RJ and Martin:
Chapter 21: An Astral Projected Big Uh-Oh
A good week had passed since they came from Cannes; it was now Friday, May 5th. For RJ, it meant two things. It meant her first full month in the outside world, it meant five more days until she turned sixteen, and it meant almost two full weeks of being Fiske's apprentice.
Everyday had been intense training, with bittersweet pros and cons that led to future improvement. Through every unexpected obstacle or clever ruse he threw at her in physical training, she ended up learning to ignore the bruises and now she fully understood and performed the techniques of Tai Shing Pek War.
Through hours of synchronizing with the world as if you had forgotten you were in a Lotus position and putting patience in calligraphy, she learned how to remain patient and accepting during spiritual training.
The mystical training was, well, still a work in progress. Like the other two forms of training, RJ did understand the elemental basics behind Mystical Monkey Power. To Martin's pleasure, she even took time to borrow and read books from his library to gain further information. But even when she tried her hardest, her Mystical Monkey Power was either weak or unwilling to cooperate. Her teacher tried to annex her learning in spiritual training with the one from the mystical training, but even when RJ tried to apply patience, it took her six hours to make a candle melt with a flame enhanced by Mystical Monkey Power.
And now that it was Friday, that fact still bugged them.
"Where are we going?" RJ asked when Martin led her outside the castle right before physical training started. With May here and the weather getting nicer, it wasn't any trouble to go into the melting snowy fields of green grass while wearing their martial art uniforms. Vitello accompanied them with a golf bag full of useful martial art gears.
"We're going here." They finally stopped in a nice field, where the town of Piégrelle was nothing but the size of a Russian doll and the Fiske castle good two or three cliffs away from it. "The training we're going to do today is particularly dangerous, I don't want to risk any damage."
"How dangerous are we talking?" RJ asked.
"As you've noticed during your training, you've had struggles with your Mystical Monkey Power. You've had some improvements when we combined spiritual and mystical training, but it still wasn't enough, contrary to your rather prodigious excellence in physical training. So today, we are going to combine physical and mystical."
RJ tensed a bit. "Are you sure this won't be risky?"
"At one point you will have to learn how to control Mystical Monkey Power for an actual fight, and since you did so well in physical training, it should help you control your chakras' physical system, which should at the same time give directions to your MMP."
Martin walked over to a nearby thicket and ripped off a branch. He came back and started drawing different dioramas on a small patch of dirt in the grass. "What we are going to do is a traditional form of Simian Witch attack and defense technique system based on zodiac signs and characteristics. Even though my ancestors leaned towards using the simian forms of the system, it was essential for them to know and understand the other forms."
"Like the Chinese Zodiac animals? How one animal is associated to a specific year, and a specific year is associated with an element?" RJ looked up from the sketches. "Did the Simian Witches use the basic element training associated with their born element to produce the monkey-formed attacks and defenses?"
Martin nodded, pleased by how his student was catching to him. "They aren't narrowed down to one element. If you put the right effort, you can use any element and animal's characteristics to create your fighting techniques, but the strongest ones will always be those relating to your born element and animal. A quick demonstration." He turned to a giant stone that was just resting there. Then, he threw in a punch monkey kung fu style at the stone. As he did so, his hand glowed with his red-colored power, but instead of a normal glow, it looked like a glow with wooden texture. But whatever the case, his MMP hit the stone and created a giant dent that hit it in the core, turning it to rubble.
"Wow," RJ gasped.
Martin rubbed his knuckles. "That was my monkey fist strike. It's enhanced by my born element, wood."
"Must have been some very thick wood," she commented, still awed by the sight. Martin chuckled before getting her attention back the stone, which he recomposed with his powers. "What? It's my turn now?"
"Yes." He waved at the stone. "You'll start with your born element and animal, gold and tiger. Focus your energy and mind on your target and use any of the striking techniques I taught you to damage that rock to smithereens." Martin quickly rushed behind a tree where Vitello was safely watching from. "But just for safety reasons..."
RJ sighed in exasperation. She turned her eyes back to the stone and placed herself: right foot forward, left foot rooted down, knees folded, and arms in. She took a deep breath, not turning her mind and eyes away from the stone. A picture of a tiger pouncing and slashing its claws at its prey came to her. RJ took a deep breath and made the run.
"I bet she's gonna try clawing the stone," Vitello told his master.
"That is a possibility," Martin said.
Then, RJ did the unexpected. Instead of striking the rock with her hands, she took a large jump, leaving a trail of blue MMP behind her. Martin and Vitello wondered what on earth she was thinking until she came plummeting down like a blue comet and gave a giant blue kick to the stone.
It shattered into a million microscopic pieces that spread all over the field, Martin and Vitello had to wait for two minutes before bringing their heads up.
"You didn't claw it down," Martin remarked as he walked back to RJ.
"Yeah, I was going with originality," RJ shrugged.
"And you did an excellent job." Martin clapped in approval. "Alright, now that you understand the main concept, we're going to practice with techniques that my ancestors have used throughout history."
"Uh... May I ask something? Completely irrelevant to the lesson?" RJ raised a finger.
"Yes?" He turned to her. While she got the part that he was here for any question, but what she didn't realize was that he was having a hopeful moment. Perhaps she had finished her thinking since the May Day Cotillion and would have given him a positive answer.
"It's probably dumb that I ask this now, but..." RJ asked, "how come we have different colored powers?"
Martin blinked. This was not what he was expecting. "Excuse me?"
"You know... the Mystical Monkey Power. I know it's the root of your Monkey Witchcraft, and I am no magic expert like your folks... but how come any time I see you use it or the one time I saw your mom do it, your power turns red, whereas mine is blue?"
That was a good question. And unfortunately, he didn't have the answer for it. Martin had a flaw of recklessness in his studies: growing up, he never took into account as to the why of his MMP's physical appearance. To him, it was a blessing to have it, why worry about color- coding?
"Colors is something I hardly think about concerning the MMP," he said. "But then again, my mother and I are Simian Witches. You aren't. It might... show our differences."
"What about your dad? Doesn't he control Mystical Monkey Power too?"
Martin frowned at the notion. "Excellent remark there, RJ. I may have lived seven years without my folks, but not even once have I seen him use MMP the same way you do."
An hour later
A jeep pulled ferociously up on the road in the French Alps. Three passengers were holding onto their seatbelts while the driver was charging her way up.
"Mistress, I'm begging you to slow down!" Kronos, the Homo Simius healer, begged.
"The sooner we get there, the better!" The Simian Witch grumbled as she hit the pedals.
"Silvia, you are exaggerating a bit," Monkey Fist tried to soothe down his wife before she could drive them off into the deep. "I mean, Martin is in his twenties. You're acting like he's a wanted criminal."
"He's already wanted by the authorities," Gilliard pointed out.
"Hm. Not my best choice of words."
"Mistress, you're fussing over nothing!" Kronos exclaimed. "I mean, it's not the end of the world if your boy wastes credit card money..."
"Add in the fact that we haven't heard from him in three weeks!" The Simian Witch said. "You'd think a dutiful son would at least give me a phone call to let me know he's doing fine!"
"Check it, we're at the castle!" Gilliard pointed ahead, where they could see the building appear. Then, unexpectedly, Kronos groaned and covered his head with his hands. Seeing that her family healer was having a headache, the Simian Witch stopped the car.
"Kronos?" She asked.
"Gah! So much power... I can sense... Mystical Monkey Power... a massive amount!" Kronos chocked.
"Yeah, you're sitting in a car with them." Gilliard indicated the Fiskes. "Or, you know, Martin back in his house."
"No... it's another life form... It's five hundred times stronger... It must be!" Kronos ripped off his seatbelt and kicked the door open, getting out of the car and making a run down the hill.
"Kronos, where are you going?" The Simian Witch ran after him.
"Silvia!" Monty followed her.
"Why did I ever agree to tag along?" Gilliard sighed as he jumped out of the car and followed the other villains down the hill. Kronos was the craziest. He ran faster than Monkey Fist did when the latter knuckle-walked, but soon came to a halt and laid his stomach on the earth. He put his hand out, signaling the others to halt, and soon they saw why. Just behind the mount of earth, glowing booms of red and blue came and went. What was most unnerving, however, was the fact that whatever created those fireworks created monkey-screeching sounds.
"Kronos was right!" The Simian Witch whispered. "There are two life forms bearing Mystical Monkey Power right ahead of us, but one of them isn't my son. It's... Great Hanuman, it's like a nuclear bomb full of the power!"
"I'd be surprised if Stoppable was around the block." Monty bit his lips at the mention of his old arch-foe. "But then again, I highly doubt he'd be able to control Mystical Monkey Power..."
"Especially not such an amount!" Kronos whispered. "The Simian Witch quest is over! The Ultimate Monkey Master has been discovered!"
"Hold your horses!" Gilliard grabbed Kronos by the arm before the Homo Simius could expose them. "What if this is just some kind of ruse? Maybe Global Justice or the Halls set up this booby trap by making us think Martin was here?"
"Hm. You're right," Monty agreed with the fish-boy mutant.
"I'll go first. If this is a trap, I'll scream."
They wished him good luck. Gilliard cautiously got up and walked up to see what was happening on the field. His jaw dropped at the sight of Martin and RJ sparring with wooden bo staffs, with the spectacular sight being their glowing hands enhancing the strengths of their sticks, Martin with red and RJ with blue.
"More rooting in that defense!" Martin snapped at RJ while the latter tried her hardest to block his attack. "You'd think that you could send an attacking swing worthy of a snake slapping with its tail while at the while also having a bull's sense of rock defense!"
"Before they end up in the slaughterhouse!" Without Martin even realizing it, RJ threw her right foot at his crotch. Gilliard actually had to yell in pain since the kick was enhanced by her blue glow.
"I told you to never kick me there! Why did you kick me there, especially with your MMP?" Martin squirmed, dropping his staff to tend to his pained area.
"Correction. You made me promise to never kick you in the P-area when I have to be unpredictable," RJ said, swinging her staff between her fingers with perfect agility, and having stand perfectly on the tip of her middle finger. "You never made me promise to kick you in the P-area when I have to defend myself."
This was too much for Gilliard. His mouth couldn't contain much longer and he started bursting into laughter. "I can't believe it!" He held his stomach as he walked down to join them. "She kicked you in the crotch how many times?" He kept laughing until he had to stop for a breath.
"Gill-bud!" RJ smiled and exchanged a series of friendly greeting fist-bumps with Gilliard. "How's it going? It's been weeks!"
"I know, right?" Gilliard nodded. "I mean, I heard that you went nuts and got an apprenticeship with some European, but I didn't think it would be with Martin!"
"I'm still here." Martin got up and dusted himself off. "Exactly how are you two thick as thieves?"
"Until the creepy mishap of two weeks ago, Gilliard was among the buddies I made back in the Minalshari. Aside from Buffy, you can't have a better pal for video game nights than Gill-bud!"
"Right." Martin rolled his eyes. This totally made sense.
"But... since when does Gamer Queen have your power?" Gilliard asked.
"Is that a problem?" To answer his question, Gilliard tilted his head to the mount of earth he had just come down from. Martin's eyes widened in fright and chuckled nervously. "How are you doing, Mother and Father?"
"And Kronos!" The Homo Simius healer jumped out of the hiding spot. Only RJ jumped in surprise.
"That is one giant monkey ninja!" She gasped.
"Uh, no, that's a Homo Simius. RJ, this is Kronos, my family healer," Martin did the introductions. "Kronos, this is..."
"INCREDIBLE!" Kronos pushed Martin out of the way and started fawning over RJ like a researcher slash college professor does when he discovers a new species. Against RJ's protests, he grabbed her by both arms and examined her popping veins. "Just INCREDIBLE! Every blood cell in that girl's vein and artery system is Mystical Monkey Power enhanced, which must also increase her brain and muscle potential!" He let go of her. RJ didn't have time to recover before Kronos started assaulting her with questions. "Do you have any connections with the Ultimate Monkey Master Prophecy? Are you ancestors ten times removed cousins of the Simian Witches and descendants of Toshimu? Have you ever held the Lotus Blade? What are the unlimited boundaries of your power?"
"Can I ask you something?" RJ asked with a small smile.
"Absolutely!"
"CAN YOU LET ME CATCH A BREAK?" She shouted. Kronos stepped back awkwardly. She huffed. "Gee, now I know the horrors of paparazzi!"
The Simian Witch was the second one to come down. At first, she didn't notice RJ, because she was too busy being angry at her son. "Two weeks of burning your credit cards and not giving your old parents at least one call! Are you trying to murder us?"
"I didn't think you'd understand, Mother!" Martin shook at the sight of his mother's burning eyes.
"Understand what?" He attention then went to RJ shouting at Kronos and muttering something about paparazzi. "Wait a minute... I know you."
"You know RJ, Mother?" Martin gave RJ a quick 'what-is-going-on' look.
"It was back at the potluck," RJ explained to him. "Earlier that day, the Y.E.A.R.N professors noticed a possible strain in my ankle that would keep me from my first heist. Edina recommended going to your mom to get it fixed."
"Hm. Must have happened before the green room encounter," Martin said.
"Wait, you two met in Drakken's green room?" Martin's mother arched an eyebrow.
"Nah, they actually first met at Très Chez Léon the Tuesday before the potluck," Gilliard chuckled. "The day he came back all brooding."
"You were brooding?" RJ looked at Martin.
"You called me a British aristocratic snob," he pointed out.
"Didn't you manage to get back at me by calling me 'American vixen'?"
The Simian Witch had been staring at two of them doing small bickering. A grin pasted itself on her mouth and she clapped her hands in triumph. "That explains so much!" She chuckled.
"Mother?" Martin was confused.
"The unlike-you spending, the lying, the lack of phone calls..." The Simian Witch cupped her son's cheeks and squished them, making him feel a bit uncomfortable. "Naughty boy! Why hide from your own mother that you have a girlfriend?"
"Mother!" Martin whined.
"To be fair, Mrs. Fiske, it's more of a professional relationship," RJ cleared her throat, though her blush was distinguishable. "There have been... circumstances when we made it clear we weren't interested."
"What circumstances?" Gilliard asked. RJ and Martin said nothing, but Gilliard noticed Martin's expression looking a bit... unpleasant. He scowled. "Excuse me, Mrs. Fiske. I need to borrow Martin for a moment." The moment the Simian Witch let go of her son, Gilliard grabbed Martin by the arm and pulled him at least twenty feet or something to mumble something they couldn't hear. Kronos, in all his excitement, decided to go back to the mount to get Lord Fiske, who was still hiding for precautions, leaving RJ and the Simian Witch.
"I'm surprised that I haven't sensed your power the moment I met you," the sorceress confessed to RJ, who was crossing her arms for comfort.
"It's kind of new to me..." RJ then blurted. "It only started showing during my first week at Y.E.A.R.N and when Melgo identified it as Mystical Monkey Power..."
"Melgo knew?" The Simian Witch asked crossly.
"Yeah, I later found out that she used Amelia Hall as a diversion to steal a book on basic Tai Shing Pek Kwar to see if she could help me control the power..."
"Did it help?" The Simian Witch raised her eyes curiously.
"A bit... but it wasn't enough. At first, the power did the controlling on its own and bad things followed. When your son found out I had Mystical Monkey Power, he instantly wanted me to be his apprentice because he thought I needed the proper training, but..." She chuckled nervously. "Honestly, I didn't like your son at all back then, so I tried to... avoid him, but nothing stopped the bad things from coming. There were some minor returns when he started teaching me, but then it got better as we went to today. Though I still have more issues with the mystical training than the physical or spiritual."
The sorceress rubbed her chin and pondered. "Interesting. And how old are you?"
"I'm turning sixteen this coming Wednesday."
"Hm." The woman nodded. "In my family, it's common for a Simian Witch's Mystical Monkey Power to be dormant until it makes its booming awakening on the host's sixteenth birthday, but I cheated for Martin and made him start learning Monkey Witchcraft by the age of eight. But with you... you're obviously not a Simian Witch but your power's energy emits the one that is relative to the genetically inherited. Perhaps your family is an extremely distant relative of mine?"
"I think Martin had a similar theory, but I know nothing on my own family." RJ shook her head.
"Orphanage?"
"No. Raised by my grandmother and isolated in an apartment. It's only last month that I ran off."
"The lengths of grandparents..." The sorceress shook her head, which readers know is relating to her complicated relationship with her maternal Grandfather Sylvester (reread THE SIMIAN WITCH).
Kronos and Monkey Fist came down from the mount. While Kronos came in excitement, RJ found herself being paralyzed by the sight of Monkey Fist. Just seeing the walking picture from the HenchCo library magazines walking in the flesh and looking like an older duplicate of Martin Fiske was fascinating enough, but for some reason seeing this close to mid-age man sent an alarm ringing feeling down the girl's spine. It was as if to warn her that this man is dangerous. And he seemed to have that physical reaction too, because he was giving her a glare that none of the other villains had given to her yet, not even Martin.
The glare that one had when an unknown object was identified as a definite certain threat.
"This is not... possible..." Monkey Fist scowled at the girl.
You are a threat to him, Ronilda, the old mysterious voice echoed in her mind once gain, blocking her senses. Get rid of him before he disposes of you first.
Her conscience froze. She saw and heard nothing. All that came next was that her eyes glowed blue and she instantly threw in a blue punch at Monkey Fist. He was swift enough to dodge it, unlike the mount that crumbled behind him.
"What in the world?" He exclaimed.
RJ held out her hand. Her bo staff returned to her palm, turning it to burning blue metal the moment she clutched it. The adults' eyes widened when they saw it transform into an ax.
"What on earth is wrong with her?" the monkey man exclaimed. He dodged again to avoid the spinning ax coming from the girl walking like an automaton.
"Unstable Mystical Monkey Power..." The Simian Witch looked in horror.
"Not again!" Martin and Gilliard ran back. "Does anyone have a taser?" Martin asked. "A taser knocked her out the last time this happened!"
"I just stole this one from the mall security!" Gilliard pulled out a taser stick from his shirt. Since RJ was so distracted trying to hack Monkey Fist, she didn't have time to notice Gilliard creeping up on her until she got electrocuted and fell to the ground, losing her glow as she fell unconscious.
"This was unexpected," the Simian Witch said.
"Is RJ going to be OK?" Gilliard asked.
"I... I don't understand!" Martin stammered in shock while Kronos quickly picked up the girl in his arms. "I... The microchip is not on her, she spent a week without any weird voices! Why is she turning emotionless again?"
"Well I guess the one way to find out is for you to tell us what is going on?" Monkey Fist told his son with an expecting frown that was mutually shared by the Simian Witch.
"He can explain back in England!" Kronos said in worry. "The girl's temperature is dropping! I need to take her to my healing chamber for proper curing!"
Hours later, at the Fiske Estate in London
Kronos was taking care of RJ in the healing chamber. While that was happening, Monkey Fist, the Simian Witch, and Gilliard were listening with disappointment at Martin, who told them the whole story of everything that happened from his first encounter with RJ, including the potion crafting and the fake Hope Diamond necklace holding a microchip that could brainwash any MMP host that touched it.
"I cannot believe that you still went through with the potion! And you made her drink it while she was unconscious!" Gilliard said.
"To be fair, I don't think it worked," Martin said bitterly.
"You are an idiot!" His mother said. "Haven't you learned anything concerning emotional mystics in Monkey Witchcraft? The victim only becomes your physical slave if she has one hundred percent of hatred for you! Evidently, RJ had enough respect to obey from her own free will, but you can bet that the moment she finds out you potioned her, she will hate you and then the potion will work!" She sighed in frustration. "To think that you were planning on doing it even before you found out she had the power!"
"It did soothe her power down by a tad." Martin offered.
"You could have just given her flowers to tell her 'I can't stop thinking about you,' Darcy-boy!" Gilliard now sounded like Nancy Maim with the Darcy-Bennet comparisons.
Monkey Fist cleared his throat, getting their attention. "While Martin's... rather inadequate seducing antics are very shameful to us all, shouldn't we primarily worry on his news that somebody out there is using technology to brainwash a child that almost killed me?"
"You have such a priority." His wife got up and walked over to the mahogany counter holding the vintage telephone. After zapping it with a bolt of magic, the machine quickly dialed and the Simian Witch waited for the line to answer. As if it were on an old-fashioned speaker mode, the voice at the end of the line answered.
"Lab of Dementia Dementor, where you are guaranteed to be destroyed if you tamper with my work! I am currently on speakerphone. How may I assist?" Dementia's voice spoke.
"Hello, Dementia, this is Lady Fiske along with the rest of the clique," the Simian Witch said in the friendliest tone she could come up with. "I have my son here who claims that he has this friend who got brainwashed..."
"I told him that it might take me longer to analyze that chip!" Dementia shouted. The sorceress had to back away from the telephone to avoid getting her eardrums fried. "June at the latest!"
"So this is real?" The Simian Witch asked. "You're really analyzing a microchip that could..." She gulped. "Brainwash Mystical Monkey Power bearers?"
"That's what Herr Fiske said and I checked with the Fashionistas. Both Chino and Hoodie have witness evidence."
"Otherwise, how is the microchip analysis going, Dementia?" Martin asked from his seat.
"Still dissecting. You have no idea of the dozens of layers of nanotech perimeters surrounding the biotech wiring..."
"And in English?"
"She's saying that whoever fabricated the microchip used a ton of advanced nanotech to create a dozen of inner shields around the circuit system that controls the wearer's DNA," Gilliard translated.
"Exactly." Their best guess was that Dementia was nodding from the other line.
"A microchip that can control a wearer's DNA?" Monkey Fist's eyes widened.
"No, it's the biotech wiring in the microchip that does the controlling." Gilliard shook his head and explained. "Back in my time at Y.E.A.R.N, my first three heists involved trolling the lab where my dad got stuck in and stealing information. At one point I spied on their experiments and saw that they made prototypes of biotech wiring. The purpose was to have the wiring root through the host's bioelectricity currents and then plunge the technology into the blood system. Originally they intended to use the microchips to help fight of blood poisoning, clotted arteries and other internal diseases connected via blood, but after a failed human experiment caused the human guinea pig to internal get electrocuted, they shut down the project, and then the lab."
"Let me see if I'm understanding you properly." Martin did a time-out hand gesture. "You're telling me that some scientists idea to use wires to cure blood diseases... can be used to control someone holding Mystical Monkey Power. I'm not seeing the link."
"Actually, it's not too idiotic," Monkey Fist realized. "If I remember what I learned back in high school biology, the blood system goes all over the human body to carry out the oxygen, even the brain. If the scientists were mad enough, they could have used the biotech wiring to control a human body by manipulating the blood system like internal puppet strings."
"Well whoever was crazy enough to put that in a microchip in a fake Hope Diamond necklace that RJ ended up stealing was mad enough for both that and to create those dozens of shields," Dementia added through the line. "He could have easily stolen the prototypes and enhanced them. I mean, I only managed to break through one of these damn things! And it took me five days! I used to think security was dumb for exposing high-voltage wires at live concerts, but this is ridiculous!"
"Well thank you again, Dementia," the Simian Witch said. "Let us know if you find anything else."
"Da. Ooh, and please remind the Fraulein that she is welcome to come over and play cards with me and my aunt if she ever gets bored!" Dementia hung up, leaving the line in static until the Simian Witch hung up the telephone.
"OK, I know that my general career is dangerous, but this is worse than the time when I got sent to that Global Justice asylum!" The Simian Witch rubbed her temples in pressure. "What other damages did RJ do?"
"I kept track." Gilliard pulled out a list and read through it. "OK, first she stole the Hope Diamond, which led to the bridge explosion and forty-seven casualties..."
"FORTY-SEVEN?" The married couple exclaimed.
"That's combining civilians and the police," Martins said grimly.
"Then the following don't sound so harmless, she did a criminal spree of robbing jewels from museums and stores," Gilliard continued, " but then she murdered a royal ambassador and stole her tiara, stole tungsten from private Asian factories located in the US, and even burned a Texan town while stealing from the Centurion Project scientists. Total dead people? 115."
"86 of them being civilians," Martin added.
"My god... This worse than the Yono..." The Simian Witch dropped on her chair. "How did you even manage to get the thing off her?"
"Oh, Chino helped me set up a trap for her in an Italian highway and I took the necklace off her after Chino hit her with a taser," Martin said.
"How'd you even manage to get Ms. Teenage Zombie to come to Italy?" Gilliard moved his arms up and down to imitate the stereotype of a zombie arm wave.
"I created a flux of Mystical Monkey Power energy matching the one of the Lotus Blade. Chino helped me spread a false rumor that the Lotus Blade was being transferred to Italy and she instantly swallowed the bait."
"The Lotus Blade and the Centurion Project." Monkey Fist went through old memories of his first days as a supervillain. "The sword was made out of a pure rich mineral atom that is only found in tungsten, I remember reading that in my manuscripts. As for the Centurion Project, I heard that Drakken and Killigan once went after this trinket that could cover a stressed person with a growing armor..."
"Oh, now it all fits!" Gilliard gave a goofed up smiled and slapped himself on the forehead. "Somebody must have heard of how powerful you guys are when enhanced by Mystical Monkey Power, so the enemy must have decided to brainwash RJ to get the genetic information and tools he needs to build an army of self-covering battlesuits wearing warriors bearing shapeshifting swords or bearing Mystical Monkey Power to take over the world!"
The Fiskes stared at Gilliard. Their eyes twitched and they obviously did not smile at such a possibility.
"You will end up becoming someone's dinner if what you say is true!" Monkey Fist raised a warning finger.