Disclaimer: Super Robot Monkey Team belong to... someone else.
A/N: Okies some cameos oughta happen in this chapter! But don't worry if yours doesn't appear, we still have a looooong way to go.
Thank yous:
Supernova077: Is this soon enough? Lol
Xiaolin Monkey: I could put you in with Matt if you like, but I need a description of you first. Thanks for lending me Matt!
Mewtwo: Hehe thanks! Don't worry I think Antauri will have his own little 'problems' to sort out, like surviving this exercise!
The team all trudged out; some going quickly to get the exercise over with as fast as possible, others taking their sweet time since they were enjoying the company they had.
Two such people were Jet and Otto, who seemed to consider this a holiday and had packed a huge hamper of food as well as their survival things, and, as they trekked through the jungle, they chatted amiably about various things.
"Y'know honey, I've been thinking" said Jet, smiling at her green simian husband as they climbed over a fallen tree trunk, "I think it's time we had a talk about our feelings"
Otto fell over the other side of the trunk in shock and quickly got up,
"Uh... really? Well uh that's a great idea! We'll have to do that... after this exercise!" he said hurriedly, before he attempted to flee one of the dreaded 'talks' Sprx had warned him girls enjoyed having with their partners. He had only managed to turn before a hand placed a strong grip on his shoulder and he felt sweat pour down his forehead. He turned and tried to smile happily, Jet believed it and hugged him close,
"And the first thing I have to say is that I think you need to go on a diet, Otto, you eat way too much! It can't be good for you!" she chided, taking the huge hamper from Otto.
The rest of the team all looked up from their paths when they heard crying and a long 'noooooooooooooooooooooooo' resounding through the trees, making flocks of birds take flight, before resuming their paths with smiles on their faces.
Sprx snickered slightly before getting smacked upside the head by his partner; he grumbled and glared the black winged monkey who gave a bone searing glare back. He quickly backed down, not wanting to fire Zakuro's temper, and settled on muttering incoherently,
"You gonna help or what?" she snapped at him suddenly, making him jump and race to her side to hack away foliage.
"Y-yes sir!" he said hesitantly.
"What!"
"Ma'am" he corrected quickly, before hacking faster, hoping to escape the cranky oestrogen-fuelled female comrade behind him.
Antauri sighed when he heard the second scream of the day, recognising it as Sprx and hoping his daughter didn't do permanent damage to the perverted red monkey. And yet a small sadistic side of Antauri hoped it at least put him off girls a bit.
"C'mon Antauri, we won't get through if you stand around dreaming" said a calm, smiling voice and he felt a gentle push arouse him from his stupor. He blinked and shook his head before smiling at his comrade,
"You're right, I'm sorry Amethyst" he said, with a slight blush forming, before joining her side at hacking the leaves away. They worked long and hard and soon they were both exhausted and sweaty, Antauri looked over at the panting purple monkey and turned away, feeling his blush increase. He shook his head and stood up,
"I uh... maybe we should make camp for the night" he suggested, looking out into the deepening black that ate away at the sky. Amethyst stood up next to him, making Antauri shift but not uncomfortably,
"Yes, I think you're right. It'll be dark soon" she agreed, before leaving Antauri's side to get their things ready. Antauri felt the warmth leave his side and he turned longingly, watching her back. He quickly shook his head,
'Stop it!' he mentally chided, 'You're married! You shouldn't feel like this to any other girl!' but he glimpsed slightly at Amethyst, who caught his glimpse and smiled back. Antauri felt weak at the knees and sat down heavily. In a flash Amethyst was in front of him, looking worried,
"Are you ok?" she asked, looking over his face for symptoms of any illness, she reached up and touched his forehead. Antauri felt fireworks go off in him at full throttle and he tried to control himself.
"Fine... I'm fine!" he squeaked, reaching up to remove Amethyst's hand but Amethyst didn't look convinced.
"Are you sure? You felt warm, do you have a fever?" she reached to touch his forehead again, but Antauri quickly moved.
"Honestly, I'm fine!" he insisted, doing a triple somersault "see?" he said as he landed, smiling. Amethyst sat back on her haunches, looking mildly stunned at Antauri's feat, before a smile split her face and she started laughed. Antauri looked pleasantly confused and this seemed to make Amethyst laugh more.
"Oh... oh I'm sorry. It's just... you looked so... so... funny!" she managed to get out between chortles, making Antauri blush more in embarrassment.
Antauri smirked at her, feeling somehow euphoric he'd managed to make Amethyst laugh, and he walked over to her,
"So you thought that was funny did you?" he said in an uncharacteristly evil voice, which made Amethyst stop laughing at once and look up in fear. "Well then, I'll make you laugh!" he cried before tickling her unmercifully.
Everyone looked up when they heard the squeals of laughter and begs of mercy, including Ichigo; blissfully unaware of who it was who was laughing, but still smiling at it.
"Sounds like someone's having fun" she commented, looking over at Onyx. He snorted in acknowledgement and Ichigo felt the smile drop a little. She floated over to him,
"Need a hand?" she asked cheerfully and a cloth tent was suddenly thrown on top of her.
"Hold that" came a voice, strained from pulling ropes tight on their tent. When Ichigo managed to find her way out of the cloth, she looked out to see an army style tent set up rigidly for them. She floated over, looking amazed at how taut the walls of it were,
"Wow" she said as she floated in and out of it, looking impressed; making Onyx smirk slightly at her unwitting compliment.
"Thanks" he said, as he sat lighting a small camping stove. Ichi flew over curiously then rummaged in a bag to find something they could eat, she looked completely shocked to find no food left in their bag but a small 'oh dear' was all she could manage to say. However, that was enough to bring Onyx over and he peered in over her head, which was an easy feat anyway due to Ichigo's lack of height, and he almost blew a blood vessel.
"OTTO!" he bellowed loudly, stirring any monkeys who'd gone to bed and causing a certain green monkey to shift uncomfortably.
"I'm gonna kill that guy! I'm gonna-" but then he froze. He turned back to Ichigo, floating innocently by the empty bag,
'Otto can wait' he thought, sighing and sitting down. Ichigo came and sat with him and Onyx couldn't help smiling at her; he never could figure it out but she always made him smile somehow.
"Maybe we can catch something to eat?" suggested Ichigo, poking at the ground slightly as if it would make food appear. Onyx chuckled at the thought of Ichigo attempting to catch so much as a rabbit,
"Ichigo... I really doubt you could catch an animal for us" he admitted and Ichigo looked confused.
"Why would we need an animal? I meant we should catch some fast food bar open late somewhere and get something to eat" she said, obviously not understanding where her food came from. Onyx sweated slightly and realised this,
"Uh... Ichi... I meant that" he looked into her eyes and realised that he couldn't crush that innocent and very naive part of her and he sighed, "Never mind, I'll go get us something to eat, you just stay here" and with that he got up and started walking into the surrounding jungle.
"Wait! What if you get hurt?" Ichigo asked, looking panic-stricken over his welfare. Onyx felt a blush appear on his face at the thought of her caring so much about him and he smiled at her,
"Don't worry about me, just stay here ok?" he replied softly, reassuring her before he went into the dark jungle and was lost from sight.
Ichigo sat down and sighed.
Meanwhile, some of the others had decided to travel in a group of four for that night before splitting into their pairs in the morning. Within this four were Otogi, Ryou, Chiro and Caitlyn, all of whom had set up for the night and just finished their meal.
Ryou stretched lavishly and smiled at everyone,
"Well... now what? I'm not feeling that sleepy, so should we stay up?" he asked. The others nodded, feeling the same as him.
"Let's tell ghost stories!" cried Caitlyn eagerly, making the others jump at her sudden hyperness.
"Um... ok?" agreed Chiro, unsure how to reply to his overenergetic partner. This seemed to make her happy and she sat down, looking serious. She leant forward so the flames made shadows dance on her face, for the 'scary' effect, and began her story,
"It was a dark night" she began in a deep voice, which she assumed was frightening, but then a snort stopped her story.
"How else could a night be?" Otogi asked rhetorically, looking clearly unimpressed, but a warning shove from Ryou kept him quiet. Ryou smiled at his wife,
"Please, carry on, Cait-chan" he said smiling encouragingly. Cait beamed at him before starting again.
"It was a dark night and in the town of..." she stopped to think of a name "monkeyville" she concluded, earning another snort from Otogi.
"Monkeyville?" he clarified, smirking before Caitlyn scowled at him
"Yes! Monkeyville! Now shut up!" she snapped. Ryou quickly put a hand over Otogi's mouth to stop him from retorting again.
"And in the town of Monkeyville, three little monkeys were all snuggled in bed asleep" she continued, "suddenly a loud crash awoke the three little monkeys!" she cried, making the trio jump slightly and she smirked at the effect she had. "The little monkeys all sat up and looked at each other in fright,
'What was that?' asked one of the monkeys. The others shrugged and they decided to go investigate. The three little monkeys all looked out of a crack in the door and saw nothing in the hall. They decided it must've come from downstairs and so, one by one, they crept out into the hall and down the stairs" Caitlyn paused for effect and smirked at her captivated audience, well all apart from Otogi who'd fallen asleep, before she continued her twisted tale.
"The three monkeys looked around the downstairs hallway but didn't see anything. They decided the crash must've been their imaginations and they started up the stairs. However, something shiny caught the last little monkey's eye and he walked over to it. He saw it was a lemon drop (a hard-boiled sweet with sherbet in the middle, for those who've never had them) he beamed. Lemon drops were his favourite! He leant down to pick up the sweet and suddenly WHAM!" Cait smirked more as she made her audience jump ten feet again. "A kitchen knife fell and stabbed the monkey through the chest!" she concluded gleefully before starting up again. Ryou frowned fearfully and leant nearer to Chiro,
"I don't like where this story is going" he admitted quietly and Chiro nodded in agreement. The duo watched in morbid awe as the Scottish girl continued her story, which became progressingly gorier and more unfortunate for the remaining 'little monkeys' who were both massacred by Caitlyn's cruel imagination.
"And they all lived happily ever after!" she ended, cheerfully. She looked at the boys, who gaped in horror at her, then she frowned and they immediately began applauding, scared for their safety.
"Well I think that's enough stories for tonight! Time for bed!" Chiro said hastily as he ad Ryou crawled into a tent as fast as possible, leaving Otogi snoring on the ground and Caitlyn blinking. She shrugged and crawled into the other tent.
Soon, the trio had fallen into a deep sleep and were dreaming happily, although Ryou and Chiro had a little more difficulty falling asleep. But the boy's dreams were disturbed when a sudden crash through the trees awoke them.
"W-w-what's that?" asked Chiro quietly, his voice rising a pitch or three. Ryou looked at Chiro with equally fearful eyes,
"I-I dunno" he whispered back and they looked at the door of the tent.
Suddenly a figure fell through the door, moaning slightly and dripping what looked conspicuously like blood. The pair from the famous and heroic Super Robot Monkey Team then jumped into action, and began screaming like little girls. They clung to each other in fear and stared wide eyed at the creature looming towards them.
Caitlyn scowled at being awoken; she'd just won the Nobel Prize for her work in animal science and was celebrating with Ryou in a Jacuzzi full of Sprite when screams ruined it. Cait got up and stormed over to the source of the screams and peered into the tent,
"Will you two-" she then froze, seeing the moaning and dripping creature and screamed. "What the heck is that!" she cried, before kicking it through the other end of the tent and into a tree, where it remained motionless.
The trio sat panting for a while, all eyes fixed on the black and white form in case it suddenly moved again. Then Caitlyn blinked,
"Wait... black and white?" she walked over to it, Ryou and Chiro staying behind her for safety, and she pulled a mass of gooey fruit off the creature's head. "Onyx!" she demanded, glaring at the creature, which in fact was Onyx.
He grinned back, something very unOnyxish and hiccupped. Caitlyn picked up one of the fruit and sniffed it,
"Schnappsberry" she announced, holding the accusing fruit up to the boys, "Its juice affects the system like alcohol would" she explained to the pair of blank faces. Blank faces which were soon contorted with anger,
"You mean he's drunk!" growled Ryou, staring daggers at the monkey, who'd managed to sit up by then.
"I'm not drunk" he slurred, hiccupping again. Ryou rolled his eyes then realised something with horror,
"Wait, if you're here, where's Ichigo?" he demanded, looking panicked. Onyx snorted and waved off his concern like a fly,
"Back at the camp! I left to find us food!" he explained, before standing, already starting to sober up.
"You left her alone!" cried Ryou, grabbing the monkey by the chest. "And what if something attacks her! Didn't think of that, did you? She's a sitting duck!" he panicked more and this seemed to seep into Onyx's still alcohol full mind. He suddenly looked worried too,
"Oh... damn" he said quietly and they all jumped and turned when they heard an ear-splitting scream.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I'mma on a roll! W00t! Review and tell me what you think!