Disclaimer: I do not own SRMTHFG! (Plus, the town of Angel Grove belongs to the writers of the "Power Rangers" series this show was inspired by.)

Also, I did a Private Message to DigiHopeheart to tell me her favorite ruins as part of the next chapter, but she has yet to respond while I'm writing this, so I guess I'm on my own. I'll name the tour-business after her anyway, because she's the first to post a review for this story in weeks.

Chapter 12

Figuring that most of their Earth mission will be undercover, the hyperforce spent a few days in Angel Grove "getting into character". Despite the fact that none in town could speak monkey, the locals practically saw their alien friends as native Earthlings, especially since cyporgs are common in that time period, and Chiro blended in most outside of hyper-mode. He had to lose his school uniform, though, and started sporting local clothing (think Wilbur Robinson in a blazer jacket). It wasn't long before that boy became part of the town's gossip-chain, which may or may not be a huge help to the main goal.

While letting their leader enjoy the kind of human interation he couldn't get back on Shuggazoom, the monkeys, in the meantime, were doing a little exploring... which quickly turned into job-hunting when they discovered space-credits are no good on Earth. They held a short meeting over the issue over some free handouts from a recently opened groccery store, which they divided amongst themselves upon discovering the city park.

"Unbelievable!" Gibson muttered to himself, "This planet has several forms of it's own currency, as well as it's own credit system, and yet there are twice as many validation rules... oh well, at least Library Cards are free here, not like back on Cranius Epsolon. As long as I could dodge the late-fees by returning what I check out in time, and not to mention the suspention that comes when a book gets damaged, there shall be no complications there."

"Don't stay away too long!" shouted Otto, overhearing, "believe it or not, Earthling American Sign Language is simular enough to the hand-signals I learned on Planet Neonhack... except for the whole five-finger thing."

"And what's your point, if any?" asked the blue monkey.

The green one smiled proudly, "I just met a guy who knows a guy that might help fix the translator much sooner! All he wants in return is for me to work as a mascot for his Hovercraft Garage Commercials, and maybe even more, if my own talent as a mechanic is good enough!"

"I am sure you shall do well," assured Antauri, "but all the same, Otto, it is probably best that I tag along. The Global Positioning System you've made for the silver-monkey's system still isn't working correctly and dispite my meditation practices, it's giving me a headache as well!"

"Just make sure to stop by at the local Youth Center on your lunch break," Sparx said with a sigh, barely able to touch his share of free samples they gathered for breakfast, "I accidently got a part-time job there doing dishes and running arrends! I wanted to start a career here as a local high-flying daredevil, but some critic saw my work with the fist-rocket earlier and insisted I get a real pilot's licence, and training animals costs extra around here. Triple Monkey Doodle!"

The team just stared at Sparx as he started banging his head on the picnic table, but none more wide-eyed then Gibson... the whole scenerio somehow reminded the scientist on himself on a bad day. 'May-haps he and I are twins after all.' thought Gibson.

Nova just shook her head. "I know what you mean, Sparx," she said, "I tried to join the AGPD... you know, the Angel Grove Police Department, and while they have nothing against females on law inforcement, thank the stars, they couldn't accept any non-humans unless they could speak human languages, so until the translator's fixed, I'll have to settle with being... glup! a zoo !"

Sparx gasped, "No way! You? A nurse-maid?!"

"I have to! It was either that, or work as an extra for the exotic dancers who preform at the Bulk-and-Skull Night Club! No way I'm going to be just anybody's play-thing!"

(Author's Note: yeah, those secondary characters from the "Power Rangers" series were treated like losers, though more then half the time they deserved it, but all the same, I figured they should've been successful at something at least once in their lives. Somehow, a black-market night club seemed to make sense.)

After that, the rest of the day was obvious. Antauri's GPS was soon funtioning properly enough to get Otto hired as a minor mechanic, Sparx was relieved that his mechanical arms immuned him to dish-pan hands, and Nova... well, lets say she'd have been better off an exotic dancer.

Meanwhile, Gibson had almost lost himself in the world of Earthling literature, but the war against the Skeleton King remained stuck in the back of his mind. He even checked out a book on sign-language (which he was unaccustomed to in all forms) just so he could better explain the situation to the librarian. She didn't understand him, even when he did use the right hand signals... but her son did.

"Enchanted papers, huh?" said the young man of twenty, "I've heard of those. Meet me in the back... that's where were my mom keeps the really old books. You'll see what I mean."

Not knowing what else to go with, Gibson followed his new ally to the back room of the library... in spite the sign on the door that read "Employees Only! Keep Out!" in several languages (including the intergalactic alphabet). Sure enough, the books kept in that room were quite old; clearly banged out of shape from years of neglect, and the shocking part was that, while the Angel Grove library held millions of books, this room alone had half that number!

"These books are left-overs from what many hear on Earth call the 'Pollution Age'," the librarian's son explained, "1700 years ago, our planet was so trash-coated due to mass consumerism that the entire human population evacuated on fully automated starliners; don't know how the animal population managed to survive. Anyhow, while there are rumors floating around that those on several of the other space-ships started life all over on other planets in other galaxies, our ansestors aboard the Axiom waited in space for 700 years in a perpetual 'vacation' that was supposed to last only five years."

Gibson made a circle with his arm, insisting the young man to continue, which he did:

"By then, the Buy-n-Large lifestyle got very boring, so it was a miracle that at least two robots got minds of their own, but that's another story. The point is, a whole millenium later, it's as though the Pollution Age never happened, and we are all making improvements to make sure it never happens again, mostly based on the 'Triple R' consept of the 19th-21st century: Reduce, reuse, and recycle! To think, during those dark times, people were so reliant on voice-activated computers that they forgot for generations what books even are."

After hearing that story, Gibson looked upon the forsaken hardcovers with tearful eyes. He was taught early on that all knowledge, written and virtually recorded, is equally sacred! How could anyone just toss aside books in such majority in favor of nothing more then a fad?!

The librarian's son smiled at the blue monkey, and opened one of the books, revealing that although the cover was bent and the pages were tattered, the text was restored like new!

"Never judge a book by it's cover, stranger," he said, almost jokingly, "literally and metaphorically, some of them take longer to read then others, I know that much by restoring every book in my mother's library... and for all the secret libraries, including mine. I call it: 'Leo's Library of Bizarre Books'."

"What do you mean by 'Bizarre Books'?" Gibson asked out loud, as he struggled to repeat it in sign language.

"My mom is a very... traditional librarian," Leo explained, "her books are split into two categories: Fiction and Non-Fiction. I assure you, everything I got are true stories, from old records of collage hazing ceremonies to proof of the existance of a real life beast known as a homo sasquaches...'Bigfoot' as the creature's nicknamed. Extremely rare information. If mom ever got a hold of these, however, she wouldn't understand. She'll probably either distroy them or misplace them in the Fiction Section, depending on the mood each book puts her in. One of them contains sightings of the journal pages you are looking for. What do you say?"

Gibson shook hands with Leo, and used his free-hand to spell out his name using the French manual alphabet (which seemed to be more appropriate for a four-fingered monkey in a five-fingered world).

"'G-I-B-S-O-N'." Leo read carefully, and then gasped in understanding, "That spells 'Gibson'. Is that your name? It suits you somehow."

Before anything more can be said, or signalled in Gibson's case, Leo had pulled aside the curtain in the very back of the back room, not only revealing the secret library, but that one of Leo's regular customers was already inside... and she wasn't happy to see Gibson.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I was going to ask you the same thing Cassia," Gibson stated, looking with surpise at the female Earth monkey, "but since you asked first, it would only be gentleman-like to admit that I had only came here to pick up documentries that'll help with the monkey-team's mission."

"Well, let's make one thing clear, dunce-cap," said Cassia, placing her book and specially-marked library card on the check-out desk, "aside from me, most Earth-monkeys don't even know how to read, nor would they want to! If you tell anybody that I spend my spare time with my nose in books, I shall, and will, wring your scrawny neck!"

"What the-'dunce cap'?" said Gibson, a whole mess of mixed emotions, "How dare you?! I just so happen to be the most intelligent member of the team, and I assure you, intellegence is nothing to be ashamed of!"

"Purhaps not, but the boredom it gives everyone else sure is!"

"And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?!"

Leo acted quickly to break them up. "I may not speak monkey," he said, "but judging by what I can hear, I'd say you two are starting to sound like an old married couple."

Gibson noticed how Cassia flinched on cue with the word "married", and the mere sight of that only confused him.

"Anyhow," continued Leo, "I noticed you are renewing this book again, Cassia. Fifth time this year, in fact. If you like it all that much, I could just let you keep it as a gift... I insist."

Cassia smiled, and gave a bunch of hand signals so fast that Gibson wouldn't be able to translate them even if he did know sign language.

"Put what he's checking out on your card, huh?" said Leo, "Well, alright, but any late fees are your responsibillity, young lady."

"Consider it bribery to keep quiet, you Mannequin Monkey you." Cassia said, giving a wink, then bursting in laughter, "or sould I say: Pacifier Primate, or a Railmotor-mouth, or Crash-test Cranium?! Overly-verbal Vantriloquist-doll is always a funny one, but that would be going too far, wouldn't it?"

"Are you calling me a DUMMY?!" shouted Gibson.

"Maybe," said Cassia, "and if you would willingly admit yourself as such to your own team-mates, I just might openly confess to them that I love to read, so what do you say to that?"

"What? Lable myself with an image of irrationality?! I WOULD NEVER!"

"That's fine... then I'll never admit I'm a geek! Probably appear dull saying it anyway."

"All checked out," Leo said, inturrupting, "Gibson, you can visit any place marked in this old record at any time to find those enchanted pages, but I recommend starting on Sarushima. That is the earliest recorded sighting of the phenomenon in the book. Oh, and remind your new girlfriend to renew these, if not return them, in three weeks time."

Hearing that, Cassia stuck her tongue out and blew razberries at both of them before running off with her book. Gibson shook his head before grabbing his book, muttering: "How rude!"

Meanwhile, Chiro was hearing about Sarushima himself from his access to the local gossip."Why would they call the place 'Monkey Island'," he asked, "when there aren't even any monkeys?"

"It used used to be a low-tech tourist attraction, just purfect for 'monkeying around'," said one person, "in fact, it was the last natural island in what our ansestors called Tokyo Bay, before the whole Buy-and-Large mess almost ruined it."

"Oh, no, that's not it," said another, "there used to be assassins there before the pollution age, who used the island as a base during wars. A number of them had a fighting style based on the defensive moves of simians that they seen on the other naighboring islands, and imitated such technecks so well that their enemies confused them for real monkeys."

"Well, what ever the reason," said yet another, "this much's for sure: a few years ago, a bunch of papers came down to Earth in a way that was hardly scattering at all, and the first place they landed was in Sarushima. At first, they were thought to be alien invasion propaganda, or at least some greedy mega-corporation trying to advertise its way into our lives again, but the pages were blank, nothing could be written on them, and they were near-indistructable. Odds are, such papers are still locked in a vault somewhere on that very island."

Remembering the mission, Chiro thanked the group, and rushed about town looking for the rest of the monkey team. He found them all at the Youth Center, just in time for lunch.

In spite the lack of gravity-defying spices of Mr. Gackslapper's hoverburgers, the local hamburgers tasted so simular, it was uncanny, but even that couldn't distract them from the mission at hand, which was the main topic of their discussion.

"So, our first task is clear," Chiro said at last, "we are going to Sarushima and back as quickly as possible to plan our next move."

"Chiro," said Antauri, his improved GPS kicking in, "the island of Sarushima is on the other side of this planet, and most of it is covered with water. The torso-tank and the foot-cuisers might not make it without a boat rent, and a two-way trip that far would draw too much attention to the brain-scrambler and the fist-rockets."

"Yeah! I'm grounded 'til further notice!" moaned Sparx.

"Can't we just get the Super Robot to pull itself together?" Otto suggested, "That way we can all go together, just like always."

"It's not that simple, Otto," said Gibson, "while looking for malfuntions in the Robot's systems, I noticed that there were several abnormalities in the radar that seem to equate the essance of the Dark One Worm, which is rediculous because if I recall correctly, we distroyed that creature before it could get close enough to this planet to corrupt it."

"It was a rather close call, though." added Nova.

After a brief pause, Chiro shook his head, "There's not much choice team," he stated, "we'll have to 'borrow' one of the local ocean-liners, discretely, just as soon as it gets dark."

Dispite some silent complaints against stealing shared between the team, there was also an agreement: there was no choice. Laying one hand over the other, as team-mates usually do, it was clear what they had to do to put an end to the Skeleton King's tyrany.

Later on, Cassia managed to find out what her guests were up to, and she wanted to be in on the excitement, but Gibson refused to let her so much as ask the rest of the team.

"Look, blue-hair," she said, "if this is about my calling you a 'dummy' and expecting you to do the same yourself, then I am sorry, but I only did that because I was bored! As far back as I could remember, I was raised as a survice monkey, meant for helping those less able-bodied with minimal tasks."

"Oh really?" asked Gibson.

"Uh-huh, and dispite having a good employment record with several clients, each time it's the same things, different day. You and the team might be my only chance to break out of my boring ruitene!"

"Yes, well, no offence, but this is our ruitene of sorts, and knowing the Skeleton King, staying here with that young vampire, Pike, would be the lesser of two evils. You'll be much safer staying out of this ordeal, Cassia."

"But, Gibson, we were ment to be marr-!"

"Just trust me, alright?!"

And with that, Gibson ran off to join the rest of the monkey team at Angel Grove Harbor... unaware Cassia secretly stowed away on the ship.

"Humph! 'Trust me' he says," she mutters to herself, "if by chance he is the right one for me, what kind of wife would I make for him if I did just that?! He wouldn't even let me finish sharing my theories, like he thinks he knows everything in the universe! His mouth is the one part of him that is actually bigger then his brain, and that much should give me every reason not to marry him... and yet, somehow I find him oddly attractive."

It wasn't until the boat arrived near Japan that things started to get interesting. The whole island of Sarushima was overrun with formless, which were using the island's long forsaken artillery-battery against the hyperforce, prompting the Super Robot to restore itself at once. The battle was fierce, especially since the artillery was upgraded with plasma-cannons, lazer-guns, and the works! All the same, the hyperforce and their Super Robot pulled through as always before landing on the island. Cassia had "enjoyed the show" thus far, and so dropped the anchor of the ocean-liner before taking a life-raft to that very island to get a closer look at what else the new monkeys on Earth can do.

Upon arrival, she had no trouble finding the hyperforce, and their preformance was more spectacular then anything she could ever imagine!

Chiro seemed to hold a boundless amount of energy, as he turned his own essance energy into blasts, spears, and even an aura that could only equal the likeness of what Earthling myth had called "King Kong". Up until seeing all that, Cassia thought the Power Primate was just a fable monkeys tell their children for inspiration.

Antauri's power seemed endless as well, as his abillities to pass through walls, distroy enemies from the inside, and summon a distructive screach made the silver monkey seem more like a ghost then a fully mechanical being. It was enough to give anyone the chills.

Sparx was the biggest ham anyone ever seen, as his magnets seem to work on just about anything, metalic or not (though they are most powerful against metal). Dispite how well Cassia hid, thus keeping Sparx from knowing anyone but the team and their enemies are watching his movements, the red monkey was being a full-blown show-off...

... it was soon clear that he was doing it for Nova, as her temper started to reveal itself with heat radiating from her body added extra energy to every punch her enlarged fists threw, redifying the age-old term "girl power". Cassia figured that she would like to start a friendship with Nova, if only such anger didn't make the yellow monkey so scary.

Otto's abillity to overpower enemies with his energy saws would put any lumberjack to shame, but it was the razor charriot technech, as well as a few child-like jokes, that just about stole the show. 'The creativity of the green monkey is closer to what I thought up for my ideal mate all these years,' thought Cassia, 'so why is it that his eyes did not aline with my own instead of the eyes of that stiff!'

Upon watching the blue monkey in battle, however, she had almost forgotten that she had complaints against fate... true, he still had some old habits, such as complaining about getting mud and slime in his fur, but dispite that, Gibson was a noble and clever fighter. His drills were not only daggard-like when they need to be, but were also filled with different kinds of emmo, which he switched several different times throughout the battle before it ended.

After that, Cassia unwittingly let the hyperforce slip out of her sight, thinking about what she seen in her so-called suitor. "That blue monkey is more creative and exciting then I gave him credit for," she thought out loud, "he would be just about purfect if he wasn't such a stuffy, didactic chatterbox. Fratz!"

At this point, a firmiliar voice caught Cassia's attention:

"It once was said that in this world of ups and downs, we cannot open ourselves up to love without opening ourselves up to emptiness..."

Turning around, the stowaway monkey was shocked and relieved at the same time to see it was only Madam Esimia in tourist get-up.

"...in other words," the gypsy continued, "nobody is purfect! Embrase it! Savor it! Communicate! Create a change to reach out and improve each other... just anywhere but here, young lady."

"Madam Esimia?! How did you find me so fast?"

"Oh, it was not so hard, Cassia. I forseen you would get bored enough of your job to find any excuse to leave without permition, and the battle the hyperforce would have upon this very island. Putting the two together, I merely teleported myself into the Digi-Hopeheart tourist system and followed it here just to pick you up."

The female Earth-monkey screached upon hearing that.

"What?! You mean all this time you were powerful enough to super-glitch half-way around the world, and I had to climb just to get canned vegitables from the kitchen's top shelf?!"

"That's 'Enviro-Glitch', dear; rest assured, I don't need to psychic to know you have the potential to master this techneck on your own... if only you'd embrace the flaws of natural energy in yourself and others! Come, we'll discuss it at home."

"Wait a minute-!"

Before any objections could be made, Madam Esimia grabbed hold of Cassia, and used this strange abillity to teleport both of them back to Darwin Manor. Meanwhile, the Hyperforce had managed to find the enchanted journal pages inside one of the barracks.

"No! No! No!" Mandarin's voice carried all over the secret garden of Pandora, "This is the most rediculous thing I ever heard!"

"No, Mandarin," said Otto, "this is the most rediculous thing you ever heard."

At this point, Otto started to make noises that were jibberish to humans and monkeys alike, and aside from Mandarin, every other monkey started to laugh.

"I am serious," said Mandarin, "Nanny, you do realize you still have a lot to learn, and a human's school is not the place to do that."

Zoey shook her head. All these years of helping the Alchemist raise all six monkeys, and Mandarin's still the only one who refused to call her "mother", and that disappointed her more then anything.

"You aren't the only one who is serious," she told him, "now that Ace has access to essance of the Power Primate, via my lack of self-control, I have to keep watch over him as often as possible to make sure he doesn't tell anyone... it's just that sacred! You are all old enough to fend for yourselves now, you'll be alright... all I ask of all of you is to stay here!"

"Aren't you forgetting about the Alchemist?" asked Sparx.

"I hate to admit it," said Gibson, "but Sparx has a point. Even if it's for the benefit of your education, the Alchemist wouldn't let you study anywhere else until your term of apprenticeship is complete, and that might take years."

"Worry not, my children," Zoey said reasurringly, "believe it or not, I used to practice magic ages ago in a past life. My memory of that is still a little... faulty, but I think all those practices under his watch is just the refresher I needed to recall I trick I plan to use on the Alchemist."

"The trick won't hurt him,"asked Nova, "would it?"

Zoey took Nova aside and whispered into her ear: "Between you and me, there is only one thing I agree with Mandarin on: humans are extremely gullible. If I time this charm I'm working on just right, he will think his reaction was on his own accord instead of mine."

Zoey pulls a 2000-year old parchment out of her robe, unaware that a curtain black monkey overheard what she said until he grabbed hold of the paper, and untied the string.

"It seems you have the wrong spell, Mother Heng-Shi," Antauri stated, shaking his head as he read the ancient text, "for while the 'Seniority Charm' is said to give the conjourer authority over any subject, it does so by turning its victims into children, not via mind control. It is fortunate the counter-spell is on the same page."

Pausing for a moment, Zoey looked over the peace of paper, and blushed.

"Monkey doodle! You're right! This was one of the parchments that was stolen from the People of the Stars when they invaded this world! Better send it back to them as an apology."

With a snap of her fingers, the parchment disappeared, and Zoey sighed in disappointment, like she was scolding herself on the inside. "If he asks," she told the monkey team, as she packed her messanger-bag with school supplies, "tell him I am looking for ginseng. Best of luck, my children; I know none who'd need it more."

Little does she know that as soon as she left, the Alchemist has returned home... with ginseng at hand... and has overheard most the entire conversation. "This plant and her presence are both very rare indeed," he told the monkeys, "yet not so rare that they cannot be found. Monkey team, I believe it best you stay behind and gaurd the lab in my absence, while I make sure Heng-Shi, or rather, Zoey Sulphur, stays out of trouble."

The monkeys end up tagging along anyway.

At this point, Zoey had met with Ace as they prepared for their fist day in the ninth grade... together!

"Now, keep this in mind, Zoey," Ace told her, "home-schooling and public High School are two very different kinds of jungles. Unlike what you are used to, everything here won't revolve around you; several people in this micro-village scenario would probably ignore you, and not everybody who notices you even exist would make very trustworthy friends."

Just then, by some coincidence, a firmiliar, if not just plain annoying voice sounded from behind them.

"Henry! Monkey-girl! It's you!"

Ace and Zoey turned around, and rolled their eyes upon realizing that after a whole summer of leaving them alone, Gyrus Krinkle is once again part of their lives... and to their amusement, he ran too hard trying to regroup with them and ended up tripping himself, landing on his face.

"Way to know a cue when you hear one, Weasel," said Ace, "you should get your own TV show someday, if they would even want you."

"Looks like fate brought us all together, huh?" said Gyrus, jolting up and spitting the mud out of his mouth, "Guess what, Henry?! While I was spending the whole summer at Robot Repair Camp, there was a rumor buzzing around that Captain Shuggazoom is really your father! I got to hand it to you for holding up the whole 'orphan shtick'. Eh? Nudge-nudge."

"Only half-right," Zoey started, "Ace is related to the local super-warrior gaurdian, but he is-"

"He is not my dad!" stated Ace, covering Zoey's mouth in desperation, "I really am an orphan, and all this gossip is just a waste of time."

"Ha! Who else could it be?" argued Gyrus, "The only other guy they are suspecting is your Uncle Clayton, and there's no way it could be him! After all, being a superhero is a 24-hour job, and your uncle is known to work at the industry all day and smooching up girls all night, so tell me: who is he, really?"

Ace looked at Zoey in a silent plee against saying anything before letting go of her mouth.

"That's none of your consern, Gyrus," said Zoey, "and whatis this 'theory' of which you speak? Please explain."

"Don't be so coy, my little banana-blossom," said Krinkle, "everyone knows changelings love to have an essance of 'magic' in both ends of a relationship, and since nobody practices that dead art anymore, having a fiance who is blood-related to a super-being is a best-second... until I graduate from High School, that is. Just watch! After a little extra time in the gym, I will be so strong that I'll have to qualify as a next generation superhero, then you will have to be my bride instead of Carrington's."

"Krinkle, it's over," sighed Zoey, "Ace and I had already shared our first kiss."

"Fiddle-snappers!" Krinkle shouted, before running off, "Oh, well! I'm going to work for an impressively buff body anyway! Catch yah in Phys. Ed.!"

"What's 'Phys. Ed.'?" asked Zoey.

"Physical Education," explained Ace, "better known as Gym Class. That's another thing you'll have to adjust to: home-schooling works with you at your own pace, but here at Shuggazoom Public School, we have to follow a regimated schedule. Toby is already in the main office taking care of the paperwork, so your schedule should be ready by now."

Upon reaching the main office,however, someone else was there who shouldn't be for another four years! Valeena Sheeko was so tough for her age, that Middle School Counciling wasn't enough, so she was given the task of Junior Hall Monitor just to give her some extra responsiblity, and that spelled trouble for everyone else. As if that wasn't enough, there was always the classic "good news, bad news" scenario. The good news was that Zoey and Ace were in Science Class together, the bad news was that the teacher happened to be...

"Master Hieli?!" Zoey gasped, recognizing the Alchemist dispite wearing a more scientist-appropriate robe.

"Good morning, class," the Alchemist said, "I am Proffesor Hieli, and today, we shall spend our firstday of this course with a quick written review on everything you have learned from the previous year of school followed up with a little thing we call 'experimentation'. Everyone shall pick a partner, and will begin making your own science-related projects to be presented at the end of the week-

"Excuse me, sir," Ace said, raising his hand to make his inturruption seem more polite, "but their seem to be some kind of mistake. According to the schedule, Pr. Periodiconni is supposed to be teaching this class, not you."

"How observant you are to point that out, young man," said the Alchemist, pretending not to know who he is talking to, "you see, Pr. Periodiconni is having an appendicectomy, meaning he is having major surgery to get a part of his colon removed, and won't be here until he recovers. I've taken a part-time job as substitute teacher in the meanwhile."

Zoey sent a telepathic message to the Alchemist the very second his eyes met with hers, and he sent messages back. The world around them seemed to darken into a void as they shared their unspoken conversation.

'What have you done with the real teacher?'

'Nothing has been done, my apprentice. The story I told the others was indeed the true one. Sorrow not for him. Know well instead that the misfortune cast upon one being is the great fortune of another.'

'What about the monkeys... my children?! They knew well that I would be gone, but they'd be devistated if they found out you were missing!'

'Worry not, I told them to stay behind and gaurd the lab.'

Upon hearing the firmilliar screaches, however, what happened next could only be summed up in one word: Mayhem.

Ace and Zoey rushed into the halls... without hall-passes! They had to, for this was one of the moments that rules were not a top priority.

"If Krinkle knew there were monkeys here," said Ace, "he'd try to go back on the restraining order I placed on him just so he could be one of them, and I am not taking chances with Valeena even if she is only pretending to be a witch. With her on Hall Monitor duty, she'd get us expelled for breaking the 'no pets allowed on campus' regulation."

"They are not pets," argued Zoey, "they're family."

"It doesn't matter, Zoey. Most schools in the universe are reserved for humanoids only! If we don't get them out of here before she knows they are here, we will get kicked out of the building forever and they will end up in a zoo!"

"What?! They won't take lightly to that! We have to find them, Ace!"

Such a goal wasn't an easy tack, but Zoey knowing each monkey like they were her own children made the task better to manage, especially since Ace was quick to note all the social cliques of High School:

They both found Mandarin showing off his strength to the Punks. After that, Ace found Sparx chilling with the Casuals, while Zoey found Gibson obsessively correcting mathmatical errors in the work of his fellow Science-Geeks (who somehow seemed glad to be rid of him afterwards). Soon enough, Ace also found Antauri sampling insence with a group known as the Zens, and also found Otto helping a group of mechanics known as the Wrenches as they attempted to build a hovercraft from scratch, but at that point, Ace got the feeling he did most of the work. Looking around,all while holding the five boy-monkeys in a cage to make them look like part of some elaborate project, Ace gasped to find Zoey and Nova were actually fitting into an all-girl group called the Amazons, which are known for their belief that all men are idiots!

Seeing that, Ace momentarily felt betrayed, and almost ran off bursting in tears when he overheard Zoey's speach:

"While book-smarts are indeed no substitute for common sense, and the male of the species, any species, tend to get hostile in their prime, that does not mean we should be completely against them. Truthfully I tell you that if you say men of this species are idiots, I know of two who are my idiots: one I call 'father', and the other I call 'Ace'."

"Well I'll be," the leader of Amazon's murmured, "I haven't heard any girl argue against our belief against men like that since my own mother, back when I told her about how I'm starting our group! You might never be a full member of the Amazons, but you are the first one this year to be given an honorary sisterhood. To that end, we offer you a gift. Wear it whenever your 'Ace' gives you a hard time... it'll effect his ego."

Zoey opened the box the Amazons presented her with, revealing a large brown t-shirt, and on the front, written in bright-yellow glitter-paint, was the inscription: I'M WITH STUPID!

"Can I have one too?!" asked Nova, "You know, just in case someone I start to like tries to-?"

"Sorry, Nova," said Zoey, shaking her head while folding the shirt, "but I think it comes in only one size, and you are too small to fit in it properly. Besides, to those of us with... you know, tails... slapping your sweetheart in the face would prove far more effective, you'll see."

Just as Nova was guided into the cage, Mandarin bursted out of it and into the hallways, only to bump into someone... and losing a battle against a certain ten-year-old hall monitor.

"I believe this belongs to you?" Valeena asked in a tone that was cruel yet teasing (though nowhere as witch-like as the one she developed as an adult), all while dragging the semi-consious Mandarin back into the monkey cage.

"They are for, um, show-and-tell," said Zoey, "thank you for returning Mandarin. He never listens to anybody."

"Listen, young lady," said Valeena, "I had only been on duty for two weeks, and am well aware that pets are not allowed in this school, but seeing that we are both new girls on campus, I shall let you off with a warning. As for you, Henry James Carrington III, Principle Paulie told me all about you, and in all honesty, I expected better behavior from a straight-A student."

"Valeena, please!" Ace said, blushing with embarrasment and anger all at once, "Ix-nay on-ay e-thay urfect-pay ades-gray!"

"How odd," responded Zoey, raising an eybrow, "I had no idea you spoken forgien languages. What was that anyhow, Ace? Is it Japanese?"

"Pig-latin, actually." answered Ace, slouching. The very moment Valeena left them, he whispered into Zoey's ear: "We'll have a private meeting under the bleachers during lunch break, there are a few things I have to tell you, and just in case we get caught, I beg you... wear the new shirt."

Soon enough, lunch hour took place, and while it was tricky to sneak enough food for eight from the cafeteria to the gym bleachers, it was managed.

While the monkeys were helping themselves to the meal, or at least parts of it they found enticing, Zoey listened to Ace's speech.

"You know how the science geeks rejected Gibson? Well, let's just say that even High School Science Geeks have their standards. There's nothing wrong with being smart; the problem is that he takes too much pride in the size of his brain... odds are, most of that clique probably put errors in their work on purpose to keep from entering collage before adulthood."

"Ace, what does that have to do with your behavior since Valeena mentioned your grades?"

"Everything! Zoey, you may have been praised often in the homeschooling system, but the problem with public education is the expectations of others. You see, once someone is labled the smart lad or lassie, life is all work and no play. That's very boring, which is why I had to beg the faculty of this school to keep a low profile on my grades, before Valeena had weaseled the truth right out of the big man on campus himself."

Just then, Gyrus Krinkle stuck his head between the bleachers, with a creepy smile on his face as he shouted, "Hi guys! Wow! You really do have monkeys! Can I pet them? O-o-o! Better yet, could you get one of them to pet me?! Because I think I got my head stuck in this thing!"

"Gyrus 'the Weasel' Krinkle," said Ace, "you really need to control that rediculously good timing of yours. People will talk, and say you have no life of your own."

"No, seriously, I'm stuck!" said Gyrus, squirming until a thought crossed his mind, "Wait a minute! Zoey, as a changeling, you have the power to change anything or any one! Could you shrink my head so I can get out of here?"

Zoey thought for a moment, and seeing that the monkeys were too preoccupied with their meal to even notice Gyrus was even there, she smiled.

"Shrink your head,huh? As tempting as that is, Gyrus, I know I can do better then that... hopefully before the focus of my children shift enough for our uninvited guest to spoil there appetites mid-meal. Just give me a moment to get my energy flowing. Ahem!"

She started muttering an incatiation in an old language, just barely over a whisper, while using gravy to draw a rune that resembles some kind of lizard using a mustard packet, which she boardered with garlic powder. For a short moment, a subtle yet eerie glow surrounded the food-painting and Gyrus, but once it faded, the spell did more then just get his head free...

... it shrunk him down to the form of an eight-year old boy, complete with child-like impulses, and since he is already impulsive in his normal, then-teenaged form, it might be safe to say that a toddler with a sugar rush is harmless in comparrison. It wasn't until Valeena stopped by things took a turn for the better.

"Listen, you pathetic demon-boy," said Valeena, "you may be kind of cute compared to me, but that is no excuse for such behavior in the halls of this K-12 campus."

Krinkle wasn't really paying attention. "Cute? Cute! She said I am cute! That was me!"

Ace and Zoey watched in both awe and confusion as Gyrus pulled a small chain and a combination lock out of his pockets, using them to make a leash around Valeena's neck.

"You're going to be my new best friend," he told her with his usual creepy smile, "and I am never gonna leave your side! Never! Not even... forget it! Nope!"

"What the-?!" Valeena stammered, "We're attached!"

"Ha-ha-ha! That's the idea."

"Ugh! Come on! Unlock this thing!"

"No! If I were to do that, we... would not... we wouldn't be together 24-hours a day!"

"BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE TOGETHER 24-HOURS A DAY!"

"Oh! But... hee-hee... I do, and only I know the combination."

Ace shook his head. "Okay, forget 'the Weasel'," he said, "if this is what he had in mind the whole time, we aught to re-nickname him 'the Creep'!"

"But where in the universe did he get those things?" asked Zoey, pointing to the lock and chains around Valeena's neck.

"Hey, knowing Gyrus Krinkle," answered Ace, "you'll never know. Still, I can't tell what's more disgusting: this being his plan for you from the get-go, or the fact anyone, let alone Valeena, would think Kinkle's eight-year-old form is cute! He has a face only his mother would love, and she's a robot!"

"Let's just hope her opinion of him doesn't waver when this spell wears off, Ace. You see, since I failed to get a good look at the antidote for the Senority Charm, I had to whip-up a temporary version that shall only last 24-hours. By noon tomarrow, he'll be fourteen again, and if we have another private lunch under the bleachers, there's a 50-50 chance his head'll get stuck again."

The hyperforce laughed at that flashback, as time in the real world started to move forward again, and as it was, they saw Madam Esimia popping all over the island as Cassia resisted being teleported back home. At last, the fortune-teller was standing by herself in front of them, smiling. "Well, it took several tries," she said, "but Cassia is back at Darwin Manor where she's supposed to be. Purhaps now she will learn to amuse herself instead of staulking others for entertainment. I assume that even you didn't notice, Gibson?"

"No, I have not," said Gibson, sheilding his eyes as the rest of the team burst into laughter once again, "though I really wish I didn't notice this of all things."

Looking down upon herself, and blushed upon noticing she's standing before the group in her undergarments! "How embarrasing!" she said, covering herself with her arms, "I must of glitched my clothes back home with Cassia by mistake! You'd think with my power to predict the inevitable, I would've seen this coming!"

The Hyperforce took Madam Esimia home aboard the Super Robot, which once again disabled itself as soon as they arrived at Darwin Manor.

"It seems that the robot wants you to stay with us a while longer," the fortune-teller observed, "for this world has more to offer then information in the enchanted journals. That's the sort of thing you must keep in mind, no matter what happens."

"Well, there is one thing I have to offer," said Gibson, "a peice of my mind to Cassia! I told her to stay put and trust me, and she had to follow us half way around the planet?! I never in all my days endured such scandalous, distrusting behav-"

The blue monkey couldn't find the heart to finish his speach, however, as he saw the female capuchin he was complaining about was reading her library-book in the main room, and the title of that book really threw him off:

Irrational Love: Relationships that Changed History. Cronicled by: John & Mary Stanton

Despite being really into her book, Cassia somehow knew he was there, and shook her head before closing the book. "You sure know how to find a loophole, Gibson," she said, "You kept your mouth shut about my love of reading, yet you end up merely showing your friends my secret hobby."

"Just so you know," Gibson said, "it was unintentional, and being smart enough to at least know how to read is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Easy for you to say! Your cybernetic! Odds are, you and the others might have micro-computers in your head that boosts the IQ levels that you might already have 10-fold, which may or may not leave room for stupidity, but how would I know? I am a romance novel geek, not a rocket scientist! All I know is that while the Creator-of-Creation-Itself doesn't make mistakes, the natural order often does, and books are human things. I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS SMART!"

The entire team watched as Cassia burst in tears and run up to her room. At first, they figured she was just being overdramatic and left her alone, but when she didn't come down for dinner, they all gave Gibson a harsh look.

"Don't look at me so crossly,"the blue monkey protested, "odds are, her behavior might be a front of some kind. You see, while in the secret room of the library, the heir to the establishment told Cassia and I that we were fighting 'like an old married couple' and I saw her reaction to the word 'married'. I cannot know for certain, but I'm getting the sence that she wants me, romantically speaking, but is afraid of commitment, which might or might not explain why she followed us after I told her to stay behind and trust me. Purhaps I need more time to think this over-"

"For crying out loud, Brain-strain!" shouted Sparx, "This is a girl we are talking about, not another one of your science experiments! I know it's hard, because I've been there and done that, but if it's really bugging you that badly, you should just talk to her about it, and I mean really talk to her, not use that big brain of yours to change the subject like you usually do!"

"You honestly think this is the first time I fell head-over-heels over someone, Sparx? While I was having fever dreams, I recalled the last woman to break my heart, Lulubelle Everbright. In reality, she wasn't a monkey, but she did attract me enough for me to constantly visualize her as one during my year at Cranius-Epsolon... she took the credit for all the assignments I did for her in hopes of impressing her. My behavior was both irrational and unethical!"

"Ooh!" exclaimed Otto, "I'll bet that hurt!"

"More the you know, Otto," confessed Gibson, "in fact, it was because of the way she treated me that viral video exists in the first place! My head and heart were in conflict, and I couldn't focus well on my own assignments, let alone hers. At the time, I figured that if I did something spontanious and out-of-character once and only once in my entire lifetime, such restlessness would get out of my system and stay out of it forever, but I was wrong."

"Yeah," Chiro pondered, "that sort of thing takes a lot more then that, but didn't you talk to anybody about what distracted you back then, Gibson?"

"Only my mentor, Pr. Nucleus, and as you know from previous flashbacks, he's extremely absent-minded in spite his efforts to take his position as a scientist seriously. The old windbag gave a lecture on gravity in another teacher's art studio three days steightfor heaven's sake! Sigh! He was such a laughing-stock that, sometimes, I wonder if my fear of appearing irrational has been nurtured by some consern that I'm becoming every bit as pathetic as he was, if not worse."

Nodding in afformation, Antauri dished up a bowl of tomato soup and a slice of bread (the only decent meal left in the manor until they either go groccery shopping or can get the dehydrated food, and the system to that, out of the Super Robot) and put it on a tray he found along with a glass of water.

"I am going to make sure Cassia is alright," the silver monkey explained, "if you would like to accopany me, you are more then welcome."

Gibson shook his head. He has enough shame to deal with as it is.

"I'll go," vollenteered Nova, "this is probably one of those girl-to-girl moments anyway."

Author's note: For those who didn't catch on yet, Cassia and Gibson both have issues with how they appear to others, the only difference with that is that he doesn't want to seem irrational and absent-minded, while she doesn't want to seem boring and tame. In addition to that, Cassia is also sensitive, especially when it comes to her habits as a literature "closet-geek", but even though she claims to obsessed with romance novels, that isn't all she reads (didn't make it to obvious, but she's also into books about pirates, herbs, and exotic dancing). In spite of that, she is a real live wire, and often dreams of being a femme fatal in spite of the fact she was foretold the inevitabillity of her marriage (to Gibson, most likely).

Please read and review, as I might need help with the next chapter. The next set of journal pages are in South America, and Cassia is bound to follow the hyperforce again, but this time, they will need her help, but to what extent?