A/N: Um. This one has also been done forever. Enjoy. ^^;


Chapter 6


"True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life, in whatever shape they may challenge us to combat." - Napoleon Bonaparte


"Don't just stand there. I said to your stations!" Mandarin called out to the rest of the assembled monkeys who were still gaping at the stoic yellow one.

"Excuse me. Did you not hear what I said: I quit."

"Yes, I heard you," Mandarin sneered at her. "I simply don't care. Everyone get to your battle stations, now. Even you sniveling cowards who are not worthy of your titles." He stormed past the yellow monkey on his way to his tube, sending a fierce glare at her the whole way.

The rest of the monkeys all looked at each other for a moment until the alarm began to seep into their receptors again and urged them to take action for the sake of the innocent Citizens who they were chosen to protect.

Nova was the last one to turn and make her way to her station.


Once the Team was in position the Super Robot took flight to have a closer look at the oncoming Formless threat. The oncoming threat was likewise galloping nearer to have a closer look at the Robot's jugular.

A dozen or so black-slime-oozing monsters in various bloodthirsty shapes were baring their teeth and making other carnage-promising gestures at Shuggazoom's six-monkey army.

"It appears to be Formless," Gibson said while intently studying the visual data on his screens. "But they are oddly specific in design as opposed to their usually featureless gelatinous shape."

"Aw look - a puppy!" Otto exclaimed happily.

Jumping off the roof of a beauty parlour a three-headed dog – four hundred times the size of your average inbred Doberman and foaming accordingly at the mouths – attacked the Robot; paws ferociously mauling the metal front, the shrill clamour having all Team members grit their teeth in exasperation.

"And it wants a hug!" the mechanic yelled through the ear-splitting screech of claws against steel.

"Yeah, well, it also needs to be house-broken – emphasis on broken." The right hand of the Robot shot out and grabbed the back of the monster mutt's neck, stretched back and flung the dog - froth and all - right into a giant lobster creature which had been quickly creeping in from the Red Bridge of Shuggazoom. The ghastly pair rolled off to one side in a tangle of saliva and limbs, shrieking and howling, respectively; but soon enough more gooey atrocities were queuing up in their place.

"Large mustachioed dragon at three o'clock!" Sprx yelled and fired missiles in order to keep a polite distance to the Formless reptile which evaded and hovered nearer on bat-like wings. The Robot swatted at the dragon and sent it flying into the sea.

"Viscous, muggy sea-spider to the left- I mean on my Fist Rocket get it off get it off!"

Mandarin slammed down on a button that informed the Robot to emit several thousand amperes into the body of the arachnid preying on the Fist Rocket 4. The force flung it sprawling across the City, where it groggily scuttled around, trying to regain control of all eight legs who insisted on going in five different directions simultaneously.

The crazed canine - now disengaged from the lobster-thing - paired up with another three members of the gunky beast brigade – a large, millipede whose segmented panzer glittered with black ooze; the now extremely irate lobster-monster and what appeared to be a horribly deformed kangaroo with grossly disproportionate hind legs and fangs the size and circumference of telephone booths.

The quartet engaged in close combat with the Robot, who in turn was dancing around their attacks, trying to avoid stepping on cars and private property while repeatedly denying the oncoming vicious embraces.

"Fire missiles! Lotsa missiles! And then a li'l more!"

"Activating outer defence systems!"

"Holy Shuggazoom, does that bunny over there have tentacles coming out of its back? Talk about just plain wrong."

"If it's moving, blast it until it stops!"

"Not that your advice isn't useful or anything, but I was gonna do that anyway, Novs - it's not like we've got time to show favoritism here!"

While they bantered, several well-targeted eye laser beams made sure the tentacle-ridden mammal stayed on the Shuggazoom Mega Mall parking lot a good distance away.

"They are closing in from behind!"

"Now would be a good time to fire up the ol' Lazatron Fury?"

"Quite reasonable, Otto."

No such thing happened.

"Mandarin?"

"Wait for it."

The many-segmented arthropod swirled around the giant mecha's body, holding it tightly in place while the Formless dog moved in to slobber toothy doom on the Brain Scrambler Pilot 2.

"Wait for—what?" Nova raged in her cockpit. "To have the monster mongrel swallow Antauri? Monkeydoodl—"

"Wait for it."

The lobster followed the canine's example and slammed in on the torso of the Super Robot, trying to knock it over; the kangaroo, in turn, was being just plain rude and stepped on the Robot's feet (the fiend). The gooey animals swamped the front of the robot, thinking it overwhelmed and then suddenly they didn't think much anymore when the devastating force coming out of the robotic chest hurled all four Formless creatures off the city map in a pitifully yipping mess of ooze.

Victorious, but alert of further danger, the Super Robot turned to the rest of the menacing menagerie, but found that the remaining monsters too were fading into puddles of sooty gunk that quickly frittered away into the depths of the City in the form of the mindless black soldiers they had come to know and loathe so well.

"We cannot follow them into the smaller confines of Shuggazoom City," Gibson warned.

"Emerge from the Robot. We shall face the Formless pariah head-on," Mandarin ordered and immediately dislodged from his seat.

In her compartment, Nova intensely wished she had knuckles to ominously crack.


The Team dispersed into the streets of Shuggazoom City which were swarming with Formless battalions. They split off into pairs, eager to rid the City of the current amorphous scourge.

The golden monkey in particular seemed overly keen on dealing out damage – not unusual behaviour, but she went about smashing heads in with a little more vigour than was really strictly necessary.

Sprx made a big, empty hole out of three slime soldiers and moved on while Nova kept hammering the remains of another five into the ground until the asphalt underneath suffered as well.

"So... What made you decide to leave?" the red cyborg questioned. He kept his attention on the ring of Formless surrounding him and his partner but that didn't keep his curiosity at bay.

"None of your business," Nova was tearing through the large mass of goop like it was water. Sprx thought he even saw some of it evaporate under her touch. Feisty.

"Well considering that you're abandoning the team-which I'm a part of-and you're my designated fighting pal, I'd say it is my business."

The yellow cyborg ripped through the ring of foes, splashing mailboxes and corner stores with the liquid remains of the opponents.

"You wouldn't understand."

Sprx felt like developing a twitch there and then. "What wouldn't I understand? Not liking this job? Not liking the people in this job? Wanting to just take off and never look back? Having every ounce of freedom that you ever worked for undermined by some control-freak monks and their little cronies?"

The she-warrior whipped around, throwing one Formless soldier right through the abdomen of other who had been lurching in on her colleague. Both enemies dissolved into harmless puddles. "Look. In case you hadn't noticed we're in the middle of a battle. Now's not the best time to have a heart-to-heart."

They continued to thin out the small street, silently covering each other's back and huddling underneath the fruit store displays when three Formless grouped together to throw a minivan at them.

"... You're not really gonna quit, are you?" Sprx asked warily as millions of tiny glass splinters rained down on their refuge.

"Of course I am! I'm not an attention hogging liar." The air around Nova sizzled faintly.

The golden warrior leapt up, slammed her fist against the side of the minivan and sent it soaring at the three Formless who should've seriously reconsidered their previous idea of using the surroundings to their advantage. Before ever getting the chance to do so, they were reduced to slush under the weight of the ruined vehicle.

Sprx and Nova walked to the middle of the road.

Down the street a fresh division of Formless soldiers were marching nearer, staggering and hunching onward, mindless as they were in their unrelenting onslaught.

"Then why're you still here? No one's around, you could take off and no one would know until it's all over. Why are you still fighting this battle?"

His only answers were the silence of the City and the dull, nonstop stomping of the Formless.


The rancid, boggy smell of singed sludge - like an old gas-filled marshland tree slowly burning up - fluttered through the air, being quickly spread with each sizzling movement of the energy sword.

Mandarin didn't even care to see one Formless splatter to the ground before he moved on to the next.

His arms moved automatically – years and years of the same movements in training sessions and months of hearing the splash following the defeat of a Formless sometimes rendered him almost impassionate about the deeds. The only thing that mattered was the fact that when he stopped moving, the enemy was gone and he was left standing.

He stood his ground. Everything else fell apart.

The energy blade disappeared in blurred flashes of blue light and black goo. The grey concrete of the streets was slowly painted with the grimy carcasses of the monkey's adversaries.

He stood tall. Everything else—no. The Team - his Team - was the one thing that would prevail. Mandarin would not allow Nova to simply desert, but that was a problem to obsess over later. Other slimy and deadly issues were advancing on him and his combating partner in potentially fatal numbers.

A black wave of juicy fresh Formless poured around Antauri and Mandarin. The black monkey let loose a devastating Monkey Mind Scream that greatly reduced the ranks on their left while Mandarin had his back and sent mucky appendages flying in every direction.

It was fortunate he and his old time friend complemented each other so well in battle – should Mandarin have found himself with the incredibly chatty mechanic or the slapdash Sprx as a fighting partner, he might up and decapitate either one out of sheer annoyance before the enemy got the chance.

Mandarin offhandedly separated one Formless from its lower torso with surgical precision while observing Antauri from the corner of his eye. Glowing light green claws dug deep into the abdomen of two foes before tearing back and covering the street with their guts.

There was a certain ruthlessness to the weapons of his brother that Mandarin both envied and found incredibly primitive; a hands-on cruelty reminding him of their primal origins. The ferocity with which Antauri went about executing the Formless in comparison to his usual subdued behavior was a contrast that amused Mandarin. It proved to show the 'primal' in the Power Primate.

Finding that he had distracted himself enough, Mandarin slammed his shield against a row of Formless, effectively pushing them back. There was a pleasant sizzling as the circular energy field burnt the outer layer of black ooze off the first unfortunate enemy in line.

Antauri reached out and sliced.

Slash.

Mandarin brought down the sword.

Shhkt.

The Hyperforce leader never gave up his ground, his loyal friend was at his side and endless formations of enemies approached, ready to perish at his hands. If it wasn't because it would've been deemed tasteless, Mandarin would seriously have considered enjoying himself over this.


He hated fighting.

Hit. Punch. Kick. Shoot.

He really and truly hated it.

Shoot. Kick. Punch. Duck. Leap.

Loathed it even.

Run. Duck. Roll. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Charge.

So why was he here? Jumping and running and firing off lethal shots of elements into masses of unidentifiable ooze? Fighting for his very life? Voluntarily?

Hit. Punch. Drills. Shoot. Shoot. Duck.

There was no readily available logical explanation.

Lunge. Retreat. Charge. Hit. Hit. Shoot. Kick.

He had been asking himself these exact questions every day for the last few months and he was still nowhere close to coming up with any form of satisfactory solution.

Duck. Save. Shoot.

"Otto! Look out."

It wasn't like they truly needed someone like him. Well, maybe. When they got hurt. But other than being a free medical center he was almost useless.

"Thanks, Gibson."

Jump. Fall. Kick. Kick. Drill. Hit.

Was all this even worth it? He certainly hoped so.

Shoot. Punch. Kick. Kick. Drill. Run. Run. Charge.


The quiet made everything seem ten times as bad as it probably was. In fact, they were probably doing really well and tearing through the monster right now. But the silence...

The City was never silent.

Helen looked around at the gathered Citizens all huddled into select groups within this small shelter. It hadn't been used in years it looked like-at least not by the dominant inhabitants of the planet. What it's original purpose was supposed to be Helen couldn't begin to guess, but it was a nice little shelter that could hold a decent number of people in it. There were more, spread all throughout the City; under warehouses and behind hidden passages in walls, it was an undisturbed labyrinth right underneath the City. Until now, that is.

If Gibson hadn't been looking through the city schematics one day for research about the Robot they would have never known about them. It was a fascinating architectural design. If you were interested in such a thing, and Helen admitted that she wasn't.

She tried to send out a calming aura toward the anxious Citizens but it was taxing. They were too panicked to notice anyway.

"What's happening?" someone asked. It had been quiet for a long time now.

"I don't know," Helen said. "But they will contact me once everything is safe. Please, remain where you are."

Being a shape shifter had its advantages. She could pretty much speak any language she came into contact with. She just... absorbed the knowledge. Gibson would find that interesting. He'd probably want to probe her some more. She decided not to mention it unless she absolutely had to.

Helen sat down in the lotus position and began to try and meditate. It would do no good worrying about the Team. They would be fine. They'd faced tougher beings in their short time of coming together. Everything would be fine.

She'd feel it if Antauri was seriously injured or killed. Fear was the mind killer... but lying never helped anyone either.


"That went well!"

"Don't lie for my sake, Otto; it's more insulting than comforting."

"But the Formless are gone, that's what matters, Gibson! Who cares that you got covered in evil gooey nasty slimy—"

"I do!" Gibson shouted and flailed his arms about, splashing goo everywhere.

"Who knows? Maybe it's good for your coat – Like, y'know, a mudbath! Except instead of mud it's the sticky icky remains of awful sins to Nature. That's gotta count for something!"

"… I claim my right to remain highly skeptical of that theory."

"Claim your rights to a bath, too; will ya?" Sprx grinned at the less-than-amused Gibson.

The red and yellow cyborgs joined up with the green and once-blue-but-now-mostly-black monkeys.

"Did the Formless also just… run off from you?" Nova asked; scanning the area but finding no goopy activity in sight.

"Yeah! D'ya think we won?"

"… I think you should take a look at this," Gibson said breathlessly. They turned to the direction of the stunned scientist.

Thousands of the black slug-like creatures were massing to one gargantuan pillar of ooze in the far horizon. Writhing and squirming, it was slowly reassembling itself. Thin, bony limbs dripping with slime were meticulously shaping itself into a massive heap of long, skeletal spider legs and several pairs of frankly ridiculously over-sized bat-wings.

Instantly, their transmitters started screaming 'incoming message' at them.

"Team, reunite at the Robot as quickly as possible."

Antauri didn't even finish his command before the monkeys took off.

It was like a giant ball of black, sodden yarn with twigs and sticks poking out of it and about as maneuverable. The Giant Formless hurriedly scuttled away - bumping into buildings and loosing its balance - when the Super Robot came blasting out from the City as it clearly had no intention of fighting the heavily armed automaton.

That intention became even clearer when all the tattered pairs of wings flapped open and the goo ball ungainly lifted off, limping like a baby bird reluctant to fly for the first time. However, the second all the wings started working together, the Giant Formless sped off into the atmosphere, seeking to flee the battle.

"Are we just gonna let it fly off?" Otto asked.

"I'd say we could follow – this form seems less combat-oriented and more adapted to quickly retreating while bringing back as many of its supporters as possible."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's finish it off!" Sprx said enthusiastically at the prospect of an easy finale.

"Indeed." Mandarin activated the back thrusters and the Super Robot followed the fleeing Formless in close pursuit, breaching the atmosphere of Shuggazoom and quickly catching up to the Formless monster.

The Giant Formless squeaked, flapped its wings and wiggled its legs pathetically when the Super Robot rammed it into an asteroid field. Pieces of rock and metal junk scraped at the ineffective Formless, its feeble attempts at recovering from this predicament desperately futile.

Before they could all pat each other's back at a Job Well Done, somebody else patted the back of the Super Robot. Hard.

The impact took them completely by surprise and hurled the mecha directly into the asteroid field with the Giant Formless who was too busy not being torn apart to even think of sniggering at the misfortune of its adversary.

"What was that!" Nova yelled over the sound of rock scraping against metal.

"Ambush!" Mandarin fumed.

A crisp sound of large exhausts blasting something extremely big through the void reached them before Gibson quickly brought up a shaky visual. "Oh… my. This could be potentially bad. Very bad."

There were big things and then there were big Big Things.

This was a big Big Bad Thing and it was closing in fast. It moved forward with an indifferent arrogance to its surroundings that came with the knowledge of being bigger than anybody else, asteroids and meteors bumping off the spiky, stony exterior like bugs on a windscreen.

It was a grey, scabrous structure of pointy doom from which squirming tentacles shot forward and clasped the Super Robot in a hug too tight for comfort.

They were being pulled in. There was no fighting back. Whatever it was, it was too strong.

A large hole opened before them as they reached the stone-ship.

Then everything went black.