Chapter 25: Beginnings
Summary: The Hyper Force returns home and their lives begin.
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The Skeleton King emitted a low growl of frustration as he watched the departing Super Robot.
"Get me Sakko," Skeleton King grumbled to the Formless servant.
A few moments later, Sakko was bowing before him.
"Yes, my king?" Sakko said.
"You better have that silly android repaired by now," Skeleton King said, narrowing his eyes.
"Yes, I have her programmed with the proper specifications,"
"Then what are you waiting for? Get down there and fulfill your mission!"
Sakko squeaked in compliance and scampered away.
Skeleton King looked back at the image of the Super Robot making its way back home to Shuggazoom.
"If I couldn't go through his mind, might as well try going though his heart," Skeleton King muttered.
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The battle of the abandoned section of Shuggazoom wasn't going so well. Almost everyone had been subdued or taken prisoner. Mr. Gakslapper had been one of them.
"What do we do now?" A woman whispered.
They were huddled in an alleyway. The Formless guarded them with weapons that looked as if they were made of bone.
"I don't know, but I'll think of something," Mr. Gakslapper said, glancing around. He already had a gash in his arm when he leaped at a chance for freedom. He didn't want to admit it, but now he was beginning to doubt the return on the Hyper Force. Had they been defeated up in space? Or did they really leave?
He looked up to the sky, hoping to see something to prove him wrong, but there was nothing.
Mr. Gakslapper sighed and cast his eyes downwards. He never would have imagined that he would ever be involved in an attack on his planet and be left huddling in an alleyway with his fellow Shuggazoomians.
The ground suddenly shook, making everyone look up and gasp in shock as the Super Robot settled itself on the ground. The crowd cheered as their hope was restores and the guards scrambled to keep control.
"They have hostages," Otto reported. "What's the plan?"
"What else is going on? What about the police?" Chiro asked,
"I'm detecting their forces surrounding the sector, they seem to be keeping the Formless from entering the remainder of the city," Gibson said.
"Which is just as well," Antauri said.
"All right, team, let's go down there and free the people," Chiro said. "Hyper Force, go!"
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On the outskirts of the quadrant, the officers held their ground as did the Formless they were confronting. There was no battle between these groups aside from a few scuffles. The Formless simply stood side by side, forming a barrier, and didn't move. The only confrontations came when an officer tried to break through. The police chief decided that as long as they weren't going to invade the rest of Shuggazoom, this was the only thing that they could do.
So that was how it had been for hours. The barrier of Formless never moved, and a barrier of police officers did the same along with firefighters and other volunteers. The Shuggazoom police force wasn't very large, and in cases like this they depended on volunteers from the fire and sanitation departments, people such as Gyrus Krinkle.
Suddenly, the heads of the Formless had snapped up to attention as if they had been called. The Shuggazoom barrier watched in guarded amazement as the Formless turned and uniformly walked back into the abandoned quadrant.
"What do we do, chief?" A rookie officer asked in a slightly shaking voice.
"I, I, uh," the police chief scratched his head. "Okay, we follow them, but carefully. Stay alert for any attacks. Officers, take the front, volunteers to the back, we must move cautiously and avoid any casualties. Let's move out, people!"
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"Magna-Tingler Blast!"
Three Formless were knocked back.
"Scritch-Scratch Doom Thrower!"
Four more Formless lost various limbs.
"Boom Boom Wake Up!"
A group of five was reduced to puddles.
"Chiro Spearo!"
A lightening bolt ripped through another three.
Drilling laser blasts destroyed another group.
"Faze and Daze!"
Two Formless were thrown into convulsions seconds before they, too, were destroyed.
As the Hyper Force launched their attack, some of the former hostages began asserting themselves and fighting for their freedom again. The Formless troops came, but were destroyed in due time.
The battle lasted about twenty minutes. When it was over, the Hyper Force found themselves surrounded by a grateful crowd. The six of them shared smiles, knowing it was a job well done.
"Somehow I knew I'd find you in the middle of all of this,"
The crowd parted and allowed the police chief through. Chiro's face paled behind his orange mask. He felt something tough his hand lightly, and he looked down to find Otto looking up at him with a small smile. The other monkeys were also looking up at him, and it reassured him that somehow, things were going to work out.
"I'm sorry, kid, but I have to take you back to your foster parents," the chief said.
"Officer, I implore you to reconsider. I understand your laws, but Chiro is happy with us," Antauri began explaining.
"Kid, I'm sure the chimp has good intentions, but if it's trying to speak to me, well, I didn't take monkey language at the academy," the chief said.
"I would like to step in and speak on the behalf of this young man," Mr. Gakslapper said, stepping forth from the crowd. "Twice now the boy and his team of monkeys have saved us all. All of us here intend to fix up this neighborhood and restore it to its previous, glorious state to give the boy an adequate place to live. We want to take responsibility for the boy in repayment for keeping us safe,"
The chief crossed his arms and thought for a while. Chiro's heart pounded, he couldn't believe what was happening.
"I am sorry, sir, but the boy is legally bound to his foster parents,"
"I don't want to go back," Chiro finally spoke up. "They ignore me, yell at me, and they yell at each other, I was miserable there. I hate them, and I don't want to go back,"
The memory he experienced under the influence of the Formless Monster came rushing back to him. He shook his head to clear it from his mind.
"I really, really don't want to go back," he murmured again.
The chief's eyes widened slightly, and then he bent down to look Chiro in the eyes.
"Did they ever physically abuse you?"
Chiro blinked, searching his memory. "Well, I've been shoved,"
The chief nodded and stood up. "Good enough for me. I'll take care of that end," he held out his right hand to Chiro, who shook it tentatively. "Keep your nose clean, kid, or you'll have a whole community of parents instead of just the two,"
Chiro smiled. "Yes, sir,"
"As for the rest of you, anyone taking residence in this area will be sent papers declaring your responsibility for this child."
The crowd offered murmurs of agreement, and then the chief tipped his hat and ordered his officers out.
"We did it everyone!" Mr. Gakslapper cried.
The crowd exploded into cheers. The monkey team looked up at Chiro with smiles; Chiro looked at them with a grin.
Even though no one had slept through the night, it didn't stop them from beginning the cleanup. Chiro and the monkeys were more than willing to help.
As Chiro went to throw a bag of garbage onto a pile, he found BT and Glenny doing the same. Their eyes met. Chiro gave them both a steady look while the two glared back.
"Don't get the wrong idea, our parents want to live in this part of town," BT sneered.
"So, the fact that I have quite possibly saved your lives won't get you off my case?" Chiro asked.
"Fat chance, Monkey Boy, you didn't save our live," Glenny muttered.
"Matter of fact you just made yourself more weird, you really are a Monkey Boy," BT said as a cruel smirk crossed his face.
"BT! Glenny! You two get over here right now!" A woman called from out of sight.
The two bullies grumbled and mumbled as they stalked off for their next task.
Chiro was thankful that there were no other confrontations, however he was thankful for that one. He was confident, and BT and Glenny no longer posed a threat to him. He knew that if push came to shove, he would be able to take care of it.
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That night after dinner, Chiro sat outside on the shoulders of the Super Robot. He breathed deeply, enjoying the view of a cleaned up Shuggazoom. The Hyper Force and the people who now wanted to live there really put themselves into that day's cleanup. Everything looked done, and the rest would be taken care of in the next few weeks. As a matter of fact, the city looked like it hadn't been abandoned at all.
"Today was a good day, Chiro?" Antauri asked as he sat next to the boy.
"Yeah, it was a very good day," Chiro said. "Missions accomplished."
"Yes, but you do know there is but one more mission we must fulfill?"
Chiro sighed, the sigh turned into a yawn. "Yes, I know,"
"Let's get some sleep, so tomorrow we may accomplish our mission,"
Chiro nodded and went to bed. Antauri smiled and looked up at the stars.
"You two had a bit of an experience up on the ship, I take it," Gibson said, coming out to sit next to Antauri.
"Yes, the boy has more power than he realizes still," Antauri said.
They were quiet for a few minutes.
"So when are you going to tell him?" Gibson asked.
"When he is ready, Gibson, and I now have complete faith that one day, he will be ready to accept that he is The Chosen One."
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When the Hyper Force awoke the next morning, a few clouds were covering the sky, but they knew it would clear up. After breakfast, they all gathered at the top of the Super Robot. Armed with special pistols, Sprx and Chiro attached cords around their ankles.
"I know this looks bad, team," Chiro said. He looked down at the Super Robot, which was now covered in green gunk. He grimaced. "But the Super Robot must be cleaned!"
"You gonna talk all day or do this?" Nova asked, holding Chiro's cords.
Sprx and Chiro stood at the edge, their water guns filled with cleaning solution. Chiro glance over at Sprx; Otto was going to spot him. He gave the red monkey a smirk.
"Last one to finish his side does the other's chores?" Chiro asked.
"You're on," Sprx replied, smirking back.
They both leapt off the robot, turning around and aiming their pistols at the gunk and sprayed it right off.
Down on the ground, something sparkled and caught Chiro's eye. He turned his head and saw a girl with a green jumper and red pigtails. His heart started pumping fast, and he stopped paying attention to what he was doing and the spray of cleaning solution cut across the cords holding him.
Antauri had warned them both to be careful, the cleaning pistols were mini-power washers, the spray would be forceful enough to cut through rope.
Chiro only remembered that when he began falling without support.
"Chiro!" Sprx cried, reaching towards him.
Nova reached forward and grabbed the broken end of the cord, but Chiro was too heavy and she went over. Gibson leapt forward to grab her tail, also began to fall, and Antauri took hold of his as his other hand grabbed the edge of the robot.
"We gotcha," Nova said.
A second later, the rope slipped out of her hands and Chiro cried out again as he fell the rest of the way to the ground, which was all of four feet. His back hit the ground hard. The monkeys leapt off the robot and joined him on the ground.
"You okay, buddy?" Otto asked.
Chiro groaned and his eyes were open. They could tell he was all right, Chiro had taken harder hits before.
"What happened, Chiro?" Antauri asked, wondering what had distracted him.
"He lost, check it out," Sprx said with a laugh. "My side sparkles, the kid missed a spot."
Sprx continued to laugh at himself. Nova punched the side of the robot and made a pile of gunk fall on Sprx.
"Huh, sore loser," Sprx muttered while Nova smiled at him.
During this, Chiro wondered what did happen. He felt he had experienced many things over the past few months, but this was completely new. He had to find out why he reacted this way, and what had caused it.
Chiro stood and looked around.
"Who was that girl?"
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Author's Notes
And that, my friends, is that, I thank you, and goodnight. I have to say this has been a wonderful undertaking, a summer and first half of fall stress-fest, and I thank you all for being there, offering words of encouragement, leaving me reviews, and it all had kept me going.
This chapter is dedicated to Netbug, stay strong love, what more can I say? Love the people around you while they are here, and love them for what they've left you when they're not.
I'll be taking a break from this fandom during November while I throw myself into Nanowrimo (it'll probably be halfway through November by the time you guys read this) and I do intend to return with another story in December. Have quite a few ideas, mainly humorous stories, but I think you'll all like them just the same.
Thank you again, everyone, check my LiveJournal if you want to know how Nano is going, and I will see you sometime in December.