My first one shot, enjoy it, Merry Christmas all!
Grace and Love
"Do you promise?" Came the large pink haired figure called Jinmay, as she stood on the giant screen in the main room of the Super Robot.
Chiro stood up from his circular chair and walked up to the screen. "I promise Jinmay, I'll be home for Christmas."
"I'm holding you to that," she said. Then she blew him a kiss.
Chiro sighed, he swore he could feel her gentle lips hit his soft cheek. He put his orange gloved hand up to her large red gloved one, his tiny in comparison. "I'll see you soon." Then the screen went blank.
With a whoosh, Sprx-77, Nova, and Otto entered the main room. "I don't care what you say!" Nova was saying, "giving is more fun than receiving!"
Otto looked startled, "What?"
"You can't be serious!" responded Sprx-77. "You're telling me you get more joy from seeing somebody open something you spent money on, than opening up something somebody else got you?"
"I'm serious Sparx!"
"I don't believe you," Otto said, "I've seen you open stuff on Christmas before, and you've never been so excited."
"That's true, it's exciting! But it's still more fun to give somebody else something!"
"Then how about you give me a little kiss?" Sprx-77 said, inching his head closer to Nova's.
After pummeling Sprx-77 to the ground, Nova walked up to the quiet Chiro. "Hey Chiro, what's the matter?"
"It's just," Chiro started, "I just told Jinmay we'd be home for Christmas, but I still can't be sure that we will!"
"Gibson just said we would be though, if we keep up our current speed," Otto said.
"Sure," said Chiro, "but how often do we travel light-years through space without encountering anything? And the minute we do, we're not home for Christmas…and Jinmay kills me."
Sprx-77 finally rose to his feet, still shaking from his beating from Nova. "So? One chic dumps you, just get a new one!"
Nova shot an evil glance back towards Sprx-77, and he dove for cover behind the nearest object.
"Don't listen to him," Nova said, trying to calm her human companion, "It's Christmas Eve, Chiro. What enemy would be creepy enough to attack on Christmas Eve! Please, even enemies take this holiday off."
Chiro smiled, "I guess you're right, I don't have anything to worry about."
Sprx-77 snuck over to his chair and hopped up into it, trying to avoid the glance of Nova, thinking that she was probably still mad about…well everything.
Otto walked over into his chair and the two began to debate about who had gotten the coolest gift in prior Christmases.
Having nothing else to talk about, and too full of thought, Chiro decided to retire to his own room to gather himself. He seemed pacified, but still had a lot to think about. He hopped up into his orange tube, and the floor panel carried him up to the level that contained the bedrooms, where he entered his own.
He sat down on his bed and opened up his bedside drawer, pulling out a small digital picture album. Inside were pictures that Jinmay had e-mailed him from the time since he had been gone. There were many shots of her demolishing monsters; he wondered how all of these monsters had ever found the tiny planet of Shuggazoom anyway. But then there were also other pictures as well. There she was, dressed up as Santa's helper, escorting little kids to visit with Santa Claus. There she was, volunteering at a homeless shelter, handing out care packages to the poor. There she was, throwing a Christmas banquet fundraiser for the animal shelter. Everybody loved Jinmay and she fit in perfectly with the people that she had only just met.
Looking through the book, he loved her more than he ever had before. Before she had been a fighter, beautiful and petite. But now she was more, now she showed her love for others, and there was nothing more beautiful. He had to be home with her. The telecommunication calls were not enough. He had to hold her in his arms and tell her how proud he was of her… how he loved her. Then he decided: he wasn't going to let ANYTHING stop him from being home for Christmas.
But then, the deep voice of Antauri shattered his hopes. "Chiro. Get down here immediately."
"What's going on?" Chiro asked, his Hyper Mode initiated.
"We're being hailed by that small craft in front of us," Gibson answered.
"Open the channel."
On the screen before the teams eyes stood two humans: one woman and one man. The woman looked heavily pregnant. "Hello. My name is Myron, and this is my wife Josephine. And we need help."
"We're the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce, what seems to be your problem?" Chiro asked, hoping it wasn't anything big.
"We need a place to stay. You see, we've been separated from our ship and my wife needs a place to stay that's more hospitable than our escape pod."
Chiro closed his eyes. He wanted to help, but think of the time that this would take: time to set up a place for these people to stay, time to find their ship, time to find out if they were safe. More time than they had time to waste. "Well…ya see, we're kinda short on time."
"Chiro!" came Nova's sharp voice behind him, "This couple needs a place to stay! We have to help them!"
"But Nova," said Gibson, "we don't have the kind of room that we'd need to accommodate an entire family of humans! Nor do we have the resources."
"Please," the man on the screen said again, "We just need a place to spend the night. And I'm afraid… I'm afraid my wife may have our child."
Chiro's eyes dilated. "Oh no. I don't want any part of that. Forget it. We don't have space and we don't have time. I'm sorry. I hope you find somebody to help you, but we can't. Sorry." Then Chiro turned tail and walked out of the room.
"Chiro!" Nova yelled after him.
Antauri stepped up to the front position. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we simply do not have enough room for you."
The couple did not waver. They did not say anything, they just stared, praying that the team would change their mind. But their leader had spoken, and Antauri closed the channel.
"Antauri!" Nova yelled, this time in the opposite direction. "We can't just leave them there! She's going to have a baby! And they're stuck in an escape pod! We HAVE to help them!"
"I'm sorry Nova, I know you mean well, but I don't know what we could do for them. Like Gibson said, we just don't have accommodations," Antauri said.
There was nothing else to be said. All of the team was silent as Sprx-77 turned the thrusters back on, and the Super Robot continued to fly through space toward Shuggazoom.
Chiro was back in his book. Though now, Jinmay didn't look as happy as she did before. She seemed cross. Something was now terribly wrong. Here Jinmay was doing everything she could for others, and he had just turned away a needy family. How could he? For her, he did it for Jinmay. No…no he didn't. He had done it for himself, so that he could get home. He couldn't blame it on Jinmay, he had done it all selfishly.
Now he wished he could go back, but he couldn't. There was no possible way of finding them now, after three hours. Not to mention, they were only an hour from Shuggazoom, where it would soon be Christmas morning. He wondered what was going to happen to them. He hoped that they would survive, he hadn't thought that they would die when he was telling them they couldn't help, but he now came to the startling realization that they might.
He heard a rapping on his metal door, but he already knew who it was. "Come on in Nova." The door whooshed and there stood the pink eyed monkey. She entered, but she wasn't smiling. But then, neither was he. "What took you so long? I figured you'd've been up here to scold me hours ago."
"I'm not gonna scold you Chiro. I just want to know what's going through your mind, that's all." She went over and sat down next to him on his bed.
Chiro sighed, "I've been thinking about it for a long time. At first I thought that I was doing what I could to get home for Jinmay. But after all this time, I realized that I was only wanting to get home for myself."
"Wow Chiro, that's very mature of you," commended Nova.
"Thanks. I just wish I had thought of it four hours ago. Then maybe I could've done something to help those poor people."
"Aw Chiro. You gotta think that something good happened to them, even if it wasn't us. I'm sure somebody or something came along to help them out. After all, it's Christmas."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
Nova flipped the album Chiro was looking at so that she could see it. "Wow. So's this what changed your mind?"
"One of the things," Chiro smiled. "I sure do miss her Nova."
"I know you do, but we're almost there, Chiro." She flipped through the pages, "They sure do love her, don't they?"
"They can't help but love her."
Nova got up and went over to the edge of the room, pressing a button to open a small window. "Hey look Chiro! There it is! You can see Shuggazoom out the window!"
Chiro got up and looked out. "Can you tell if the sun's risen yet?"
"Nope, looks like it's still night there. We're gonna make it Chiro. You'll be home for Christmas!"
But then… it happened. The alarm went off, and the robot shook violently.
"Wooah! C'mon Chiro we've gotta get down to the control room!"
"What's going on?" Chiro said, running into the room.
Otto turned to face him, "It's the Skeleton King worm! He's found us!" The robot shook again, "Wooah, and he's attacking."
"RAISE THE SHIELDS!" Chiro yelled out.
"No good! Power's too low!" Sprx-77 replied.
Antauri spun to face Chiro, "Should we go to vehicle mode?"
"Not enough time. In the time it would take us all to get to our individual pods, we'd be completely destroyed!" Gibson answered.
"Then what do we do?" asked Nova.
"Uhhh…Uh…" Chiro sputtered. He was so close to being home, why did the Skeleton King Worm have to attack now?
"Chiro! We need orders!" Antauri demanded.
"Launch the mega missiles!" yelled Chiro.
The blue missiles shot from the feet and arms of the Super Robot, scoring a direct hit on the Skeleton King worm. It recoiled, but only for a second, as it unleashed another terrible beam on the Super Robot, more powerful than the others had been. The lights inside the Super Robot flashed.
"We're losing power!" Otto informed the team.
"The Super Robot's almost out of juice! We don't have enough to attack!" Sprx-77 yelled above the madness.
They watched in awe as the worm charged up another powerful attack.
But suddenly- WHAM! The worm was blindsided by a large and powerful attack craft. A large hole was torn in the side of the worm and it cried out in anguish. The ugly face of the Skeleton King frowned at the large ship, and then the worm squirmed away to rest and heal its wounds.
The team didn't speak. Not a sound pierced the silence.
"The ship is attempting to communicate with us," reported Antauri.
"Open the channel," Chiro demanded.
The team gasped at the sight before their eyes: it was the couple from earlier! "Hello Hyperforce," said the man, smiling. Next to him stood his beautiful wife, a small child in her arms.
"Myron! Josephine! You're okay!" Nova said, catching the smiling bug.
"Yes, we're quite well," said Josephine, looking down at her gorgeous child. "It's a good thing we were headed in your direction. You guys could've been toast!"
"But- but why?" Chiro finally asked. "Why did you save us? After the way we- I treated you, you had every right to watch our demise, and enjoy it."
Myron laughed, "Oh my boy, don't be so foolish. Don't you know it's Christmas? And this is what Christmas is all about! Grace," he looked down at his newborn son, "and love."
Now the entire team smiled. "You're right," said Antauri.
"But, I still don't get it. How did you get this ship?" Otto asked.
"Why, this is my ship," answered Myron. "I'm the captain!"
"We were launched from the ship during a fierce battle, and we weren't even sure our ship would make it. Then my wife went into labor, and we were stuck. After you left, our crew found us again."
"Thank goodness," Nova reacted.
"I still feel terrible about earlier," Chiro said, "We were just headed for a celebration on Shuggazoom. How would you three like to join us?"
"I think that would be wonderful," said Josephine.
"Chiro, we've got another call incoming," reported Antauri, "its Jinmay."
"Uh-oh," Chiro gulped.
Antauri put it on screen without being told to.
"Chiro! It's Christmas! Where the heck are you?"
"Hold on," he said, "I'll be right there."
The Super Robot landed in its regular spot, but now a large party surrounded it, the entire population of Shuggazoom ready to greet them. Chiro was the first to run out of the Robot, Jinmay up on the podium announcing their arrival.
"Jinmay!" Chiro said, running up to her. "Merry Christmas!" And finally he did what he had long wanted to do. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a Christmas kiss. She returned his embrace, holding him close.
They were interrupted however by a loud call behind them. "Aw, get a room!" yelled Otto.
The entire monkey team then came out of the robot, running down amongst the people who greeted them warmly. The kids immediately swarmed to Antauri, admiring his shiny new body and making faces into it. Gibson and Sprx-77 immediately began arguing about the likelihood of survival of that last battle if the other ship hadn't shown up. Nova watched Otto devour plate after plate of Christmas cookies, grabbing a couple herself.
When the new couple stepped out of the robot, Jinmay asked, "Oh, and whose this?"
"This is Myron and Josephine and their little baby. They really helped us out of a jam, so I told them they could hang out here with us for Christmas."
Jinmay curtsied politely. "Thanks for saving Chiro. I certainly would've had a blue Christmas without him."
"No trouble," Myron replied. We were glad to help.
The couple then walked down into the crowd to meet new people.
"Chiro, I got you a little something for Christmas," Jinmay held out a package, and Chiro unwrapped it quickly.
"Jinmay, it's beautiful!" Chiro said, holding up a hand-knit orange sweater. "Did you make it yourself?"
"Yeah, I've been working on it for a long time."
"But, I feel bad, I didn't get you anything!"
"Aw, Chiro. Christmas isn't about material possessions or gifts, silly!"
"No," Chiro laughed, thinking back on the events of the pastday, and looking down at his new friends, "you're right. It's about grace, and its about love."
Merry Christmas from the Hyperforce, and from Me
-RobotMonkeys4Ever