War Between the Living and the Dead

by EchidnaPower

The war between the living and the dead has begun, and the Hyperforce has to go up against their biggest challenge yet. But with help from their allies across the galaxy, they can triumph! Or can they? This is my take on what Season 5 would've been, plugging plotholes and making sense out of a series that left us all hanging. Contains Spova, Chinmay and more(?) Read and find out...

6. Revenge of the Mantadons

Time for another update, I'll admit I struggled a bit with this one, there's gonna be a few new introductions and a lot more action in this chapter, we're starting to get to the meat of this story. So without further ado, here is the next chapter of the War Between the Living and the Dead. I own nothing except the story.
_

"Hyperforce to Capt. Shuggazoom, come in Capt. Shuggazoom!" Chiro's cries through the communications console were going unanswered, "Nothing...do you think he's..."

"Don't think like that Chiro," Jinmay said reassuringly, "I'm sure he's ok, we just gotta go find him!"

"And I bet I know where to start looking!" Nova used the Super Robot's sensors to zoom in on the focus of the dark energy pulsations.

Chiro nodded, "Alright Otto, get us down there, but be careful…we don't know what that blob monster's done to Kathori."

"You got it Chiro, beginning descent!" Otto piloted the robot through Kathori's atmosphere, and unlike last time, they weren't attacked by a swarm of giant insects, "Looks like a bug-free zone…"

"That may be true," Gibson said, "But the closer we get to the coordinates of the Kathorian village, the stronger the dark energy readings become."

"Alright then, we're not gonna risk getting stranded here again. Land the robot and we'll scout the area on foot!" Chiro ordered.

Moments later, the Super Robot landed in a canyon that was high enough to hide its form from any possible threats, and the Hyperforce took off flying with their jetpacks towards the source of the dark energy. "I have a lock on the dark energy source…we should be getting rather close…"

"Uh…Gibson?"

At Sprx's sudden apprehension, Gibson looked up from his scanner and gasped in horror at the sight before him. "I do not believe my eyes!"

Down below them was a giant pile of black ooze, bubbling like it was boiling over with its own evil. "What's happening down there?" Chiro would soon get his answer, as hideous creatures began to spawn from the dark ooze and slowly walk out of it. "It's making Formless?!"

"Wait…something bigger is emerging!" Gibson blanched when he saw exactly what it was. "I…I…I despise bugs." The blue monkey almost passed out from holding his breath for so long; now down below was an absolutely enormous praying mantis-like creature.

"The Mantadons…that lake of ooze is mutating the bugs on this planet again!" Nova exclaimed.

Then the Formless creature climbed onto the back of the green Mantadon and its arms seemed to extend and reach into the Mantadon's head. Suddenly the Mantadon's green coloration became darker and it grew even larger in size as large spikes sprouted from its chest and midsection. "Uh...that doesn't look good." Otto gulped.

Just then, the Mantadon turned and looked directly at them before roaring with fury, "It sees us!" Nova exclaimed.

The Mantadon then opened its mouth and a beam of dark energy came out, "Look out!" Chiro shouted as he and the others flew off in different directions.

"Call me crazy," Sprx spoke up, "But that felt kinda like the same kind of energy that ship hit me with!"

"It must be that Formless...it's making the Mantadon stronger somehow!" Nova dodged another beam, "Let's take it down before it gets away!"

"You know the drill team! Aim for the torso and whatever you do, don't get hit by that beam!" Chiro glanced at his now armored girlfriend, "That goes triple for you Jinmay, if you get hit by that beam you'll be shut down, so be extra careful!"

Jinmay smiled and offered a thumbs-up before going after the Mantadon's weak spot. "Let's see how it likes this!" Jinmay extended both arms and aimed her hands at the Mantadon's belly, unleashing a barrage of finger missiles. But much to her shock, the missiles seemed to have no effect, "What? But how?!"

"WHIRLING DESTRUCTO SAWS!"

"BOOM BOOM WAKEUP!"

Otto and Nova took a turn at attacking, but they soon found themselves having to turn back as the spikes that had sprouted from the Mantadon's belly would've impaled them had they kept going. Then it swung its giant forelegs and smashed both monkeys down to the ground. Then once they were down it opened its mouth to fire.

"Move!" Sprx grabbed Nova and carried her out of danger just as Gibson did the same to Otto, "There's no way past those spikes!"

"Then we try a new approach!" Chiro activated his gauntlets and started trying to fly behind the Mantadon, but the creature wasn't letting the Hyperforce leader get a look at its back by any means, "It's trying to hide its back, that's gotta be the answer! Monkey Team, take it out!"

"LASER CRISS CROSS!"

"WHIRLING DESTRUCTO SAWS!"

"LADY TOMAHAWK!"

The blue, green and yellow monkeys all went in to attack the Mantadon's back while Chiro kept the beast occupied, but before they could get there, the Formless creature morphed into a shield of sticky ooze that trapped them upon impact. "Hey, I can't get out!" Nova shouted.

"Me either! This stuff's super sticky!" Otto tried spinning his saws to cut his way free, but all he did was get even more stuck, "And I can't cut my way outta here!"

"This is no ordinary Formless; it seems to have intelligence far beyond the usual monsters we face!" Gibson grunted as he tried to pull out of the ooze.

The gunk was holding on tight, and Chiro was starting to struggle to avoid getting blasted by the super-evolved Mantadon, "These things are smarter than they used to be!"

"Then I'm gonna give it a concussion!" Sprx got closer to the monster and unleashed his attack, "This oughta ring your bell! MAGNA-BOLT BEAM SPLITTER!" Sprx launched a barrage of energy bolts at the Mantadon's head, and the creature roared with rage as it slashed furiously at the red monkey and knocked him down to the ground. "Ugh…I think I got a concussion."

Luckily, Sprx's attack had the desired effect. Gibson, Nova and Otto were freed from the ooze thanks to the distraction Sprx had provided. "Alright, time for round two!" Otto spun his saws and got the ooze off them as he got ready for another attack.

"No!" Chiro shouted, "Fall back! We gotta regroup and figure out a way to beat this thing!" Just then the Formless reshaped itself to normal and the next thing Chiro knew, he was being fired at.

"Chiro!" the team shouted.

Chiro had raised his shield to block the blast as he had no time to dodge, but the longer the attack lasted the weaker his shield became as it started flickering from the energy drain. "GAAAAHHH!" Finally the shield gave out and Chiro was enveloped by the Mantadon's attack.

"BACK OFF!" Jinmay flew up and activated her electric shield to protect Chiro from anymore damage, but now she was feeling exactly why Chiro had wanted her to be careful; she could feel her power fading. "Team! Stop it!"

"You heard 'er, light 'im up!" Sprx unleashed a magnetic blast at the Mantadon's head just as all the other monkeys chipped in with their own attacks. Once hit, the Mantadon stopped and roared at the monkeys while Jinmay fought to stay airborne. "C'mon, we gotta move!"

Nova grabbed the struggling robot girl while Otto scooped up the now unconscious Chiro, and the team flew off to try and regroup.

Unfortunately, the Mantadon and its Formless jockey had other plans, it spread its wings and chased after the monkeys with its energy-draining beam firing all the way, "This thing's gaining on us!" Nova shouted.

"We can't outrun it!" Otto gasped desperately.

Just before they were overtaken, a red and black figure zoomed by and slashed the unsuspecting Formless in half, and with a pained roar the Mantadon began to shrink until it was back to the form the team was more familiar with. "What the?" Nova said in shock.

Then the figure leaped back up and threw two fire-enveloped weapons at the Mantadon's chest, and seconds later, the Mantadon was gone. "It…destroyed the Mantadon…" Otto gaped.

As the monkeys landed, Gibson reactivated his drills, "Careful, we don't know whether this creature is friend or foe."

The hooded figure walked up to them, its weapons in hand and still flaming. Once it got close enough, its weapons suddenly vanished and it pulled off its hood, revealing what appeared to be a Kathorian, the only difference being its shocking red fur which was slicked back into spikes on its head. "You alright?"

"Yeah, thanks for saving us." Nova replied.

The cat creature scoffed, "That was coincidence, all I wanted to do was take out that Mantadon…it's quickly become something of a hobby for me."

"Well you certainly arrived in the nick of time, are you a Kathorian?" Gibson asked.

"Not exactly." But before the cat creature could explain further, he heard a roar in the distance, "No time to explain, let's get you somewhere safe…ish."

"Safe-ish." Sprx shrugged, "Great."

"It's better than staying here Sprx! Chiro's out cold and Jinmay looks almost totally drained," Nova looked at the very groggy robot girl who seemed to be trying extremely hard to figure out what was going on, "We'll go with you…Mister…"

The cat walked past them before looking over his shoulder and smirking, "Kikaido…make sure you remember the name…also, drop the Mister." The cat put his hood back up and rushed off with the monkeys not far behind, "What are you anyway? Never seen anything like you before."

The monkeys were caught off guard by this, "How does he not remember us?" Sprx wondered.

"Yeah…but I don't recognize him either, maybe he wasn't there?" Otto suggested.

"Aren't you part of Nikita's tribe?" Gibson asked the red cat.

Kikaido suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around with an intense look, "How do you know Nikita?"

"Whoa, take it easy pal!" Sprx put his hands up in a placating gesture, "She's a friend of ours, she's how we found out about the Mantadons in the first place!"

"We helped them save Kathori a while back, didn't they tell you about us?" Gibson added.

Kikaido's eyes grew wider, "It's you…you're the Hyperforce!" Kikaido then heard another roar, albeit farther away this time, "I'll take you to Nikita, maybe you can help us again."

Just then Chiro began stirring in Otto's grip, "Mmmmngh…whuu…whu happen…"

"He clearly needs attention, follow me." Kikaido again began leading the monkeys through the jungle.

Gibson however was growing concerned, "We're getting closer to the Kathorian village, but I'm not picking up any life readings."

"There's a reason for that." Kikaido's voice seemed heavy with sorrow.

Once they reached where the village was supposed to be, the monkeys gasped in horror at the sight they were greeted with. The Kathorian village had been completely and utterly destroyed, there were even some dead bodies underneath all the rubble as well as lifeless piles of ooze, acting as a sign of the intensity of the battle that had taken place. There was smoke coming off of whatever buildings were left somewhat intact and several divots in the ground where the Mantadons had apparently fired. "Kikaido...what happened?" Nova asked hesitantly.

"The Mantadons and those skeleton creatures controlling them arrived here only a few hours ago...we tried to fight 'em off...but there were too many and they were too strong." Kikaido shook his head as he kneeled over a half-burned corpse, "Poor guy, never saw it comin'."

"I am going to be abominably ill…" Gibson's blue hue was beginning to take on a sickly shade of green, so the monkey landed and got on his hands and knees to try and regain his composure; the smell of death was lingering in the air, and it wasn't being nice to the scientist at all. "A deceased Vreen in no way compares to this." He panted as he tried to keep himself from vomiting.

Kikaido motioned for the team to follow him into one of the buildings that had more or less survived the attack of the Mantadons. "Put 'em on the tables, I'll keep an eye out for Mantadons." Kikaido took a step outside before looking over his shoulder, "Lemme know when Chiro and your other friend are up and about, I have to get to Nikita A.S.A.P." Before anyone could respond, the cat walked out.

"Sheesh," Sprx scoffed, "First he acts like he doesn't care about anything, then all of a sudden he's more intense than Gibson during one of his science projects."

"I won't dignify that with a response." Gibson stated absentmindedly as he looked Chiro over, "He's alright, but his gauntlets have been completely drained."

"What about Jinmay?" Otto asked.

Gibson turned his attention to the robot girl, whose system had finally shut down due to lack of power, "She needs a recharge, but we're not exactly in a position to give her one at the moment."

"Why not? We can use this!" Otto revealed that he was in possession of a spare energy cell, "I had a feeling this would come in handy!"

"Well done Otto!" Gibson took the energy cell and morphed one of his hands into a screwdriver, "Now if I can recalibrate this energy cell to drain its energy into Jinmay…adjust this, reverse this…ahh, there we are!" Gibson opened up Jinmay's vest and opened the pink heart on her chest and placed the energy cell into the slot. "This should just take a few moments."

Just then, Chiro's eyes began fluttering wildly as his consciousness finally returned to him, "Oh man…what happened?"

"You ok kid?"

"Sprx…" Chiro slowly sat up and held his head, "What hit me?" Suddenly Chiro's eyes widened as the memory of what happened came to him, "Jinmay! Where's Jinmay?!"

"Easy Chiro," Nova said soothingly, "Jinmay's fine, she just got her energy drained, Gibson's recharging her now."

"She saved me…" Chiro swung his legs to hang over the table and looked around, "Where are we?"

"Uh…this is what's left of Nikita's village." Sprx replied.

"Oh no…we're too late aren't we?" Chiro grit his teeth and closed his eyes, "I can't believe this…"

"You were a little late to stop the Mantadons from destroying the village, but most of the Kathorians made it out safely." Kikaido came walking in, and Chiro immediately hopped off and got into a fighting stance, "Whoa, relax, I'm on your side."

"Who are you?"

"Kikaido, remember the name." the red cat took his hood off, "Your name's Chiro, leader of the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce, the ones responsible for saving Kathori from the Mantadons."

"I don't remember you, where were you when we were fighting the Mantadons back then?"

Kikaido chuckled, "Now that's a story…" Before Kikaido could explain however, another voice spoke up.

"Chiro?"

Hearing the robot girl's voice distracted Chiro as he quickly glanced over to the other table and saw Jinmay beginning to sit up. He then glared at Kikaido, "Stick around; I've got a lot of questions."

Kikaido just shrugged, "That's fine, just do me a favor and try to make it quick, I need to get to Nikita."

Chiro's eyes widened momentarily at the mention of the lavender cat girl they had befriended, but he shook it off and rushed over to Jinmay who had since removed the now dead spare energy cell from her chest and buttoned up her uniform, "You ok?"

"Yeah…" Jinmay shook her head and rolled her neck a few times before getting back up, "Let's go get those Mantadons." Jinmay tried to armor up, but in making the attempt she got lightheaded and fell back against the table, "Whoa…that's not normal."

"Yes, well…the spare energy cell had enough to recharge you to the point of reactivation; however there wasn't enough to allow you to activate your battle mode." Gibson explained.

Jinmay frowned and crossed her arms, "Well that's just great, now what?"

"We could summon the Super Robot; it could take out those Mantadons, no sweat!" Sprx suggested.

Chiro shook his head, "No, these Mantadons are way stronger than we're used to, and it took only seconds for them to drain the robot the first time we were here. If we tried to call the robot, I doubt it'd even make it here before it got swarmed by those bugs."

"Yeah, they were tough!" Otto added, "Every time we tried something it found a way to block it! Good thing Kikaido showed up or we woulda been goners."

Chiro was surprised at this and he looked over to the red cat who had his arms crossed nonchalantly, "You saved us?"

Kikaido shrugged, "Any friend of Nikita's is a friend of mine...plus, the fact that you can help us save Kathori again doesn't hurt."

"That's the second time you've brought up Nikita, where is she?" Chiro asked with some suspicion.

"With the other Kathorians, I'll take..." Kikaido suddenly stopped talking and crouched as he tried to listen for a sound he'd just heard.

"What is it?" Jinmay asked.

"Shh!" Kikaido's ears were standing at attention, then his weapons suddenly appeared out of nowhere and he shoulder tackled Chiro just as a giant claw came through what was left of the roof, "More Mantadons," He looked down at Chiro who was now underneath him from the tackle, "You guys are supposed to be the ones who saved Kathori? It's time you proved it!" Kikaido quickly got up and leaped through the roof with his now flaming weapons in front of him. "Burn!"

Chiro quickly got up to join the battle, "Stay down Jinmay. Hyperforce GO!" The monkeys flew into the air while Chiro ran outside, leaving Jinmay to watch from the sidelines. "CHIRO SPEARO!" Chiro launched a lightning javelin at the Mantadon's belly, and the giant insect roared just before vanishing, "Nothin' special about these guys, just take 'em out the old fashioned way!"

"Good! I need to break something!" Nova activated her fists and flew up to another incoming Mantadon, "TORNADO HAMMER!" With her arms stretched out in front of her, Nova flew right through the Mantadon's belly and destroyed it. "Sprx, on your six!"

Sprx turned around and was instantly greeted by a roaring green insect that had its claw reared back to strike, "Nice try freak, MAGNA-TINGLER BLAST!" the red monkey managed to get the first hit, and the Mantadon vanished seconds later. "Thanks Nova!"

Nova gave a thumbs-up before heading towards another angry mantis. She easily dodged its beam and punched a hole into its stomach, and once it disappeared she got a view of something she definitely didn't wanna see. "Team, we got Formless incoming on my nine and eleven!"

"If they get to those Mantadons we're toast!" Otto exclaimed before dodging another blast.

"I'll handle them!" Gibson flew down to attack, but he was met by another angry Mantadon, "Or maybe not." He gulped.

"Outta the way!" Kikaido tackled Gibson in midair just before the blue monkey would've been enveloped by the energy draining blast, "We can't go after those creatures with all these Mantadons around!"

Seeing that the situation was close to becoming critical, Jinmay growled and leaped out of her hiding place and ran towards the incoming Formless army, which did not go unnoticed by the leader of the Hyperforce, "Jinmay, what are you doing?!"

Getting into a fighting stance, the robot girl looked into the sky behind her where Chiro was fighting a Mantadon, "I might not be able to power up, but I still have Nova's training! I'll give these freaks a run for their money!" Just as she finished talking, a sword came slashing down towards her head, but she easily dodged it and punched a hole through the Formless's chest with her formidable robot strength. "Who else wants some?!"

"She's got some serious spunk." Kikaido chuckled as he slashed through the chest of another Mantadon, but then he was struck down by one that had caught him off guard, and moments later he was surrounded by three giant insects, "This doesn't look good."

"Hang on Kikaido! ENERGY SAW STRIKE!" Otto launched several saws made of energy at the Mantadon's surrounding the red cat, and moments later they vanished with an anguished roar. "You alright?"

"Never better." Kikaido used one of his weapons to help himself up, and then looked around to survey the situation. The other monkeys were holding their own against the Mantadons, but he could see the girl beginning to struggle against the numbers she was facing, "Get your team ready to take off, we need to regroup with the Kathorians!"

Otto was stunned, "But…what about…"

"Never mind them, they'll just keep coming!" Kikaido exclaimed, "Now go!"

Otto took off flying, slicing through another Mantadon's belly on his way. "Chiro!" he got to the Hyperforce leader who had just thrown another lightning bolt at the head of an incoming Mantadon. "Kikaido says he wants us to clear outta here!"

"He wants us to run away?!" Nova had overheard what Otto said, "I don't think so! We can take these guys!"

"No, he's right!" Chiro could see that they were fighting a losing battle; they may have had their powers this time around, but this time the Mantadons had numbers on their side, every time they destroyed one another would appear, and that wasn't counting the Formless army that Jinmay was singlehandedly facing. "There's too many for now, we need reinforcements!"

"Glad you see it my way!" Kikaido leaped up and threw his two flaming weapons at a horde of Mantadons, and they sliced through them like a hot knife through butter. Then they returned to him like boomerangs and he caught them before pointing the Hyperforce in the correct direction, "Out that way you'll find where the Kathorians are hiding out, I'll stay here and buy you some time!"

"Alone? You'll be killed!" Chiro exclaimed incredulously.

"Nah, I can handle these punks," Kikaido chuckled, "Long enough for your team to escape at least. Go! I'm right behind you!"

Chiro's face took on a determined expression and he nodded at the bright red cat. "Hyperforce, retreat!" Chiro swooped down and grabbed Jinmay bridal style just before a significantly larger Formless could take a swing at her, "We're outta here!"

As the Hyperforce flew off, Kikaido frowned slightly as he saw what he was facing, "Looks like I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew." Gripping his two unique weapons tightly in his hands, the cat broke into a sprint, "Take out the small fries before going for the big fish!" He extended his arms to the sides and ran between the skeleton-like creatures that were marching two-by-two, slashing them in half before they could even notice what was going on, "These guys aren't all that smart by themselves." he smirked, but then he noticed that one Formless had managed to get by and it had gotten a hold of one of the Mantadons. "Uh oh." Sure enough, the Mantadon began to grow bigger, spikes emerged from its chest and belly and its green coloration became noticeably darker, "They're both stupid by themselves...but together...we have a problem." Seeing that the situation had become too much and the Hyperforce had safely escaped, Kikaido decided it was time for him to go as well. The cat seemed to burst into flame as he summoned a wall of fire that confused even the enhanced Mantadon, and he quickly escaped through it. "Deal with that for a while." With that done, Kikaido rushed off towards the area where the Kathorians were hiding, hoping against hope that the war hadn't already been lost with this battle.

"Gibson, any life readings?" Chiro asked as they flew through the sky in the direction Kikaido had pointed them in.

"I'm picking up several within what appears to be cave-like structures approximately 523.82 meters away...it would appear we've finally found the Kathorians!"

"Look!" Otto pointed into the distance and spotted the caves Gibson was talking about, "Let's hurry!"

"I hope Kikaido's ok." Nova said with concern.

"Don't worry about him," Sprx shrugged, "I know his type, he's a survivor!"

"Let's hope you're right Sprx." Chiro looked down and motioned for the team to land in front of the largest cave, and he put Jinmay down just as his own feet touched solid ground.

"Thanks for the lift."

Chiro took a second to grin at the robot girl before getting back to business, "Hello!" he shouted into the cave, "Nikita! It's me, Chiro! Are you there?!" the echo the cave gave off seemed to go on forever, but no response came back. "Nothing. Gibson, you sure about those life readings?"

Taking a second look at his scanner, the blue scientist nodded at his leader. "Affirmative, and now that we've gotten closer; I can safely say that these life readings indeed match those of the Kathorians. They're around here somewhere."

"But why are they hiding from us?" Otto wondered.

"They may be hiding from everything." Jinmay said, "And I can't blame them for that."

"Me either, those Mantadons were no joke, and this time we had our powers to help out!" Sprx added.

"We won't let those Kathorians who died die for nothing. We're gonna find a way to destroy 'em, and save this planet! Once and for all!" Chiro said determinedly with a clenched fist, "Let's find Nikita, we gotta talk to her if we're gonna pull this off." Chiro turned around to continue searching for the Kathorians when he heard a loud beeping noise.

"Wait Chiro!" Gibson exclaimed, "My scanner's picked up a communicator signal!"

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?!" Jinmay asked hopefully.

"Yes, I think we've found Capt. Shuggazoom! He's somewhere inside this cave!" Gibson said.

"But why didn't he answer?" Otto wondered.

"Maybe he couldn't…" Sprx said grimly.

"Well if he needs help, we'll know soon enough." Chiro replied, "Headlamps on team."

Lights rose from the top of the monkeys' helmets, and Jinmay raised her pointer finger to the side of her head and her eyes suddenly began glowing pink. "Night Vision activated…you look good in pink Chiro." The robot girl giggled.

Chiro rolled his eyes good-naturedly before following the four monkeys into the cave with Jinmay watching his back. "Whaddya got Gibson?"

"We're quite close…in fact; we should be right on top of him right about…now!" The monkeys looked up, and their lights shined on an unconscious Captain Shuggazoom, hanging by his wrists held by metal shackles on the wall.

"Capt. Shuggazoom!" Chiro exclaimed in shock, "Otto, get 'im down!"

"On it!" Activating his saws, the green simian leaped up and cut through the chains holding the old man up, and Jinmay rushed over to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Is he alright?" Jinmay asked worriedly as she gently laid him down for Gibson to examine.

Gibson used his scanner to get a closer look at the condition of the elderly superhero, "He's alright, he was simply knocked unconscious from the looks of things, no signs of a concussion or any other major injuries."

"What I wanna know is why he was hung up like a glorified picture frame in the first place." Sprx said thoughtfully.

"Shh!" Chiro suddenly hissed. After a few moments, he gestured his head towards the ceiling at Jinmay.

With a nod, Jinmay slowly looked towards the ceiling, and with her pink night vision she spotted a figure in a brown hood clinging to the ceiling, watching them intently. "You know Chiro," she said as naturally as she could, "It's kinda weird we haven't run into any Kathorians yet isn't it?"

"Yeah it kinda is." Chiro replied. Then the Hyperforce leader quickly turned around and threw a lightning bolt towards the ceiling, and the light that was momentarily given off by the spear revealed the creature watching them. The figure leaped away and managed to tackle Chiro in the dark, "Get off me!"

"You heard 'im!" Sprx fired a magnetic blast at the attacking figure, but the figure saw it coming and leaped off just before the attack reached it, which left Chiro to get hit instead, "Whoops, sorry kid."

"No problem." Chiro wheezed before falling onto his back, his hair now even spikier from the electricity.

"Otto, incoming at nine 'o'clock!" Jinmay exclaimed.

The green monkey turned to his right and flashed his light in the face of the figure, who was momentarily blinded as it shielded its face from the light, "Time to see what's under that hood!" Otto rushed forward and sliced the hood in half with extreme precision, making sure that the figure was unharmed by his attack. When he turned around, he was greeted by a light-grey cat with blue eyes, "Wait a minute, you're a Kathorian!"

"Yes, and you are trying to free the creature responsible for all our troubles!" The cat leaped up to attack Sprx this time.

"I don't think so kitty!" Sprx warmed up his magnets to fire.

"WAIT!" Otto shouted and got in the line of fire, his arms spread out in both directions in order to keep Sprx and the Kathorian away from each other. Then once the angry cat landed on his feet, Otto turned to face the Kathorian who was about the same size as he was. "You look familiar…" Otto looked into the bright blue eyes of the Kathorian, then down at the necklace it was wearing, and his eyes widened in realization when he recognized exactly what that necklace was, "It is you! I can't believe it!"

The Kathorian raised an eyebrow in confusion, "You claim you know me…how can this be?"

"You were probably too young to really remember." Otto figured. The green mechanic took a metal bit off of his tail and handed it to the Kathorian, "Here, maybe this'll jog your memory."

The Kathorian took the small piece of metal from Otto, and suddenly its eyes widened as it had a realization of its own. "My friend…you're the outsider friend I made!"

"Will someone please explain to me what's going on?" Sprx scratched his head in confusion.

"Don't you get it?" Otto replied, "This is the little kitten that I made friends with the last time we were here!"

"Looks like he's not so little anymore." Nova said with a smirk.

"Why're you attackin' us? We're here to help!" Otto exclaimed in bewilderment.

The young cat's smile faded into a neutral expression, "You're trying to free that outsider, all of our problems started when he arrived!" the cat snarled, pointing an accusing finger at the elderly man.

"You've got it all wrong kid, he's on our side!" Sprx tried to explain, "He was tryin' to help us when the real problem got away from us, and he wound up getting stuck with it."

Just then, Capt. Shuggazoom began to stir, and the old hero put a palm to his head, "Ohhhh...did anyone get the license plate on that space truck?"

"How d'ya feel Captain?" Chiro asked.

"Like I got hit on the head with a club."

"Uh well..." the grey cat chuckled sheepishly, "I did hit him on the head with a club."

"You!" Capt. Shuggazoom exclaimed, "You're the one who knocked me out!"

"Yes...sorry about that." the young Kathorian scratched the back of his neck, "I am Katoro, I was trying to help fight against the Mantadons and I found your friend wandering around. I realized I'd never seen him before and so I thought he might have been the cause of our problem. I suppose I was wrong."

"Don't worry about it," Otto waved his hand dismissively, "You're still young, you made a mistake, that's all!"

"Well now that this little misunderstanding's been resolved, I don't suppose you could lead us to the Kathorian tribe?" Gibson asked.

"I can." Katoro nodded, "Follow me." After heading back to the cave entrance, the young Kathorian cautiously peeked his head out to make sure the coast was clear. "No Mantadons in sight, let's hurry!" Katoro rushed over to a smaller cave and motioned for the Hyperforce to follow, "In here!"

Once they entered the small cave, Katoro looked around once more. "Are you sure you're not lost kid?" Sprx said skeptically, "There's no way that your whole tribe could fit in here, it barely looks big enough to hold all of us." Sprx was proven wrong when the light-grey cat smirked and pushed a large rock off of a hole that was covered up by it, "Well…I stand corrected."

"As usual." Nova teased with a smirk.

"Down here." Katoro led the Hyperforce down the hole, and once they were all safely inside the tunnel, the young cat moved the hollow rock back over the hole. "We've had to retreat to our emergency underground shelter; once those skeleton-like creatures merge with the Mantadons, they become much smarter judging from what little we've been able to figure out about them…so we've had to make sure to stay one step ahead." Katoro at last led the team to a gigantic cavern with torches lit all around, the brown rock acting as the walls, ceiling and floor glowing eerily in the light of the fires. "We've managed to avoid them so far, but if we don't manage to figure out a way to destroy the Mantadons soon, our emergency supplies will run out and we'll die of either starvation or dehydration, whichever comes first."

"Katoro…this may seem like a random question…but how old are you?" Jinmay asked.

"Yeah…when we first got here you weren't even old enough to talk, and you were small enough to fit in the palm of Otto's hand…and now…you sound like a soldier who's been fighting a war for years." Nova added.

Katoro smiled, "Kathorians mature pretty fast, although I am actually kind of small compared to other Kathorians my age." The grey cat replied, "Ever since you first arrived here on our planet, I wanted to be like you. I wanted to be a hero for my tribe, so I started to teach myself how to fight and learned new things as the months passed. Then another outsider arrived, and he began to teach me new techniques, he's really amazing, I cannot wait for you to meet him!"

The team shared solemn looks with each other, they were certainly proud of the young Kathorian, but somewhat sorrowful that he had been forced to fight a war they felt he was far too young to be a part of. "Hey, where is everyone?" Otto asked.

"Katoro!"

The grey cat flinched at the stern voice calling for him, and his ears drooped when the white-hooded figure walked up to him, a long sword at his side. "Yes Tikudo?"

"You know it's not safe for you to be out there." The tall Kathorian removed his hood.

"I know, but look at who I found!"

Tikudo took a moment to humor the boy, but when he realized exactly who Katoro was referring to, his eyes widened, "The Hyperforce…"

"It's good to see you again Tikudo." Nova said.

Sprx rolled his eyes discreetly, "Yeah, it's just great to see ya." He mumbled.

Tikudo pretended not to hear the red monkey's sarcasm, his sensitive hearing allowed him to pick up on his words, and he was aware of why he felt the way he did towards him. "I believe you couldn't have come at a better time, the Mantadons have returned, and with strength far beyond what we were prepared for."

"We know." Chiro said with a slight growl, he was still bitter over seeing what the evil insects had done to the Kathorian village. "We'll do everything we can to help." He said determinedly.

"I know you will." Tikudo nodded, "Come, let me show you around our emergency shelter." The dark-grey cat led the team threw the tunnels, and everywhere there were cats crafting weapons to use against their foes. "As you can see we haven't forgotten your training, but in this case it's proven to not be enough."

"These Mantadons are way stronger with those skeleton-creatures on top of them; we can't get past their newly-formed armor with our weapons." Katoro added.

"But they're not unbeatable." Nova said, trying to inject some optimism into the conversation, "We ran into another member of your tribe a while back, he managed to beat one of those Mantadons with a surprise attack."

Suddenly Tikudo's ears lowered and the cat snarled, "He is not a member of our tribe." Then Tikudo picked up the pace substantially and increased the distance between the others and himself.

"Whoa, sensing a lotta hostility there." Sprx whispered into Nova's ear.

"Yeah…but why is that?" Nova replied with a shrug. Moments later, Tikudo's ears perked up, and he rushed down another corridor with his sword drawn. "Uh oh, I think something bad just happened!"

"Let's move Hyperforce!" Chiro led his team through the tunnel Tikudo had just rushed through, and they found him in a large room with a golden statue, snarling at the black-hooded figure standing in front of it. "No way! How'd he get in here?"

"You know this room is off-limits to outsiders Kikaido." The tall grey cat growled.

"Well excuse me for testing out the security for the back door." Kikaido removed his hood and smirked as his two weapons suddenly appeared in his hands, "Besides, why can't we just be friends? After all, I am your brother-in-law."

With the exception of Jinmay and Capt. Shuggazoom, every member of the Hyperforce went slack-jawed at what they'd just heard. "No way…" Chiro gasped, "Kikaido…is Nikita's husband?!"
_

A/N: So...yeah...Nikita is married now...just one problem, where is Nikita? A lot of references to her have been made by various characters but we haven't actually seen her yet. I was contemplating whether or not I should make the whole Kathori arc one long chapter, but I figured that with what I wanted to do it would've become way too long. Anyway, some stuff happened. Chiro lost his gauntlets and Jinmay's power's been drained substantially.

We also met Kikaido (pronounced "Ki" as in Kid, "kai" as in tie, and "do" as in dough), who some readers may or may not already have picked up on who his character is based on...all depends on if you're a fan of the series that character originally comes from, if you are, you've spotted the hints I dropped. I've made several references to his "weapons", I'll be getting into that more in the next chapter. Also, Otto's kitten has grown up a little and now has a name...Katoro...bleh, I dunno, I couldn't think of anything else more inspired than that. Capt. Shuggazoom is alive and well and ready to help out, which is good because these Mantadons have been seriously beefed up by the Formless, and their numbers are far greater now thanks to the puddle of ooze. But what exactly is that ooze? Why is Tikudo so angry at Kikaido? Where is Nikita? Why am I asking myself questions you all might ask me? The answers lie ahead in the next chapter...

Also, if you're looking for another good read, check out "The Curse of Knowledge" by DigiHopeHeart, a suspenseful angst story starring the Hyperforce's science officer: Gibson.

I'll try to throw a new read out there whenever I make an update, it's good to help out aspiring authors or just give my readers a read that'll be worth their time. Anyways, see you all next time.

PS: To all my Pokemon readers, I promise, the next update I make will be a Pokemon one, I've just got a lot on my plate right now and I'm having trouble getting the inspiration to flow. I'll try to get it out as soon as possible.