Monkey Doodle

Chapter 10

Rated T for violence, language, and some gore.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's, Koneko is not an OC's, he is a canon character that belongs to Ciro Nieli just like everything else on "SRMTHFG!" but he isn't named in the show so I gave him a name for the story.

Again, if I misspelled any names please let me know. I can't find anything online that says how some of the names of some people and places on the show are supposed to be spelled but I'll be happy to make corrections as needed.

"Talking"

'Thought'

"Singing/ recordings,"

"Speaking with the Power Primate,"

:Comm. links.:

{Mantodon language}

The cats snarled and crept closer.

Sparx activated his magnets. "Okay, fur is going to fly," the others got out their weapons, except for Forge, who just got into a fighting stance so he was ready for whatever came next, and Artemis, who shifted Eclipse onto a more protected position on her back.

Chiro got into a fighting stance "Battle circle formation team, Hyperforce GO!"

Forge looked at each of them and sighed "You guys are too quick to reach for your weapons,"

Sparx looked over at him "Yeah, but at least we're going out fighting, you pansy a-"

Just then, the female that lead them there jumped between the two groups and mewled at her companions. "Meow, Stop, leave them alone! Meow, Meow! They saved me from the Mantodons!" When the others calmed down she hugged Chiro, the boy went still when she started licking him affectionately.

Sparx kicked at the dirt. "Oh, Come on! How come whenever we save someone and there's a girl involved they always go for the kid!"

Otto put a hand over his mouth "Jinmay's not gonna like this…"

The girl pulled away and looked Chiro right in the eye "I owe you my life,"

Chiro blushed and rubbed the back of his head "Ah, it was nothing,"

She stood up to her full height "I am Nikkita,"

Chiro introduced himself and the monkeys "I'm Chiro and this is the Hyperforce and those guys over there are Technosimians. We're just stuck here trying to get our Robot and the Technosimians' ship back in shape. Our mission depends on it,"

Nikkita thought for a moment then clasped her hands together excitedly. "Your mission? Then you have come here to help us, to defend Kathuri!"

Seeing he wasn't very clear, Chiro held up his hands "Whoa, hold on a nanosec…"

Then a tall male cat, or Kathurian from what Nikkita just told them, with darker tabby fur wearing white samurai garb stepped up to them. He looked down at Chiro with cold green eyes before addressing the crowd.

"Felines of Kathuri, for too long we have been terrorized by the Mantodon menace! With our new allies we will fight for our village!"

They all waited while the crowd broke out into doubtful mutterings.

Sparx noticed Nova and Dyna were staring at the male that just spoke with little hearts in their eyes. When he touched Nova's shoulder she floated up and steam came out of her ears as she floated back down and Dyna bit her knuckles to keep from giggling; both girls were smitten by the tall warrior feline.

A tiny white kitten with big blue eyes stepped out of the crowd and started to play with Otto's tail. The green monkey saw this and wiggled it around for the kitten to chase it, chuckling. "Ah, what a cute little kitty,"

Finally, one of the older Kathurians spoke up "You and your sister are fools to think we can resist the Mantodons, Tikudo!"

One of the females agreed with him "If these monkey creatures have made enemies with the Mantodons they will come looking for them,"

The male from before stepped up, shouting "EXPELL THEM FROM THE VILLAGE!"

Nikkita spoke up "NO! That is not the Kathurian way! Let us consult The Great Wise One,"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The two Kathurians lead them into the large cat-shaped structure where a large, elderly black cat with squinting eyes wearing red robes sat on a stone seat in meditation.

Once they explained the situation, he spoke in a tired voice filled with wisdom. "Ah, I understand your desire to fight, young Nikkita,"

At first they looked hopeful, but the elder cat continued "But we cannot place our fate in the hands of outsiders,"

Disappointed, Nikkita and Tikudo bowed their heads respectfully.

"With that said, I believe as Kathurians we should offer them a meal for defending one of our own,"

At the mention of food, Otto smiled "So… we get to eat then?"

Not wanting to offend the Kathurians, and because Otto already accepted the offer for them, the two teams followed the Kathurians to another building where there were tables being with platters and bowls being set out while they and the villagers gathered around for the meal.

On the platters and in the bowls was a variety of worms, slugs and other little creepy crawlies squirming around.

Chiro looked over at Tikudo "So, um… what is all this?"

Tikudo looked across the table at him. "It's Mugor, Food of the warrior,"

Chiro looked over at Nikkita who was chomping down on a giant green worm. Not wanting to offend the Kathurians, he forced a smile and said it looked good.

Nova did the same when she saw Tikudo was looking at her, not wanting to upset him.

Gibson stared at a bowl of wriggling purple worms that was placed in front of him. "First living breathing behemoth bugs…"

"…and now this," Sparx saw the Mandarin, Dyna and Forge were actually eating while Artemis was feeding Eclipse little pieces in between bites of her own food. Sparx leaned closer to Forge and whispered "How can you guys eat that?"

Forge whispered back. "We have gone hungry too often to be picky. From the looks of things these people actually are going hungry yet they give us what little they have out of kindness. It would greatly offend such kindness if we don't at least try it,"

Otto ate his own helping and looked over at Sparx and whispered "Are you gonna eat that?"

The red monkey made a face and discreetly pushed the bowl of squirmy blue things towards him.

Chiro and the monkey team—besides Otto—were grossed out but Mandarin and the Technosimians ate enough so they didn't offend their hosts and secretly shared with children that came up to them with sad hungry eyes.

The little white kitten from before came right up to Otto and gave him the same look the others did. The green monkey smiled and held him up to the bowl he just got from his brother. The kitten mewled and tucked in, shoving his head right in the bowl.

One female came up and scolded him "Koneko, don't be rude,"

Otto smiled and waved her off. "It's okay, the little guy sure is hungry,"

Tikudo nodded solemnly "He is. We all are. With the Mantadons stealing our energy we are lucky to harvest what little we can. And even that is sometimes stolen,"

Nova looked over at him sympathetically "That's awful,"

Gibson looked up at this "You mean they consume energy,"

Antauri put a hand on his chin in thought "That must be why they attacked the Robot and the ship,"

Mandarin saw that Antauri wasn't eating and leaned over "Antauri, maybe you should eat something. You are eating for three after all,"

Antauri frowned and brought up a hand to softly back-hand his brother in the face.

"Ow, My face!" Mandarin sat back in his chair rubbing his muzzle.

The female that scolded Koneko earlier, a village healer judging by the white robes she was wearing and the belt covered in medicine pouches that hung around her waist, over heard them and looked over at Antauri and saw the tiny bump his hand happened to rest on. "Oh, you are expecting a litter?"

Antauri looked up at her and saw she had figured him out. He hid his embarrassment at being found out so easily and politely answered her. "Yes, although a pair of twins would hardly be considered a litter…"

The female placed a hand on her chest "I am Surji, I am one of the healers of this village and Koneko's mother,"

While the two of them talked, Nikkita started talking to Chiro "I was trying to find the Mantodon nest when you found me. I thought I could find a way to stop them,"

Artemis looked over at her "That was very brave of you, Nikkita, but very unwise. Judging by the way they behaved when they attacked us they are obviously a hive grouping and hive groupings always have the bigger and fiercer members of their hives guard the nest. For all we know the ones we have seen so far were small scouts and the bigger and meaner ones could be stationed near the nest,"

Once again, Tikudo tried to convince the other villagers that they needed to stand up for themselves. "We must fight, before it's too late!"

The Great Wise One slammed his fist down on the table "TIKUDO!" they all stared at the elderly Kathurian, who slowly regained his composure. "We are not warriors, not anymore," the villagers all bowed their heads solemnly "We have had peace for so long we have become domesticated,"

Nikkita looked over at him. "But Po…"

The elderly feline was beginning to lose his patience "ENOUGH! We cannot risk raising the ire of the Mantodons!"

After everyone finished eating, Chiro and the monkeys left. The other villagers were glad to see them go but before they left Artemis, Forge and Dyna bowed respectfully and said "Thank you for your kindness. If there is any way we can repay you just ask,"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was dark out by the time they got back to the Robot but they still hadn't repaired it enough to power it up and the only way they could get to their rooms from the hatch in its foot was via the tubes—the only way they even got down the tubes was because Otto climbed up his to get to the main area where Mandarin was and they all slid down them to get to the foot where Nova had opened the only manual hatch on the Robot—so they set up camp in a clearing just inside the forest.

They all gathered around the small fire they had managed to build, Mandarin and Forge taking the first watch.

Otto sighed and stared into the fire. "They're so cute and cuddly…"

Dyna poked the fire with a stick "I know we just gotta help them,"

Forge quietly called over. "Are you saying that because you want to help or because of Tikudo?"

She broke the singed part of the stick and flicked it at him, knowing he'd just bat it away and stomp out the cinders, which he did.

Sparx looked over at them "I'd like to help too, but half of these cats don't even want our help. It's not our fight,"

Nova clenched her fist at him "The Kathurians are living in fear, Sparx!"

Artemis nodded from where she had just finished rocking Eclipse to sleep. "That's no way for anyone to live,"

Gibson spoke up "Sparx does have a valid point. Our first priority would be to repair the Robot and the Technosimians' ship and find the Skeleton King Worm. Our mission isn't here, it's out there,"

"Gibson's right," they all stared at Antauri, he was so still they almost didn't realize he had spoken at all.

"Antauri…"

He held up a hand to cut Nova off. "Nova, I sympathize with their plight, but I sense our further involvement here will create more harm than good for the village,"

'Sometimes it sucks to be the voice of reason, but someone has to do it…' "Ultimately, though, the decision lies with you, Chiro,"

Everyone turned to Chiro, who had been silently glaring at the fire since it was lit. After a few minutes, he stood up and walked in the direction of the village.

"Where's he going?"

Mandarin saw the boy walking away and followed "I'll go make sure the boy doesn't do anything stupid,"

Antauri stood up and followed his brother "And who's going to make sure you don't do anything stupid?"

Mandarin looked back over his shoulder at him. "Really, Antauri, do I ever do anything stupid?"

Antauri pinched the bridge of his nose "Oh please, last time you said that we ended up in…" his voice faded away as they slipped into the brush to follow Chiro, the others not far behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the Kathurian village

Nikkita stood in front of a golden statue of a cat, head bowed and hands folded in prayer. When the wind changed direction, a familiar scent reached her nose. Recognizing the scent she turned in the direction it had come from and saw Chiro.

"Chiro,"

Chiro looked at her, the hopeful look on her face when she saw him, and felt like the biggest jerk in the cosmos for what he had to say. "Nikkita, I want to help you and your village, but there is something we must do. I'm sorry,"

She looked at him sadly and then looked down at the ground. "I understand, we simply don't matter…"

Chiro tried to say something to her but she heard a noise. Her ears flicked about to locate it until she looked up and saw what the buzzing noise was coming from.

Tikudo stepped into the brush where the monkeys had been crouching. When they looked up at him for an explanation he simply said "Mantodons,"

Up in the sky, a large red Mantodon flew towards the village flanked by two other Mantodons like the one they had fought before.

Chiro looked over to where the monkeys were, about to run over to them but Nikkita pulled him behind a building. "There's no time," she pulled some clothes off a nearby clothesline and a hat that was left on the ground next to an old walking stick. "Quick, put these on,"

Chiro had gotten his disguise on just as the Mantodons landed; the red one in the middle was obviously much larger than the other two.

Artemis looked over at the others and whispered "Told you so,"

The red leader walked right up to The Great Wise One and roared at him {Old one, where are the outsiders?}

Po somehow understood it but played dumb "Outsiders? Hmm, I know not of any outsiders,"

The red leader bellowed and knocked him aside {Lies, our trackers have traced outsiders that attacked one of our scouts to this village!}

Nikkita went to make sure Po was alright. Furious, she growled at the Mantodons, only for the red one to grab her by the arms and hold her over its head, causing her to cry out.

{Tell us where the outsiders are!}

The entire time this had been happening, Chiro had been standing among the crowd disguised as a Kathurian while the monkeys angrily gripped stalks of bamboo to keep from rushing out onto the scene.

Just before the Mantodon could rip Nikkita apart, Chiro threw the walking stick in his hand like a javelin, sending it right into the Mantodon's eye.

The beast screamed as it dropped Nikkita on the ground. Once it dislodged the wood from its eye it grabbed Chiro and shot a yellow energy beam out of its mouth at him, burning the disguise off of him and throwing him on the ground.

"CHIRO!" The monkeys rushed out to help him but were stopped by the other two Mantodons.

Mandarin, and Nova slipped past them to fight the red one while Artemis and Antauri saw to Chiro and the others dealt with the two guards.

Gibson managed to get a lucky shot with his drills into the chest of the one he and Sparx had been fighting, the Mantodon writhed and disintegrated, the energy within it dispersing.

Getting an idea, he called over to Otto, Dyna and Forge, who were teaming up against the remaining green Mantodon. "The thorax, that's their weak spot!"

Otto stared at him blankly so Gibson, Dyna and Forge started naming off other words to describe where he wanted him to hit the bug while the latter two were trying to get to it themselves.

"Abdomen!"

"Torso!"

"Belly!"

Otto finally caught on "Oh, their guts! Why didn't you say so?" he ducked underneath a claw that Forge deflected with his hammers and sliced the insect right up the middle with his saws, causing it to disappear in a burst of energy.

The red leader saw its guards were gone and directed the ray it had used on Chiro on the monkeys.

They monkeys screamed as the stinging energy seeped into their bodies and sapped their energy until their weapons folded back into their hands. While the others stared at their hands numbly, trying to reactivate their weapons, Antauri's eyes flickered and went dark, the silver monkey collapsed promptly after.

The others waved their hands above him, trying to fan him off to try to revive him but it didn't work.

While they were distracted, the red giant turned back to Chiro, claw ready to strike.

Chiro pushed himself to his feet but the beam had given him a good pounding. He saw a blur of orange out the corner of his eye that shouted "Chiro, look out!" but the boy couldn't move.

Chiro braced himself for the blow and cringed when he heard the claw come in contact with something solid. But then he realized it wasn't him that the claw had hit.

He opened his eyes and saw Mandarin had jumped between him and the Mantodon and took the blow head on. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as the orange monkey cried out and flew through the wall of one building and out the other side to roll to a stop next to where the other monkeys were.

Time sped up again as Artemis ran over to make sure he was alright while Nikkita and Tikudo snarled at the red menace, only this time they were joined by the other villagers.

Seeing it was outnumbered, the Mantodon roared at them and fled.

Chiro ran over to the monkeys and fell to his knees next to Antauri. "Is everyone okay?"

Gibson was examining Antauri. "Most of us are fine, we just can't activate our weapons, but most of Antauri's mechanical systems have shut down. He only has enough energy left to keep his vital systems running and the twins alive while Mandarin…"

Chiro looked over and saw a very deep gash running across the orange monkey's chest, it was deep enough that Chiro could see that it sliced into his actual chest under the cyborg armor; when Mandarin or Artemis weren't applying pressure to the wound to try to stop the bleeding so she could tape him up, that is.

Eclipse tried to see over her mother's shoulder. "Mama, what's w'ong with Daddy and Uncle 'Tauri?"

Artemis reached back to rub her head. "It's okay, sweetie, Uncle 'Tauri is low on energy and Daddy got scratched up really bad by the giant bugs,"

Eclipse climbed down, despite her mother's protests and best efforts to keep her on her back, and placed both hands on Mandarin's shoulder like she was going to try to wake him up but didn't want to shake him. "Daddy?"

Mandarin slowly opened his eyes to see Eclipse looking down at him with scared little eyes and shakily held up a hand to gently hook one of his knuckles under her chin. "Hey, baby girl, are you alright?"

Eclipse nodded. "You gonna be okay, wight Daddy?"

Mandarin smiled up at her, but it was forced due to the pain of his wound. "Yeah… I'll be okay… and so will Antauri… we've both had worse than this,"

Eclipse tilted her head, curious and confused. "When Daddy?"

Antauri's eyes flickered and his pupils reappeared in dim little circles in the center of his eyes. "Lava pits… charting mission…" he mumbled softly.

They all looked over at Antauri, relieved he was at least functional. Mandarin actually understood what he said. "Ugh, don't remind me. Those were the worst four days of my life," he chuckled dryly but winced at the motion.

Surji came over and knelt beside them. "The Mantodons will be back. Come, I will show you to the healers' hut, your friends will be safe there,"

Eclipse clung to her father when they tried to move him, like she was afraid they were going to take him away from her. Artemis pried her off and rocked her gently. "Shh, It's okay, we're going to move Daddy somewhere safe so he can get better,"

Otto stepped up and held his arms out for his little niece. "Here, I can keep an eye on her so you can be with Mandarin,"

Reluctant to let her little girl go but trusting the younger green monkey to keep her safe while she tended to Mandarin, Artemis carefully placed Eclipse in Otto's arms and kissed her on the forehead. "Sweetie, I'm going to go make sure Daddy's okay. You be good for your Uncle Otto, okay?"

Eclipse nodded "Okay, Mama,"

Artemis smiled at her and in turn at Otto. "Thanks, Otto,"

The green monkey smiled back at her. "My pleasure" then he stepped back so the others could carry their fallen comrades.

Gibson, Dyna, Nova and Sparx carefully lifted Mandarin off the ground almost pall-bearer style while Artemis held Mandarin's head to keep it from flopping around while the orange monkey was carried into one of the buildings Surji lead them to and was set down on a mat that was laid out on the floor.

The orange monkey bit his lip until it bled to keep from crying out when they jostled them but waved them off when they tried to apologize.

Chiro carried Antauri in, reluctant to let go of him or let anyone else carry him, and set him on another mat.

Antauri lay on the mat, staring blankly at the ceiling, he could sense his family surrounding him but he was almost completely unable to move and he barely had the strength to speak.

He felt Chiro's hand on top of his. "Antauri, are you okay,"

Antauri blinked "I believe so. But I feel so… so weak, I can hardly move," he felt a fluttering feeling in his tummy area and smiled from relief. "The twins, on the other hand, don't seem to have that problem,"

"They're moving?"

Antauri smiled and guided his hand to where the twins were most active; he couldn't actually pull the boy's hand but he could clench his fingers to show him where to move his hand until it rested on his stomach and waited.

After a moment, Chiro felt a slight twitch beneath his hand. "Feel that?"

Chiro looked dumbfounded for a moment and slowly nodded "Is that… them?"

Antauri chanced a nod "Yes, that's them,"

Sparx watched from the doorway—he was reluctant to actually go inside because something about this building reminded him of a hospital, and he didn't like hospitals.—and spoke up. "Hey, if all Antauri needs is energy we can give him one of the spare energy cells we have stashed in the Robot. I can get him one,"

Tikudo came in and loomed in the doorway next to him. "While that is a valiant notion, without your weapons you will be helpless against the Mantadons, It is too dangerous to go alone,"

"Who says he's going to be alone?" the two of them looked over to see Forge stand up and come to stand by the shorter red monkey. "I'll go as back up,"

Sparx smirked and put a hand on Forge's thick shoulder, not even turning to look at him. "Uh, no offense old-timer, but I don't need…"

Forge grabbed him by the arm, spun him around and lifted him by the white patch on his chest so his legs dangled off the ground. "Never call me 'old-timer' and if I can trounce you this easily the Mantadons can easily make sure you never live to be one,"

Sparx tried to pry the calloused metal hands off of him "Okay, okay, fine, you can come,"

Forge smiled and carefully set him down. "Glad you finally see reason, Sparx,"

Sparx brushed himself off and gestured for him to go first with a wry smirk. "Age before beauty,"

Forge frowned and stepped outside, looking around warily for possible threats while Sparx simply walked out behind him, still wanting to tease the older monkey.

"Okay, we're going to have to move fast if we want to get there and back without running into any Mantodon patrols so try to keep up," Sparx ran to the edge of the forest where he dropped down on all fours to cover more ground and disappear into the brush more easily.

Forge rolled his eyes and simply started out running on all fours and easily blew past the red monkey who stopped and looked around to see what just sped by him.

"Huh, what?" he looked up and saw Forge leaning against a stand of bamboo about fifty meters ahead of him.

The gray monkey smiled and saluted him before circling back to whisper in his face once he got close enough. "Try to keep up,"

Sparx rubbed his eyes like he thought he was dreaming and looked at Forge again as the gray monkey started walking away. "How did you just…"

Forge smiled and gestured for him to follow, which Sparx did "I grew up in a jungle and when our planet was attacked I have been on the run ever since, I know how to move quickly between the trees,"

The two continued their journey in silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back at the village

Artemis started to clean the cut across Mandarin's chest with a rag she dipped in a bowl of hot water, both were kindly provided by Surji while said healer held him so she could clean him off. To keep him from blacking out, she tried to keep him talking "So, what happened in the lava pits on that charting mission and why were they the worst days of your life?"

Mandarin smirked. "Okay, maybe I over exaggerated but that experience wasn't exactly pleasant. No offense, Antauri,"

"None… taken,"

Chiro looked over "Wait, so what happened?"

Mandarin looked up at the ceiling. "We were on a mission to map out nearby planets and we came to one that was mostly volcanic. Antauri and I got separated from the others and somehow ended up next to the lava pits. While we were trying to figure out how we got into that situation to begin with some volcanic activity in the pits caused a rockslide that forced us to slide into a dormant fissure and wait for the others to find us,"

Chiro's eyes widened "You guys were stuck in a dormant fissure for four days?"

Mandarin shook his head "No, we were stuck there for half a day, but the heat from the lava fused our armor together, the rest of that time was spent sitting in the lab waiting for Gibson to figure out how to separate us,"

Artemis finished disinfecting the gash in her mate's chest.. "There, that ought to do it," she went to put the bowl and rag on a nearby table and looked own at Antauri on her way by. "And you, little mister, should be resting. You need to save your energy for as long as you can,"

Chiro grabbed Antauri's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, Antauri, when Sparx and Forge get back with the spare energy cells we'll fix you up good as new,"

Antauri stared blankly at the ceiling again. "Perhaps… the 'silver monkey' is not as powerful as we thought…"

Mandarin looked over at him. "Antauri, if you weren't with child and half in a coma I'd slap you for thinking like that,"

Artemis pinned his shoulders to the mat, causing him to wince "As if you could move. Now hold still, I need to stitch you up," she got a small suture kit out of the compartment in her helmet and sterilized the needle in the flame of a nearby candle.

Nova came back from talking to Tikudo outside—since he and Nikkita were the only ones willing to fight he was her best bet of figuring out what they were up against—and told the others what she had heard. "Well, Tikudo estimates there's about twenty Mantadons,"

They heard Otto's voice from just outside the door "Good, then we each get to squish a bunch!"

Artemis went over to the door and leaned around the corner "Otto, where is Eclipse?"

Otto stepped up where she could see him "I got her right here," he held up Eclipse. The little monkey was clinging to him with her head on his chest, she was obviously tired but she seemed almost afraid to fall asleep.

Artemis sighed and hissed "Otto, the reason I asked if you could watch her is so she didn't have to see her dad and her uncle on a hospital bed,"

Otto looked down and saw her point. "Oh, well, where do you want me to take her?"

Surji looked up from a bowl of herbs she was grinding into a paste with a pestle and mortar and over at Koneko, who was sitting in the corner watching his mother work. "Koneko, dear, would you like to show the green monkey outside with the little girl monkey around the village?"

Koneko nodded and scampered out to show his new friend around.

Artemis looked over at the female Kathurian. "Thank you,"

Surji smiled at her "I worry about my kitten too, and as much as I want Koneko to learn the tools of the trade of being a healer I just don't want to have to expose him to the more severe cases yet,"

Gibson's shoulders slumped "I wish I could be as optimistic as Otto is, but we couldn't defeat three Mantodons with our powers. Without them… I don't even want to calculate the odds,"

Nova sat down with her knees pulled up to her chest. "According to Tikudo and Nikkita all the green ones are just workers and guards but that big red one that hit us is actually the Queen,"

"Whoa, they must be ticked off if they're going to send the Queen after us,"

Just then, Chiro's comm. link went off, signaling Sparx was calling him. He put it on speaker so everyone could hear.

:Chiro, do you read me? over:

"I read you Sparx,"

:Bad news, those bugs are all over the Robot, they've scavenged all the energy sources.:

Chiro asked him "How many are there, Sparx? Nova says Tikudo estimates about twenty,"

It was quiet on the other end of the line—although they thought they could make out Sparx mumbling "That lying sack of…"—before Forge cut in.

:Chiro, there are more than twenty on the Robot's arm and it's covered in the things. We're coming back, I'm sorry.: Sparx cut off the line after that.

"Chiro…" they all looked down at Antauri. "…Sometimes fate makes our choices clear…"

Chiro nodded and walked out of the hut to find Tikudo.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Out in the village square, all the Kathurians sat in a circle to debate what they should do next. "We must gather our things and flee to the mountains!"

Tikudo looked over at the male that said that "With winter coming?" The other male had forgotten about the upcoming change in season and hung his head in embarrassment.

"That's just as dangerous as facing the Mantodons. We must fight!"

Just as he said that, Chiro stepped up to the group. "We intend to fight the Mantodons,"

The crowd gasped, another unknown male spoke up. "Without your weapons?"

Chiro looked at him "We're going to need your help. You were once warriors, tonight you will be warriors again!"

"But how?"

Nova stepped up "I can teach you, I'm a martial arts master so if any of you are willing to fight step right up!"

Forge came bounding out of the forest to stand next to the two of them "We don't need our usual weapons to fight. Like I said before you all are too quick to use your weapons," he opened a compartment in each arm and pulled out a pair of daggers. "I happen to be a Blacksmith, Whatever weapons we don't already have I can make myself,"

Dyna stood next to her older brother "I'll help,"

Gibson came out of the hut "As will I,"

Otto bounced up with Eclipse on his shoulders and Koneko at his heels "What he said,"

Sparx came stumbling out of the brush, panting from the effort of trying to keep up with Forge. "Forge… I hate you… so much… right now,"

Forge twirled one of his daggers and smiled at the red pilot "Save it for the Mantodons, Sparx,"

Sparx looked at them "So, we're actually going to fight them?"

They all looked at the Kathurians who were slowly gathering behind Tikudo. "Oh yes, we're going to fight them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the night they put all of their time into making weapons and teaching the Kathurians how to fight.

Forge and Dyna had made little metal claws that attached to the back of the user's hands which Nova was teaching the younger Kathurians to use by slicing through bamboo stalks, one of which came down right on Sparx's head.

"Oops, sorry Sparx,"

While this was going on, the older Kathurians were making spears out of the bamboo that was cut down to make even more weapons for them to use.

Gibson was using his knowledge of chemistry to teach Surji and the other healers, and anyone else that wanted to learn, how to make gunpowder.

Sparx and Tikudo were setting up a wall around the village to keep out any Mantodons attacking on foot. Sparx struggled to push his section of the wall into place until it suddenly started to slide into place on its own.

A quick glance to his right revealed that Tikudo, damn him, was easily sliding the last pieces of the wall into place after he had already set up the other sections he was supposed to set up in the amount of time it took Sparx just to do one.

As it that wasn't a big enough blow to his male pride, he saw Nova and Dyna swooning over the display of physical strength by the male Kathurian. Sparx crossed his arms and looked away, unimpressed.

In another part of the village, Koneko and Eclipse were helping Otto tie bundles of bamboo together to make a cannon that Gibson could use is gunpowder in and setting pitfall traps at the edges of the village.

After everyone was inside the walls, Tikudo went to meditate in front of the golden cat statue Nikkita had prayed in front of just after nightfall that evening. In his lap was an ancient sword that had been in his family for generations; he planned on using it that night.

He drew the blade and saw how it gleamed in the moonlight, eager to sink the blade into the body of any Mantodon that crossed him.

While everyone else went to get into position for the battle, Po pulled Chiro to the side "Come, walk with me, young Chiro,"

Chiro followed him to the same building they had met him in and the two knelt at the foot of the stone seat he had been on.

Po reached behind a curtain that hung next to the chair and pulled out a suit of armor. "This was mine when I was much younger, back when the Kathurians were a race of fierce warriors. I want you to wear it in the fight to defend Kathuri,"

Chiro bowed respectfully "I would be honored, Wise One,"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once all the preparations were made, all that was left to do was wait.

On his way back to the healers' hut where the monkeys were, Chiro saw Nikkita on top of the Wise One's house. He climbed up to see what she was doing up there. "Hey Nikkita, what are you doing up here?"

The Kathurian girl smiled at him "Keeping a look out," she patted the spot next to her for him to sit down.

Nikkita looked over at Chiro when he sat down. "Thank you for staying, Chiro,"

Chiro looked down at all the Kathurians and the battle plans they had prepared for what was to come. "You can thank me when this is over,"

They sat there a few moments until they heard the tell-tale buzzing and saw the dark cloud of the Mantodon swarm flying closer.

The Mantodon Queen landed just outside the perimeter fence {Foolish felines, think they can keep US out by putting up a big wooden fence} she lopped off the wooden spikes on the top of the wall with a quick swipe of her claw and bellowed {FIND THEM!}

The smaller green Mantodons flew over the fence and searched among the buildings. But the Kathurians were hiding in the shadows waiting to strike. The Kathurians had split up into seven groups, each group had either Chiro or a monkey with them.

Once the Mantodons came close enough, the group Sparx was with plunged their spears into the chests of the nearest Mantodons, and thus began the ambush.

The team Nova and Tikudo lead came down off the rooftops to attack from above while the team Chiro and Nikkita were with came from the cover of the thick bamboo they had left inside the wall to attack from the opposite direction Sparx's team was coming from and Forge and Dyna's teams came from the other sides, completely surrounding the Mantodons and cutting them down to size with their spears.

The Queen saw her warriors falling and bellowed {ATTACK! LEAVE NO SURVIVORS! TAKE NO PRISONERS!}

AN: Doodle is about to get real!

Thank you all you readers and a quick shout out to the people that reviewed and/or added: AntauriSigma; Htgr8; kitkatkthy27121993; cheesybeans; Lorrie the Ninja Elf; Sami-SDGForce; DoKuRiNAnimationQueen.

Until next time…

Hugs and Mugs,

Lady Quickshift