A swift punch to the jaw sent Sparx flying to the ground and where he slid all the way back to the team's feet.

"Hey!" Nova rushed on the female, pink monkey with her fist raised while Gibson bent down to help Sparx to his feet. Nova threw a right hook, which the opposing monkey swiftly stepped back to avoid while cackling wickedly.

"That isn't you, Sparx. Those are representations of Gidget and Genesis's old teammates." Gibson explained calmly while Sparx turned to the blue scientist in confusion.

"What." He uttered flatly as the other 4 monkeys rushed on the rest of the team. Sparx stumbled out-of-the-way just as the faceless blue monkey pinned Gibson to the ground, the yellow male attacked Antauri, the Green one ran forward to face Otto with a mad laugh, and the black simian went straight towards Genesis. "Hey leave her alone!" Sparx yelled as Chiro jumped forward to shield Geni.

"Yeah it's pretty low to attack a young, defenseless girl." Chiro snapped as he locked hands with the faceless freak, who chuckled nefariously.

"Well it has hardly stopped me before." He taunted as Chiro growled deep in his throat. Genesis glared at him and jumped around Chiro to land a solid punch into the monkey's gut.

"Yeah well I'm never letting you do it again!" She yelled in defiance as her fist seemed to have no effect on the nameless monkey. The featureless monster only turned down to face her and wrap his tail around her wrist and, in one swift movement, tossed her over his shoulder and out from behind Chiro's protection. She tumbled through the air as the black monkey pushed Chiro back hard, making him stumbled, before turning to attack Geni. Luckily, she was swiftly scooped up by Sparx who held her protectively to his chest.

"Look I don't know what your deal is, but there is no way you are laying a hand on little Princess, you got that, ya faceless weirdo?" Sparx snapped as the simian seemed to glare with just a tip of his head. Chiro tried to use the distraction to hit him but, without even turning around, the black primate reach behind and caught Chiro's fist and flipped him over his shoulder in a very similar fashion to the move he had performed on Genesis, Sparx did not catch Chiro though.

"Honestly, your ignorance astonishes me." The black ape sighed while shaking his head. "You honestly think you can catch me by surprise? Here in this realm that I not only rule but created?" Chiro and Sparx exchanged a glance of confusion.

"What do you mean you created this?" Chiro asked as he pushed himself up.

"I mean do you think that this is all just a figment of Gidget's imagination? Please the girl is far too dense to every conceive something this vast and expansive. This place is my creation and you are all just guests that I have allowed here momentarily." He cackled as Genesis pushed herself out of Sparx's arms.

"Hey that's my sister you're insulting!" She snapped as the black monkey only laughed harder.

"I still can't believe that you and she refer to each other by those preposterous honorifics like they actually meant something!" His harsh laughter echoed through the empty halls. "But you two were always the weakest of us, so I suppose you had to hold on to a pathetic hope that we were all family to justify staying. That's the real reason you stayed so long isn't? Because you were afraid that if you left you would be utterly isolated in the universe." Genesis stumbled backwards, his words striking her like knives.

"We stayed because you imprisoned us!" She countered angrily while clinching her fists.

"You stayed because you were too weak to ever leave on your own, Gidget stayed for other reasons though." He taunted as Geni glared at him.

"Like what?" The café colored monkey snapped back.

"The fact that she actually liked what she did." His voice crawled as Genesis lowered her hands slowly. "Has it ever crossed your mind that your precious 'sister' might have actually enjoyed torturing others?" He laughed wickedly as Chiro jumped to Geni's side.

"There is no way that our goofy Gidget could ever be that evil." He shouted as the black monkey actually seemed to smirk.

"Your Gidget? I think you know nothing about 'your Gidget'. I have access to her memories and that allows me to do more than just torment her, I know exactly what she was thinking just weeks ago when you were acting too pathetic to lead your sad excuse for a team. And the truth is that you all have already suspected her of malicious intent long before that." He hissed as Sparx and Chiro exchanged a quick look.

"That was before we really got to know her though!" Sparx countered as the black simian shook his head with a low snicker.

"I suppose you can believe whatever you want to. But I know what fear lurks in your hearts, you know the truth." He shook his head and laughed as Gibson and his unidentifiable counterpart suddenly rolled in-between the group.

"Is there any way I could bother one of you for assistance?" He snapped as he pinned his assailant to the ground. "I am positive that it does not take three of you to chat with him." He nodded towards the black monkey as the denim monkey placed its feet on Gibson's stomach and abruptly pushed upwards, sending the scientist flying.

"What, are you having trouble handling me on my own?" The faceless ape finally spoke, and with a surprisingly sophisticated and feminine voice.

"Oh okay so you're a girl too, huh?" Sparx asked while hooking his thumb backwards to the pink monkey who was locked in combat with Nova. "Good to know I'm not the only one, that makes me feel better."

"Sparx, help Gibson I can handle this freak on my own." Chiro ordered while turning to Genesis. "You go and try to free Gidget." The small monkey nodded in response and ran to assist her sister. The black simian turned from the fleeing Genesis to Chiro as Sparx rushed to aid Gibson.

"You think I am just going to stand by and allow you to do that?" He questioned Chiro as the boy smirked in return.

"No, but do you think I'm going to stand aside and allow you to do anything? Antauri tag-team!" He yelled as the silver simian gave a quick nod over his shoulder before locking hands with the yellow monkey he had been battling and activating his jet pack. He jetted upwards, dragging the maize color monkey after him before dropping him on top of the coal-black monkey. Both grunted in pain as Chiro and Antauri rushed to attack them together.

Meanwhile, Genesis scampered across the floor, quickly dodging the fighting pairs as she ran up to the struggling Gidget.

"I'm going to get you down from here Gidget, don't worry." Genesis reassured her as she looked over the metal lockboxes that covered Gidget's hands.

"Geni are you real talking?" Gidget asked in surprise as Geni smiled at her nervously.

"Yeah I really am, but ya know, this IS a dream." Gidget looked to the ground.

"Yeah, but in what way?" She asked sadly as Genesis tilted her head to look Gidget in the face.

"What do you mean?" She asked as Gidget sighed heavily.

"You guys coming to release me in a grand battle against our team?" She asked while looking out at the Hyper Force battling the featureless primates. "This is too good to be true, they have used illusions like this before to trick me, who's to say that you guys aren't the dream?" She sighed heavily again and seemed to age years in seconds.

"Gidget no!" Geni protested while lifting up Gidget's chin to face her. "We're real, well as real as we can be in a dream, look the point is that I'm here! I'm the real one here, not them, the h=Hyper Force is real." She tried to explain as Gidget just sadly shook her head.

"How am I honestly supposed to believe that?" she asked defeated. Genesis bit her lip in thought before groaning in exasperation and turning around.

"Nova, I need help!" She yelled to the sunshine monkey who was holding the pink monkey down and repeatedly punching her in the face. Unfortunately, it seemed to no effect on the female.

"Okay give me a second!" Nova yelled as she looked around for someone to take the faceless female off her hands. "Hey Sparx, come here and watch this one for me while I help Geni out!" Sparx looked up from where he was helping Gibson hold down his counterpart, looked at him with an apologetic expression before running to Nova. She pushed the faceless simian toward the red monkey, who tumbled to the ground before turning back towards Nova and snarling.

"Hey we're not done yet!" She snapped while lunging for Nova's feet, but was stopped short of grabbing her by Sparx who taken hold of her tail and held her back.

"No so fast there female me," Sparx said as he started dragging her back towards where Gibson was battling the blue female. "Your fight is with me now." She growled as she kicking him hard in the side, making him release her, and she scurried on all fours at Nova. Sparx tackled her to the ground though and the two proceeded to wrestle in the dirt as Nova ran over to where Genesis was trying to free the distraught Gidget's hands.

"What do you need help with?" Nova asked as Genesis jumped down to the ground.

"I can't get her free, and Gidget still doesn't believe that we're the real ones here!" Geni lamented as Nova walked up to Gidget and used a gentle hand to lift her chin up.

"Come on Gidg, open your eyes. We all agreed to come in here and help you defeat your nightmares, so start fighting back." Nova said forcefully as Gidget pulled her face out of the yellow monkey's hand.

"No that's not possible, I've been trapped here for years. I killed you all years ago!" Gidget protested as she violently shook her head. She took a few deep hitching breaths while holding back sobs. "I remember your blood on my hands, your bodies at my feet. That was real, this is real, you are not." Gidget looked away while closing her eyes. "Just go away and leave me here, please."

Nova frowned at Gidget before transforming her hands and jumping up to grab the mechanical box surrounding her hand.

"I'm not real, I'm the illusion?" Nova snapped as she gripped the box and began to pull it apart. "So this is all a clever trick to make you suffer, huh?" Nova got angrier with each word as the box groaned in protest and started to break apart. "And when all this is over we'll be gone and just those faceless monsters will be left you? That's what you are really gonna tell me you believe?" Sparks flew as she split the box in two jagged halves and threw them to the ground.

"Well I'll tell you what I know, this morning you weren't in this machine. We were sparing and trying out new weapons, and we managed to rip all the fur off my stomach, that was real." Nova grabbed Gidget's newly freed hand and placed it to her stomach. "This is real Gidget, it happened this morning, I can still feel it." Gidget looked from Nova's face back down to where her hand was pressed up against the yellow monkey's stomach and, where true to her word, her fur was missing. "This is real Gidget, not this mechanical prison that they've trapped you in, so come on and fight back! I know you are strong enough to defeat them, and you don't have to do it alone."

"I…I don't know if I…." Gidget struggled for words as she shook her head and the environment began to change. The great hall they were in started to get brighter, and the wires started to fall from her body. The featureless black primate looked up from where he was locked in combat with Antauri, and sighed heavily.

"Enough of this." He growled as he snapped his fingers together and cords snapped down from the ceiling. They grabbed the team and pulled them in to the air, binding them tightly as they all tried to struggle free. "As much fun as sparing is, I grow tired of it and you have all over stayed your welcome." The wires held them fast as the featureless primates slowly made their way towards Gidget, who cowered back in fear.

She looked quickly up to Nova before shutting her eyes and whispering to herself. "You aren't real, you are a dream, you can't really hurt me, I got away…" The green unidentifiable simian gripped her by the neck and pulled her close to his face.

"Oh we'll show you real alright, and trust me I'll never let you forget about me again, Gidgie." He taunted with a wicked laugh as Gidget pushed him away from her, hard. He stumbled back as Gidget screamed into his face.

"You aren't real here! I left you behind!" She clinched her fist as she glared at all the anonymous monkeys in turn. "And if you think I'm gonna let you keep hurting my team anymore, well you all are going to be sorely mistaken. This is my mind, not yours, and you do not have control over me anymore. So. Get. Out!" The entire castle shook with each word, and the apes seemed to waver, as if they would disappear again. But then they started cackling.

"You really think that you can get rid us that easily?" The pink one giggled teasingly, "That if you just yell at us a bit we're gonna fold over like a stack of cards?" She laughed harder as the blue female slowly shook her head.

"You were always idiotic Gidget, but really this is just ridiculous. You will never be rid of us, not truly, we will always find you." She taunted as the yellow male crossed his arms.

"We are weak." He growled shortly. "And pathetic, you can never get rid of us."

"You can't even do the simple task of escaping us from your own mind. You aren't even the one in control in here, how hopeless." The black one finished as the group moved in on the violet monkey.

"Leave her alone!" A voice suddenly rang out from above. The five faceless primates stopped and turned up to see Otto struggling against the wires. "She isn't weak or pathetic or any of those other mean things you said about her!"

"Otto's right!" Nova joined in. "Gidget is one of the strongest people I know, even if she doesn't always see it herself."

"She's one of the kindest too." Genesis piped up. "And she is nothing like you all, she isn't wicked like you said, she's good!"

"If anything her main problem is that she has no confidence." Antauri added as he locked eyes with her.

"The only thing you said with any truth to it was that she is scared." Chiro stated as he glared at the nameless team. "But not really of you, she was more worried about what we will think about her once we learned about her past."

"But she never realized that we really wouldn't care." Gibson added as he looked to the rest of the team for confirmation. "We judge her by what we see now, because we realize that you cannot judge people by their worst acts, but rather who they are now."

"We all make mistakes, heck, I've made some pretty bad ones too." Sparx finished as he could only smile weakly. "But I'm learning how to let my past go and I'm not gonna let it torment me anymore. So don't let it get you Giggles!" Sparx yelled out while pumping his fist in the air.

"This is your mind." Otto shouted while smiling broadly. "Take them out, Gidg!" The purple simian grinned up at her team with amazement, but the small smile disappeared as the black monkey began to laugh again.

"Do you really thing that the silly speech will change anything-"

"Yes, it will." Gidget interrupted him as she was released her mechanical bonds and dropped to the ground. "Because they are right, and I'm going to show you how having a nice, supportive, loving, kind family behind me makes me so much stronger, smarter, and better than I could have ever been with you." She swung her hands high over her head and slammed them down to the ground with a loud smack. The wires holding the Hyper Force in place released them, and quickly tied up the nameless team instead.

"We will find you." The black one hissed as he struggled against the wires. "And when we do we'll show you and this pathetic excuse for a team how little "family" truly means-"

"Oh shut up." Gidget sighed as she rolled her eyes and made a sweeping hand motion. A large, thick band wrapped around where the black monkey's mouth should have been, and he fell into a muffled silence as the team ascended into the darkness above. The Hyper Force looked up as they walked closer to Gidget.

"Where did they go?" Chiro asked as Gidget grinned widely.

"I think I just sent them back where they came from."

"Uh, and where exactly is that?" Sparx asked while scratching his head.

"Back to their own minds." Antauri stepped forward with his arms behind his back to explain. "The bodies they used might have been physical representations influenced by Gidget and Genesis, but the spirit behind them were foreign bodies. They were guests here in Gidget's mind just as we are," He turned towards Gidget and Genesis. "I believe we were just given our first informal introduction to your old team, correct?" Gidget and Genesis exchanged a quick grimace.

"Yeah pretty much." Genesis agreed while she hugged Gidget tightly. "But like I said before, that wasn't a perfect physical picture of them, I know some features were wrong or completely missing, but that did seem like them personality wise."

"Cause it was them." Gidget confirmed while looking to the rest of the team. "While I was tied up there I suddenly remembered something, the first time that I fought the Skeleton King with you guys, you know when he picked me up and threatened me? Well back then he had warned me about my past and had done…something to my mind, sending me bad vibes and bringing up old memories with it. At least that's what I assumed he had done until now, I finally realized what it is he did all those weeks ago, he had reconnected my mind with the leader of our team, you know, that lovely black furred creature you all met?"

"So wait, you mean that Skeleton King sent some kind of psychic radio signal out to them, and they've been sending back some kind of nightmare wave to mess with you this whole time?" Chiro asked as Gidget nodded solemnly.

"As best as I can understand and explain it, yeah."

"What I don't understand," Gibson spoke while rubbing his temple with one hand. "Is how Skeleton King seemed to know not only about you but your team as well before we ever arrived in the Citadel?" Gidget and Genesis exchanged another looked before they both shrugged.

"I don't know." Gidget admitted while shaking her head slowly. "A lot of my memories on that kind of stuff is still fuzzy, but I can tell you something that I'm starting to get a feeling about." She slowly looked at each member of the Hyper Force as she spoke. "I'm beginning to think that we've all known each other for a lot longer than we think we've had."

"You think the Alchemist really did invent you guys too, huh?" Chiro restated as Gidget nodded slowly.

"I know that we already kinda came to that conclusion, but the more time I spend here on Shugazoom the more I feel like I've been here before, that I've met all of you before…Well excluding you Chiro, but for obvious reasons." The human leader nodded. "What about you Geni, do you feel like we've been here before too?"

"Most definitely." She confirmed with a quick gesture, her bow bouncing along with her head.

"I just wish we could remember more of our past," Nova stated while sighing heavily. "I mean before the Alchemist erased it. If Gidget's theory is correct and we all knew each other before, then why didn't we remember anything about another team of robotic monkeys somewhere in the universe?"

"And what happened to make them so mean?" Otto added while looking to the girls apologetically. "No offence but they are not very nice, and pretty much seem like big ole jerks."

"They were the biggest jerks." Genesis confirmed while rubbing her arms.

"I don't have all the answers yet." Gidget said as she wrapped a comforting arm around Geni. "I can't tell you where they are, what they looked like or even tell you their names yet. I wish I could, but I just don't remember enough about them to." She sighed while looking down at the ground, but suddenly, she lifted her head back up and tapped a finger to her chin. "But I can show you a bit of what they were like, or at least some of the after math of the destruction they've caused."

"How?" Gibson asked while looking around at the rest of the team as Gidget smiled weakly and have a small shrug.

"By letting you see it for yourselves."

.::~::.

"Gidget, are you sure about this?" Nova turned to the violet monkey, who nodded slowly.

"There is a lot about my past that you guys need know, and this is the easiest and quickest way to get the completely unfiltered version." Gidget confirmed as the team turned back to the great, marble wall in front of them.

The last time she had been here, the wall had been solid and unmarred except for a single deep crack in the middle, but now it was covered in cracks and crevices. The shining brilliant structure that it had once been was now nothing more than a ghost, the wall looked diseased and bizarre, its pristine whiteness replaced with a sickly gray. In some places large sections of the rock had actually fallen to the ground and shattered there, it was no wonder Gidget's memories were leaking out into her dreams if this is what state the mental block was in. Gidget sighed as she walked closer the immense structure, making sure to skirt around the large pieces of fallen stone.

"I don't think you'll like what you see and I really won't like what I'm showing you, but it needs to be done." She turned back to the team with a grave expression. "We're team members and you guys need to know what I've done. I need to let you see what I've done." Gidget clarified as she stood tall against the backdrop of her broken wall.

"So, what do we need to do then?" Otto asked as he leaned back to try to see the top of the wall. "Hop over it, I mean I'm sure we could imagine a grappling hook to get us over if we need to." Gidget actually managed to laugh as she shook her head.

"Nothing that drastic." She stepped aside and waved a hand over the many cracks that ran through structure. "Just set up and take a peak." She finished weakly as Genesis stepped forward and squeezed her hand.

"It will be okay, Gidget." Geni smiled up at her with confidence. "They will understand you did what you had to do to survive with them, you had no choice."

"Like I've said Meteor," Sparx smiled as he patted her on the back. "I've done worse."

"I doubt that Sparx, but I do know that I did what I had to do to protect Geni. Even if that meant hurting others to do it. I regret it, if I could go back and redo it all I would have run away with her far sooner than we did, but I can't." Gidget took a deep breath as she looked at the rest of the team. "But I can make up for my past mistakes now, and that's all I could ask for." The rest of the team nodded as Geni hugged her side tightly. "So everyone find a comfortable spot, I think we might be here for a while."


And thus we reach the end of Episode 55! I lied to you guys, this was almost half the size of the last chapter, not a quarter, but I think it concludes well enough and you got a small fight scene with a lot of dialog in it.

I'm planning on going into more detail about Gidget and Genesis's past and their old team later…. Unfortunately that won't be until Book 2. But this book only has 2 more episodes so that's just 8 chapters, which isn't too bad. There are a few more loose ends to tie up in this book (that really don't have to do with the girls that much so you get a break from reading about them) before we can move on to actually learning hard facts about their past and not just my vague foreshadowing I like to give.

But as a heads up, I'll probably actually do a Chapter of Book 0 next, so be on the lookout for that later this week. BUT it is Valentine 's Day on Thursday and I kind want to write something small and fluffy for that so if you guys have any requests I might make a short story to put in TTNOS so we can all get our "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawww" on.

I think that's all I have for today, don't forget to review and tell me all the things I did wrong!