Disclaimer: I don't own SRMTHFG or any of its characters, just my characters, the main OC's vehicle, and this plot.

Author's Note: My apologies for being so late in updating. I've had a lot of personal issues that required my immediate attention. Hopefully, they are resolved.

Chapter Five: True Family

"What is our status, Gibson?" Antauri asked.

"I believe I will have the virus cleaned from the Super Robot's system in another few hours," the Blue Monkey replied. "However, I am concerned about Hayley."

Sprx nodded grimly. "Yeah, she's got quite a lead. It may take us just as much time to catch up with her."

"That is not what I meant," Gibson replied. "I still cannot make myself believe that she deliberately infected the Robot just to keep us from accompanying her. She should have told us of her discovery."

Nova shrugged. "I think she knew that if she did, we would have forced her to take us with her."

"Or worse yet…" Otto started, "we might have gone and forced her to stay behind."

Antauri stepped up, drawing everyone's attention. "Either way, Hayley will answer for her sabotage later, after we find her and Slash…and help them bring Chiro home."

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Hayley mumbled a few times as another slap against her shoulder woke her up. She rubbed her eyes sleepily. "What time is it?" she groaned.

"How am I supposed to know?" Slash retorted, very annoyed. "It's as dark as night out there, and I can't read these stupid computer monitors! How did you expect me to help you pilot this thing when you said you were going to sleep?"

She made a small laugh as she couldn't hold back her little prank any longer. "Slash…" she giggled. "Before I went to sleep, I put the ship on automatic pilot. It's doing the flying for us."

He stared at her in surprise. "You mean…I could have taken a nap myself without worrying about this thing crashing into anything or falling under attack?"

Hayley nodded, replying, "The automatic pilot would have steered us away from any obstacles, and the proximity alarm would have alerted us to any hostiles."

Slash shook his head hopelessly. "You are a sneaky one."

"Actually, it was originally Sprx who pulled that prank on me during my initial training as a Robot Monkey," she answered, still giggling. "He actually had me steering his Fist Rocket Three for about an hour while he took a nap before I figured it out. So I pulled the prank back on him and took it off of automatic pilot, flying seriously close to an asteroid field. Ha, I'll never forget the look on his face when he woke up! Or the lecture I received from Antauri afterwards."

"Sprx…he's the talkative one, isn't he?" he asked.

Hayley smiled. "Oh, he may be a loud-mouthed idiot, but there are moments when his instincts are quite perceptive, second only to mine. I've grown to respect him."

"He doesn't seem to like me."

"He never likes strangers."

"Nor does he seem to respect me."

"It does take a while for him to trust others."

Slash sighed. "I don't think I have that kind of time."

Confused, Hayley looked at him. "What are you talking about? We have all the time in the world now that we are reunited, my brother."

He glanced back at her, again considering his choices. But as he did, something on the monitor caught his eye. "What is that?"

She turned to the monitor. And when she saw what he pointed out, her frown deepened. "Under normal circumstances, I would say that it is my living nightmare. But here, the more appropriate words are…undead nightmare. The Citadel of Bone."

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"Yes," Skeleton King chuckled evilly as his TV Monster displayed the Heart Auxiliary Starship Seven approach. "Come to me, my slave, like a moth to a flame. And…I think a proper reception requires me to turn on the heat."

Standing up, he stepped down from his throne, passing by the unconscious Chiro, and charged up the staff in his head. With a mighty grunt and another evil laugh, he sent the energy of his staff into the floor.

---------

Slash gasped in shock when he saw the nose of the evil ship beginning to glow. But Hayley was already on it as she deactivated the automatic pilot and took the controls. A hard jerk to the right sent Slash crashing against the left wall but enabled her ship to move away from the immediate danger.

"I thought you said he was expecting you!" Slash scolded.

"He is expecting me," Hayley replied, a little annoyed. "But you don't seriously think he is going to just LET me cruise in there and get Chiro out. This is just to keep us on our toes, or we wouldn't be here talking about it. Hang on!"

That was easier said than done for more than obvious reasons. Slash barely had the time to get back into his seat before he was almost thrown out of it again when another blast from the Citadel was aimed directly at them! It struck the ship on the left wing, making it spin around! And although Slash had the cybernetic strength to keep him inside his chair, he was still more monkey than robot, and his dizziness from the sudden movements was beginning to hit him hard.

Hayley was more fortunate. She kept her eyes on the monitor displaying the Citadel as she pushed some buttons to level out her ship. She guided the controls directly towards the Citadel, knowing that Skeleton King would have a harder time aiming for them when she was closer to the dreaded fortress.

After several more minutes of dodging what energy blasts she could and stabilizing her ship after those she couldn't, Hayley was skimming just above the surface of the Citadel's outer shell, where her ship was safest in a space battle.

"Watch out!" Slash exclaimed.

But Hayley was already onto it. She narrowed her focus on one of the protruding spikes on the Citadel and opened fire, her ship's lasers beginning to cut into the Citadel!

Tough as he was as a warrior, Slash couldn't bear to watch as his sister would fly directly into an enemy ship and kill both of them. He closed his eyes and covered his ears.

After more than another minute, the shaking Slash murmured, "We're dead. We're dead. We're dead, we're dead, we're dead, we died, we're dead."

A pair of hands gently grabbed his wrists and pulled them away from his ears before Hayley's exasperated voice said, "Slash…stand up."

Awkwardly, Slash slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Her ship was still intact, but he could see on her monitor that their scenery had changed. Although it was still mostly black, he could see streaks of an eerie green instead of white dots. "Where are we?" he asked shakily.

"Inside the Citadel," she answered as she opened the emergency door in the cockpit. "The far side of the Citadel, to be precise. I opened a hole large enough to get my ship inside, but the shell regenerates itself. For now, we're trapped inside."

"I see…" he commented hesitantly, following her out of her ship. "Now what?"

"I suspect that Skeleton King has Chiro in his throne room…at the other side of the Citadel." Hayley shuddered at the thought. "This was the part I wasn't looking forward to. It's so dark in here, and it's like a maze. It could take us hours to reach Chiro."

Slash smirked lightly. "Still don't like the dark, do you?"

Hayley glared back at him. "About as much as you don't like heights."

"Don't even go there."

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The pair spent several hours wandering the Citadel. During that time, Slash had only a few chances to catch the scent of what smelled like human, and Hayley heard faint echoes of what sounded like Chiro's painful screaming. But their only encounters were with some small groups of Formless that didn't really put up much of a fight.

Hayley didn't like what little progress they were making. They were already more than halfway to their goal, but the lack of action and the immense darkness surrounding them was making her skin crawl.

She could barely make herself believe it. She had been trapped inside this fortress for a long time, and yet by living several days outside and in the light, she had forgotten how deep the darkness was in here.

Only when they passed an opening to another empty room did she hesitated. At first glance, the room seemed to be nothing out of expectation for an evil fortress. What had caught her eye was the orange color of some of the décor, the only real color she had seen since their arrival.

"Spot?" Slash asked hesitantly as she entered the room.

"I dare not believe my eyes," she whispered breathlessly as she examined some of the items. "I recognize these things. These are some of Mandarin's belongings."

"Mandarin? What's a Mandarin?"

Hayley smirked at him. "Not what. Who. Mandarin was the original leader of the Monkey Team. He…actually, I don't know what happened that made him turn evil. Or maybe…maybe he did truly choose on his own to—" She hesitated, unable to bring herself into finishing the sentence.

Slash noticed the uncertain look on her face. "Were you and this Mandarin…close?"

"What?" she asked, distracted. "No! I mean, I miss him. He was one of us on the Monkey Team, a brother to us. I mean, we all had a deep respect for him. But I could never feel for him…that way."

"Are you sure?"

Now, Hayley was really offended. She did all but give him a death glare. "I swear, if you weren't my brother by blood, I'd grind you down into pulp."

"I'm just saying that one of your own was able to become corrupt," Slash replied. "That considered, isn't there at least a chance that your Chiro might do the same?"

She grunted lightly, mixed between being offended and being uncertain. She had known Mandarin far longer than she had known Chiro. She had trusted the Orange Monkey with her life more often than she did her new human leader. And yet, he fell into darkness. Could it be possible?

Hayley tried to fight the thought as logically as possible. She may not have known Chiro long, and she may not trust humans easily, but she somehow knew more about Chiro than she ever did about Mandarin. The main difference between the two: Chiro's head may be full of pride, but it was his heart that does the thinking.

She glanced at Slash again, ready to begin another verbal fight about the purity in Chiro's heart. But the first word never left her mouth, for something very interesting caught her eye. She approached a short table, and sitting on it was a box that seemed familiar. She took it off the table and slowly opened it, revealing a sight that she thought she would never see.

"But how?" she gasped in shock.

"What is it?" he asked.

"This…this is one of Guardian Angels from Celestia Three," she realized. "Nova has one, and she gave me another one, but…how did Mandarin come across something like the Mighty Soul of Strength? Or…is it Courage, now that I know that the Celestian language has two translations for that word?"

And she removed from the box what looked like a plush toy in the shape of an orange dragon. Its lizard-like legs and body had a particular shape that made it look like it could have strong muscles instead of whatever was used to stuff the plush animal. Its claws were pure white, as were the small spikes on the tail. Its eyes were jewels of amber, and what little light in the room reflecting on the eyes seemed to give off a supernatural glow.

"Good thing I never found out he had it while he was still leader of the team," she commented as she placed it back in the box. "Mandarin wouldn't be caught dead with something of this kind of sentimental value."

"We should continue with the search," Slash pointed out.

Hayley picked up the box and tucked it under one arm. The slight growl in her voice indicated that whatever doubts she had for Chiro before were now no longer. "I don't care who gave this to Mandarin or why, but I will not see this go to waste."

Slash grimaced slightly, but made no argument as they continued onward.

---------

"There!" Gibson exclaimed. "Finally. The systems are clean. The virus is no more."

"Wow, that took about five hours," Nova commented. "Hayley's gotten really clever with this part of her training."

Otto nodded, giving another of his clueless grins. "Yeah, she got real good. She nearly aced the Super Robot."

Sprx scowled. "That's not a good thing, Otto."

"Oh…"

"No time to waste," Antauri told them all. "We must go to the aid of Hayley and Slash. Monkeys, Mobilize!"

---------

"I have the scent," Slash whispered. "It is strong this time."

"Yes," Hayley hissed excitedly, beginning to move on ahead of him. "We're coming, Chiro. Come on, Slash. The throne room is this way."

But Slash looked at her again. "Hayley…" he softly called out, grabbing her hand. The look in his eyes was of genuine concern, something that surprised her. "I fear of what may happen if we step into that room."

"Slash, I grow tired of you trying to talk me out of rescuing Chiro," she snapped harshly but quietly. She removed her hand from his. "If you're with me, then keep up with me. If you're not, you're more than welcome to go back to the ship. Chiro's running out of time, and I'm not waiting another moment."

That said, she began running down the hall towards the goal.

"Wait, slow down!," he began to say, but she was already out of the earshot. He was quick after her.

But she wouldn't slow down. Not now, not when she knew that she was so close. The throne room was just 100 meters away.

She knew that inside, just waiting to be rescued, was Chiro. Seventy-five meters…

But she also knew that Skeleton King would also be in there, waiting just for her. Fifty meters…

What would happen once she got inside was anyone's guess, even hers. Twenty-five meters…

She slowed to a halt when she finally arrived at the door. She screeched in surprise when she rounded the last corner and found that many more Formless than the pair had encountered were guarding it. They turned as one in her direction. Snarling, she transformed her hands into her whips and stood ready for the fight.

By this time, Slash was able to catch up with her. "Guarded," he commented. "Big surprise."

"Ready for a real fight this time?" Hayley asked him.

Drawing out his sword, Slash replied, "Always."

Using a quick burst from her jetpack, Hayley launched herself into a Stinging Spin that brushed against the faces of the first line of Formless. Blindly, they stumbled in Slash's direction, who reacted by cutting through them as easily as Otto's saws ever would. They were able to finish the first group in a matter of minutes.

The second wave consisted of fewer Formless, but they were stronger than the typical Formless minions. Slash began by slicing at the limbs, though this time he could only focus on one opponent at a time. Hayley was able to dodge one of the ooze balls that were shot in her direction and before luring her enemies to a nearby edge. This battle took longer.

The final obstacle between the two monkeys and the door was a Formless titan, a four-legged behemoth creature closer to Skeleton King's height than anything else, and a particularly difficult foe to be sure.

The two monkeys started at the legs; she grabbing one leg with her whips, and he cutting into the other with his sword. But the titan was able to shake them both with but a simple kick at each of them, and Slash was nearly sent over the edge that Hayley had used before.

Hayley panted in exhaustion as she made her way to her brother, helping him to his feet as the titan turned in their direction.

"It's too powerful," Slash sighed.

"Maybe we're going at it the wrong way with this one," Hayley suggested. "Perhaps if we can get onto the Formless' shoulders…"

"Have you lost your mind?! I'm not going up there!"

"Come on! Together, we can do it!"

Slash sighed, but he found that he really had no choice in the matter as she grabbed his hands and used her jetpack to carry them both upwards.

The Formless titan began to swipe its claws at the pair, but with Hayley dodging and Slash deflecting, it became difficult for it to have a good aim at them, for what it had in strength, it lacked in smarts.

"Slash, go for the neck!" Hayley yelled, releasing him just above the shoulder.

Slash screamed a little at the sudden drop, but as his feet landed on the slightly softened body of ooze, he held his sword up and injected it into the Formless titan's neck. He was having a bit of difficulty walking across the back of its shoulder blades, partly because of the stickiness of the ooze but also because the Formless began to move in attempts to shake him off, but his artificial strength kept him going.

By the time he made it to the other shoulder and began pulling the sword out, Hayley was able to wrap her whips around the ear-like parts of the head. After securing herself to one of the ceiling's bone spikes, she grunted with effort as she pulled with all of her strength.

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, Hayley was able to yank off the head from the weakened neck of the Formless titan. Immediately, the rest of the Formless lost its consistency, and as the body started to collapse into nothing more than a puddle of ooze, Slash began falling towards the floor.

Messy as her whips were, Hayley immediately reacted by wrapping them around his waist and lowering him gently to the floor. When he had his feet safely planted, she came down herself.

"You DO know that idea was crazy?" Slash asked.

"Sometimes crazy works," Hayley replied.

"You fight well, Hayley."

"Not bad yourself, Slash."

"Brother and sister united forever, right?"

"Of course."

"Then…there's something you should know."

"You can tell me after we rescue Chiro."

"W-wait!"

But of course, she didn't hear him. She grunted as she pushed the door open. Not to her surprise, she found Skeleton King himself sitting in his throne. Nearby, still unconscious but now badly hurt, was Chiro. She could tell just by looking at him that unless she could get him out of the Citadel soon, he wouldn't last the night.

Slash hesitated, but he slowly stepped through the door and stared at Hayley's enemy.

"Welcome back, my slave," Skeleton King chuckled, standing up. The comment made Hayley snarl, but he simply continued, "And I see that you have brought her…just like you brought the boy. Excellent."

Surprised, Hayley stopped short. Brought…her? But that would mean that he was talking to…

Fear beginning to swell inside of her, Hayley slowly turned to look at Slash. He had not put away his sword, and she didn't like the look in his eyes.

"Slash…?"

"Forgive me, my sister."

"How naïve of you," Skeleton King said to Hayley. "To never even suspect that your own brother was but a servant in my ranks."

"What?" she gasped. She turned sharply and gave Skeleton King a death glare. "But I came exactly as you have asked. Release Chiro!"

But the undead ruler simply laughed mockingly at her.

And Slash gave her an evil smile. "Ready for a real fight this time?"

Hayley couldn't believe what she was hearing. How glad she was in her heart that Chiro was not awake to watch this, since she could hardly bear it herself. Slowly, she looked at Slash again and softly answered, "Always."

Again, many apologies for not updating earlier. Coming soon is Chapter Six: The Priceless Treasure.

In response to Chapter Four's reviews…

4Evermonkeyfan: Whew, finally got to updating. Glad to know that you're excited about this one.

Crystal Persian: Hope this twist at the end satisfies your question.

love-writer: Thanks for the review.

Hikaru no Kite: Wow, speechless? Yeah, that is saying a lot. Thanks for the compliment!