Disclaimer: As you probably know by now, I do NOT own SRMTHFG!
Chapter 18: A Painful Decision
It's been almost a week now since their last encounter with the Skeleton King at the Citadel of Bone. Within that time Antauri announced to the group that the Citadel of Bone was starting to rebuild itself again. Everybody was horrified at the news. Was all of their hard work going to waste? The team's hearts sank at the thought, but they still needed to push forward and continue as protectors of Shuggazoom. If they didn't, then it would mean the end of their world and possibly the galaxy.
But there was nevertheless the good news. Otto and Gibson just finished making the chip that they made for Azalea. It was a small dark violet star pendant that was looped through a sturdy black chain. Gibson said that they did their best to make the chip look like a fashionable necklace and not so much a device. Azalea loved it and thanked them for it as she put it around her neck and turned the "on" button in the back of the pendant. With that she went into the training room to make sure that it would work. If it did then she would once again be able to have her Powers of Darkness back.
Azalea was inside of the white training room and the team gave her a target to practice her powers on. She put out her left hand and was about to shoot out her dark energy, but the thing was, it's been so long since she used them that she completely forgot how to do it again. Her training with the Skeleton King was so long ago and she hardly remembered what he said and he obviously wouldn't be teaching her again anytime soon, but at least she had her friends.
Antauri tried helping her out by teaching her how to use it, just as he taught Chiro how to unleash the Power Primate. They all had the idea that the two powers were similar as to wielding them. With a little bit of instruction it slowly came back to her and in no time she released a blast of dark purple energy from the palm of her hand, which blew the bull's eye of the target away.
"Awesome!" she exclaimed. "I think I'm starting to get the hang of this again. With more practice, I'll be able to use them in combat." Chiro smiled.
"Then the chip is a success then?"
"It appears so," said Antauri. "Gibson and Otto did an excellent job on it." Azalea turned towards the blue and green monkey and suffocated them in a big hug.
"Thank you guys so much! I can't thank you enough!"
"It's not a problem," said Gibson, a bit irritated. "Now can you release us?" She did so and was so happy about it that she had a hard time trying to contain herself. They've never seen her that gleeful before. Either that or maybe she had too much coffee that morning.
They went out into the main room of the Super Robot where Ivan witnessed his sister's use of her Powers of Darkness and congratulated her. He was glad that Azalea didn't have to work for the Skeleton King anymore like she was forced to before. He felt a little guilty being a burden to her before, but knew that it wasn't his fault.
"So now that you're freed from the Skeleton King for good," Ivan began. "Does that mean that we can go home?" She was surprised that he brought that up. She knows that they've been gone from their home planet for so long now, but it didn't occur to her until recently about going back to Earth. The room went silent the minute he said that.
"But Ivan, what would make you say something like that? Don't you wanna stay here with your superhero idols? You don't have to go to school here, we don't have parents to tell us what to do and we can help save the world. It's every child's dream to live like that."
"I know Azalea, but…I'm starting to feel homesick. I love this place so much and meeting the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go is the best thing that's ever happened to me, but we belong somewhere else." She saw the sadness in his eyes and couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. He was only ten after all.
"I almost forgot that the reason why you're here is because the Skeleton King teleported you here," said Chiro. "Maybe we should focus on getting you two back home."
"Absolutely not," Sparx objected. "With the Citadel of Bone rebuilding itself, we don't know for certain if the Skeleton King is destroyed for good or not. If we send them back on their planet then he could just capture them again, if not worse."
"Sparx does have a point," said Antauri. "It would be risky."
"Looks like they're not going anywhere anytime soon," said Nova.
"So until the Skeleton King is destroyed for good we can't go back to Earth?" Ivan asked, disappointed and startled at the same time.
"I guess not," said Chiro. But knowing Azalea, she wouldn't listen to reason. She raised her voice to make sure everybody could hear her opinion on the matter.
"I think that we should be able to go back if we want to. I have my Powers of Darkness now and the Skeleton King won't be able to try and tap into my other personality again. I'm guessing that even if I do travel back to my home planet, I would still have them, right?"
"Yes you would," Antauri replied. "From with you being here, I figured out that your Powers of Darkness are just like Chiro's Power Primate. Their force of energy that once implanted into your very soul and being; they can never be separated from you."
"So in that case," she continued. "I would be like a super hero on my home planet! Sweet! But where's that teleportation machine that Gibson and Otto built not long ago?" Nova crossed her arms.
"Don't bother Azalea, your still not going anywhere."
Out of the blue a great idea came to her. She thought about it for a moment and a smirk spread across her face. They all knew from that look that this wasn't going to turn out good. Azalea eyed Chiro as she was talking and crossed her arms.
"How about let's make a bet then Chiro. I think it's about time that we see who the more superior is. Remember how I said before that one of these days we should have a one on one duel? Well I think the time is about right now that ol' bone bags is out of the picture. If I win then me and Ivan will be able to go back home since I was able to prove to you that I'm stronger, but if you win, then I'll have no choice but to stay here and continue to train under you and the monkeys. How about it? Tomorrow morning at noon?" The robot monkeys and Ivan were taken aback by her sudden challenge. They couldn't believe that she would be as foolish as to challenge their leader without doing some more practice with her Powers of Darkness first. They realized that she was certainly arrogant, but at the same time so sure of herself. Sometimes none of them could understand her.
"Azalea, what are you thinking?" Sparx said. "Shouldn't you have more practice first? Where did this come from all of a sudden?" She ignored the red monkey's protests and waited for their leader's decision. Chiro didn't know what to say to that at first, but then grinned at her and remembered his promise about him being her rival.
"Challenge accepted."
The following morning each of them prepared themselves. They all had their coffee, breakfast and some small warm ups done, before the clock struck twelve. Throughout the course of the morning Sparx, Nova and Otto were completely against this duel and tried to convince Chiro and Azalea to change their minds, but it was already too late. Nothing was going to stop them from doing this duel. As for Antauri, Gibson and Ivan, they thought that it was a good idea to make the decision by having them duel. They were planning on having it take place on the outskirts of Shuggazoom, where nobody would interfere with their fight. And it was the same place where the team first captured Azalea at.
It was around eleven thirty when the two of them thought that it was time to go to their battlefield. They had the Super Robot fly to the spot where they were going to duel and got out of the robot. Surrounding them was a barren wasteland with nothing around them, except for the Shuggazoom city that they could see faintly in the distance. Azalea and Chiro stationed themselves and faced one another, with the monkey team and Ivan standing off to the side, far away from them. Chiro was in his team uniform and ready for battle, but at the same time so was Azalea. From the look in their eyes nothing would stop them from seeing who is the most powerful. The Powers of Darkness? Or the Power Primate? They would all see soon enough.
"I hope that you don't go easy on me just because I'm a girl," she said with crossed arms. Her tone of voice was filled with confidence. He grinned.
"I'm not planning to."
"There are no rules except for one. We fight until one of us drops." Chiro nodded.
"Right."
From off to the side the team and Ivan were discussing amongst themselves who would win. For the most part they were all planning on having Chiro win since he's been doing this the longest, but they were both equally powerful and good at battle, so it was hard to tell. But there can only be one winner. They wondered if Azalea had something up her sleeve, challenging Chiro so soon like with little preparation with her powers.
"Are you ready?" Antauri asked.
"Yes," the two of them said. This battle will determine whether or not Azalea and Ivan will stay with them in their world or not. And each of them were fixed on their decision. Chiro and the others didn't want Azalea and Ivan to leave, but she wanted to go back home, so if one of them wins this debut will be settled once and for all. They both readied themselves as Antauri said,
"Duel….START!"
With that the duel begun.
