Chapter Ten: Invasion
The darkness of the room was no match for him. Red eyes opened in the darkness. More eyes, all of them white, began to appear as an evil laugh filled the Robot. The shadows of the room gave him strength, and the laughing abruptly stopped…
—
The alarm blared above the heads of the Hyperforce. The red light flashed on and off, of course catching the attention of the Hyperforce. They stared at the red light, wondering what was going on.
Then, they ran.
As the entered Chiro's room, they were met with the familiar blackness. Then, sets of eyes opened, one by one, then in sets of two, until the room was full of them. Although, one set of eyes were a cold red.
"Get them," a deadly voice commanded. "Make sure they die."
The eyes stepped into the hallway, forcing the Hyperforce back as they activated their weapons. The eyes turned out to be Formless. They were just like the Skeleton King's Formless, except they were black, white and red.
The Formless transformed their hands into a multitude of weapons identical to the Hyperforce's—drills, claws, saws and the like (only the sharp weapons of Gibson, Otto and Antauri). Then, right before they could attack, an explosion rang through the Super Robot.
Outside, the giant machine fell down.
Chiro stepped out of the wreckage of the giant ship, smirking. He was in the same outfit Antauri saw him in, in the vision he had (see chapter nine). His eye flared.
One of the Formless came up to him. This one was just black and red. "Have you captured them?" the Skeleton Prince asked, his voice deep.
The Formless shook its head.
He blinked. He held up a hand, a dark energy blast destroying the Formless. Nothing was left of it until another, identical one took its place.
"Kill them," the Skeleton Prince demanded.
—
"We have to hurry!" Specter said. "We have Kylia, go Hyper-speed!"
Antauri nodded, pulling back on the controls. The ship went faster, and Antauri closed his eyes as the rainbow tunnel consumed the ship.
Then, they slowed down as they approached Shuggazoom.
"Shuggazoom?" Kylia questioned. "So he really did come here."
"Yes, he's been here for a while," Antauri stated. "I just hope he'll stay that way."
—
"A Formless invasion?" Gibson asked no one in particular. "But the Skeleton King is gone!"
"The Skeleton Prince has all of his powers," Nova pointed out as they ran. There were way too many Formless for them to fight, and now the Super Robot was wrecked.
"We need to find a place to hide!" Sparx shouted.
Otto slapped him. "No you moron! They'll find us anywhere. We need to go to a place they can't reach!"
"Like where?"
Ten minutes later…
"Otto, you're a genius," Sparx complemented.
"I beg to differ," Gibson said, sounding insulted.
They were on the top of the tallest building in Shuggazoom, looking down on the city. It was night now, and the moon was a half moon. They looked over the edge.
"What I don't understand is why we had to climb over fifty stories to get this high when we could just have flown," Gibson asked, looking at Otto.
"We couldn't have flown without exposing ourselves to him," Jinmay murmured. She closed her eyes. "When do you think Antauri and Specter will come back?"
Her question didn't need to be answered; even before he sentence was finished, she saw a small light in the sky slowly turn into a ship and start gliding towards the ground…
—
The Skeleton Prince gazed up at the sky. A ship was slowly descending into the city, near the totaled Super Robot. He turned to the Formless standing next to him.
"Take care of the ship. The Hyperforce is mine."
—
Antauri landed the ship as gently as he could; he was slightly panicking because he saw the near-destroyed Super Robot and Chiro was nowhere in sight.
"What happened?" Specter asked quietly.
"Formless!" Antauri shouted, not really answering. On the screen, it showed a bunch of Formless approaching the ship. He turned to Specter. "You take Kylia to somewhere safe. Try and find the others."
Specter nodded, grabbed Kylia's hand, and ran out of the ship.
Antauri also got out, standing on top of his ship, watching the Formless make their way slowly up to the ship. He activated his binocular vision, looking around the city. He saw the others, on the roof of a very tall building, looking around. He saw a dark figure flying up to them. Too bad Specter had also found the others and flown up to them, exposing them.
Antauri didn't think about that now. The Formless attacked.
—
Inside the dream world, Chiro banged his shoulder against a door. The door didn't break. He continued until his shoulder was sore and the door seemed to be mocking him. This door didn't have a visible lock, but it was still locked.
Chiro knew he had no control of his body in the waking world, and he most likely never will again, but he had to keep moving. Sometime really soon, something bad was going to happen to him in this dream realm unless he could keep moving.
The door he had entered through slammed shut, a clicking sound signifying that it was now locked. Red eyes flared in the darkness, and a chilling laugh sounded.
"Well, well, well…"
—
The monkeys screeched as a figure flew up the side of the building to them; however, it was only Specter…and some woman.
"I'm guessing you are Chiro's mother?" Otto asked politely, holding his hand out to shake. "I'm Otto."
Kylia took his hand and shook it. "I'm Kylia. Yes, I'm Chiro's mother."
The rest of the introductions were made, and then, they got serious. Obviously, Specter flying up to them would no doubt give away their hiding spot, so they had to move as fast as they could and get to Antauri.
Then, a dark figure flew up the side of the building, landing on the ledge, crouching there and watching them with red eyes. It then spoke.
"So sad. Just by looking at you, I can discern your plans. They shall never work."
"Why are you doing this?" Kylia demanded. "Release Chiro now!"
The Prince stared at her. "Kylia…?" he breathed incredulously. "How can you still be alive? I killed you long ago!"
"Nice try, but no one could kill me like you attempted to," Kylia shot back.
Otto stepped forward with his saws held in front of his torso. "Let Chiro go!"
The Prince looked down at him with those blazing red eyes, making Otto shudder visibly. "Why ever would I do that? I own him."
"No one owns Chiro!" Nova shouted fiercely. She held out her fists and took a step forward, ready to punch him.
"But I do," was the solemn answer. "Your feeble minds do not understand. I created the reincarnation line of the humans I would possess. Chiro is the current incarnation. I created him, in general."
"You still don't own him!" Sparx yelled. "He's a hero, you're just a demon. Two different people in one body."
"He's a hero, eh?" The Skeleton Prince cocked his head. Then, he smiled. "Not anymore."
With a cackle, he lashed out with a fist, catching Specter unawares and throwing him off the opposite side of the rooftop.
"You monster!" Nova screeched. She ran forward, her fists out to punch him in the face.
He just held out a hand and grabbed her wrist, stopping her fist just an inch from his face. Nova grunted in confusion, then her other fist came out. He grabbed that one as well with his other hand, showing no effort in stopping them.
He flew up in the air, taking Nova with him. With a flash of his hand, he disabled her jetpack…
…and dropped her.
—
Chiro laid his hands on the ground, panting. He closed his eyes, blocking out his vision. Something grabbed him by the wrist and lifted him up.
"You pathetic excuse for a hero," the voice said. "You can't even save yourself from the evil within you."
Chiro grimaced and looked up. His foot swung out to kick whatever was holding him, but his foot hit nothing. He let out a yell.
"Do you think you are trying to scare me?" The figure tightened its grip on his wrist and brought him closer. Chiro was now looking into two red eyes. "I don't see why you keep fighting. It's hopeless. You are only causing yourself more pain."
It dropped Chiro to the floor, and he looked up, unable to stand. "Well, allow me to bring an end to your pitiful battle…" was the last thing Chiro heard before he was consumed by blackness.
—
Antauri fared pretty well against the Formless. They were the usual—not very powerful; they wanted to overcome you with massive numbers instead of brute strength.
Specter was suddenly by his side, fighting alongside him with black ghost claws similar to Antauri's. They nodded to each other, then…
…they tore the Formless apart.
Soon, there was nothing left of any of the creatures except for a lot of black ooze that covered the Brain Scrambler, Antauri and Specter themselves, and the ground.
They looked at each other with a look of accomplishment on their faces. That all changed when they heard someone screaming. They both looked to the building far behind them, and…
"Nova!" Antauri shouted.
—
Now, Nova decided she didn't like falling. The Skeleton Prince was holding the others back from trying to help her, and she couldn't use her jetpack. Nova closed her eyes. The ground came closer…
…then stopped.
Nova opened her eyes slowly, seeing herself hovering just above the ground, her arms being held behind her back. She looked up to see Antauri holding her arms and preventing her from falling face-first on the concrete. She smiled, glad to see him, and he smiled back, his face turning serious as he flew her up to the rooftop.
The Skeleton Prince hissed as he realized Nova was alive. He looked at each monkey, then Jinmay, then Kylia. He glowered at them. He actually seemed flustered. He didn't know what to do as he anxiously looked from team member to team member.
He then stepped backwards. Still on the ledge of the roof, he let his foot dangle over the edge. The hearts of the Hyperforce jumped.
"I just want you to remember one thing," he whispered. "I hold Chiro's life in my hands. I can kill him just as easily as I can kill all of you, but with him…he can't fight back."
He then stepped off the roof, spreading the cape he wore out to the wind. He side of the cape acted as wings, and he flew off into the night.
After a minute the Hyperforce finally looked around. Kylia fell to her knees and looked in the direction the Prince had flown. Specter put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, we'll get him," he promised her.
She looked at him, trying to smile.
Everyone looked up as a soft rumbling filled the sky. Storm clouds were gathering. Thunder filled the air, and streaks of lightning flared down. Otto closed his eyes as rain began to fall. He then spoke.
"We should get going. We can't just stand here. We have to do something now."
Everyone stared at him, the green monkey becoming a grey color because of the darkness in the sky. Antauri frowned.
"One second," he said.
He floated in the air in a meditative position. He closed his eyes and concentrated…
—
The lights were out. Antauri knew where he was, but he technically wasn't 'there'. He saw nothing at first, then he could make out a door in front of him.
There were no doors behind him, so whatever was going to happen, he would find an answer behind this door.
Ho reached out and slowly turned the doorknob. It smoothly opened, and he pushed the door the rest of the way.
This room was even darker than the last.
Finally, after a long time, lights slowly faded in. His eyes widened as he saw something he never wanted to see.
A tube of green light came up from the floor and into the ceiling. The tube was not made of glass, or plastic, but energy. Something was in it, surrounded by the energy swirling around the tube.
"Simple, really," a voice said.
Antauri spun around to face the ghost, its red eyes boring into his very soul. But it didn't seem to want to fight. Only talk. Or rant.
The ghost floated over to him and pushed him away from the tube before speaking.
"I told you before," it said. "I own him. He could never even hope to defeat me, at least within his own mind. He clearly lost that battle, as you can see."
Antauri blinked, unable to speak.
"You shall all follow. The dreaded Power Primate kept me back, but just like anything, it can be contained." A deadly chuckle followed this. "The Skeleton King was a fluke. He is nothing compared to me. Skeleton Prince is just a name. Of course, Chiro is related to him, but I am not. The Skeleton King could never compare to me. Why do you think he never mentioned me? All he wanted was mindless destruction."
Its eyes began to glow fiercely, and it flew past Antauri, the air pressure knocking him backwards, slamming him hard into the concrete wall.
This is a warning, a voice whispered as Antauri's vision faded. He kept his eyes locked on the soft green light. Stand in my way once more, I will not hesitate to kill you all. And you know I can.
Antauri then left the dream world.