Disclaimer: I do not own SRMTHFG! or its characters.

Chapter 9

Depths of Fear

Chiro's P.O.V.

We got to the lake to find it dried up. " This is most unfortunate." Gibson and Otto were looking at the lake disappointed. " The river's dried up, guess I'm a genius too." Sparx was sitting on a cliff overlooking the lake.

" Phew, I mean too bad, what a shame." I almost blew my secret there. I could tell that Sparx was suspicious. The others didn't seem to care or notice.

Then the ground started to shake and then I looked down. " What was that?!" Gibson looked at us calmly as he answered my question. " Minor tectonic activity, nothing to get excited about." However, Otto had something different to say about it.

" Oh, yes, there is!" A smaller crack opened and water started gushing out. Otto and Gibson, who were standing at the bottom of the lake, got pulled under the water before they both came back up. " Swimming is a go!"

Then Antauri went to the bottom of the lake to meditate. Nova just simply went in and started having racing contests with Otto. Then Sparx asked me something as Jinmay relaxed on the far side of the lake, away from everyone. " So, you gonna go in?" I thought of a lie that I hoped would work. " I would, but the water looks too deep, I mean cold." I think that slip-up will not work very well to my advantage. Then I saw Gibson stick his tail in the water to measure the temperature in the water.

" According to my reading's the water is warm, unusually warm." Otto scrubbed himself before he went up into the air saying not to mind him. Then Nova asked Gibson about the water. " So where is all this warm water coming from?" Jinmay smiled as Nova had to deal with a lecture from Gibson.

" If you studied your history, you would know that Shugazoom was constructed above a subterranean reservoir." Then Nova's eyes went wide as she saw something. " Oh no." Then we saw Otto jump down yelling something happily. " Monkey Tsunami!"

Nova and Gibson got wet and Otto was laughing at them. " You should've seen the look on your faces." Gibson smirked at him as he replied. " You're such a child." Then Gibson fired a shot of water from his drills at Otto and it landed in his face.

Nova and Jinmay smiled at each other and nodded. Nova activated her fists and Jinmay activated her ghost claws. Nova slammed her fists into the water. " Lady Tomahawk!" Jinmay did the same thing with her ghost claws on the other side. " Golden Slasher!" Both Gibson and Otto were forced underwater. Then both Nova and Jinmay high-fived each other after they deactivated their weapons.

Then the ground started to shake and Otto said something about it. " Another earthquake, this can't be good!" Then Antauri floated out of the water serious. " It isn't, monkeys mobilize!" Everyone nodded and we went back to the robot and went to our battle stations.

Nova got to her station then yelled. " Foot Crusher Cruiser 6 go!" Otto got to his station, then yelled. " Foot Crusher Cruiser 5 go!" Then Gibson got to his station, then yelled. " Fist Rocket 4 go!" Then Sparx got to his station, then yelled. " Fist Rocket 3 go!"

Then Antauri got to his station, then yelled. " Brain Scrambler Pilot 2 go!" Then Jinmay and I both got to our station. I was in the front seat and Jinmay was behind me. Then we both yelled together, " Torso Tank Driver 1 go!" Then we all yelled the team name with all of us taking turn with each word, but we wall said the last word together. " Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force go!"

Then we all disengaged and headed to where the trouble was. Then I heard Antauri's voice. " We have flooding in sectors 8, 9, and 11." I turned serious at the last sector. " Eleven, that's the transect tunnel, make track team!"

When we got there, I immediately began giving orders. " Nova, Otto, plug those leaks! Sparx, Gibson, we need cover!" Then I looked at the transect car before I gave orders to Antauri. " Antauri, we need an escape hatch!" Then a moment later, we heard Antauri's voice. " My thoughts exactly!" Then Antauri made a whole in the roof and went out, ready to carry the people out.

" Great, there's water everywhere." Then Jinmay popped her head out of her seat and spoke seriously. " Chiro, worry about your fear later! Right now, we've got people to save! I'll talk to you about this later!" I nodded and focused on connecting the car to the torso tank. I attached the cables to the car to stop it from sinking. " Moving transect car into place!"

I pulled the car to where the hole Antauri made was. Then I came out, leaving Jinmay to do the driving. Then I jumped onto the car and used the Power Primate to use my thunder punch attack to make a hole in the car. Then as everyone was being lifted up, I heard Sparx through my communicator. " Hurry it up kid, this sealing ain't looking good!"

Then everyone went through the hole and it closed up after being hit by another earthquake. Then the cables came off and I told them I was taking the torso tank out of there. However, I got one look at the water and I saw what happened five years ago. Then I contacted the team and got no response. I remembered what Antauri said about visualizing a situation but I got water in my mouth. Then I heard Nova's voice through my communicator. " Did someone call for a push?" I was never more relieved to her that voice than I was now.

Then Sparx and Gibson got themselves free. Then I heard a noise and the hole opened back up and Antauri's Brain Scrambler came through. Then I heard Antauri's voice through the communicator. " Chiro, grab on!" I grabbed onto the Brain Scrambler with my tail as we all got out of the tunnel and switched to robot mode.

Then Jinmay took me to my room and sat down next to me. She looked at me worried as I was reading a book of philosophy that I received from the Varon Mystics during my training there. After I finished the chapter, I put the book away and waited for Jinmay to speak. However, neither of us knew that Antauri was using meditation to spy on us, out of worry for Chiro.

" You let your fear hold you back, didn't you, Chiro?" I sighed and nodded before I explained. " I'm just afraid that the same thing that happened five years ago will happen again. I know that the incident wasn't you fault Jinmay, but it made me scared enough that I freeze up at the sight of deep water now. I know that I'll have to face my fear of it, but that doesn't mean that it will be easy to do."

Jinmay smiled sadly as she replied. " I know it wasn't, but I still feel guilty that you have to solve this on your own, but that doesn't mean that I won't try to help in any way that I can." I smiled at her response as I replied. " Thank you for your concern Jinmay. I may be afraid, but I'll do the best I can despite my fears." She smiled and nodded as she left the room. I wonder if she'll tell the team about what happened five years ago and the guilt that she carries because of it?

Antauri's P.O.V.

As Jinmay came into the room, we all saw the serious look in her eyes. We all gathered around as she came into the middle of the room. Then she took a deep breath as she told us why she wanted to talk to us. " There's something about Chiro that I think you should know, even if he gets mad at me for telling you this."

Then Sparx asked about it. " Does it have to do with his fear of water? I've noticed that he seems to freeze up near any type of deep water." Jinmay nodded and spoke, nothing but serious. " It has everything to do with it, Sparx. It happened around five years back or so. We were having a fun time swimming in the lake without a care in the world. However, something happened that day that changed him forever."

She took a deep breath before she continued. " While we were swimming, I accidentally slipped on the sand below and hit my head on the rocks. This caused me to fall unconcious and Chiro raced to save me before I drowned. Then I heard a voice telling me to live and a bright green light surrounded me then I opened my eyes. Then the light created shockwaves in the water, causing a tide pool and catching Chiro in its grip. Y managed to save him in time, but he almost drowned because of me. He's been too afraid to go anywhere near deep water ever since and I blamed myself for it. He told me later that the green light was the Power Primate inside of me awakening from its long dormant state because it sensed that I was close to death.

After that, he trained me to control it, but said that I would need more than just his training to master it. He said I need a master far wiser than he was. I don't know what he meant by that, but what I do know is that there's someone greater than him with the Power Primate. I've felt guilty of causing this, but I know that he isn't mad at me for it and will gladly face his fears one day to make me happy again."

Then Chiro came into the room and we discussed the city's status and went to the underground lake. We held up the city and voted to stay behind while the rest of us went to find the cause of the sinking. Then I got caught and my rocket pack got busted, but Chiro saved us all, overcoming his fears like Jinmay and I thought he would. Then we defeated the creäture and went back to the lake where Chiro was swimming again, thanks to this incident. I just hope that he can handle what comes his way next.

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