Not much to say, except for the fact that I will have finals next week and I will not be able to post any new chapters until afterwards. After finals is summer break, so I won't be gone long. Disclaimer: I do not own SRMTHFG or any of the real locations. Sit back and enjoy the chapter
That Sunday was a relaxing day. Not exactly for Chiro though. Going over some summer practice math problems given by the team's scientist would count as relaxing for some. Since the new school year does not start until another week from then, they were not in much of a rush. Gibson and Antauri remained in the robot to prepare themselves or research more information about planet Earth while Lorraine and the other monkeys hung out in the city. Gibson was working extra hard too because the chemicals in this world were a lot different from the ones he's used to studying. That wasn't much of a problem for him as he adored studying new things in his spare time.
Unlike the other days, today was partly cloudy and a little cooler than normal. The temperature was 75 degrees, compared to the earlier days which were either in the 80s or 90s. The city streets were also not as packed as it usually was on the weekends. This was mostly because some of the schools in the area were starting soon. Of course, Nova, Sprx, and Otto were in their human forms and in their same outfits as last time. Lorraine on the other hand wore denim shorts, a black spaghetti strap with a black loose long-sleeved blouse on top, and her usual sneakers.
This did not bother the four friends though. Except for Lorraine, those members happily went for this opportunity as it was a good way to avoid Antauri's suggested training protocol. They've already visited some places in the city; shops (they bought some clothes they would use during their stay and so that they would not have to use the same outfits over again), the Newport Aquarium (Otto loved looking at the fishes and Lorraine knew that Gibson would have loved that place), and even went on a tour around the University of Cincinnati, courtesy of Lorraine. Since none of them were going to attend college, a tour of the place would let them know what Gibson, Antauri, and Lorraine would be spending their time at. Now that the tours were done, all of them have one other thing on their minds…
"Man…I'm hungry!" Otto whined.
"Otto, that's the fifth time you said that!" Sprx retorted.
They've been out and about for five hours now. It was a bit past mid-afternoon and all of them were walking down Calhoun Street, which was the same street that Lorraine, Gibson, and Antauri went through before they broke into the dean's office. There were some college kids around too, as they were enjoying the last week before the start of the school year.
"I have to admit, I'm hungry too," Nova's stomach growled and she put her hands on her stomach.
Lorraine shook her head and laughed. "You do know we're walking past a bunch of restaurants right?"
All three human monkeys looked around them and noticed that they were walking passed some restaurants. In fact, these restaurants were a mix of diners, pubs, and Chinese restaurants. That also explain why there was a whole plethora of smells in the air.
"Oh so that's why it smells so good here…" the boy with red hair shrugged his shoulders.
Nova stared at him incredulously. "You just figured that out now?"
"No. I knew. I just wanted to know how long it would take for Otto to notice."
At that statement, the mechanic sniffed the air and started to drool. The scent he picked up was coming from the restaurant around the corner. Otto took off in a sprint and ran down that street towards the next intersection, passing his three friends.
"Whoa!" Lorraine exclaimed, watching the green human monkey take off straight ahead and narrowly avoiding a group of girls on the side. They screamed as they dodged to the side, looked behind them in confusion before continuing on their way.
"Well he's excited about something," Sprx said.
"And I know what's around that intersection," the Earth ambassador rolled her eyes and sighed. "Anyone in the mood for fast food?"
No one really answered to that as they did not need to. The first to run ahead was Sprx, who was then followed by Nova, and finally Lorraine behind them. As they ran, they passed by shops, other pedestrians (most of which were college students), and pubs. When they reached that crammed intersection and crossed the street, they found Otto gazing at the restaurant next to the enter sign just a few feet from them, drool still dripping from the side of his mouth. There were not a lot of pedestrians going through this area, at least not yet, so no one got embarrassed.
The other three friends looked in that direction and were staring at a restaurant with a red and yellow theme. The building was small, being only one floor, and had a few cars going through the drive-through in the back. There was even an enclosed pen outside of the restaurant, which contained black tables and chairs for outdoor eating. The one thing about the restaurant that stood out the most was the huge sign post to the right of the restaurant that with a huge letter M. The name of the restaurant even had its name broadcasted on the roof.
"Man…that smells so good!" Otto said in a monotone voice, obviously mesmerized by the smell of burgers and fries.
"Looks like we're having McDonald's for lunch," Lorraine said, still staring at the inside of the place. "I don't know about you guys, but I could go for a couple of Angus wraps and some fries."
"Quit talking," Nova said impatiently. "Let's just get inside and get some grub. I'm starving!"
With that said, she ran up to Otto and they both entered the restaurant through the side entrance at the left. They disappeared inside once they passed through the double glass doors. Lorraine was about to follow when she noticed Sprx still staring at the restaurant. She stopped, looked in his direction, and saw something on one of the windows that intrigued her.
"Sprx?" she called to him.
The ace pilot blinked and looked around. "Huh? What?"
"Nova and Otto just went inside. Aren't you going to follow them?"
Sprx chuckled and waved his hand. "Yeah, I just saw something is all."
After saying that, he walked up to that same entrance and went inside. Lorraine followed behind him, still staring at the 'Help Wanted' poster on that same window.
For a popular fast food restaurant and the time being on a weekend, it was not that packed at all. There were not a lot of people sitting on the tables inside and there were about five people standing in line up front. Like any fast food joint, the order counter is at the front and so is the menu screens and kitchen. The booths were on the sides of the restaurant and the middle contained of short and long tables.
"Wow! Look at all those choices!" the mechanic squealed and ran up to the front. He looked from side to side at the screens…and his mouth was still drooling. "I don't know what to get!"
"Pick whatever you want guys. Lunch is on me for today," Lorraine pointed at herself with a thumb.
"Ooh! What should I get? I know! The double bacon cheeseburger! No wait, the Big Mac with a soda! No no wait! I change my mind! I'll go for that Mcrib sandwich!" Otto pointed at all of those choices on the screen until he stopped at that one image of the foot long sandwich. "With extra cheese! And a soda!"
Lorraine nodded at that then looked at the two remaining members. "Sprx, Nova? What do you guys want to get?"
Sprx put a hand on his neck, obviously indecisive. "I don't know. What's the number one choice on the menu?"
"French fries," she immediately answered. "But that's only a complement to whatever you order, if you want to get it. If you're thinking about what should go with it, I'd say go for the Big Mac."
"Then Big Mac it is!" he crossed his arms and smiled.
Nova put her hands on her hips, still looking at the screen. At this point, the line got shorter and only two people remained in that line. Otto was still marveling at the food in the back and is jumping like a school girl.
"I don't know…I don't really feel like eating a burger today," she mentioned.
"Okay then. Chicken nuggets, wraps, or fries?" the Earth human asked her.
"Um…why not?" Nova shrugged her shoulders then looked at her. "Let's go for that 20 chicken nuggets special."
"Got it," she replied.
It did not take very long for their turn to come up. Lorraine placed the orders in and hid her reaction at the total price. She was pretty used to seeing that high of a total ($20), but she knew that she would have to explain to her parents on how her emergency money depleted. At least she already had a part-time job at one of the libraries in the campus, so that would save her butt. Lorraine told her friends to go ahead a find a table while she stayed up front to wait for the order.
The three Monkey team members chose one of the tables in the middle of the restaurant. This table was in front of a long red sofa that served as a long seating for two other tables. There were also two other chairs in front of those tables. They chose the one at the very left and sat down. Nova and Otto sat at the sofa while Sprx sat on one of the chairs.
"You know," Sprx started, attracting his teammates' attention. "I take back all the bad things I said about this planet. It's not so bad."
"Yeah, it's a good place," Nova agreed then showed her morpher to her friends. "These bands really do make things easier."
"You're welcome!" Otto spoke up, reclined in his seat and arms behind his head.
The ace pilot in the group stared at both of his friends as they talked for a bit, but something caught his attention at the front. Lorraine was at the front of the house, still waiting for their food orders, but there was something else. Speaking to one of the cashiers in the middle of the counter was another employee who looked a little different from the others. This man was a little shorter than everyone else, about an inch taller than Lorraine, and had a hefty build. His face was round and his bald head was topped by a red and yellow McDonald's cap. Except for the other employees, who wore the red and black uniforms, he wore all black and had a manager's name tag on the left side of his buttoned shirt. Sprx stood up and walked to the front, passing by a confused Lorraine who watched him as he went by. The girl looked ahead and shrugged her shoulders, thinking that he was probably going to the bathroom or something.
The girl arrived at the table with her other friends and placed the full tray in the middle of the square. Nova clapped her hands together and looked at the food menacingly as she was ready to chow down. However, that expression was easily unmatched by Otto's, whose drool was already dripping down his hypnotized and grinning face. Right when Lorraine tiredly sat on Sprx's chair, arms dangling on both sides and neck resting on the top of the chair, the mechanic grabbed his Mcrib sandwich and chewed loudly. Nova slowly grabbed her box full of chicken nuggets while looking at the member next to her. Her eye twitched as she watched Otto munch on that sandwich every second. Lorraine looked at him too from her place and had the same expression as Nova's.
"Man!" Otto replied, voice muffled by all the ground-up food in his mouth. "This is so good!"
Food particles flew from his mouth as he spoke. The meat crumbs and bits splattered and some of them even ended up on the other food. Good thing the wrappers were still on.
"Otto, that's really gross," Nova told him.
Lorraine stared at him blankly before rolling her eyes. If this were an anime, they would be flat slits like Brock from Pokemon. "You know, there's such a thing as table manners."
The mechanic said something but none of them could tell what he was saying due to all the food in his mouth. His eyes closed and were in the form of semicircles. Once he swallowed, the girls could hear his loud gulp.
"Sorry, couldn't help it. I'm just so hungry!"
"Right…" the girl with pink eyes said blankly.
Lorraine did the same for a few more seconds, then switched to the next topic. She made sure her voice was kept low to make sure no one else around them would hear. "So Otto, if these morphers allow you guys to assume human form, then I'm guessing all of your robotic abilities wouldn't work like this?"
"Well," he whispered after taking a huge gulp of Pepsi from the extra-large sized cup next to him. "Not all of them. It's kind of hard to explain, but we can still communicate to each other through our built-in ear coms."
"Really?" the girl replied. "If your communications work, then what about your weapons?"
Otto shook his head. "Those I couldn't really find a solution to. The only way we'd be able to use our weapons would be to deactivate our morphers."
That was a 'ah hah" moment for Lorraine. She leaned back into her chair and mouthed 'oh'. "So, in a way, you guys are like undercover superheroes."
The green human monkey pointed a finger up as a way of showing she was correct.
"Nice!" she yelled in a whisper. "You guys are like Superman. Or Batman. Um…Spiderman. Ooh! Even better. You guys are like Power Rangers!"
Both Monkey team members stared at her in confusion. Lorraine grinned as she looked at the both of them, happy at the comparisons she made. The silence continued for another ten seconds before Otto spoke up.
"Power Rangers? You guys have superheroes on this planet?"
The human shook her head and raised her arms. "Um, no. The Power Rangers and all of those heroes I just mentioned are fictional characters."
"Oh," he replied.
Otto continued to tell Lorraine about the capabilities of the morphers he and Gibson created. He told her that they did something to these holographic projections of themselves to make them look and feel real. He said it was hard to explain, but he told her to compare it to wearing a space suit. Lorraine listened to him talk while she ate one of her Angus wraps. As for Nova, she was consuming her chicken nuggets as the conversation dragged on. Otto also mentioned that although most of their robotic capabilities were limited, their strength, stamina, and all of their physical factors were still the same. Like Antauri, whom she found out could still use his psychic abilities even through both forms.
When Nova finished her chicken nuggets, she noticed something missing. The warrior scanned the restaurant from where she sat. There were some humans sitting on the booths enjoying their meals and one employee was close to the east entrance, sweeping the floor with a broom. She turned her head to the two conversing humans and interrupted them.
"Hey guys? I don't mean to interrupt this conversation, but where's Sprx?"
Lorraine stared at her and held her chin. "Huh…I did see him pass by me a few minutes ago. I assumed he was going to the bathroom."
"Maybe he's getting some sauce?" Otto downed a few fries that he had in his hand.
Lorraine shook her head. "No, it's been too long." She then remembered him looking at the poster at the front of the restaurant. She had an idea what he was up to, but did not want to say anything to the other teammates if it did not really happen.
"I'm sure he's fine. He'll be back soon."
The blonde sighed. "He'd better." She looked at the still wrapped Big Mac and his pack of fries. "His food's getting cold."
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Manager's office
Sprx sat quietly on the wooden chair in front of the manager's oak desk. It was a small room, the boss' office, and only containing a large shelf full of books. The warrior sat there, quiet, reclined in his chair, hands folded, and legs crossed. The manager sat before him, examining the folded piece of paper that was his résumé and had a hand on his chin. Yesterday, Lorraine helped him create a false resume if he came across a chance to land a job. Good thing he brought that thing with him in his pocket. Like Otto, he was also a fan of food. To him, the 'help wanted' poster outside was like a window of opportunity.
The meeting was going well. Sort of. The man was scrutinizing his folded resume and Sprx was not exactly in an outfit made for an interview. After all, he was still wearing the same clothes his human form had when he first transformed. The good news was he did not smell. Right now, his only worry was the manager not accepting him.
The man lowered the twice folded paper and stared at the young man in front of him. Sprx waited patiently, face straight and looking noble.
"So…Mr. Sprx is it?" he asked him in an inquisitorial tone.
"Yes sir," he replied. "That's my name."
"I've never heard one like that before."
Sprx nervously chuckled. "Yeah, my 'father' was a weird one." He cringed when he said that word. Who in their right mind would call Skeleton King their father? No…the Alchemist was their guardian…before he became the one enemy they vowed to destroy.
"It says here that you're competent, bold, ambitious, daring, and willing to do whatever it takes to get a job done?" the interviewer dictated from the resume.
The pilot put his hands behind his head and leaned back a little. "That's right."
"Good," he nodded and looked up at him. "We need some of those here. But there's nothing here about any culinary experiences."
"Oh don't worry sir," he waved his hand dismissively. "I'm a good cook. In fact, I took care of a massive meat monster with my bare hands some time ago."
"Yeah, a live squirming, raw and disgusting meat monster," he thought as he recalled the time he and the other monkeys took care of one of the meat creatures from Wonder Fun Meat World. They defeated him when he and Gibson drove the creature into a techno ball and fried it to a crisp.
The man looked at him incredulously. "A meat monster?"
"Yeah. Let's just say it was a huge order. Oh and then there's one time I dealt with a huge cheese monster," he explained and remembered that one time the Hyper Force dealt with the nefarious Cheese Bot.
They defeated him by pounding him, thanks to Chiro and the Power Primate, melting him down, courtesy of the teamwork between Sprx, Nova, and Gibson, and finally, having Otto and Antauri slice him to bits. The cheddar smelled disgusting…so they all avoided cheese for nearly a month.
"A cheese monster? Is that another big order?" the man replied with more disbelief.
"Sure is!" Sprx pointed at him with a gun gesture. "First it had to be pounded, then melted a little, and finally sliced."
"Uh…" he kept on staring at him suspiciously.
"Then there's that one time I was up against a huge body part!" the interviewee told him and then let out a laugh. "It was so big and meaty, it practically ate all the other meats!"
Saying that made him recall the time when the Monkey team had their last encounter with the Cloggy Colon Creature. Not only was he huge, disgusting, and smelly, but he also ate people for breakfast! They did not exactly defeat him themselves, as the people of Shuggazoom weakened him by hurling vegetables at him. Once he spat out the humans he ate, the Super Robot sent him to the prison complex on Ranger 7. He never bothered the city again.
The stories went on for another ten minutes or so. All of which were about the Hyper Force defeating various monsters that had a relation to food. He talked about seafood (tentacled slug from the depths and the fish people), vegetables (that one plant creature that made a mess in the city), and even some of their grossest adventures (the most disgusting being the time the Vreen invaded). All the interviewer could do was sit there and listen with his eye twitching.
After all those reminiscences, Sprx had finally finished his stories. "So…do I make the cut?"
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Back at the dining area…
The other three members conversed at the table as they finished the last of their meal. Otto had just finished his Mcrib sandwich and was already finishing up his fries (getting into Sprx's share). The girls were talking about some experiences with their guy friends while he did that. The only thing that remained untouched on the table was a long Big Mac sandwich, which was getting colder by the minute.
The conversation was about to drag on when Sprx suddenly ran to that table after running around the wooden wall behind them. His appearance surprised the girls a little (both of which nearly fell off their seats) and slightly surprising Otto. He bent down, put his hands on his knees to catch his breath, then put a hand on the mechanic's shoulder.
"Sprx!" Nova yelled at him. "Where the heck have you been?"
"Yeah," Lorraine added. "Your food's already cold!"
The pilot gasped then looked at all of them. "No time…" He then looked at Otto, who had just swallowed a handful of fries. Crumbs and ketchup were splattered all over his mouth. "Otto, you like food right?"
The human monkey nodded. The green haired boy grabbed a napkin nearby him and wiped his mouth clean.
"Then you're going to have to come with me."
He grabbed Otto's hand and dragged him away from the table. The confused boy let out a scream as he was separated from his food. Within seconds, the duo disappeared behind the wall, leaving two confused girls sitting there, alone at the table. The two of them looked at each other in confusion as they had now been abandoned for whatever reason.
"I wonder what that was about," the blonde said.
Lorraine shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "I have no idea."
"Should we follow them?" she asked the Earth human.
The girl looked at her and replied. "No. Whatever it is, I think they can handle it. Once they come back, they owe us an explanation."
"Yup," Lorraine closed her eyes then nodded. "So judging from the fact that you just ate fast food, I'm guessing you guys got over your encounter from Wonder Fun Meat World?"
Nova nodded. "Yeah, except for Otto, we all went on a vegetarian diet for a few weeks. There were a few times when we dared each other to down a few cups of Antauri's veggie shakes."
The girl laughed at that. "Tasted like armpits?" she asked, quoting Otto's remark that one time.
"Oh it's worse than that. See, we all made a deal where however many shakes we chugged would decide the several days we get to skip our training protocols. This lasted until our appetite for meat came back."
"Then what about Otto? Did you guys somehow trick him into drinking some of that stuff?" Lorraine gave her a smirk.
Nova winked at that, letting her know that they did. "Once, when he came back from Gakslapper's after getting his dinner, we emptied his soda drink and replaced it with Antauri's leftover broccoli shake."
Lorraine laughed really hard at that. "And did that turn him greener than usual?"
"For the rest of the night!"
All of them laughed at that. Their conversation went on for another few minutes until finally…the boys came back. The girls watched as Sprx and Otto approached them, oddly having grins on their faces. No, not huge and creepy grins, but more like smirks and teeth showing, especially from Otto.
"Well look who decided to show up…after thirty minutes," the female warrior crossed her arms and glared at them.
"Aw come on Nova," Sprx reassured her. "Don't give us that. It was for a good reason."
"What reason?" she asked, still glaring. Lorraine grabbed her cup of ice-cold water and started sipping from it.
"We got a job here!" Otto raised his hands and beamed.
"What!?" Lorraine spat a spray of water out. Luckily, none of it hit the boys. Her eyes widened at that statement. Sure she guessed that Sprx was going for a job at McDonalds, but she didn't expect the staff to accept him. Otto maybe, but Sprx!?
"Wait, you guys are going to work at a fast food restaurant? For as long as we stay here?" Nova asked them.
"Yeah! It's great! This place reminds us of Mr. Gakslappers," Otto jumped.
"But what about your job Otto? Of fixing the machine?" she asked him.
He stopped jumping and waved a hand at her. "I'll still be working on that. But like Lorraine said, we don't have to stay cooped up in that place."
Lorraine smiled. "Well this is great! When do you guys start?"
"Next week," Sprx told her. He put his hands on his hips. "We scheduled it on the day you, Antauri, and Gibson start college."
"Awesome!" she replied.
"That sounds great and all," Nova stared at them. "But how exactly did you convince the manager to hire you guys?"
The ace pilot chuckled at that. "Long story. But, I think we can tell you guys over some dessert."
Lorraine sighed. "I guess desserts on me then…" she then pointed at the both of them with a glare. "Until you guys get your currency."
That lunch was a long one. Sprx explained the two girls what had happened during the interview, while he ate his now cold Big Mac sandwich. They were both shocked to hear him use some of their adventures as a way to persuade the boss to hire him. And not only that, but he also mentioned that Otto was a good cook too. So after a series of questions, Sprx dragged his green partner into the office and the interview went on. All of that happened…over some Oreo McFlurrys.
Fast Food! :D Now Sprx and Otto got a job. Which leaves Nova. What kind of job is she going to get in our world? And how else are they going to survive their first week? Find out next time on SRMTHFG: Far From Home.
