Author's notes: Hello guys. This is, drum rolls, chapter two.
Dreams were a peculiar realm, fragile yet sturdy, a goldmine of information. And of course, primed for manipulation. Ripe for the taking, a child's mind was like a vast ocean, all too easy to pollute. And like a babe weaned too early off his mother's breast, so was resistance, traumatic.
Skeleton King stretched his powers beyond the limits of imagination, manufacturing the dream into an image, the image into a thought, the thought, into a feeling. Torturous, stabbing pain assaulted Chiro, disrupting his erstwhile sweet dreams. He could not hear anything except the moans, the horrible groans, the fall of the robot monkey team.
Fretful as ever, the child started tossing and turning, at the sight of wrathful formless, surrounding them, stamping on them like a boot would an ant. Gibson, Nova, Otto, Sparks, Antauri!
"Chiro...Chiro," a hypnotizing, mocking, soulless voice got his attention.
He might be frozen, scared, and lonely, but he was frozen, scared, lonely, and courageous! Gibson would call it recklessness and impetuousness.
"If it isn't the bag of bones himself. Why are you here, trying to contact me? Are you lonely? Tyrannical megalomania not working out for ya?"
"On the contrary little thorn, it is a thriving business. Countless planets bow to the might of the skeleton king, and soon, boy, so will Shuggazoom."
"You must be dreaming."
"I heard you were ill, boy. You will forgive me for not attacking you on your deathbed. My heart weeps for the missed opportunity to hear your sweet, tortured screams..."
"You have a heart? That's news to me. So you attacked me, while I was recovering, with sadistic dreams just because you couldn't say how sorry you were for not taking advantage of my weakness? Next time just send me a get-worse soon card..." the boy muttered.
"What makes you think they are mere dreams child, and not visions?"
"No!" the child screamed despairingly.
"Yessss!" Skeleton King hissed "Come find them, little hero. They are almost fallen into my trap, however, I find myself disappointed that I do not have the entire collection. At the outskirts boy, where it all began, you'll find my magnum opus."
And so, the boy awakened...
"Boom Boom Wake up!" Nova shouted as she punched a particularly irksome formless straight in the face. It transformed into black goo, but soon two more joined the party. One of them hit Nova in a surprise attack. She fell down, and just when she was about to get up...
"Magna Ball-Blazer!" Sparks said, hitting Nova's opponents, driving them away from her.
"Thanks, Sparks!" She said while SPRX-77 winked.
Antauri was concentrating while evading the formless's attacks. He started jumping on the shoulders of one formless, making it lose equilibrium while sending a "Claw Disrupter" the other formless's way.
While Gibson was busy using the "Spin Shocker", Otto copied Antauri's move, using Gibson as a flipping board.
"Wheeeee!"
"Otto!"
"Vertical Razor Chariot" was all that was heard before Otto eliminated two more enemies.
"This seems a bit too easy guys," the green robot monkey said.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Otto," Gibson warned.
It was at that exact moment when a strange ship started descending from the sky.
It flew expertly and seemed to exude power and doom. The door to the ship opened slowly, and out stepped Mandarin.
"Suprised to see me, my brothers?" he asked while taking a battle stance.
"Suprised to see your ugly mug after your last defeat!" Sparx yelled.
"Careful Sparx, you wouldn't want to get me angry," Mandarin whispered, "After all, my hairless monkey is not here to protect you."
Antauri's fists tightened.
"Chiro is not yours!" Nova shouted bravely.
"My dear sister, that is just a matter of time," Mandarin responded while smiling before dodging Otto's surprise attack.
"You've gotten sloppy, little brother. I expected better from you, my once closest sibling."
Otto seemed to be almost affected by Mandarin's words, trying to shake them off. Sparx noticed and said, "Your expectations mean jack squat, you hear me!"
He walked closer to Otto, shielding him from Mandarin's gaze. It only made the orange robot monkey smile.
"Enough! Mandarin, if you have come to fight, then fight us. But do not try to manipulate Otto's feelings. It is beneath even you," Antauri told him.
And at that moment, they started fighting. Once master versus students, their fights were no longer a training exercise nor a simple game, for they fought ruthlessly until the opponent bled. And anytime Chiro tried to call them, their comms got destroyed, Mandarin not letting them contact him.
Chiro was in turmoil and panic. He remembered that time Skeleton King appeared to him when he was afraid of water saying "Whenever there's fear, boy, you will find me."
And indeed, Chiro was afraid. What if Skeleton King had his friends? He tried talking to them but whenever he attempted he was met with static or "We're a little busy, kid," and then complete ignorance.
He tried to warn them but they were too absorbed in the battle to notice. For Chiro there remained only one thing to do, going back to the outskirts (the super robot having moved location from there a long time ago).
He ran, while still in pajamas, trying to reach his family. Each breath felt like hope. The pitter-patter of his feet numbed his mind, driving the ugly thoughts away.
But once he arrived, on an empty street, save for a black-suited man, he started pondering. Is this a trap? Or could the man help me? He didn't seem from around here...
"Sir, excuse me? Sir? Have you seen five robot monkeys yay big, with different colors?"
"Are you the one named Chiro?" the man asked, his eyes twinkling madly.
"...yes," Chiro responded wearily, standing his ground.
"Follow me if you wish to see your friends again," the man stated curtly.
Chiro nodded while thinking 'This couldn't be more of a trap if it suddenly announced itself that it was a trap and wore an 'I'm a snare' shirt to boot...but it's the only lead I've got.'