Disclaimer: I don't own SRMTHFG or any of its characters, just my character and this plot.
Note: I now have a member of my audience whose first language is Spanish. I'll be spending a lot of time making sure that English/Spanish translations in my chapters become easier. This means I most likely will not update as often as I did before. For that, I apologize.
Please enjoy while reading and review!
Chapter Two: Constantly a Battlefield
After placing the Pegasus Guardian Angel next to her sleeping pod, Hayley left her quarters to answer the call she had received just moments ago. But on her way there, she took a little detour to reacquaint herself with the layout of the Super Robot. True, it was simple enough to navigate through and it hadn't changed the slightest, but remembering never hurts.
She passed by Gibson's lab and Sprx's quarters on their way. She found both of them doing what they usually do.
Gibson was concocting a chemical experiment…again.
Sprx was polishing the magnets he called his "beauties"…again.
At the sight of both, she rolled her eyes with a light giggle before moving on.
But when she glanced out a window and caught sight of Otto outside with his back to her, she hesitated.
It wasn't a surprise to find him hard at work constructing something, even though it was usually in his workshop or his quarters, but that wasn't what made her stop. What did make her stop was her own curiosity. If this was another invention he was working on, it was the biggest she had ever seen; it was about half the size of the Brain Scrambler Pilot Two!
It had a slightly awkward shape, but Hayley couldn't determine exactly what that shape was from her angle. It had three legs coming from the bottom: one was on front and center; the other two were closer to the rear, one on each side. Something that looked like a rocket engine was in the middle of the legs' triangle. There were also two smaller rocket engines on the rear.
Hayley stood in confusion as Otto used his blowtorch to weld some heavy metal plating to the side of the object. Next to him was a can of paint, filled to the brim with a color that was similar to but lighter than Hayley's turquoise fur.
She was about to open the window and ask him what he was doing. But she suddenly remembered where she was going in the first place and ran down the hall.
---------
Antauri waited patiently in his most-private meditation room. This was a room he didn't use often even though it was his favorite. None of the others were allowed to enter this room unless he had specifically requested him or her. And for very good reason.
This particular room had an almost magical aura, one that was definitely not to be used lightly, not even by Antauri.
As the soft chime of an unseen bell rang, he placed his recording device into the drawer of an ancient dresser and closed it in. He then walked to the center of the room, sat down, and hovered off the floor.
"You may enter," he stated.
The door slowly opened, and a slightly timid Hayley peeked through. But she quickly hid her shyness and reverently entered the room. She then gave him a slight bow of respect. "You wanted to see me, Antauri?"
"Yes, indeed, I did. Please come sit by me."
Hayley walked inside, stopping only long enough to close the door behind her, and approached Antauri. Her curiosity wanted to distract her by examining the room she had entered, but she wanted to show her discipline by keeping her eyes on the spiritual Monkey. When she was within arm's reach, she crossed her legs and sat next to him, still looking directly at him.
"How did it go with Nova?" he asked.
Hayley giggled. "No complaints. She really whipped my tail, but I'm not disappointed. I can see now why she's been promoted to combat specialist. It looks like I've got some serious catching up to do if I expect to play the show-off game with her again."
Antauri gave a slight chuckle, but his small smile quickly vanished and was replaced with a serious frown. "She mentioned the little spat you had with her."
She whimpered, lowering her head and breaking eye contact with him.
"There is no need to apologize, Hayley. It is understandable. You were surrounded by the powers of darkness for a very long time. And although you refused to allow its influence to corrupt your heart, it still left an effect on you."
"I knew I wasn't the same as I was before," she sighed sadly. "I had hoped I could leave it all behind…"
Antauri stared at her for a moment. Then, in a fatherly fashion, he placed his hand under her chin and gently forced her to look into his eyes.
"This is but a reminder that the heart is constantly a battlefield between the powers of light and darkness," he told her. "In the end, only one can triumph. This is what every heart goes through, Hayley."
As she looked deep into his eyes, a tear trickled down her cheek. Noticing, Antauri rubbed the tear off with his thumb, and she smiled tenderly.
"You want to know what I missed most besides Otto?" she asked. "Knowing that no matter what bothered me, you were always there to listen. No matter what kind of problem I had, you knew how to help me get me through it. You know a lot of things."
"Knowledge is indeed important, but only when applied with wisdom," he replied. "Which is why I have called you here. Tell me, what do you think of this power that you call 'the light of your heart'?"
Hayley sighed again, but this time in thoughtfulness. "Honestly, I don't know. The first time I felt it was when Mandarin almost convinced me to join him in darkness. I felt the power growing within me and—"
"Think back," Antauri softly but suddenly interrupted. "Are you certain that was the first time?"
"Before…" she said hesitantly. Then, her eyes glimmered in realization. "Yes, yes, I felt it again just moments before that. That would explain that vision when I saw you and the others encouraging me. When I told Chiro about it and he mentioned his dream to me, I thought it was just a coincidence. I thought…" She suddenly paused.
Even to her, what she said sounded very strange.
She was about to apologize to Antauri for not making any sense, but one look at him and she knew that he was quite focused and serious, absorbing her every word.
Then she realized it. "You had one, too?"
"We all did," he told her. "Remember, the seven of us are joined in our minds by the Power Primate. No matter how great the distance, we are still connected."
"Then why didn't Mandarin see it? Doesn't he have the Power Primate, too?"
"Yes, he does, but his connection has been corrupted by the evil within him. All he can understand now is darkness; his heart cannot be expected to even feel any light that remains."
"But that doesn't deny that there's still at least a little bit of light in his heart, no?"
Antauri removed his hand from her chin. His hesitation made Hayley wonder if her question actually had no answer he could provide. The thought tickled her, and she wanted to laugh, but looking at his stern face kept her from even smiling.
"We are straying from the subject," he finally said. "My question was, what do you think of the light of your heart?"
"I don't know," she answered softly. "Believe me, Antauri, it's a scary feeling to know that you have something inside of you, something powerful and wonderful and yet spontaneous and even dangerous. What makes my heart shine like that? And why only me? I feel like I'm being excluded."
Antauri closed his eyes, beginning to meditate. "We will find your answers, Hayley. The best place to begin again is where we ended before. Close your eyes. Free your mind. Let go of all thinking and all feeling. Search for your emotional center."
Finally free from his stare, Hayley couldn't help but smile as she mouthed the exact words that he finished, "Focus on the power within."
How many times she had heard that!
As she began to follow his example, she reflected on the past. Of all Robot Monkeys, she was the one who took Antauri's meditation training the most seriously. Quite an unexpected outcome considering that she was born differently than the others.
Just as both were about to begin their meditation session, the chime sounded again. Hayley flinched at the sound, and both sighed in disappointment as they came back to their senses.
Looking at the door, Antauri stated, "You may enter."
The door opened again, and in stepped Chiro in his normal clothes. "Sorry I'm late," he chuckled nervously. "I hope I'm not interrupting."
Hayley and Antauri glanced at each other, then, looking at Chiro, they both shook their heads.
"I was just beginning to reacquaint Hayley with her meditation training," Antauri explained. "Please, come join us, Chiro."
Chiro hesitated. He really didn't want to interrupt them. But when Hayley gave him a warm smile, his heart couldn't resist. He walked up to them and sat by them. After glancing at Antauri before looking at Hayley again, Chiro laughed. "Meditation?" he asked. "What happened to the little hyperactive Monkey who teased Otto until he said 'please'?"
Hayley almost blushed, slightly surprised. "Please don't tell him you discovered the secret."
The boy only smiled, reassuring her.
Just then, the alarm blared in the room. Chiro was quick to the door.
"It seems we will have to resume this later," Antauri stated, floating towards the door.
Agreeing with only a nod, Hayley went after them.
---------
Chiro, Antauri, and Hayley arrived in the Command Center at the same time as Otto. The remaining Hyperforce was already watching Shuggazoom City as tens of Formless swarmed the streets.
"Same old?" Hayley asked.
Sprx glanced at her and answered, "Basically."
Within moments, everyone was outside, weapons ready. Several of the Formless were attacking the civilians, and the Monkey Team fought valiantly to reach the innocent people. But the majority of the enemies were assembled in the streets, about to attack the Hyperforce head-on.
Imagine the shock when Hayley stepped forward, moving away from the injured citizens and retracting her whips into her monkey hands, and snarled at the Formless!
"Hayley, stop!" Sprx called out, with barely the time to electrocute a Formless into nothing. "What are you doing?"
Looking back at them, she replied, "Doing my job."
Gibson fired several lasers from his drills, eliminating several enemies, before facing her. "Have you become insane? After our current endeavors, I have calculated a minimum of fifty Formless attacking! The odds of you surviving a single-handed frontal assault are—!"
"Not worth mentioning!" she interrupted very harshly. "I can do this! I'm ready for this! And this is personal!"
"Hayley, I strongly disapprove of your motives," Antauri told her, still calm but quite firm. He was the only one not attacking at the moment, for on each side of him was a Formless being held back by his telekinetic powers. "While it is true that you have become stronger recently, so have Skeleton King's forces. You may not be able to withstand them on your own."
She sighed, quite exasperated at this point. "Antauri, as much as I respect you, you cannot possibly understand. You don't know what it feels like to have someone playing with your mind like a toy. And so long as I still breathe, Skeleton King will regret what he did to me."
With those words, she jumped over the first line of Formless, trapping herself on purpose inside the circle of enemies!
"Hayley!" Nova exclaimed worriedly.
"No!" Otto yelled, nearly weeping.
Chiro's face features tightened with determination. "Antauri, you and the others keep the Formless away from the people. I'm going after Hayley!"
The Black Monkey was about to warn Chiro of the extreme danger that stood in the center, but Chiro was already fighting his way through the jungle of enemies in an attempt to reach her!
Will Hayley prove herself to the others? Can she survive the fight? Can Chiro? Find out Chapter Four: Shining Soul.
In response to Chapter Two's reviews…
4Evermonkeyfan: Well, I was wondering what had happened to you. I had noticed that you didn't post reviews for a lot of people until a day or so before my last chapter came. I'm not saying that reviews are crucial to my writing, but they do let me know that people like you are alive and well. Thanks for the review.
Crystal Persian: They'd pick my OC, no competition whatsoever? That's very flattering! I hope this chapter satisfies much of your request.
Anderson jr: Yes, the Nova/Hayley moments are very touching. I don't think I could have been able to get away with these tender moments if the training was with someone other than Nova. And I also wanted to show that recovering from intense trauma doesn't happen overnight. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy the rest of my stories.
love-writer: Thanks! Glad you're enjoying this.