A/N: Warning: This chapter contains extreme references to actual monkey/animal behavior. Why? Because I felt like it. I read tons of stories entailing human issues on SRMTHFG and very few involving the animal aspect. I partially did it to estrange Chiro too, make it more obvious he was never a monkey. I'll probably play human personification next chapter, but for now! Horay for being an outcast! Oh, and yes, please review, flames accepted too, do not mind the un-updated first few chapters that ask not to flame. Constructive Criticism as well peoples, I love to see what I can do to improve!

Disclaimer: Santa Clause bought me SRMTHFG for Christmas! NOT!!! That's why I must still post all derivative works on here.

The War was Lost

Chapter 8: You're One of Us Now

The raid had been planned. Unfortunately, James would have to stay behind because of his young age. It was set for the next day. They would rest tonight. They stayed up for a while longer, plotting how the raid would fall, should they encounter one being or another or a group of beings. It would work, they were sure that the raid was fool-proof.

Antauri decided the time to turn in. It was early for the typical set-up, but post-war would have a new schedule. An entirely new schedule. Antauri held James' hand as he readied the team for bed. He took Chiro into the nostalgic pod room, issuing him to use Mandarin's pod for charging and sleeping.

Sprx looked at Antauri submissively as Antauri began to walk for his pod to sleep early. "Antauri?" He asked softly,

Antauri turned to look at him, "Yes?" He asked,

"Do you think we could all sleep together tonight?" He asked,

"Why?" Antauri asked,

"Well… the ghosts… they're around here and they say there's safety in numbers… so they wouldn't hurt anyone…" He whined,

Antauri closed his tired eyes for a moment and looked over at Chiro, "Chad, do you want to come with us?" He asked,

Chiro looked up and nodded, following Sprx, Antauri and James into Antauri's room. They jumped the small stream and Antauri brought the two earthen looking beds together, watching them fuse down the center into one. They piled into a big lump on the bed, James stuck in the middle of Sprx and Antauri who had curled together for warmth. Chiro laid across the heads of the bunch and laid there watching the others fall into dreamless sleeps. Sleep finally claimed his body as he thought over his choice of calling himself Chad. Sure, Chiro and Chad were close but they weren't the same.

Midnight crossed the boundary and a strange sound awoke both Antauri and Chiro from sound sleeps. They looked around to see the bed encircled in pale expressionless ghosts. 'Chad' shuddered. Antauri closed his eyes again, "There are dreamcatchers on the walls," He muttered and began to fall back to sleep. Chiro placed his head down and closed his eyes, dreamcatchers were supposed to ward off evil spirits, he managed to convince himself that they wouldn't do anything and fell back to sleep.

Morning came early and even Antauri had seemed to relinquish the question of waking up early for a few extra hours of sleep. His eyes closed and he drifted into his dreamless sleep again, waiting until the rest of the 'team' would wake.

Sprx shook him awake later. The red monkey looked nearly panicked, "I thought you were dead or something!"

Antauri lifted his head, "No. I just decided it was best for us all to get a good night's rest rather than playing the welcoming committee."

"I'm hungry." James whined.

A look of sorrow came to Antauri's face. He had failed to protect his team, and along with it, their resources. "You'll have to wait until after the raid for food." He said quietly, "I'm afraid our supplies were taken when we surrendered."

"You surrendered?" Sprx exclaimed,

Antauri's face plastered with guilt, "I- I- I—"

"You what?" Sprx growled,

Antauri looked at the ground, "I wanted Chiro to survive." He whispered and audibly swallowed,

"So you just gave up?" Sprx asked harshly,

"I'm sorry." Antauri replied, "I thought he would. He was badly injured but I was confident that the wound could be repaired if he didn't lose too much blood and the battle stopped."

"What about the others? Didn't you care enough for them too? If you we're going to surrender, you could have done it before anyone died!"

Antauri flinched at every venomous word that spurted from Sprx's mouth.

Chiro decided to stand in-between them, "Every war has casualties." Then, remembering his false identity, "I'm sure Antauri thought he was doing right by continuing to battle after a few of his comrades fell. It was only when he felt that he was the only one left and could have saved someone else that he caved in. It's not easy being the only one left."

Sprx contemplated this for a second. "Fine." He looked toward the door, "Don't we have a raid to go on? I know I'm hungry and I'm sure that kid is too."

Antauri nodded, "We should probably get going if we intend on handling the raid with as much care as we planned it."

They got up to leave, Antauri gave a spare communicator to James to request help if something went wrong. With a last look at the super robot behind them they took off into the freezing air of space, looking towards the practically doomed planet to find supplies.

'Chad' looked at them, "So, how long have you two been together before I came?"

"A day, maybe two." Sprx replied, "I'm sure it's nothing compared to your troop though."

Chiro didn't respond. They rushed through the atmosphere of Shugazoom, finding the dead planet underneath. They hadn't been above Shugazoom for weeks, and not only did the city look awful, the entire planet looked horrible too.

"We're closing in on Skeleton King's castle." Antauri reported to the two of them,

"I don't see anything!" Sprx muttered, "Why are we so low to the ground so far away?"

Antauri brought the group to a landing at the intersection of Mace and Lighter. "We are going to walk from here." He began to poke through the mess of boxes that Chad had collapsed. He was so sure Chiro had contacted him, he told him right here. Had Chad accidentally killed him? Where was the body?

"What are you looking for?" Sprx asked as he jumped on top of the mess of boxes Antauri was going through.

He stopped. Then lifted his head. What was he looking for? It seemed such an obvious question. Was he looking for a dead body? Didn't he know the cause of death? Chiro had bled out. It was too simple. He was human. He couldn't survive to bleed from that big a wound. Maybe he had heard Chiro instead of Chad, maybe he'd willed it, forged an entire conversation in his delusional head. It seemed worth pinning to. "I can't remember." He lied and turned around, falling to four feet and dashing ahead, Sprx was quick to follow.

Chad, on the other hand, had to attempt to mimic the position and follow with an odd cantering gait. He managed to catch up to the two at a stop where Sprx was attempting to push open a rusty hose valve – without much luck. Whatever resident that had lived in this house had obviously not used the hose in years.

"C'mon!" Sprx exclaimed at the valve, "All this for a drink of water?" The valve finally pulled open, sending the red monkey back a foot or two. He grinned to watch water begin to flow out of the hose's mouth. He attempted to undwind the hose, giving only a few centimeters for the mouth to the hit the ground and stop. He lapped up the water greedily, stopping only to take a deep breath before drinking again.

He finally stood down, "It's well water, cold, but good." He said, obviously attempting to advertise the water to the others.

Antauri took a hesitant step toward it, and then backed away, "James is counting on us. We can bring some back in bottles, but later. Standing still makes us easier targets."

Sprx ran back over to the valve and closed it, then proceeded to chase after Antauri, who had already taken off. Chiro rushed after them, no way was he getting left behind this time!


A/N: Yeah, I'm making you wait one more chapter for the raid. I decided to play in some robot monkey stuff that Chiro doesn't know about and make him look even more human! I promise, next chapter is raid stuff. Here's your little helping of stuff for now. And now that my huge project (another unposted 30 chapter rated MA thing that WILL NEVER be posted here) is done, I can actually work on the stuff for here! Hurrah!

Announcer Bunny: I got nothin' see last chappie for all my questions.

Me: Review now! Constructive Criticism and Flames too! (Yessie, I like my constwuctive cwriticism)

No monkeys or minions were harmed in the making of this story.