Chapter 14

-A Cry No One Hears

Otto and Sprx dug furiously through the rubble in desperation to clear it. Gibson stared at the sight, refusing to believe the truth his brain knew. The rocks were far too large and great in numbers to be cleared—even with their powers.

"Monkey team!" He grabbed Sprx and Otto's arms to cease their mindless digging. "There is no way we can reach them like this!"

Antauri stared at the rocks, forcing his mind not to panic.

"Team, I sense Chiro's presence… but I know not which way they fell. Obviously, the rocks did not crush them." Sharpening his eyes, he stood up in a serious stance. "Head outside, wait for me as I ghost phase through the ruins. It'll be faster if I go alone."

"No!" The woman yelled as she grabbed Antauri's arm. "You must not trek these caves at night!"

"Not while my friends are stuck in the darkness, I will not stand aside and do nothing. Release my arm or I must force your removal. Please, who knows how much time we have left."

"Please," the husband piped up. "These caves… if you go wandering around before sunrise… there is a chance YOU will die as well. We can call for the diggers, they know the tunnels, they can rescue your friends."

Breathing in a hesitant breath, Gibson forced himself to speak words his heart didn't agree with.

"Antauri, I fear we must side with our guides… you don't know the tunnels. We don't need to risk you getting lost and have another person to save. We must wait for people who know exactly what to do."

Antauri stared at the blue monkey, marine blue eyes wide in shock.

"My friend, how could I possibly wait—"

"No way!" Sprx yelled and shoved Antauri out of the way. "We ALMOST lost both Chiro and Nova at the same time, now we have Vex lost with them. They could be seriously hurt; we might not be so lucky this time in finding them! We need to go, but I'm going with Antauri!"

"Both of you LISTEN to me!" Gibson yelled so loudly it shocked everyone. "I greatly despair having to play the role of cold logic. We are down three members; we don't have any idea where to go and we sure as heck don't need to be sending anyone in there solo. We must stay together and plan a rescue, it's for all our safeties!"

Bowing his head, Antauri pressed a distressed palm to his forehead. How he dearly hated how logic could be so cruel. But in this case, the blue monkey's brain was right rather than their hearts.

"Very well Gibson, but we must move quickly. Call whoever can assist in a rescue, immediately."

~With the Others~

Chiro coughed up dust, pain lightninged up his amputee leg part. The metallic foot hooked to his leg was still working, only a few dents. Bruised painted his face and hands exposed from the ripped gloves. He examined the rest of his body; the shirt was torn and was covered in dirt. Not as much blood as he expected, just a few streams from his nose and scratches. No immediate pain when he moves his fingers, toes, and other bones—so no broken bones. Just a few sprains.

"Guh, my head…" he held his pounding cranium. Who knows how many rocks his head bounced off of before landing.

"Is everyone okay?"

Nova's head was stuck in the dirt like a drunk Ostridge. After a few angry grunts, she ripped her head. Like Chiro, the mighty warrior was not in too bad of shape. A few internal leakages from her dented metal half, a cracked optic, scratched helmet, also covered in bruises, and a bloody mouth.

"I—I'm alright, just insanely sore…" she rubbed her tail and whipped the blood from her mouth. "Are you okay?" She rushed to her downed leader to smear away his blood.

"Yes, just a little… OUCH!" He snapped when Nova brushed his nose. "Didn't break anything, except maybe my nose…" Then his eyes shot open when he only counted himself and Nova.

"Where is Vex?"

Loud steps interrupted them as both yanked their heads to the nearest dark tunnel. A single purple eye flared up in the darkness as Vex stammered out. Chiro released all the tension causing his sore muscles even more pain. Relief washed over him expressed through a loud sigh.

"Thank goodness, you scared us for a m— oh no…"

Nova and Chiro's mouths went totally agape as they witnessed the formless monkey's condition. A smallish slab of rock had pierced her chest. This didn't scare them at first, keeping in mind her regeneration abilities. But seeing as the ooze was not healing, it rose their alert levels. Vex waved away their stares and applied pressure to stop the bleeding.

"Nothing but a… mere stab. Will live." She bluntly stated, as if oblivious to how nasty it looked.

"We got to get that rock out of you!" Chiro snapped as he reached for it till Vex stopped him.

"Pup, removing granite only gush more fluids. Must leave it in…"

"Okay, now we really need to get out of here," Nova said while trying to get Chiro to his feet. She darted her gaze to look at a barely standing Vex. "Good timing, if you haven't thrown us down here when you did… we would've been crushed."

Vex inclined her head with a millimeter nod to approve Nova's compliment. Her bland face studying the pit in which they had tumbled in. Till a tiny ray of light hit her one good optic. She lashed a claw out and caught Nova's ear, pulling her head up to look at the source of light.

"Triple meters upward, Northern vicinity of cave's most hollow points. Apply maximum strength to split gap open."

"What…?"

"I think she means you need to bash a weak point in the cave open," Chiro said while pointing to the barely obvious beam above. "I can't tell if that's sunlight, but a little light is better than nothing… can you reach it, Nova?"

"I'd fly up there, but that dang fall cracked my jetpack. Don't have enough fuel to even get a foot off the ground."

"Oh wonderful," Chiro smacked his forehead while flopping down in the dirt. Clapping his hands in fake joy, "First we get buried beneath a million tons of rocks, lose our com-signals so we can't call for help, and now we're so damaged we can barely walk ourselves."

"Could be worse," Nova shrugged.

"Like how?" Chiro sarcastically responded.

"Rock construction becomes tombs for bodies to never be recovered," Vex answered blankly.

Nova and Chiro stare in total shock at each other, swallowing big lumps in their throats.

"O—okay, guess Vex's totally optimistic mindset made us see the… brighter side of this. We could be dead, but we aren't. So, we have a chance out of this." Chiro forced himself up, cracking his tense shoulders loose. He jabbed a finger to the nearest tunnel.

"We're not going to let this stop us, come on, let's see if we can somehow retrace our steps."

"You mean our hundred-mile fall? Yea, sure that'll be super easy." Nova also pushed herself up, dusted herself off, and proceeded to follow her lead.

Vex limped after them, detecting the lethality her wound was really causing. If they didn't find help soon, no doubt she'd die. For good this time. But not wanting to distract the others from their primary goal, she kept her fangs shut. Not like she hadn't survived far worse.

The trio walked for a few minutes before detecting a couple of tunnels leading upwards. Chiro scratched his chin, analyzing the passages. Nova stared at their human leader; confusion plastered all over her.

"What the heck are you gawking at? Just pick a path and climb." She pointed out.

"No no… we have to figure out which path we fell from." Chiro corrected the pushy gold monkey. "Just give me a second! I remember one of Gibson's lectures when he was blabbering about reading the surface of stone granites to get information. I think."

"Seriously? Pretty sure we don't have a hundred years to use Gibson's methods." Nova pushed Chiro out of the way. "It's not hard! We must find… I don't know… broken pieces or something."

"Oh yea," Chiro snapped back with arms flung in the air. "That makes it SO much easier… all the pieces are broken!"

As Nova and Chiro wrestled over which method to use, Vex limped past them. Pressing one claw into the ground, she closed her one good. Shadows expanded from her feet and entered the cracks. Vibrations pulsed up her feet like a rapid heartbeat. Using the cracks like human veins, she found a direction that led straight to the surface. Or at least a direction with fewer twists and turns.

"Selection this direction…" she whispered out while heading to the third one.

Nova and Chiro ceased their arguments, looked at each other, and followed the assassin. The further they went, sparks started to crease up Vex's back. Unable to hide the pain anymore, the old female crumbled to the ground. Chiro gasped and made a grab for her black armored arm.

"Vex!" He hovered over her, seeing fresher ooze beginning to pour from her wound. "Okay, okay," he quickly unwound his scarf and pressed it to her wound to slow the leakage.

"Nova," Chiro commanded the gold warrior. "Vex is not going to make it, we need to find help. You stay here, keep Vex alive while I go on to find help."

"Wha—are you nuts!?" Nova argued.

"We don't have a choice! If we keep going this slow, she won't make it! I'm just going to scout ahead until I get a signal to call the team."

Vex began to cough up blue blood now. Pressing the scarf into her wound, Nova gritted her teeth. "Okay! Fine! Just… please hurry!"

"I will come right back… I promise." Chiro gave both females a quick hug before bounding further up the tunnel and vanishing into the darkness.

Nova sighed as she sat next to Vex, keeping a hold on the cloth.

"Guess we're stuck here," she groaned while leaning back. "Now what? Stare at the walls I guess. Hope another wendigo monster doesn't attack us like a few nights ago at our hotel room, huh?"

Vex's eye creaked opened, pupil dilating to a dangerous slit with a black coloration fading the royal purple of her eye. She suddenly rose to a sitting position, gaze staring right at Nova. The look growing so cold frost began to build upon their feet.

Nova saw the predator like the look and scootched away from Vex.

"Why are you staring at me like you want to kill me?"

Vex gripped her wound, eye pulsed in rising rage.

"Sudden scarcity of formless medicine… Attack from shadow beast… strange behavior."

"What the heck are you talking about? Knock it off, you're freaking me out!"

"How…" Vex lashed out and grabbed her wrist. "How… you know the classification of the shadow beast?" She stood to full height, glaring down at Nova so harshly it almost dwindled the warrior's own battle flames.

"Wh—what the heck?" Nova kicked Vex's wound to get her off, but that only tightened the grip to the point she almost twisted her wrist off. "Dang it!" the gold monkey yelped angrily, "If you don't let go I'll send another slab of rock into your mangled face!"

"You… were one sabotaging medicine. Keeping mind too weak to notice…" Vex's fangs started to leak venom. "NEVER… bring guided satchel containing imprisoned monsters. Yet, it is here… and the green one… breaks one… unleashing the wendigo has almost killed eons ago."

Nova paused, her pink eyes turning a lava red. This angering Vex even further as she lengthened her front teeth.

"And why… you desired to spar… when body and mind were beyond healthy. You… were behind this."

"Well done, you psychotic bloodhound." Nova slammed a transformed fist into Vex's side, sending her right smack into the rock. Cracking her knuckles, she transformed both hands. Flames began to circle her like dancing Chinese dragons.

"You were right," she laughed and clapped her hands. "I knew eventually you'd sniff me out. Told him often, but he was confident you wouldn't… not with your mind as shot as it is."

Vex shook as she struggled to get up, holding her wound to keep the rest of her blood inside. Nova smirked at the pitiful display.

"Hah, this won't be much of a fight… but you know what they say about cornered animals."

Vex's fangs now fully extended, shadows expanding around to help keep herself standing. This was a fight she could not lose.

"But… as you can see, the plan wasn't for me to get hurt either. So, ashamed I won't be able to fight as hard as I'd like to. Oh well," she raised her fists, aiming them right at the black monkey. Her own gold fur darkening till she was no longer a happy bright yellow. But of a smoldering hate hotter then any freshly blown magma.

"Oh, how this will break their hearts… especially Antauri's. How Chiro so nobly ran ahead to save us… only to not find help in time. Because your wound was to lethal." Nova leaned on her knees to get eye level with Vex.

"I'll make sure this will look like an accident. Because after tonight, once you're out of the way. The others will be much easier to fool… and we'll have what we want."

When Vex raised a brow in confusion, Nova's grin darkened.

"Chiro…"