Disclaimer: I don't own SRMTHFG or any of its characters, just my character and this plot.
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Chapter Five: Here I Am
The depths of outer space were always more than exciting. But for this particular event, it was exciting in a deadly way.
While Hayley was unconscious, the stingray monster that Skeleton King had sent attacked the city. Its method of attacking was devastating. Unlike normal stingrays, this one had two long antennas protruding from its head, each with a charge of electricity on the tip. By itself, the electrical charge would be harmless. But when the two antennas would come together, it would ignite a devastating electric explosion! And the monster could determine which way the explosion would go by changing the angle of the antennas.
This was the reason why Otto had officially named the creature "the Death Ray".
The monster wasn't a very big opponent compared to the Robot. In fact, its flat body (including the tail, which was useful only for maintaining its balance) wasn't much longer than one of the Robot's arms. Its wing-like fins allowed its width to match the Robot's chest.
It would certainly have been a frail creature if it weren't so agile.
For a while, the counterattack seemed to have worked. The Death Ray stopped attacking the buildings and people as it directed its attention to the Robot. The Robot fired several mega-missiles to destroy it, but the skin on its body was particularly thick; all the missiles managed to do was provoke it into sending an electric explosion their way!
The Robot managed to avoid the direct attack, but the edges of the explosion made the Foot Crusher Cruisers quake in instability!
"Nova, Otto, you okay in there?" Chiro asked, alarmed.
"I'm good, but thanks for asking," Otto said wearily, not sounding as good as he said he was.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Nova groaned.
But she had no time to express it; the Death Ray was coming about, aiming another electric explosion.
This time, the attack was aimed at the head, but they maneuvered so that it barely missed the right shoulder! This creature meant business!
"I calculate increased odds to our favor if we lure the beast away from the city," Gibson suggested.
"Like give it some slack, then reel it in," Sprx said jokingly.
"Knock it off, Sprx; it's a stingray, not a mackerel," growled a disgusted Nova.
But Antauri ignored the argument. "Perhaps Gibson is right," he told them all. "We will also minimize the risk of injuring any innocents below."
"Okay, then," Chiro stated. "Let's give it some bait. Lasertron Fury!"
The immense energy pulse from the Robot's chest struck the back of the Death Ray's neck, enraging it! With a mighty roar, it moved away from the city, beating its great fins furiously in the air as it began to ascend after them.
Journeying into the orbit below the asteroid field was uneventful except for the occasional electric blast that barely missed hitting its fleeing target!
The plan was to turn around and resume the attack when they were sufficiently far enough from the planet. However, once it did turn, they discovered that the Death Ray was no longer following them.
"Hey, where did it go?" Chiro asked nervously.
"Stay alert, team," Antauri cautioned. "The creature is still in the vicinity."
Suddenly, Nova's alarm blared first. "Watch out! It's behind us and fast approaching from the right!"
The Robot turned, but it wasn't quick enough. The Death Ray demonstrated that outer space was its territory. Not only did it use the asteroids to mask its presence, it also easily emerged from the asteroid field without injuring itself. With a roar, it rammed its body onto the Robot's, sinking its diamond-sharp teeth into the neck!
"It's crunching into the hyper armor!" Otto screamed.
"At this rate, we will have a hull breach in a matter of minutes!" Gibson yelled.
"Got any bright ideas, Dr. Brainstrain?" asked Sprx.
Gibson indignantly stared at his monitor displaying Sprx. "Well, Sparky, Bright Idea Number One: stop referring to me by that unkindly nickname!"
Sprx returned the angry glare. "I'll stop calling you that when you stop calling me Sparky!"
"Save it for later, you two!" Chiro exclaimed over the noise of another bite! "Everyone, disengage!"
The Death Ray was caught by surprise when the Fist Rockets and the Brain Scrambler Pilot detached suddenly, enough surprise to release its bite in time for the Foot Crusher Cruisers and the Torso Tank Driver to move away!
The odds seemed to shift back into their favor again. Antauri and Chiro were on opposite ends of the Death Ray; Sprx and Gibson were flanking Chiro while Nova and Otto closed the circle with Antauri. Both the Monkey Team and the Death Ray discovered that fighting against six smaller opponents was more difficult than against one large one.
Still, outer space was its territory, and it easily evaded every single laser shot at it!
"This doesn't look so good," Otto murmured.
Roaring in frustration, the Death Ray swung its left fin at the nearest opponent, who was by chance Nova! She screamed as the Foot Crusher Cruiser Six spun uncontrollably!
"Nova!" Sprx yelled, piloting the Fist Rocket Three to intercept with her. However, the Death Ray anticipated that one would break formation and immediately attacked. The electrical explosion hit him head-on, disabling his ship's systems!
Otto screamed angrily as he went on the offense. He was firing every weapon he had as quickly as he could, and although some shots did strike the top of its body, the Death Ray proved to be an enduring opponent. With another roar, it bit onto the Foot Crusher Cruiser Five and tossed it aside! Gibson didn't have time to move the Fist Rocket Four out of the way before the two crashed into each other!
While the monster was distracted with Otto and Gibson, Antauri took the opportunity to make his way to Sprx and Nova. "Damage report?" he inquired them both.
"Believe me, you don't want to know," Nova immediately answered.
"Well, since you asked, you might as well know," Sprx said, ignoring Nova for once. "We both got nothing on power reserves. And without power, we can't escape or fight back."
"Antauri, look out!" Chiro suddenly shouted.
The Black Monkey's attention turned to his sensors, which he had ignored in his concern for Nova and Sprx. There was another electrical explosion headed directly for them! Antauri moved the Brain Scrambler Pilot Two forward and was able to knock Sprx out of the way, but the explosion impacted his ship before he could guide Nova to safety!
"Antauri!" she screamed, noticing that he took the hit in her stead.
"No!" Chiro yelled, advancing on the Death Ray. But the monster sharply turned in his direction and chomped down on the Torso Tank Driver One! Once again, Chiro was in terrible danger of an impending hull breach!
The others were badly damaged, unable to come to his aid.
Moments before the hull breach was about to become critical, a laser blast struck the underside of the Death Ray!
Roaring in surprise, the creature released Chiro and turned look at the new attacker.
Something piloted in their direction, flying only a few meters above the creature's eyes. Now, the arrival had the Death Ray's full attention. With a growl, it pursued the unfamiliar ship and began to charge another electric explosion. But it turned on the monster and fired another laser. This one struck one of the antennas, ripping it off before the explosion could ignite! With another blast, the other antenna was removed.
Injured and surprised, the beast remained still. Everyone noticed that the antennas were slowly growing back. However, since it was now defenseless without its weapons, the creature retreated into the asteroid field to wait out the healing process.
Momentarily safe, the Monkey Team looked at the new ship as it approached them. From their angle, they could see that its shape was that of a heart. Other than the three legs on the underside and the rocket engines on the rear, it was mostly flat. It was mainly a silver color, much like their own ships, but it was also highlighted with a light turquoise color.
"What is that?" Chiro asked, confused.
"It looks like my project!" Otto exclaimed, surprised.
"Let me guess…my party invitation got lost in the mail," a familiar voice said jokingly with a merry giggle.
"Is that—?" Gibson started to ask.
"The one and only Hayley Cometra, reporting for duty! And it looks like you guys could use some help. Heart Auxiliary Starship Seven, go!"
She began to turn in Nova's direction, and the front of her new vehicle (which was the bottom tip of the heart), began to glow a bright blue.
"Charging auxiliary control beam," Hayley reported, beginning to type in commands into her keyboard with one hand while still piloting her ship with the other. "Preparing to initiate power transfers."
Chiro became interested. "Hayley, what are you doing?"
"Well, there's no way I can fight this beast by myself. You guys might in badly damaged, but I can tell you're still in good fighting condition. Since I was able to buy us some time by knocking out the creature's antennas, I might as well transfer power in my systems to restore your energy cells. I have enough. Okay, Nova, you're first."
With a few more pushes of her buttons, the glow on the ship's front became an energy beam as it shot forward. The Foot Crusher Cruiser Six was bathed in its power.
"It's working!" Nova happily said. "I got my systems back. Thanks, Hayley."
Hayley looked at the monitor displaying the Yellow Monkey. Then, with a smile and a wink, she answered, "Anytime…sister."
Nova gasped in delight when she heard that.
Hayley's attention then turned to the Foot Crusher Cruiser Five. "Your turn, Otto." In the same way, the transfer sent the power onto Otto's vehicle.
"Looks like you came just at the right time," he told her.
She smiled back at him. "A lot of the credit goes to you, though, Otto. Once again, you've outdone yourself."
He began to laugh when he heard that. She was always the first to compliment his work.
When Otto's ship was finished, Hayley flew towards the Fist Rocket Four. "Here we go, Gibson."
"Yes, my systems are stabilizing," he replied. "But I have a superfluity of questions."
"I'm afraid answers will have to wait, Gibz," she said, laughing as she finished her sentence.
Gibson started to growl, but Hayley switched views on her monitor to display the inside of the Fist Rocket Three. As she started the power transfer for Sprx, she noticed that he had a shocked look on his face.
"What?" she shrugged.
"Well, for a minute, while you were fighting that monster, I thought your flight maneuvers looked familiar," he answered.
She laughed when she heard that. "Oh, come on, Sprx. You didn't seriously think I forgot your avionics training, did you?"
Sprx's jaw nearly hit the floor.
Hayley's attention then turned to the Brain Scrambler Pilot Two. A twinge of regret gripped her heart as she began to restore his power systems. Hesitantly, she began, "Antauri, listen…about what I said before—"
He lifted a hand, calmly interrupting her. "As I have stated, it is understandable. There is no need to apologize."
A single tear escaped her eye as she realized that she was indeed forgiven. Then, as she wiped it away, a mischievous grin formed on her face. "All right, team. Let's turn this creature into an overgrown tray of seafood!"
"Um, Hayley, aren't you forgetting someone?" Chiro asked.
To his surprise, she shook her head. "Don't worry, Chiro. I've got you covered. But we're going to need a direct connection to get your systems online again."
Chiro was confused. "What?"
Hayley rolled her eyes and began to maneuver her vehicle into position. "Let me put it this way: according to biology, where is the heart located?"
"Inside the—" he started to answer, but immediately stopped himself. "Oh, no…"
"Oh, yes. Initiating docking sequence."
"Uh, Hayley…"
"Calm down, Chiro. There may be a slight shake, but nothing serious."
"Hayley…"
"When we complete the sequence, we'll have a strong advantage. I can keep on eye on our defenses while you continue the counterattack."
"Hayley! How are you going to do this?"
She giggled. "There's a slot below the main cannon of your vehicle, Chiro. I found it in the schematic diagrams that Otto programmed in mine. My vehicle is the only one thin enough to fit inside. Like a floppy disk in a computer drive."
"Did you hack into my project's systems?" Otto asked, surprised.
"Well, I wouldn't call it hacking since you were going to give it to me, anyway," she answered.
A sudden tremor caught Chiro by surprise, but it lasted for only a few seconds. Once it was over, he discovered the power systems recharging to the point where they were nearly double of normal parameters! For the first time, he realized what an advantage this was.
"Nice," he said aloud, although mostly to himself.
"See?" she asked. "That wasn't so bad."
A familiar roar attracted everyone's attention as the Death Ray emerged from the asteroid field, antennas and all!
"Let's do it, team!" Chiro shouted.
At first, the battle didn't seem to be any different than before Hayley's arrival. The Death Ray sent several explosions at each of them, but the Monkey Team was better prepared on how to evade them. The heroes also remained in tighter formations and in groups; Antauri accompanied Sprx and Gibson while Nova and Otto stayed with Chiro and Hayley.
Together, they all fired their weapons. The creature roared as blast after blast struck it, even though none of the attacks seemed to have any effect.
As Hayley kept working on enhancing Chiro's weaponry, something caught her eye. Looking at one of her monitors, she zoomed in on the monster's left fin. There was a thin trail of smoke emerging from one of the blast points, and the injury left a layer of decaying skin.
"That's it," she realized. Her voice was quiet at first, but she activated an open channel to all of the ships. "Aim for the fins! The skin isn't as thick there! Cripple him!"
Knowing that this could be their best chance, they all aimed for the left fin and opened fire. The combined power of all six blasts on one body part was too much for the Death Ray; in a matter of seconds, the left fin was torn off!
It roared in pain and tried to reestablish its position! But the Hyperforce was already aiming at the other fin, blasting it off as well!
After that, the next few minutes of battle were smooth sailing until the creature was finally destroyed!
"We did it!" Nova exclaimed.
"Sushi shish kebab, Hayley?" Chiro asked.
"No, thank you," she answered. "I'm a vegetarian."
Everyone erupted into laughter.
Victory at last! Now, as the Monkey Team heads for home, Hayley has quite a story to tell. But will she tell it? And what has she learned from her horrifying experience? Find out in Chapter Six: Always Return.
In response to Chapter Four's reviews…
Crystal Persian: Sure, you can use her in one of your stories. Just try not to do anything too crazy with her. To be honest, I'm still developing her personality. My only other request is that you don't let her get too close to Otto; she's still trying to sort out her feelings for him. And don't worry; I haven't forgotten about the idea you gave me at the end of my first fanfic. I'm working on that one.
love-writer: Well, I haven't forgotten your suggestion. I tried to indicate that when Nova said that they couldn't leave Hayley unconscious, but I suppose I haven't made the hint strong enough. I hope this chapter better satisfies your request with Antauri taking the hit for Nova.
4Evermonkeyfan: I had a particularly hard time trying to figure out how Hayley was going to get out of that. I knew that the plot wouldn't be half as exciting if the team was able to save her. But when I remembered "In the Grip of Evil", I tried to write out my own version of how she would escape the void. Noticing your satisfaction tells me that I managed to pull it off.