Chapter Four

Beep… Beep… Beep…

The sound of the computer's hooked to Chiro's chest and head echoed through the entire Super Robot as the team sat sadly around the once male. Two days ago the leader of the team, 13 year old Chiro had encountered a purple colored Formless that when mixed with water turned he into a she. It didn't seem to have a physical affect on Chiro until a few hours before when Chiro passed out in the kitchen with an incredibly high fever that made the entire team fear for him. And the situation was getting only worse with every passing moment.

"Well spill it doc!" Sparx said, his red eyes flicking with anger as he saw the state of one of his best friends. "Why did that bastard of bones do this!"

"To distract us. The transformation that turned Chiro from male to female was a simple distraction to keep us from realizing that the ooze was highly toxic and has soaked into her skin poisoning her. The same type of poison that I feared Nova would be fighting off from the wound in her side." Gibson explained.

"We have the cure for that though, right?" Otto jumped in.

"Yes. Yes and no. I think I was able to make the cure that should cause Chiro to turn back into a young man while at the same time curing the poison… But…"

"But what, Gibson?" Antauri asked.

"I'm not sure that Chiro will be able to survive the antidote with the state that he is currently in."

"So what you're saying is that the only way to save Chiro, could just as easily kill him." Nova said, as she took Chiro's hand which was sweaty and cold to the touch.

"Exactly."

All eyes then turned to Antauri, the second in command and the 'father' to Chiro. It was all up to him now.

"Give him the antidote. We will take shifts staying awake and staying with him in case something does happen one of us will be able to help." Antauri said after what seemed like decades.

-Night 1-

Antauri Shift

Gibson frowned injecting the first small amount of the antidote into Chiro, and unlike the typical Chiro who would have whimpered Chiro even budge and just laid there lifelessly. Gibson knew that he would have to give small amount of the antidotes at a time knowing that if given the entire thing the chances of the boy surviving would drop by a good 70.4 percent. None of them wanted that at all.

"I'll take first watch." Antauri said, "The rest of you should rest. It could be a long time before Chiro wakes."

The rest of the team nodded and made their way out all hesitating as they did so.

Antauri closed his eyes softly as he put his hands on the side of Chiro's head. He knew that the Power Primate was also weak from the poison and if he could manage to repair the damage to the Power Primate then Chiro's would likely be able to become stronger, heal faster, and likely have a better chance of surviving all of this.

He sucked in a deep breath then letting it out softly. It would take while and would likely exhaust him but Chiro was worth it.

-Night 2-

Otto Shift

"I made you some food Chiro." Otto said to the unconscious teenager who was still out cold.

Chiro was beginning to look more like his male self but at the same time he was incredibly pale still, his eyes sunk and his breathing shallow. It was often like this after Gibson gave Chiro more of the antidote. Otto sat next to him putting the bowl of food next to Chiro.

"It's one of your favorites. Gibson said that you're not going to be able to eat solid food when you wake up so I made you chowder." Otto frowned when he saw no reaction, as though Chiro couldn't hear him. For all Otto knew he couldn't hear him. "Come on buddy, come back to us." He said, "I don't wanna lose you."

-Night 3-

Sparx Shift

"See Otto made you that chowder." Sparx said, "Don't worry kid I'll take it outta here and he can make you a fresh batch when you open your eyes again."

Sparx ran his fingers through Chiro's hair softly watching as the boy breathed shakily. Chiro's body had gone back to being male as a result of the antidote but his hair was still longer than it used to be, he was also much more pale than they were all used to. As Gibson said he had melted off weight and was really skinny. His healthy had dropped too, which convinced Gibson and Antauri to put an IV in his arm and a feeding tube down his throat making it look like he was already dead.

Sparx quickly shook his head. No, he couldn't think like that. Chiro would be fine. Chiro would be fine and things would go back to normal. He refused to think otherwise. Chiro was like a little brother to all of them, with a different relationship with each of them.

"We'll fix this kid, Don't you worry."

-Night 4-

Nova Shift

Nova hadn't come to visit Chiro since he had passed out but now it was hurt time to watch over him through the night. It was hard for Nova to see Chiro in this position, pale, with shallow breathing, trembling and all around looking like death. Nova put her head down next to Chiro as she held his hand. After a moment she sighed then looked at a photo the two of them took at the fair Photo-Booth but now that she looked at it Chiro looked pale even then. Had Chiro been feeling effects of the poison even then? Why hadn't he said anything?

Nova jumped when Chiro sucked in a breath as the heart monitor began to beep frantically.

"Gibson!" She called, jumping to her feet, running out of the lab letting the photo fall to the floor. "Gibson!"

-Night 5-

Gibson Shift

Gibson frowned, all these questions flowing through his head as he fought to keep everything quieted down in his head. He glanced up at Chiro who how had to have a full breathing mask, on top of the feeding tube and the IV. But despite how he physically looked the scans had shown that the poison had indeed blessed in his system and he was healing slowly but surely. Gibson pushed Chiro's hair out of his face before he smiled.

"Hang in there Chiro. Just a little longer."

-Night 7-

Chiro whimpered opening his eyes and realized he was shrouded in darkness. He sat up slowly and looked down with a gasp as the floor opened up under him dropping out from under him as he dropped quickly. He screamed loudly falling for what seemed like hours and after such a long time of falling he realized that he wasn't falling any further.

"What's going on?" Chiro said, looking down at the clouds that didn't seem any closer or any further away.

"Chiro!" Antauri's voice echoed and Chiro rolled over and looked up at him as Antauri drove towards him.

"Antauri?"

"Chiro!"

Chiro reached up for Antauri as Antauri reached for him but just before their fingers could touch each other Chiro fell further and vanished back into darkness.

-Antauri Watch-

Antauri sat up with a breath. "Damn it." He said, panting hard as he growled and looked back at the rest of the team. "No. I saw him, but I couldn't quite reach him. I will try again after I rest." He said as they all looked back at Chiro sadly.

Day 9

Chiro whimpered slowly as he opened his eyes weakly and looked around slowly. His throat hurt and felt tight thanks to a tube which was dug down his throat, it felt hurt and it took all he had not to panic, but that panic all melt away when he looked to his left. Otto was sleeping on a chair, his arms crossed and his head tilted back.

"Chiro." Said a voice causing Chiro to looked up seeing the familiar purple eyed boy.

Chiro tried to speak but once again began to panic at the feeling of the tube down his throat.

"Don't move." Antauri said, as he stuck his head out of the lab. "Gibson." he called and Gibson jogged in. "He's awake."

"Should I get up the others?" Gibson asked quickly.

"Not yet, we want to get the tube out of him first." He said and Gibson nodded before they walked over to Chiro.

After a few moments the tube was removed, along with the breathing mask and the rest of the team joined them in a lab and Otto and Jinmay woke up. Nova hugged Chiro tightly as she sobbed.

"How you feeling Chiro?" Antauri asked.

"It hurts to speak." He rasped, "What happened?"

"You transforming into a Female was a distraction to hide the fact that the ooze was a type of poison that oozed into your skin. Luckily though I managed to find a cure, though the cure was just as likely to kill you as the poison but seeing how you survived I'm glad that-."

"It's good to have you back kid." Sparx said as he covered Gibsons month.

Chiro nodded softly before he looked at Antauri. "I'm sorry if I caused any problems." He rasped.

"You have nothing to apologize for Chiro. You're often the target of these abuses and not the cause of them. Never blame yourself for the bad things you go through.

"Right." Chiro rasped.

"Are you hungry? Do you need anything?" Otto asked.

"I'm thirsty." Chiro coughed softly.

"I'll get you some orange juice!" Otto said, quickly running out happily.

"How long have I been asleep?" Chiro sniffled.

The group looked at each other before Antauri spoke. "Nine days."

"Nine days?!" Chiro sat up with a painful gasp. "What has Skeleton King been doing?"

"Relax, we've had everything under control. You just focus on healing both your physical and emotional states have been put to the test." Antauri said fixing the bed Chiro was sitting on so it sat up before putting pillows behind Chiro's back. "Once you're finished healing from the poison we'll work on training back up your body and reconnecting you with your power primate."

All together Chiro's recovery took another week before he was physically fit enough to fight without collapsing in a pile of vomit, which Gibson said was his body getting rid of the rest of the toxins in his body. All of the team members watched over him but Nova had a different look about it, instead of a look of encouragement it was a look of regret obviously from her blaming her for what happened.

"Nova." Chiro smiled, "Why don't we go on patrol together?" He smiled, "I could use some fresh air."

Nova frowned. "I dunno Chiro." She said nervously.

"Come on you and I both know you hate being cooped up in the robot all the time, you have to be going just as stir crazy as I am."

Nova thought before she smiled, "Alright." She said, wanna take the packs or the tanks?"

"Packs for sure." Chiro smiled.

"Okay, just make sure that your pack is secure… I don't wanna see you crash again." She said and Chiro nodded.

"Don't worry Chiro, I fixed it for ya." Smiled Otto, "Checked it myself refilled it's fuel tank and got it all ready for ya."

"Thanks Otto." Chiro said, as Otto handed it to him and helped him get strapped in securely.

"Keep an eye on each other." Antauri said, and keep your communicators on incase we need to contact you or visa versa."

"Yes daddy." Nova said sarcastically resulting in a chuckle from Chiro before the two of them went to the shoulders of the super robot before they took off flying into the morning sun their hair being whipped around by the slight breeze that waved between all the buildings and cooling down the fall air.

"What is it Antauri." Gibson asked when the purple eyed brother walked in.

"Pull up the city scanners in my room. I want to keep an eye on Chiro and Nova."

"I'm sure they're alright." Gibson said, "I mean sure things have gotten rough lately but I'm sure Chiro will be alright."

"It's not Chiro I'm worried about. I have had a feeling that we are all being watched lately, I want to try and figure out where that feeling can be coming from. Now please. Cast the security camera's on the television in my room."

Gibson glared, "You have feeling it as well?"

Antauri blinked but nodded slightly. "Yes, and I suspect this is the work of others besides the Skeleton King but I cannot be sure."

"Alright, I'll cast the live camera's to your t.v. then run facial recognition on the civilians around our recent fights."Gibson said, "See if I can find a common thread."

"Thank you old friend." He said, then walked out of the lab and vanished into his room.

Nova smiled slightly, enjoying the feeling of the cool breeze dancing across her skin, making sure to often glance at Chiro in case he began to show signs that he wasn't doing good. Any sign and she was going to take him back, she wasn't going to let him get that sick again while she is blind to it.

"Formless." Chiro growled as he stopped and Nova looked down at the small group of formless in an alley. "Come on."

"Chiro wait, are you-."

"I'm fine, come on." He said, then flew down quickly and Nova quickly landed next to him.

"Hey ugly! Over here!" Chiro said running at one of the formless before holding out his hand letting a bright orange yellow lightning bolt form in his hand. "Chiro Spearo!" He called, as the bolt shot through one of the formless causing it to burst and splat on the ground.

Nova smiled softly before she punched one of the other formless. "Knuckle Duster!" She said, hitting the formless with enough force that it went flying and exploded on the far wall.

"Tag team attack!" The two yelled as Nova grabbed Chiro's wrists swinging him giving him the momentum to cut the last two formless with his feet leaving multiple puddles of ooze.

Chiro high-fived Nova who smiled.

"Guess I should stop worrying about you so much." She said softly and Chiro laughed.

"Told you." He smiled.

The town of them continued patrol with no problems when they encountered two other small groups of Formless but eventually Chiro did begin to look tired from all the fighting which hadn't done in a very long time.

"Let's go home." Nova said, taking his hand as the two began to fly again. "You may be able to fight but you should still take it easy."

Chiro nodded, then smiled, "Nova thanks for helping me while I was a girl, I don't think I could have taken being the only girl, now I kind of understand what you go through. I mean you feel like you have to look and act stronger than the boys. You feel like you're one step behind, but you know…" He smiled, "You'll always be number one in my book." He said and Nova blushed as tears formed in her eyes.

"I love you too Chiro." She said.