Back again! If you're reading this, you must have liked the last chapter. Godspeed if you did, I didn't think anyone would like it. Okay, on with the story. NOTE: A mind change, if you see this: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0, it means POV change
It was a few days before Nova, Antauri, Otto, and Chiro were let out of the Infirmary. Gibson had insisted on doing test after test to make sure they were one-hundred percent okay. Antauri had been patient enough, Chiro had been a bit impatient but kept quiet, and Otto just sort of ignored it. Nova wasn't so great about it though.
"It's been three days since we got hurt Gibson!" she snapped as he ran another test, "Can we go already?"
"Be patient Nova", Gibson said, "Just a few last minute test and you can go, I want to make sure there's absolutely nothing wrong"
Nova sighed impatiently. She was tired of being stuck in the Infirmary. "All right", Gibson said finally, "You can go"
Nova was the first one out the room. She was relieved to get away; being stuck in there with the team bigmouth hadn't given her much time to think. And she had a lot to think about.
"Oof!" she flew backwards as she ran into someone. She looked up, intent on giving whoever she had run into a good piece of her mind.
"Sprx!"
"Sorry Nova", he said, grinning slightly, "Guess I wasn't pay attention. You okay?"
"I'm better than I've been for the last few days", she said with a shrug, "Least I'm out of the Infirmary"
"Good point", he said, helping her stand up, "You sure your okay?" he said, looking at her closely, "You seem a bit distracted"
"What?" she said, "Oh, no, I'm fine. Tell the others I went for a walk, I'll be back in a bit"
"Wait!" Sprx grabbed her hand as she walked by him, "Are you sure you should be over-stressing yourself?"
"It's just a walk Sprx", she said, smiling slightly, "Don't worry about it"
Sprx glared at her for a second and finally released her, "All right, fine, go. Just make sure you're back before dark"
"Not a problem", she said with a smile.
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Sprx glared after Nova and sighed. So stubborn, he thought, maybe that's why I like her…
He sighed and made off for his room. Once there he started going through a drawer. It was mostly junk, really, eventually he'd get around to cleaning it out. He finally found what he was looking for. When Chiro had first found the monkies, he had insisted on taking pictures of all the monkies just to prove hey existed. He managed to get all of them copies of the photos, and even to this day he had held onto one of them. It was the picture of Nova. He looked at it with a sigh.
Just don't scare me like that again Nova. I thought I lost you…
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Nova wandered sadly through Shugazoom. Being in the Infirmary hadn't given her much time to think, but now at least she could be alone. She had a lot to think about.
Was it really just a dream? She thought as she looked up at that sky, did it mean something? Is there some deep meaning I'm missing here? What kind of meaning can be found in a dream where all my friend's are dead? Maybe I'll ask Antauri, he's good at analyzing dreams…
She instantly nixed the thought. No way could she tell any of the other Hyperforce members about this. Not after what had happened when they were fighting that monster. She knew Antauri, Chiro, and Otto had been hurt as well, but she was supposed to be the strong one, the one who hurt the monster, not the one who got hurt. If she told them about the dream, on top of getting hurt, they might start to think she was weak. As far as any of them knew, she only had one weakness, and that was cold. That was enough for them know.
There is time and a place to express anger…
What good were those words doing her? What a time to remember them, anger was the least of her worries.
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"Aw, one little yellow monkey, walking all alone"
"I say we destroy the lot now and get it over with"
"In time, we will. Nova now knows of us or one of us anyways"
"It was a message Antauri, or have you forgotten?"
"Have you forgotten not to call me that so soon?"
"Well excuse me, D.A., I forgot, not a crime"
Dark Nova looked away from the monkey wandering the streets of Shugazoom, and examined the four monkies around her. Each of them the dark essence of a Hyperforce Member. Each could also take on the appearance of the Hyperforce Member as well. Not that any of them liked the idea of doing it.
"I have not forgotten it was a message", D.A. said half patiently half impatiently, "But I think you went a little far with it"
"I don't think she went far enough", Dark Sprx cut in, "Look at Nova; she thinks it was all a dream. Maybe she didn't get the message as clearly as you thought, eh Dark Girl?"
"You're cruisin for a bruisin Sparky", Dark Nova said threateningly, "Watch your step or you're going to be black and blue"
"Do you two always have to fight?" Dark Gibson asked boredly, "A horrible trait you carried over from your original selves, wouldn't you say?"
The two glared back at him, but didn't answer.
"We still need a plan", Dark Nova said finally, turning back to watch Nova through their looking glass, "Nova doesn't believe I really exist, eh? Well then, lets convince her"
"You have an idea then?" Dark Otto asked, "What can we do?"
"Sit back and watch", Dark Nova said with a smirk, "your time will come soon enough"
0-0-0-0-0
"It's way past dark", Sprx said nervously, "Where is she? Shugazoom isn't that big!"
"Nova, Nova come in", Chiro said for the millionth time into the communicator, "Why isn't she answering?"
"That's it", Sprx sad impatiently, "I'm going to look for her right--"
"Nova!" Otto said suddenly, looking past the two. Sure enough, Nova was standing behind them, looking at them wearily.
"Where have you been?" Sprx said impatiently, "You said you'd only be gone for a little while!"
"Sorry", she muttered, "The walk lasted longer than I expected…"
"No kidding huh?" Sprx snapped.
"Listen Sprx, don't start with me!" Nova snapped, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"I'll start all I want", Sprx said, "You had me--I mean us--worried sick!"
"Listen Sparky", Nova said, breathing hard, "I'm not in the mood to have you yelling at me, so just be quiet!"
She whirled around and stormed out of the Command Center, fuming. They could practically see the steam coming out of her ears.
"Next time Sprx", Gibson said, "Try not to get her mad, please, I like the Robot the way it is, I don't feel like having to put it back together again if you get her mad"
"Well, I didn't mean to get her that mad", Sprx said with a shrug, "It just happened"
"Well try to make sure it does not happen again", Antauri said patiently, "You know as well as any of us what Nova's temper is like"
Sprx sighed wearily. He knew they were telling the truth. He really didn't like it, though.
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"Who does Sprx think he is anyways?" she muttered bitterly as she stormed to her room, "Bossing me a round, yelling at me, the nerve of him!"
She flopped down on her bed and sighed. Point blank, she was exhausted. She hadn't even done that much, but her body still ached. A good night's sleep would do her some good…
"You think it was all just a dream?" her eyes snapped open. She didn't even remember closing them.
"W-What?" she managed to stutter, "Who's there?"
"Who do you think?" the voice scoffed. She looked around and saw her "shadow self" step out from behind a tree.
"What do you want?" Nova snapped at the evil monkey, "Just leave me alone!"
"And why would I do that?" Dark Nova asked scoffingly, "You think I'm just a dream after all. Make me go away if I don't really exist"
Nova backed away slowly. All of a sudden, she wasn't so sure it was just a dream. "Very good", Dark Nova said quietly, "Finally figuring things out are we? It's about time"
"What do you want?" Nova snapped furiously.
"Temper, temper", Dark Nova scoffed, "Want to be careful now don't we? Don't want that nasty temper of yours out of control, do we now?"
Nova's fist tightened, but she knew she couldn't let herself get to far. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but she couldn't block out Dark Nova's voice. "Come on little Nova", she taunted, "Aren't you going to fight? Hehehe, of course not. You're going to run aren't you? Of course, there isn't anywhere to run"
"Be quiet!" Nova snapped, her eyes flying open. There was a flash of light and she was thrown backwards, into a tree. She felt someone grab her from behind. She looked up, and screamed.
Whoever it was looked like Sprx, but with one big difference; hew as completely black. He had a small smirk on his face, completely on Sprx-like. She yanked herself out of his grip and stumbled forward, desperate to get away. There was a flash of light, and suddenly, she was surrounded. There were five monkies standing around her. Each one looked like a Hyperforce member, but they were all completely black. "What do you want?" she snapped, rearing for a fight, "Tell me!"
"You'll see soon enough", Dark Nova scoffed. Nova opened her mouth to retaliate, but was suddenly taken over by a black blanket. She tried to scream, but her voice was lost. She was surrounded, she couldn't see…
"AH!" she bolted up in her bed, shaking. She tried to calm herself down, but no go. She looked around her room to make sure she was really there, and finally started trying to slow her breathing down. She closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths. Not that it did her much good. She pulled herself up and made her way out the door and down the hall. She needed a little fresh air.
The night breeze washed over Nova, relaxing her a little. The sun would be rising in maybe an hour, she wasn't sure she was going to stay out for it though. She was hoping coming out for a bit would clear her head. It didn't exactly work though.
"What are you doing up this early?"
She looked around and saw Sprx standing behind her. She smiled for a fraction of a second, until she remembered she was mad at him.
"Look, Nova-"
"Save it", she muttered, shoving past him. She caught a glimpse of the hurt look on his face, but ignored it. She wasn't in the mood the exchange insults.
Okay, because I'm pretty lazy and such, here's a Key for you to remember:
Dark Nova: D.N.
Dark Antauri: D.A.
Dark Gibson: D.G.
Dark Sprx: D.S.
Dark Otto: D.O.
These guys are going to be in later chapters, so it would be in your best interest to remember that, wouldn't it? Ok, now you can review and tell me how bad it was