Kikaido's eyes widened and he rushed out of the room and disappeared into the caves. "It is good to see you again Hyperforce, your presence here is extremely encouraging in these trying times." Po said without turning around.
"Uh yeah...it's good to see you again too." Chiro said, still stunned by the display.
"Please forgive them," Po sighed wearily, "They are both brave, determined young men with very different backgrounds."
"No kidding...so, what's the story?" Sprx asked.
Po said nothing at first, then he turned to face them, "Perhaps that is a question you should ask Kikaido or Tikudo, I feel it is not my place to speak of their personal lives with outsiders, even ones as highly honored among us as yourselves."
"I understand." Chiro nodded and led his team out of the shrine while Po followed them out, "I do have a question though, where's Nikita?"
A very slight smile appeared on the black cat's lips, "Katoro, take them to her."
"Yes wise one." Katoro bowed deeply, which invoked a chuckle out of the large cat, "Follow me!" Katoro walked into another tunnel and led the Hyperforce through it, "Sorry you had to see that, they don't get along very well."
"I've never seen Tikudo so angry before." Nova said.
"Yes, well unfortunately, he's been angry a lot lately, mostly because of him." the young Kathorian shook his head, "Kikaido's so cool! I wish Tikudo would see that!" Katoro then made a sudden left turn, and he pointed the Hyperforce into a small room carved out of the rock, "In there." Katoro then rushed ahead and entered the room, "Kikaido!"
As the Hyperforce entered the room, they finally found Nikita lying on a makeshift bed, apparently being tended to by Kikaido. "Oh no!" Chiro rushed in along with the rest of the team, worried that something had happened to their lavender friend. "Nikita, are you alright?!"
"Whoa, keep it down!" Kikaido hissed, "She finally went to sleep."
Chiro nodded apologetically before getting closer, "Is she hurt? Sick? Gibson here is a fantastic doctor if she needs one!"
Kikaido chuckled and shook his head, "Nah, she's fine...she's just...tired."
"Tired from what?" Otto asked, "Was she fighting the Mantadons too?"
"Not exactly." Kikaido replied, "Hey Katoro, c'mere." Kikaido pulled the young boy aside and began talking to him quietly, leaving the Hyperforce alone.
"Gibson, check her out anyway." At Chiro's order, the blue primate hopped onto the flat rock bed and began scanning the female Kathorian, "Don't worry Nikita, you're gonna be alright."
"You seem to be awfully worried about her Chiro." Jinmay crossed her arms and looked at her possibly ex-boyfriend suspiciously.
"Relax Jinmay, it's not like that." Chiro replied, "She's my friend, she's all our friends, we told you about her already."
Jinmay raised an eyebrow, but she eventually uncrossed her arms and went over to stand next to him, "If you say so."
"Hey, have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?"
"...no." Jinmay admitted.
"Then trust me this time too, you're the only girl for me."
Jinmay relinquished a smirk, "Fine, I'll let you off the hook just this once."
Chiro nodded with a smirk of his own before turning his attention back to Gibson, "Well Gibson?"
"There's nothing to fear Chiro," Gibson beamed at his leader. "In fact, I dare say they're quite healthy."
Chiro exhaled in relief, "Thank goodness." Then after a moment, Chiro's eyes shot open in shock, "Wait a second..."
"Did you say 'they'?" Nova asked.
"Indeed I did." Gibson's smile grew bigger, "Nikita is with child, and if my scans are accurate, she will enter labor quite soon."
"But...she doesn't even look pregnant..." Chiro scratched his head.
"Kathorian physiology is quite different from humans Chiro, Nikita is obviously substantially larger than your average human female, and Kathorian infants are quite a deal smaller than human ones. With those two combined factors, it would easily explain why Nikita lacks any sort of visual evidence of her impregnation." Gibson explained.
"Take my word for it, alien women have some freaky quirks to them more often than not." Capt. Shuggazoom chimed in.
"Yeah, no kidding." Chiro mentally conjured up an image of the two alien shape shifters he'd spent a day with who fooled him into believing they were two beautiful women as opposed to what they really were. "Boy did I make a mistake then...nice girls, but a perfect example of how you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."
"Chiro? You ok?" Jinmay waved her hand in front of the boy's face, and eventually he looked at her, somewhat sorrowfully in fact, "You kinda spaced out for a second there."
"Yeah." Chiro steeled himself and got back to business, "I'm fine, I was just thinking...alright then, we need to come up with an attack strategy."
"Shouldn't we include Tikudo in this conversation? He's kinda the Kathorian general, or at least someone the other Kathorians look up to." Nova said.
"Leave him outta this," Sprx spat. When the red monkey got weird looks from the other members of the team, he quickly came up with an excuse, "The guy clearly doesn't want anything to with Kikaido, and I don't think Nikita would appreciate a knockdown drag-out happening in her room."
"I'm with you Sprx, we gotta protect little Nikita Jr. in there." Otto said as he hovered over Nikita's stomach, "Can you hear me little fella? You're gonna be a'ok now that we're here to protect ya from those mean ol' Mantadons."
"Call me a nosy old coot, but I'm still kinda curious as to why that grey cat hates that red cat." Capt. Shuggazoom stated as he stroked his trimmed beard.
"So am I." Chiro looked over to where Kikaido appeared to be training Katoro in footwork, "Hey Kikaido!" he exclaimed, "It's time you started answering my questions."
Kikaido glanced over at Chiro a second before turning his attention back to Katoro, "Keep practicing ok?"
"You got it Kikaido!"
With Katoro thoroughly occupied, Kikaido went over to the Hyperforce and sat on the edge of the bed, being careful not to disturb his slumbering wife. "I know what you're thinking, 'why are me and Tikudo at each other's throats?' Well...it's a long story."
"Well we don't have any sort of plan, so we might as well learn what's going on here." Jinmay shrugged helplessly.
"Indeed, I am also rather curious as to your origins and also the origins of your unique weapons." Gibson added.
"Oh...you mean these?" Kikaido's spiked, circular weapons materialized in his hands, and he looked down at them with a pained expression. "Sigh...it all started about five years ago..."
{Flashback}
Me and my best friend Mukato were exploring some of the sacred shrines of my planet's people.
"Ya know one of these days we're gonna get caught." the young sixteen year old blue cat boy said nervously.
"Aww relax will ya? We've done this tons of times already and we've never gotten caught. Now come on, I wanna check out what's inside here!" The eighteen year old Kikaido grinned and opened up a golden door that had flames carved into it, and inside was a floating pair of spiked, circular objects, "Whoa...awesome...the ancient Chakrams, Eternal Flames! The legend is that these weapons actually chose their wielder as opposed to the wielder choosing them, and they granted their wielder amazing power, the power to become the legendary Flurry of Dancing Flames!"
"How do you know all this?" Mukato asked.
"I actually paid attention in history class, you just spend all your time ogling Korita." Kikaido rolled his eyes.
"Well can ya blame me? She's gorgeous! And she's got a body that could-" Mukato immediately shut up as Kikaido had smacked him upside the head, "Ow! Geez, what was that for?! It's not like you're doing anything with her since you just broke up with her!"
"Quiet, will ya?!" Kikaido hissed, "And to answer your question, that's for thinking with something other than your head if you get my drift."
"Spoilsport." Mukato's eyes widened in horror as Kikaido moved closer to the Chakram case, "What are you doing?! Are you out of your mind?!"
"Come on Mukato, where's your sense of adventure? Just imagine, what if these things decided to choose me as their wielder? Heck, I could become a superhero!"
"Or you could become an inmate with the planet's worst convicts! Come on Kikaido, back away right now and we'll go get some sea-salt frozen wormalongs, my treat!"
Kikaido smirked, "You always say that, but you never actually pay up." the red cat slowly removed the glass case and picked up the weapons, "Wow...amazing."
"Yeah, a real piece of history, now let's get outta here!"
"Alright fine, but you're still buying those wormalongs." Kikaido was about to place the Chakrams back when suddenly they began to float and spin wildly, "Whoa, what the?!" Flames ignited from the Chakrams and they whirled around the red cat's body at a speed that made the flames block him from view.
"Kikaido!" As the flames dissipated, Kikaido was revealed to be unharmed, but the Chakrams were nowhere to be found. Once it seemed the flames had totally vanished, Mukato ran up to his friend, "Are you alright?!"
"Seem to be..." Kikaido looked around the room and suddenly began to panic, "Where're the Chakrams?!"
"I dunno! They just...disappeared!"
"Hey, you kids! You're trespassing on sacred ground!"
At the sound of the guard's voice, both cat teenagers looked at each other in horror, "Busted!" they exclaimed.
As two guards rushed into the room, they noticed the Chakram case open and the weapons nowhere to be found, "Eternal Flames...gone?!" the larger guard snarled at the two trespassers, "What have you done with the ancient Chakrams?"
"I swear, I have no idea what happened." Mukato backed away with his hands up in a placating gesture, "It was Kikaido who touched 'em!"
"Way to have my back pal." Kikaido grumbled, earning a helpless shrug from his friend.
"You two are in big trouble, the penalty for defiling the sacred shrines is death." The two guards stomped up to them, tapping their palms with their large spiked maces as they prepared to do their duty.
"Now I'll never get to marry Korita!" Mukato whimpered.
"We're about to die and you're worried about marrying Korita? You do realize I broke up with her because she's more concerned with how she looks than anything else right?"
"Whaddya mean?"
"That body you spend all your time ogling? She didn't grow it herself if you get my drift."
"You mean she's..." Mukato groaned in realization, "Aww man! Thanks for nothin'!"
"Enough talk, the time has come!" the guards swung their maces, but the two young cats managed to dodge.
"Let's get outta here Kikaido!" Mukato rushed out the door without taking a second to look back.
"Right behind ya buddy!" But before Kikaido could run off, he was surrounded by several more guards, all growling at him in anger. "Oh boy...I'm so dead." Kikaido closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain...but with a sudden burst of heat and a loud whooshing sound, he opened his eyes and saw all the guards on the ground, groaning in pain with what appeared to be singed fur and burn marks on their bodies. "What?" Looking down, Kikaido saw the two Chakrams in his hands, still flaming, "But I'm not getting burned...how is that even possible?"
"They've chosen you."
Kikaido looked up and saw an elderly red cat with a black cloak walking towards him, "Stay back!"
"Fear not young one, I mean you no harm." the old cat said soothingly, "The sacred Chakrams known as Eternal Flames have chosen their next wielder, only those with a true spirit of adventure and a strong will are chosen to wield these weapons...but more than that, it also requires a special individual who will stop at nothing to help his friends, no matter what it takes."
"Who are you?" Kikaido asked in shock.
"If you know the history of Eternal Flames...you know who I am."
Kikaido's eyes widened further, "You're...the legendary Flurry of Dancing Flames."
"Very good, I see you've got it memorized." the elder said with a somewhat smug grin. "Now then, your friend needs your help, you must retrieve him and escape the planet, for the law is the law, and if you wish to live, you must leave and never return."
"But what about my parents? My friends and family? I can't just leave them!"
"Worry not, I and the other sacred guardians of old will make sure they will forever be protected, they will miss you, but they will be informed that you have gone to fulfill a great destiny. The same goes for Mukato's family, although he will not be a part of your long-term future."
Kikaido shook his head, "I musta hit my head too hard, I'm seeing ghosts!"
"This is no hallucination young one, you have a destiny to fulfill, that's why Eternal Flames chose you." Hearing the groans of the guards who were apparently regaining consciousness, the elderly cat turned serious, "You haven't much time. Go Kikaido, use the power of Eternal Flames and fulfill your destiny!"
"Yeah, great." Kikaido had turned away to glance at the guards, but then when he turned back to look at the elder, he saw nothing. "Hey wait a sec! What destiny?!" the old cat had disappeared without a trace and the guards were beginning to get up for another attack, leaving Kikaido with no time to think about what had just happened. "I'll figure this out later," Kikaido shook his head vigorously, "Right now, I gotta make sure I get outta this alive!" Rushing out of the room with Eternal Flames gripped tightly in his hands, Kikaido zoomed through the temple until he found Mukato, who was pinned against a wall and was about to be killed, "Get back!" Kikaido threw the Chakrams at the guards and they were immediately knocked out after being struck with a blow to the head.
"Kikaido? H-How'd you do that?" Mukato asked with a nervous gulp.
The red cat sighed, "It's a long story, come on, we gotta get outta here!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Mukato again ran off, this time with Kikaido covering his left flank, "I thought you were gonna put those things back!"
"I'll tell you all about it when we get off-planet, now move!" Burning through several more guards on the way, the two friends found an unlocked shuttle, and managed to hotwire the engine and blast off to safety. "Phew...we made it."
"Yeah...now what?"
{End Flashback}
"We wandered the galaxy for a while, decided to become bounty hunters to make a living...I had the firepower for it if nothing else." Kikaido raised a Chakram as he said that, "But Mukato and I eventually went our separate ways after a couple of years...he found true love on one of the planets we visited for a job, and I've been going solo ever since."
"Fascinating...so these weapons of yours are mystical in nature..." Gibson said in awe.
"I guess you could say that...at one point about a year ago, I decided to risk going back to my home planet...that was a bad idea."
"They recognized your ship?" Chiro asked.
"Nope. They sensed the power of Eternal Flames entering the atmosphere...Felinites have a certain sensitivity to their sacred artifacts, it's a part of their heritage...so when they sensed Eternal Flames, they came after me like moths to...well...a flame."
"A Felinite?" Nova asked.
"Yeah...that's what my species is called...we're far more technologically advanced than the Kathorians, but we Felinites have always seen the Kathorians as our distant brothers, we just adapted differently to our respective planets."
"As interesting as this is, that still doesn't explain why Tikudo hates your guts." Sprx said.
Kikaido shook his head and smiled solemnly, "Well...after my fellow Felinites chased me down, I wound up crash-landing here on Kathori, where I was found by none other than Nikita..." Kikaido looked over at the sleeping lavender cat and smiled tenderly, "She managed to carry me to the village and at first they welcomed me with open arms, Tikudo included...I had gotten badly hurt in the crash, and Nikita had taken it upon herself to nurse me back to health...and well...to make a long story short, I found myself falling in love, something I never thought would happen."
"And you wound up marrying her? How romantic!" Jinmay gushed.
"Maybe, but I'd change the way it happened if I could." That comment caught Jinmay off guard, "I loved Nikita, I knew that much, but Tikudo was growing wary of me, he thought I was getting too close to Nikita, especially since I was an outsider to the villagers, albeit a welcome one...and...maybe in a way...he was right."
The Hyperforce was stunned by that, "I don't understand, you married her, you love her don't you?" Nova asked.
"I do...more than anything." Kikaido sighed deeply, "But I made a mistake...one night Nikita and I got a little too...passionate..." Kikaido winced, "And somehow Tikudo managed to find out."
"That probably wasn't good." Otto commented.
"That's an understatement...when Tikudo found out what I'd done, he grabbed his sword and confronted me in a fight to the death, I almost didn't get out of there alive, Tikudo was furious with me and his sword Lionheart was feeding off that anger, making him stronger."
"Lionheart...is this the same sword he always carries around?" Chiro asked.
Kikaido nodded, "Another sacred weapon, Tikudo was apparently chosen to be its true wielder."
"But then how come I was able to harness its power?"
Kikaido shrugged, "I'm not that smart about it."
"If I may Chiro," Gibson cut in, "It's possible that you were able to harness Lionheart's power thanks to the power the Power Primate grants you, perhaps those two mystical energies were able to merge and grant you the extra strength you needed to destroy the Master Mantadon."
"Seems legit." Kikaido chuckled lightly.
"So what happened Kikaido? I wanna hear the rest of it." Nova said.
Kikaido exhaled deeply, "This really isn't something I like revisiting...well, Tikudo had me on the ropes, I was still recovering so I didn't have my reflexes at full speed yet...he probably would've killed me...but Nikita saved me again, she stopped Tikudo from running me through, saying she loved me...we'd gotten to know each other as she nursed me back to health, and I guess she fell in love with me too."
"Well if she agreed to...ahem...well, intercourse, I would certainly assume that was the case." Gibson said somewhat uncomfortably.
"Needless to say, since I...deflowered his little sister, Tikudo has held a grudge towards me and we've clashed more than a few times...you can imagine how much he hated when Nikita and I actually got married, despite Po's blessing."
"Did Tikudo tell everyone?" Nova asked.
"Oh yeah, everyone knows...that's why Po was happy to hear I wanted to marry her, according to their customs no less...he wasn't happy to hear that I'd taken advantage of Nikita...but I regained some of his favor when I told him I wanted to marry her, and I wanted to take care of our child...but Tikudo..." Kikaido shook his head, "I don't think he'll ever forgive me."
"That doesn't matter." Kikaido turned to see Nikita with her eyes open and watering. "We may have done things out of order my dear Kikaido, but that hasn't changed the way my heart yearns for you."
Seeing that the Felinite and Kathorian were in the midst of a tender moment, Jinmay motioned to her teammates, "Hey guys, maybe we should start trying to come up with a battle strategy."
"But I wanna stay here and keep Nikita Jr. safe!" Otto whined. When Jinmay glared at him, Otto got the message. "Ohh...yeah, ok."
Quietly the Hyperforce along with Katoro walked out of the room to allow the husband and wife to enjoy some quality time together. "I gotta tell ya, trying to get a read on who Kikaido really is gives me a headache, we've seen him serious, we've seen him act cool, we've seen him make jokes, and we've seen him brood..." Sprx said with a frustrated huff.
"That was quite a tale though, wouldn't you agree?" Gibson said.
"Yeah," Chiro nodded, "I can see why Tikudo doesn't like Kikaido...but just because they made a mistake doesn't mean he should wanna kill him!"
"I don't like the word 'mistake'." Jinmay said solemnly, "No life is a mistake, doesn't every life have a purpose?"
"Sounds like something Antauri would say if you ask me." Sprx smirked.
"I remember Antauri telling me something like that once...he said every life, no matter how they came to be, has a purpose and a destiny in the universe." Chiro added.
"Po says that too." Katoro spoke up, "I can't wait to find out my destiny."
As they continued to walk through the caverns, they noticed Tikudo kneeling down with his sword wedged into the ground in front of him, his paws tightly gripping the handle. "It's Tikudo." Nova whispered.
They stared for a few moments, before Tikudo stood up and sheathed Lionheart and walked up to them, "I'm sorry for the display earlier, it was a moment of weakness on my part." he said with a dangerously neutral expression, "Now then, it's time we got down to business."
Moments later, the Hyperforce, Po, Tikudo...and surprisingly Kikaido, were all gathered in a large room with a table formed out of rock that they were sitting at, "Have we come up with a plan to possibly defeat our enemies?" Po asked.
Gibson hopped onto the table and cleared his throat as he began to pace, "As we're all aware, these Mantadons are no more threatening than the ones we faced on our previous visit, however one thing has changed. The skeleton creatures that we know as Formless seem to be combining with the Mantadons and increasing each other's strength and intelligence in a sort of symbiotic relationship."
"And whenever that happens, they're almost invincible!" Otto exclaimed.
"Precisely, however Kikaido has proven to us that there is indeed a way to stop the Mantadon threat before us."
"And what's that Gibson?" Chiro asked.
"As you were unconscious Chiro, I'll recap. To make a long story short, Kikaido managed to catch the opposing Formless symbiote off guard and destroyed it, causing the Mantadon to revert back to its normal state, and returning its vulnerabilities to its thorax."
"Yeah, but the problem with that is I got lucky, that Mantadon was so worried about you that I was able to take it down without it even noticing me." Kikaido replied.
"I have an idea," Capt. Shuggazoom spoke up, "Why don't we see if we can't find the source of all these Formless and destroy it so we won't have to worry about anymore of them?"
"We already know the source, and where it is." Sprx said.
"Indeed, when we landed here on Kathori we were greeted by an enormous pool of black sludge that was not only generating Formless minions, but was also the cause of the Mantadons' mutations." Gibson explained.
"In that case, maybe a few of us should go out there and see if we can get rid of all that gunk somehow." Otto suggested, "I mean, there's gotta be a way right?"
"I think you're onto something." Chiro nodded, "Does everyone agree with that plan?"
"It sounds like a good plan." Tikudo stated, "Now we have to decide who will go on that mission, and who will remain here to protect the tribe in case of an attack."
"Well the obvious choice would be Brainiac here," Sprx said with a chuckle as he pointed a thumb at the blue monkey, "If anyone can figure out a way to take out that lake of sludge it's him."
"Thank you." Gibson deadpanned.
"But he can't go alone..." Kikaido added, "I'll go with him, since I'm the only one who was able to take down the Mantadon while it was evolved."
"You should take one more with you, it was the element of surprise that let you get off that hit in the first place." Nova said, "I'll go with you Gibson, between the three of us we should always have at least one member of the team free to attack the Formless in case we get spotted."
"Then we have a plan of attack. There's no time to waste." Chiro got up from the table along with everyone else, and they all walked out to begin their appointed duties.
"Nova," Sprx jogged up to the yellow monkey and slowed to a walk next to her, "Be careful ok?"
Nova smiled and nodded, and the two monkeys went their separate ways. "Kikaido, why don't you go tell Nikita what's going on while we head outside to scout the perimeter?" When Kikaido nodded and walked away, Nova turned her attention to the blue scientist, "Well Gibson, you ready for this?"
"Of course not, I despise bugs."
"Besides that." Nova rolled her eyes.
"Then yes, I suppose so...hopefully I'll be able to ascertain whether or not the lake of ooze has a weakness we can exploit after I give it a more thorough scan."
"I'm sure you'll think of something Gibson, you always do." Minutes later, Kikaido rejoined them, a somewhat goofy smile on his face, "Uh...something happen?" Nova asked with a grin.
"Hmm?" Kikaido then realized he was in a daze and shook his head to regain his bearings, "Nah, I'm good. Let's get moving." They reached the secret entrance, and Kikaido carefully peeked around to make sure no Mantadons were around. "Coast is clear, let's go!" With that reassurance, they rushed into the jungle and didn't look back.
"Good luck Nova." Sprx sighed as he watched her go.
"Aww, don't worry Sprx, she'll be ok!" Otto said reassuringly, "Come on, we got work to do!" Otto led Sprx away from the secret entrance, unaware that the entire exchange had not gone unnoticed.
Meanwhile, Chiro and Jinmay were standing guard in Nikita's room where the lavender cat was sleeping again. Of course, sitting guard probably would've been a better choice of words. "How d'ya feel Jinmay? Has the downtime given you any of your strength back?"
Jinmay shook her head, "I still can't activate my battle-mode...maybe if I ate something..."
Chiro paled a little at that, "Uh...I don't think you wanna do that." he chuckled nervously.
"Why not?"
"Let's just say...I don't think you'd be a fan of food that tries to crawl away while you're eating it."
Jinmay's eyes widened and she looked back at the sleeping Nikita, "You mean she - I mean they - I mean...Chiro, bugs?"
Chiro nodded, "Worms, grubs, some kinda gelatin thing that makes farting noises." the boy shuddered at the memory, "I don't think you wanna go there."
"Don't they have like...fruit or something?"
Chiro shrugged helplessly, "No idea."
"We actually do have what you humans would call fruit."
The human and robot both turned to look at Nikita, and the cat was once again sitting up with a somewhat tired expression, "Nikita..." Chiro walked up to his feline friend and smiled, "It's good to see you again."
"It is good to see you as well Chiro, once again you have come to Kathori in our time of need. I am grateful." Nikita then noticed Jinmay and looked at her curiously, "Who is this Chiro?"
"Oh yeah!" Chiro wrapped an arm around the robot girl and gently led her closer to the tall lavender feline, "Nikita, I want you to meet Jinmay, the newest member of the Hyperforce...and also my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" Nikita tilted her head to the side in confusion at the unfamiliar word, but after observing the way Chiro was touching this new girl, Nikita realized what he meant. "Oh! I see! She is your mate, just like Kikaido is mine!"
Both Jinmay and Chiro blushed deeply at that, "Uh yeah...I guess you could say that." the robot girl mumbled, "You were saying something about a fruit? I think if I get something to eat I'll be more ready to fight in case of an attack."
"Of course," Nikita nodded, "I am sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. Please, follow me." Very methodically, Nikita placed her feet back onto the cold floor and began walking out of the room.
"Uh Nikita...shouldn't you be resting? You're kinda...well...pregnant and stuff." Chiro said awkwardly.
"I would rather walk, as much as I appreciate Kikaido's concern for the well-being of me and our child, he has taken it to an extreme; this is the first time I've gotten up in quite a while that did not involve me having to go relieve myself, I am not so fragile that I am unable to take care of myself." Nikita soon led them to what appeared to be the kitchen, but instead of stopping there, she kept going until she was in front of a large door that had "emergency rations" written on it in big red letters, and she pulled a key out from the nearby cabinet and handed it to Jinmay. "I believe this is what you may be referring to."
"Why do I suddenly not wanna eat it...whatever it is..." Jinmay hesitantly unlocked the door and opened it, and what she saw stunned her, but not because it was terrible. "Grapes? What's so bad about grapes?"
"I don't get it Nikita, why do you have these locked up like they're toxic waste or something?" Chiro asked in confusion.
"Perhaps to you humans, these are nothing to fear, but to us Kathorians, they are extremely poisonous...but we keep them anyway, because in the end, if it fills your stomach, it gives just a little more time to survive to hopefully find something that can be eaten safely."
"I...guess that makes sense." Jinmay grabbed a few bunches of grapes and handed them to Chiro, "Here, the monkey team and Capt. Shuggazoom are probably hungry too, we'll take some for everyone."
"Good thinking Jinmay. We could all use something to eat." With Jinmay and Nikita following closely behind, also carrying bunches of grapes with them, Chiro found his team speaking with Tikudo, although Sprx seemed rather agitated. "What's going on here?"
Hearing Chiro's voice, Sprx flinched and turned around to see Chiro, Jinmay and Nikita all looking on in confusion. "Nothin'." the red monkey said nervously.
Tikudo spoke up instead, "Sprx and I were simply sorting out our differences, he apparently felt that with us at odds with each other, we wouldn't be able to battle the Mantadons efficiently." Tikudo then noticed Nikita carrying several bunches of grapes, "Nikita, what are you doing?! Surely your cravings haven't led you to eat foods that would lead to suicide!"
"Of course not brother, these are for the Hyperforce." Nikita distributed her shares of the grapes, finishing with Capt. Shuggazoom.
"Mighty kind of ya, thanks for the snack." Capt. Shuggazoom said before chomping on a grape and spitting the seed into a corner, "Heh heh, I still got it."
"Hey! That's not very nice of you!" Otto scolded.
Capt. Shuggazoom just shrugged, "You see any trash cans around here? If ya find one lemme know, I'll be more than happy to use that instead of spittin' 'em on the floor."
"Good point..." Otto then ate three giant grapes at once and ate around the seed until that was all that was left, "Heh, lemme try!" Otto spat out the grape seeds into the same corner Capt. Shuggazoom had, "Not bad huh? I wonder how far I can spit these?"
"You both are so gross!" Jinmay gagged, "Why would you just spit them out wherever you felt like it? What if it had been one of our guests doing that in the Super Robot?"
"Worry not, we Kathorians generally sweep away inedible parts of our meals, after we've simply discarded them into a designated corner." Tikudo explained, "Now then, I believe it's time Sprx and I finally settled our little disagreement." Turning his attention to the now coughing red primate who apparently had swallowed a grape whole, Tikudo spoke up once more, "I understand why you feel the way you do Sprx, but rest assured that I've seen the way Nova looks at you, and you are in no danger of losing her to me or any other being you will likely come across on your journey."
Sprx was now much redder than he normally was, "Yeah...great...thanks." he grumbled before shoving another grape down his mouth.
"What does Nova have to do with any of this?" Chiro asked.
"Heh heh, Sprx is jealous." Otto teased.
"I am not!" Sprx slammed his fist onto the table, but when it made contact with the table a loud explosion-type sound could be heard throughout the cave, "Whoa, was that me?" Suddenly a sword came flying through the room and almost impaled Tikudo through the face, but luckily he was able to draw his sword fast enough to deflect the incoming projectile and send it flying into the wall instead.
The next thing everyone knew, they were being overrun by Formless invaders. "Our hidden fortress has been compromised!" Tikudo shouted as he sliced through four Formless at once.
"This seems familiar, the next time someone says they have a hidden fortress, I'm going the opposite direction!" Sprx activated his magnets and unleashed his attack. "MAGNO-BALL BLAZER!" With the magnetic ball of energy flying towards the Formless, their weapons were immediately confiscated from them as it flew by and attracted all the metal weaponry.
But then the Formless morphed into their classic forms and used their now more flexible bodies to form weapons out of their hands, and they immediately went on the attack. "You know the drill team, take 'em down fast and hard! Hyperforce GO!" Chiro leaped over the table and went on the attack, "LIGHTNING KICK!" Three Formless went down for the count just as Jinmay rushed past Chiro and started punching away at the incoming hoard, "Protect Nikita! Sprx, Otto, get her somewhere safe! We'll cover you!"
"You got it Chiro!" Otto saluted, "C'mon Nikita, let's get you outta here!" Otto shoved the somewhat hesitant lavender cat out of the room to look for a safe haven.
"Please, I must go back and help!" Nikita said as she looked over her shoulder to where her friends and brother were fighting.
"No way! We gotta make sure little Nikita Jr. stays safe in your belly, and ya can't do that by fighting monsters!" Otto exclaimed, "Hey, what'll we do if we run into some of those Mantadons?!" the green monkey exclaimed suddenly.
"Don't worry Otto, if that happens I'll think of something." Sprx assured the mechanic. Suddenly though the roof began to crumble, and it was ripped away by several evolved Mantadons that were all glaring down at them, "Monkey doodle..."
"Sprx..." Otto gulped, "Think faster..."
_
A/N: So, now you know Kikaido's backstory, and why Tikudo hates his guts. I dunno about the rest of you, but if I had a sister and some guy had done that to her, I would've been really mad. Not gone for murder or anything 'cause that's just...(shudder)...but I woulda been mad. However if he'd made it right I would've probably been ok with him. Sorry Tikudo lovers, I needed him to kinda be a jerk for this, I hope I didn't make it too bad.
But yeah, Nikita is pregnant! That's why she's been absent up until now, she's trying to get some rest. Not easy when there's a war going on though. And if anyone's wondering about the grapes, I looked up foods that were poisonous to cats and grapes seemed like the most legitimate food that would appear on Kathori.
At first I wasn't planning on ending the chapter here, but I figured some content needed to come out after such a long wait, so I'll finish this Kathori visit next chapter. Has anyone figured out who I've based Kikaido off yet? His weapons should be a dead giveaway lol.
Now for my story plug. Once again DigiHopeheart has come up with a story, this time about the team during their years with Mandarin or just random moments from when they're not fighting called "The Stories we Never Spoke Of". Go check it out if you want a good short read, and leave a review while you're at it!
Speaking of reviews, please leave one here, I would really appreciate the input! See you all next time on the next installment of the War Between the Living and the Dead!
