Chapter 6

He hadn't slept all night and he knew he must have looked very badly, for when one of the cat robots had arrived it had taken a look at him and jerked away before going to Sprx's cell and removing the little red robot after shutting him down. Not too much longer two more robots appeared and whisked him away to some other part of the ship. He wasn't sure exactly how he'd ended up naked in a shower with his soaps on the floor in front of him and hot water beating him in the face, but he could care less. He didn't care why they wanted him to bathe, he was just glad for the chance. It gave him something else to focus on than the screams that he could hear coming from the arena. Apparently the entire ship was set up to play what was happening so that all could see and hear. It disturbed him and he shuddered as he scrubbed his hair clean. Caesar was a mad... boar... Chiro mentally shook his head and threw himself under the stream of water cascading down upon him. He had to focus on something else. Quickly.

It was nearly half an hour before he finally made his way out of the shower feeling both refreshed and dirty at the same time. It was a new feeling for him and he assumed it was due to the fact that he could do nothing to free his teammates. Or, was it because he had done nothing? At this point, he wasn't really sure anymore. The robots had grabbed him as soon as he'd stepped out from his bath, wrapping him in a white towel that he knew had come from the Super Robot as it had Gibson's name written in bold blue letters on one of the corners. The blue monkey had always been one to make sure that no one, absolutely no one, used his towels and had made sure his were embroidered. Of course no one actually paid attention to this, except maybe Otto who shared the same strange urge to have his own towel at all times, and obviously the robots didn't care a lick.

Chiro didn't have much time to think about this as he was dragged away roughly to a strange yellow room where he was literally blown dry. The towel, sadly and much to Chiro's embarrassment, was yanked away in the hot gusts (if they could really be called gusts as they seemed harsher). Fortunately his clothes were returned to him quickly. They were a fresh clean pair, but the communicator was trashed. He winced at this as he dressed, wondering how Otto would react to this. He froze suddenly and shuddered at the thought of the little green mechanic. Otto... He shook his head and finished dressing, only to be dragged away so quickly it made his head spin.

Next thing he knew he was being dragged over another pit of lava, the screens going blank once more just as Sprx collapsed in the arena covered in blood and shaking violently. Chiro had only a moment to ponder this image before his world suddenly tilted and spun. He lost his footing as his head swam as a loud agonizingly pain filled cry filled his ears. He knew that cry, and he could feel the remorse and self-loathing that came with it though it was not his own.

"Sprx," he whispered as one of the robots leading him along grabbed his arm and yanked him back onto solid ground. He realized in a detached sort of way that he had been about to fall off the walkway and into the lava, but felt nothing for it. His thoughts were with Sprx, the red monkeys cries filling him and he could vaguely hear someone trying to comfort the little robot. The cat-bots jerked him along and he offered no resistance, his legs shaky. He felt weak and could only wonder why. Why could he hear Sprx? Why not Gibson and Nova, or Antauri?

'Chiro...'

His eyes widened at the whisper that invaded his mind, the robots jerking him roughly as his legs tried to lock up on him from the shock.

'Chiro... So... Sorry...'

He yelped as he was thrown down a set of stairs and sent tumbling. He groaned when he reached the bottom and rested on the floor. What was the use of a bath if they were only going to do this to him? A metallic hand grabbed him roughly and lifted him up by his arm so high his toes barely reached the ground and he looked to see not a cat robot, but a bull robot staring at him. He closed his eyes as it snorted in his face and carried him the way he way to his cell. Antauri's was empty, the other robots sitting still and looking around almost blearily as if just recently waking up. Sprx on the other hand was curled in a ball, freshly cleaned and shaking like a leaf. The monkeys looked up when he cried out as he was thrown into his cell.

"You have some time to speak together," the bull said, his voice deep and startlingly not at all metallic. "Apparently Master needs much of his power to break the one in silver. This will be rectified before the finale I can assure you." With that he slammed the cell door shut and stomped away angrily as if dealing with prisoners was beneath him. Chiro was silent and still for a moment before throwing himself against the side of his cage and reaching out for Sprx.

"Sprx! Sprx can you hear me," he cried, grasping the red monkeys arm and shaking it. Sprx whimpered and yanked his arm away, drawing inwards towards himself and causing Chiro to stare at him in hurt. Blinking as if to hold back tears the teen turned to the other members in his team to find that Otto had hidden himself and Nova and Gibson were curled up on opposite ends of their cages. They were as far from Otto as they could get, the both of them curled up and hiding their faces from Chiro. Nova was crying, loud sobs wracking her body, and Gibson was rocking himself like a small child. In nearly one day (or was it a week? He could no longer tell), his team was reduced to this and he could hardly imagine what they had been through.

"Guys," he chocked out, tears running down his cheeks. "Guys I'm so sorry." There was a metallic rustling sound but no one answered him. He shook his head and cringed as the screens came alive, once again lighting up the dungeon. He could see Otto now, sitting with his back to everyone, his tail twitching in nervous agitation. He had only a moment to wonder at this before he heard and saw Antauri begin his murderous rampage around the arena. It was one of the most disturbing things he'd seen so far. He had seen Antauri fight before and he had seen first hand what his mentor was capable of but this...

Antauri was faster than the camera could catch but his 'work' could be seen clearly as heads exploded, chests had holes suddenly burst through them, and bodies fell with barely enough time to scream. One creature was ripped apart one piece at a time, unable to scream as its head had been the first thing to go. The crowd was late in cheering, rather shocked at the speed but thrilled none-the-less. Chiro on the other hand hid his face in his hands and fell to his knees.

"This is all my fault," he moaned. No one answered to tell him differently.

TBC