New chapter! Filled with falling fun! YAY!

Genesis sighed as she quickly typed orders into the computer for the other squads. While she could handle sending out basic commands; move here, join them, look behind you; there was no one telling her formations anymore. Even after the team had left to fight hand-to-hand, Antauri and Chiro had kept in contact through the communicators and told her what to do next and helping her lead the teams. But no one was replying now.

She couldn't keep this farce up forever, she had neither the skills nor knowledge to lead an army, but she would still do all she could to help them. She had to try her best for the team. She cast a worried glance at the gigantic bone castle that her new family had disappeared into and she silently prayed they would be okay, because at this point it was the only thing she could do.

Antauri and Chiro were currently busy falling down their rabbit hole while Genesis fretted over them.

"Nova!" Chiro screamed in disbelief as the team disappeared. "Antauri, what are we going to do?"

"First we have to slow ourselves down." He replied as he used his claw to grab on to the side of the shaft. The sound was horrendous, a thousand nails scraping across a black board, as they slid to a stop with a few precious inches of the tunnel left. Antauri sighed in relief and looked down. They were hanging about ten feet from the floor and had come out in a large, dimly lit room. The walls dripped ooze and a horrible green light crawled along the floor as an unimaginable stench came from everywhere, like the smell of a hundred rotting corpses.

"What is this place?" Chiro asked as a shiver ran through him.

"A place of death." Antauri said as he looked around them. "I sense no good here. Come," he said as he let them drop safely to the ground and he headed for the first exit he saw, "let us leave this place of hate and fear." Chiro nodded and walked beside his second in command.

"Antauri," Chiro said after they left the room, "The others aren't all together, are they?"

"No, they were separated too." Antauri confirmed and then after a beat, "Are you worried about Gidget and Otto being alone?"

"No," Chiro answered looking around at the bowels of the castle, "I'm actually worried because Nova, Sparx and Gibson are all in the same group with no one to mediate."

.::~::.

Sparx, Nova, and Gibson yelled as they fell through the darkness. "What are we going to do now?!" Nova asked as they descended at an alarming speed.

"I suggest we slow our velocity!" Gibson yelled back in response as he flailed around trying to slow his descent.

"I can do that!" Sparx yelled, "Everyone hold on to me tight!" Nova and Gibson looked at each other only a moment in hesitation before gripped Sparx's shoulders tightly. Sparx turned his hand into his magnets and used them to grab the metal sides of the shaft, causing them to halt so suddenly that Gibson and Nova almost lost their grip. "Now comes the fun part." Sparx said as he slowly began to grapple down the wall.

"Oh, couldn't you go faster?" Gibson teased as Sparx gasped for air.

"Yeah," He replied between breathes, "but it's called falling. So unless you want to climb down yourself, I would appreciate it if you kept you mouth shut."

"What if you controlled your transformer's magnetism and we slid the rest of the way down? That would be faster and you wouldn't get tired so quickly." Nova pointed out suddenly. The boys looked at her at moment, then to each other, and finally Sparx did exactly as she suggested.

"This is why I'm third in command guys." Nova said smiling, as they easily slid the rest of the way down. The end of the primary colored trio's shaft ended just above a catwalk. Below that? Black nothingness. Nova whistled as she leaned over the railing to get a look at the endless abyss.

"That's one heck of a drop." she said as she waited for the boys to drop down to the catwalk.

"If we had kept falling we might have missed this scaffolding entirely." Gibson pointed out as he joined her side.

"Well hurry up with your gawking and let's get going." Sparx said as he tightly gripped the railing before backing away from the edge as best he could. Nova noticed this and smirked.

"What?" She asked deviously while slowly walking towards him, "You, the Greatest Monkey Pilot in the Universe, surely can't be scared of heights, can you?" She covered up her mouth as she began to giggle.

"N-no!" Sparx answered shakily while crossing his arms in front of his chest in defiance.

"Wait," Gibson asked shaking his head and waving his hands, "Are you actually scared right now?"

"No, I'm a pilot, we're not afraid of heights." Sparx snapped back, but he didn't step any closer to the railing. "I'm just... uneasy about such a high up open area is all."

"You deal with heights greater than this everyday!" Nova pointed out, "What the difference?"

"I'm in a nice, secure, enclosed area when I'm flying." Sparx replied as he cautiously looked over the edge before shivering and pushing back again. "I don't feel safe here, I'm not in control."

"Control freak." Nova snorted as she turned to walk away. "Don't worry, I'll protect you." She said with a mocking tone. "Come on guys, let's go see if we can find the others. And I don't see any other way but down." Nova hooked a thumb over her shoulder and pointed to a staircase that gripped the slimy wall. Gibson snickered at Sparx and followed Nova with Sparx following disgruntle, frowning all the way.

.::~::.

"He, he was afraid of me…" Gidget said as she slowly pulled her outstretched hand back to her and clutched it tightly to her chest.

"What?" Otto asked as he laid back as they continued their quick fall into the pitch black darkness.

"He wouldn't grab my hand." Gidget said as she turned towards Otto, "He was too scared to-" She looked as Otto appeared to be lounging on thin air. "What are you doing?" she asked, her eyesight working just enough for her to see him relaxing with his hands behind his head.

"We can't stop our fall, might as well get comfortable." Otto said with a shrug as the darkness finally enveloped him completely and hid him from view.

"I don't really know if that's the best thing to do right-" Gidget started to say as they both slammed into the ground at high speeds. Bright stars flashed through their heads, then everything went dark.

.::~::.

"Antauri do you feel that?" Chiro asked suddenly as he felt a chill sweep through him and he gave a quick shiver.

"Yes, I believe we have company." his mentor said as he readied his claws for battle. A group of 5 Formless appeared from around the corner, all of them carrying swords.

"Lighting Kick!" Chiro yelled as he jumped towards them. His foot hit the Formless's chest harmlessly and it grabbed his leg, swinging him into a wall. Antauri let a low growl escape his throat as he jumped at the Formless who had grabbed Chiro and sliced him in half. Antauri landed in a crouch on the ground behind him and looked at the other Formless with fire in his eyes, and they spilt quickly from fear.

Antauri stood up and walked over to his young student reaching his hand out to him. "Are you alright, Chiro?" He asked as he helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said dusting himself off. "That was weird. Why didn't my attack do anything to him?"

"I don't know." Antauri answered truthfully while stroking his chin. "It can't be a good sign though."

"Well let's go before they bring more of their friends around." Chiro said hooking his thumb over his shoulder, Antauri nodded and they ran down another hallway. Antauri tried to think of all the reasons why their attacks wouldn't work when suddenly a Formless that looked like a bloated watermelon appeared in front of them and raised its arm to try and squash them. Antauri jumped in front of Chiro to tried to protect him. He jumped up at the monster and activated his ghost claws, ready to strike... just to have them deactivate just before Antauri touch the monster.

"What?" He yelled as his claw only sunk in to the monster. He looked up at the Formless and offered a weak smile in apology just as it smacked him away like an annoying fly.

"Hey!" Chiro yelled as he jumped at the monster. He tried to do a lighting kick again, but there was still no power behind it and he just kick uselessly in frustration. The Formless raised its arm slowly to smack Chiro down, but the human did a quick back flip off of its stomach and got an idea. He sprung off the floor and poked his fingers deep into its eyes. The monster grabbed its face and began to jump from one foot to the other in pain as Chiro used this time to scoop up Antauri and run as fast as he could away.

"It's all right, Chiro." Antauri said after they had run a good distance away from Skeleton King's minion. "I can walk on my own now."

"Okay, good." Chiro said as he set him down. "What the heck is going on around here? What happened to our powers?"

"I fear that Skeleton King might have done more to us than just stop our jet packs from working." Antauri said wearily while shaking his head from side to side.

"Do you mean…" Chiro said trialing off, he didn't want to finish the thought.

"Yes, I fear he might have taken our access to the Power Primate away too." Antauri finished grimly.

"But that's impossible!" Chiro protested as he shook his head in disbelief. "Surely he can't do that, can he?" He asked unsure.

"I don't know." Antauri said as they tried to find a place to collect their thoughts. "That's what worries me. Chiro can you feel the Power Primate at all?"

"What? Of course I can-" Chiro stopped and thought about it. He couldn't feel the normal warm glow of the power primate pulsing inside of him. This had never happened before, as long as he had known the Monkey team he had always felt its presence. Now? Nothing.

Antauri shook his head. "I can't even read your mind right now." The silver simian admitted.

"What?!" Chiro asked concerned. "That's not possible-" he stopped as it all finally started to sink in how much trouble they were truly in.

.::~::.

Gidget slowly tried to open her eyes and couldn't quite force herself to do it, everything just hurt too much. She groaned while rubbing her head, Where was she? She couldn't see anything and everything throbbed with pain. Finally, the memories actually clicked back into place, for once. She and Otto had fallen down a tunnel and must have gotten knocked out by the fall and... Wait, where was Otto? Gidget turned her head and squinted into the dim green light that surrounded her, and saw Otto's body laying lifelessly on the floor about five feet away from her.

"Otto." She called softly, but didn't get a response. "Otto?" She asked a little more concerned now, and she was able to push herself up and limp over to his motionless body. "Otto!" she practically screamed as she shook him harshly. No response, she gasped and quickly checked for a pulse. Suddenly he snored loudly and she let out a sigh of relief. He must have hit his head pretty hard in the fall, probably had a few circuits loose too, but he was just out cold and alive and that was all that mattered to Gidget.

She smiled and took in her surroundings. They were in a small, bare room, it was dark and the only light source came from the only exit she saw. She stood up and looked down at Otto's unconscious body. She couldn't leave him here and she had to go looking for the team, even if it was apparent they didn't want anything to do with her. She sighed and grabbed Otto's hands, hoisting him up onto her back and adjusted him so she could carry him by holding on to his arms. His feet touched the floor lightly and he weighed just as much as Gidget. She wouldn't be able fight with him on her back, and she definitely couldn't run away easily like this, but at least she could carry him around. She would just have to hope they didn't run into any more of those big Gooeyies while looking and hope that they found the team soon. She readjusted Otto so he would be a bit more comfortable when he woke up, and headed for the door.

.::~::.

Sparx tried his best to stick close to the wall while they walked down the staircase, Gibson looked back and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Shut up Brain Strain." Sparx said as he clenched his teeth and glared at him.

"Oh, come on Sparx," Gibson said with a smirk, "you annoy me all the time, this is simply pay back." Sparx was about to make a smart remark when he spotted something on the wall. An evil smirk started to crawled across his face.

"Nova, can I inquire something from you?" Gibson asked as he jogged to catch up to her.

"Sure, what?" She asked as they stopped on the stairs to talk.

"Do you happen to know where we are going?" Gibson asked while tapping his fingers together.

"No, but considering this was the only way we could go…" She threw her hands up in the air and waited for him to suggest something different.

"Oh well this is just wonderful, third-in-command." He said as he crossed his arms and sighed. "How are we going to find the others at this rate?"

"Look Gibson," Nova said turning to head down again, "Unless you see another way to go, I don't want to hear any lip from you. Besides, I'm sure everyone will be okay until we get there."

"Except for Otto." Gibson mumbled to himself. Nova stopped and looked back at him.

"Are you getting a weird vibe from Gidget too?" She asked, he nodded while scratching his chin

"I was just thinking about how convenient everything with Gidget was. It just doesn't seem probable that we would find her without some greater outside force controlling us. Or her." He added quickly.

"Do you think she's oblivious to the force that might be controlling her, or do you think she knows what she's doing and tricking us?"

Gibson shook his head. "I don't know honestly, but I have a very real, bad feeling about her. That's actually why I couldn't reach out and grab her hand when we were falling."

"If your suspicion is true, I don't know how I feel about her being alone with Otto then." Nova said wrapping her arms around her.

"I fear for his safety too-" Gibson started when Sparx suddenly popped up behind him.

"Hey Gibby look what I have!" Sparx interrupted, shoving his fist in between Nova and Gibson.

"What is it Sparx?" Gibson started when he felt something big, warm, and slimy hit his chest. He slowly looked down and saw a huge, repugnant bug crawling closer to his face. "Ughh!" Gibson screamed as he tried to smack it off his chest and Sparx held his sides from laughter. "Get it off!" Gibson snapped as he took a step back.

"That's pay back for making fun of my fear of heights!" Sparx yelled while laughing harder.

"Oh real mature, Sparx." Nova said with her hands on her hips. "And I thought it wasn't the height that bothered you but the fact that you 'weren't in control' or whatever." Nova said sarcastically as Gibson kept walking backwards while trying to wipe the bug off, when he suddenly lost his footing and tumbled backwards off of the staircase they were on.

"Gibson!" Nova and Sparx yelled in unison as they watched him disappear over the edge.

.::~::.

Gidget was beginning to get really tired. She had been walking for who knows how long, Otto was still conked out, and she hadn't found any sign of the team yet so she finally had to stop and rest for a minute. She sat Otto gently on the floor and slid down the wall beside of him. She began to worry if he really was hurt badly so, she rolled him over on his side and checked his circuitry again. It wasn't in that bad of condition, in fact his automatic repair system should have it fixed itself in just a couple more minutes. She sighed again and tried to see if she could connect with anyone, not that it was like anyone was looking for her thought. She could read their faces, they were afraid of her, and she didn't know why. She had tried being nice, tried being friendly, but they still couldn't trust her. To be honest she was kinda getting sick of it.

"This is just like every other time." She said as she wrapped her arms around her legs. "Wait," She said out loud again and lifting her head. Every other time? What am I talking about? She had a faint feeling, like a feather brushing the back of her mind, like she had experienced this all before. Like… "They didn't accept me before…" She said sadly before shaking her head vigorously. What was she talking about? "Who didn't accept me?!" She screamed into the darkness while grabbing her head in frustration.

"I know who 'they' are." A voice said sedately from the corner. Gidget snapped her head up and quickly scanned for the owner, finding him leaning in a corner hidden by shadows. She hadn't noticed him when she sat down.

"Who are you?" She asked as she stood up and moved protectively in front of the unconscious Otto. The voice seemed familiar, like it was from a dream, or actually more like a nightmare.

"Oh you could call me an 'old comrade' I suppose." It said as it stepped from the shadows. Gidget's breath caught in her throat and wouldn't budge.

"Hello, Gidget." Mandarin said as he stepped from the dark recesses of the hall.

CLIFFHANGERS!

Don't you hate those? (Only when obnoxious writers point them out like no one else does them.) All right then you guys tell me who you want to hear from first in the next chapter, anyone is an option! And before you guys freak out, yes I know that Sparx still has his powers, and Antauri and Chiro don't but I have a point to it, it 'should' get explained in the next chapter, or the one after that; I'll tell you when I know. (Instead of just letting you read for yourself, let me take all the suspense away.) You can still vote in my poll and tell me if you think I should keep doing this story. Now if you're getting bored with it and you want me to hurry up and make a happy ending I will.

But I think if you and I stick around this thing could be pretty awesome. Eh, you tell me what I should do. Till next time, Kiddies!

(This chapter was one of the ones that needed more work, mostly in the pacing of the story. Before I edited it was filled with 2 paragraphs of story then it switched suddenly to another point of view and so it had lines every few sentences and looked rather messy. Should read better now though.)