Disclaimer: this story is nutritionally balanced!
Thank yous:
Fairy Whisperings: ah c'mon Midnight, you know you love it really! And hooray for hugs!
Twister91: Ryou: (glares at Onyx) if my sister didn't fancy you I'd neuter you!
Mewtwo: hehe thank you
Tiger Priestess: (gasps) you knew? Am I making this too predictable then? (Panics insanely)
4Evermonkeyfan: thank you 3
Fuyuki Bamboo Fox: AAAAAH! (Waves arms insanely) you can't kill him yet! I need him for this chapter! (Glues onyx back together for now) there w
Soon the team had found the Super Robot again, which was hidden under piles of sand due to Stripe Planet now changing to a desert climate, and set about preparing to take off. Ark got rid of the sand, using his abilities to control sand, and Malachite was assigned to getting sand out of the engines and hydraulics then fixing them so they could leave safely. Gibson and Kai were busy thawing out Otto and Ichigo carefully so they could revive them, and Gibson actually didn't mind having the help! Antauri and Chiro were talking to Xel, Eclyps and Ark; thanking them for their aid and offering the team's services if they were ever in need. Some of the girls were already swooning over Ark and Xel, but neither seemed interested; although they both stayed polite to the giggling group that were slowly becoming fangirls.
This left most of the group with nothing to do and so, they got bored. And began annoying Onyx with questions of how the Stripe team could be alive when they saw him kill them. And poking him when he didn't reply. Onyx ignored all this and continued to lean against the Robot, looking unbothered, for a good while until Emerald and Cait poked him one too many times.
"Alright I'll tell you!" he snapped, swiping at Cait and Emerald to stop them. In a flash, those with nothing better to do were around him; grinning in anticipation and triumph at managing to wear Onyx down. He blinked at all the grinning faces then shook his head and scowled,
"I didn't kill them" he said simply and everyone complained loudly for more detail. Onyx couldn't help the smirk that appeared as he continued to remain vague on what he did. The group tried begging, flattering, bribing and threatening but still they could see Onyx was having more fun teasing them by holding this elusive information to himself than anything they could offer. That is; until Cait decided to get her brain in gear. She sidled up beside Onyx and grinned into his face. Onyx managed to keep his face neutral but he didn't feel safe now Cait was grinning.
"Bet I could get you to tell us" she said confidently and Onyx scoffed.
"Oh and how's that?" he asked, deciding to play along with whatever Cait was at now. He grinned confidently, so sure that Cait wouldn't be able to wear him down, so sure that Cait would get bored and give up like everyone else, so sure that she didn't know any weakness of his. That's when he saw Cait pull out a small black leather book and he paled, she flicked through some of the pages and her eyes gleamed.
"Ooooooooooooooh, I bet the team would love to know this!" she said, teasing him but it worked.
"Cait, y-you wouldn't!" he felt sweat run down his face as she smirked at him and he reached out to grab the book from her. She smiled and held it out of reach,
"I would! So tell us what you did or I tell everyone what's in your diary!" she teased in a sing-song voice which somehow made the evil grin on her face much more sinister. Onyx glared hard, but Cait's head didn't explode like he hoped so he resorted to grumbling incoherently for a bit.
"It's not a diary, it's a journal" he muttered annoyed but Cait just shrugged at this.
"Doesn't matter, I'll still read stuff out of it" she replied simply and Onyx growled.
"Fine!" he snapped and once again the group of anticipating grins was around him. He sighed in defeat and looked at them, "All I did was hit them with a small electric wave on the central nerve and stopped their metabolic functions for a while"
He watched as every face clouded with confusion and he sighed again, this time angrily,
"I shocked them so they seemed dead for a while ok?" he snapped before swiping his diary (Onyx: JOURNAL!) out of Cait's hand and walking away.
Everyone blinked and there was a collective 'ohhhh' before everyone dispersed into smaller groups.
It was nearly nightfall on Stripe planet before Mal had got every last grain of sand out of the Robot and the teams could finally go back into the Robot out of the searing heat.
"About time" grumbled Sprx, who froze at a low growl behind him and then went flying into a wall courtesy of Zaki. The groups flopped into soft round chairs and soon the sound of the engines roaring into life and the feeling of the robot blasting into space was felt by all and it was never more welcomed.
Soon, however, the more… 'Energetic' members of the groups were rested and were bored again. They decided to annoy Onyx again; this time, about what he was going to say to Ichi.
"Are you gonna apologise to her?" asked Emerald, bouncing along beside him. Cait, Nova, Jet and Zakuro all joined in with asking this question as they surrounded the black and white monkey. His face looked pained slightly, as if he was being tortured, and the boys almost felt sorry for him. Almost. But watching the mighty, confident Onyx blushing, spluttering and generally not in control was far too amusing to give up.
"For what?" he snapped at them, trying to stare them all down and failing.
"For saying you hate her, duh!" said Zakuro, with an accompanied smack to Onyx's head. He growled at her and narrowed his eyes,
"Why would I apologise for that?" he snapped again and this seemed to be the moment the girls had been waiting for.
"Cos you looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove her!" they sung at him, some pinching his cheeks and others just resorting to teasing. Everyone watched as the mighty Prince of Darkness planet turned red and stumbled over his words.
"I DO NOT!" he roared and the girls giggled.
"Aw, give it up Ony we all know the truth!" Nova teased, nudging him.
"Yeah Ony we know how you really feel about Ichi!" said Cait
Onyx snarled and tried to swipe at them but they were too quick,
"Shut up! And why the heck are you calling me Ony?" he demanded. The girls grinned and closed in on him again,
"Well, Ichi calls you Ony, so why can't we?" asked Jet, trying to seem innocent but really was far from it.
"Yeah Ony" chorused the girls in sync and Onyx roamed his mind for what to say.
"Cos…..cos…." he looked away, trying to keep some dignity left, "that's different" he finally argued.
"Yeah, it's different cos you looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove her!" countered Zaki, smirking widely and eyes glittering mischievously. Onyx slapped his head,
"Alright!" he roared over their giggling and teasing, then he panted. "Alright….I do….I do love Ichi. Are you happy now?" the girls all stared wide-eyed then crowded in on him squealing happily.
"I knew it!" cried Jet, hugging her brother before he could hold her back. "My bro is finally growing up!"
"So when are you gonna tell her?" asked Cait eagerly. She loved all this match-making stuff, but she loved torturing Onyx too and now she got to do both at once!
Onyx shrugged,
"Never" he said simply and suddenly the merry teasing and squeals stopped as every face was shocked.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" they cried, rushing at him.
"Are you crazy! You've gotta tell her!" cried Nova, shaking him madly. The girls all shouted their agreement and Onyx held up his hands to try and silence them.
Eventually, the group calmed down and looked at him expectantly, arms either crossed or thrust upon hips to show their displeasure at Onyx.
"Antauri… has to talk to her first" he said quietly, suddenly feeling sad, "he has to… confess about loving Amethyst instead and discuss plans for divorce first…" and suddenly it seemed like the colour and vibrancy had drained from the room as every face looked down in shock and sorrow.
"Oh yeah… forgot about that" whispered Zaki, hoarsely, obviously taking it hard as she hadn't realised what this meant for her parents.
There was a few moments silence as everyone let this sink in, then Malachite walked up and hugged his girlfriend tight.
"It'll be ok, I'm sure of it. Neither Antauri or Ichigo is likely to get really angry, so I reckon there'll be a few tears but they'll both understand and move on" he heard a small sob escape Zaki's lips and he pulled her in closer, letting her bury her face in his chest.
Everyone gave the pair a sympathetic look before turning to look at the door which suddenly whooshed open. Gibson and Kai walked in smiling,
"They're awake now. You can go in and see them" said Kai, and no sooner had the words left her mouth a mob flew past with two black and white blurs at the forefront of it. "Guess they were eager" laughed Kai then she sweat dropped to see Gibson pummelled into the floor with footprints all over him.
"You guess?" he groaned, rhetorically.
The mob soon burst into the med bay of the Robot where they froze. There, they saw Otto looking wide-eyed over at Ichigo, who seemed unable to decide whether to smile or cry. The reason for this confusion? The black monkey looking at her sadly as he stroked her hand.
"I guess... you finally broke it to her?" asked Onyx nervously, a nod from Antauri confirmed this and Onyx sighed heavily. Everyone slowly left the room, deciding to give Ichigo some time to think; everyone except Onyx.
Otto looked between the two nervously and got up out of the bed he'd been resting in. He quickly went to the doors and was pounced on by his wife, Jet, who was soon crying and hugging him tightly whilst shouting a mixture of how relieved she was and how she was gonna kill him for worrying her so much. Otto blinked in confusion for a second before giving a big and cheesy grin.
Onyx smiled slightly at the scene before he turned back to Ichigo; she was still in her human form, her hands mindlessly playing with her long white hair as her blue eyes stayed firmly locked at her lap. Onyx could tell she was upset about Antauri leaving her, but somehow he felt that wasn't what had caused all of it. He gulped slightly, pulling himself up and walking over to her, he sat down where Antauri had been only moments before. An awkward silence settled as Onyx realised he couldn't think of anything to say and they sat like that for quite some time.
Soon, the loud voices and happy cheers outside the med bay died away as the rest of the team moved away, no doubt to the main room to celebrate more, leaving only the robotic hum of machines as company for the pair. Onyx looked at his thumbs, then took a big breath
"So...how are you feeling?" he asked, feeling stupid the moment he said it. He felt worse when he got no response and he felt a little deflated, "Ichi... I understand what you're going through-"
"How can you?" a sharp small voice cut in and Onyx looked surprised. He looked around for the source until he realised Ichigo was now looking at him, albeit only sideways but her focus was intensely on him. Onyx looked back, slightly confused and he watched as her eyes seemed to cloud with emotions, "how could you possibly know what this is like? You don't know this at all" Onyx seemed shocked at how cold and hard Ichigo's voice had become. He even was a little intimidated,
"Ichi... I do know how you feel... When Krystal left me, I felt exactly like you do now" he explained, feeling the pain in his heart of talking about Krystal, but he shook himself and remembered that he needed to be the understanding one here. Ichigo blinked then glared at him hard,
"I'm not talking about what happened between me and Antauri, I'm talking about what happened between me and you!" she snapped. Onyx stared agog at her,
"W-w-what?" he asked and he watched Ichigo as she looked away and her breathing became heavier.
"When you...at the hot spring and you...you..." she succumbed to the pain she felt inside and sobs racked her whole body. Onyx remained bewildered for a few moments and then slowly the realisation hit him.
'She means when I said I hated her... what have I done?' he looked down and actually felt sick with himself. That had been what had caused the pain in Ichigo's heart, why she seemed as upset as she was. He felt lower than dirt then, how could he have hurt her like that? But then a determination fired up inside his chest,
'I'm not going to hurt her, ever again!' and with that he took Ichigo's hand,
"Ichigo...I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, I don't hate you. In fact I...like you. A-a lot actually" he felt his stomach knot itself and turn to ice. He felt sweat pour out of places he never thought it could and the blood was rushing to his face. Then he noticed that Ichigo's sobs had stopped. He looked up into her face to see her staring in confusion at him,
"But... why did you say that you... hated me?" she asked quietly, sounding almost child-like, and it was all Onyx could do to stop himself from going on a self-hate rampage in his mind. He looked at her, his eyes shining sincerely,
"Because I..." then he thought about it, he couldn't explain it without revealing how much he 'liked' her and somehow the words just wouldn't come out, "I just don't know" confessed Onyx, holding Ichigo's hand tightly in both of his. "But I promise... I won't hurt you like that ever again!" Ichigo's eyes seemed to shine too at this point and finally a small smile lit her features,
"Really?" she asked quietly, a small fear of being rejected still present. But this diminished when Onyx smiled and nodded his head; Ichigo gave a happy cry and hugged him tight, quite easily taking him off his feet in her human form as he was still in his monkey form. However, Onyx found himself almost eye to chest with the human, and still very naked, girl and he quickly tried thinking of other things to stop his blood rushing south. Then his features looked determined again, he pulled away from Ichigo's embrace and looked into her face.
"Ichigo, I have something really important I have to tell you" he said seriously, the seriousness making Ichigo calm down and look slightly worried,
"Yes Onyx?" she asked, head titling slightly in curiosity. It was at this moment all of Onyx's new found determination diminished and he was stumbling of words again.
"I...um, well that is I uh... Um..." he stuttered, just as the med bay door burst open and Otto burst in.
"Guess what guys? Onyx fancies Ichigo! Really badly!" he cried, without even looking to see who he was declaring this to. When he did look he jumped in shock, "uh oh" he whimpered as Onyx, claws out and looking furious, came racing at him,
"I'M GONNA KILL YA!" he cried, jumping on the bewildered green monkey and soon cries of pain were heard. "You've breathed your last stupid breath, you idiot-"
"Onyx?" came a soft voice. Onyx froze, one hand raised and claws out with Otto held firmly by his chest in the other hand, and turned, looking mortified, over to Ichigo, who also seemed shocked.
"Is this... true?" she asked quietly, and Onyx turned bright red.
"Well I...I...er..." he stuttered, "Igottago!" he cried, dropping Otto. He was about to race out the door when Nova, Zakuro, Jet, Emerald and Cait all blocked him in and started teasing him.
"Time to fess up, bro!" giggled Jet as they pushed Onyx over next to Ichigo before grabbing Otto and rushing out again. Onyx glared hard at the door for a good while then let out a heavy sigh, he turned to Ichigo.
"Is it... true, Onyx?" asked Ichigo quietly and Onyx gazed into her eyes,
"...Yes" he finally said and suddenly he felt like a heavy weight had been lifted and the rest of his feelings suddenly came flooding out, "I've loved you for months now... but I didn't want to tell you."
Ichigo blinked then looked confused,
"But why didn't you want to tell me?" she asked,
"Because I was scared. I was scared that Antauri would kill me, that my dad would attack you, that you... didn't feel the same way" he said this last one more quietly and looked down. He stood there, next to her bed, shuffling his feet and twisting his tail nervously for a while. His nervousness grew and grew until he couldn't take it,
"I'm really sorry, I'll go" he said quickly and turned to leave when a hand stopped him. He turned around and, just as he turned, he felt small furry lips press against his own. Onyx stood there, dumbfounded, with fireworks going off inside him, then he blinked and grinned dopily,
"Wow" he said dazedly and smiled at Ichigo, who was now in her monkey form. She giggled happily, a blush clearly visible on her face, and leaned back again. Onyx suddenly looked confused then realisation hit him, "does this mean that you..."
"Yes" she confessed quietly, "I love you too" and Onyx felt as though he'd waited a lifetime to hear those words. He felt his heart sing as he jumped on Ichigo and kissed her deeply, holding her tight.
They only parted when they heard the med bay doors open and Onyx scowled, ready to fry whoever had decided to ruin the happiest moment of his life. He blinked when he saw it was a monkey he'd never seen before; a dark blue monkey, a lot younger than himself though he seemed older than Malachite who was the oldest child on the team, with dark eyes although one had a white pupil and the other an orange one.
"Zinnaux! We told you not to interrupt them!" shouted Gibson as the team rushed up behind him. He frowned at the younger monkey, who just shrugged casually,
"Reeeeelax ol' laserbrain! I just wanted to see them! After all" and at this point the monkey smirked very perversely and winked at Ichigo "how could I pass up the chance to meet a pretty lady?"
Ichigo stuttered slightly and blushed in embarrassment, Onyx growled and stood protectively in front of her,
"Great, another Sprx on the team!" he snapped, glaring at the smaller monkey and eliciting two 'heys!' Zinnaux snorted and looked uncaring,
"I was just being a gentleman. But I guess manners were overlooked on you" he retorted and everyone quickly backed away from the monkey with a death wish,
"Looks like you've got a big mouth, but then again, that's probably to make up for your lack of being able to do anything else useful" Onyx snorted at the monkey and turned away.
"Wanna bet?" the monkey countered and jumped on Onyx, causing a huge fight to break out between the two. Everyone tried to calm them down, but soon gave up when they saw it was in vain and started drawing bets instead on who'd win.
Meanwhile, as this continued, an army green monkey with red eyes was cursing quietly at Onyx and at losing his iguana as he walked up a large pile of ice and rock. He was just reaching the peak when it rumbled loudly, causing many large rocks to be displaced and bound towards him. Matt jumped back, dodging the rocks effortlessly, when suddenly the pile seemed to explode and sent Matt flying.
He groaned loudly in pain but, when he looked up, the sight before him made him forget his pain. He stared in fear at the black monkey before him which had a blue streak running up its face, casually pulling spike of ice out of its body and smirking evilly.
"Now... it's payback time" it muttered sinisterly.
And there it ends! At long last! Or maybe short last to some of you / anywhos. Dark Fox Tailz wants to make a sequel to this! The sequel will be called 'And So It Ends' so watch out for it! In fact he gave me the idea for this last bit so it's tie in with his so go thank him. Do it! I command you! D: and review this chapter too! Cos reviews are what makes the world go round!