So, we're back for more! Yes, it happened extremely quickly. I've recently had some extra time to write and the lack of writer's block certainly helps things along. Also, just to quickly address something that's been brought up a few times now...while many writers choose to type the name as "Sparx", the official spelling here on this site is "Sprx", and it's truthfully a matter of personal preference.

You know who I'm talking about when I say it, so it shouldn't be a big deal in the long run. If it's really that much if a bother, tell me and I'll go back and change it. But I want to remain consistent. So, with that said, there are some anonymous reviews to take care of.

DANGIT-Man: Yes he did, and we'll get a little bit of an update right here.

Prof HAZARD: Here's your update...and keep your hands to yourself buddy lol.

And I already addressed the unnamed guest review above. So with all that said, on with the show! I own nothing except the story.
_

As soon as Nova saw Sprx get enveloped by the giant red robot's energy beam, her imagination began conjuring up horrific images of an utterly destroyed SPRX-77...or worse, no SPRX-77 at all, as his very being was melted into a pile of slag and ash scattered across the planet. But once the attack was complete, she saw a distinct shade of red fall out of the sky and land not too far away, so she at least knew that the pilot still had the potential of being alive if nothing else.

"Sprx!" the yellow monkey activated her rocket pack and flew off to where she saw Sprx land, and the rest of the team followed suit to check on their fallen comrade. "Where are you Sprx?" Nova looked around frantically, until her eyes caught a small figure of red in the middle of an utterly burned landscape. "No!" Flying down to where Sprx had landed, she involuntarily let a strangled sob escape her lips as she covered her mouth with her hands.

The pilot's red fur had been burned away, leaving some of the skin underneath exposed which revealed even more severe burns from the result of the beam. What little fur he had left was scorched and could be broken up merely by rubbing it. His robotic eyes had been cracked and his metal arms were laying limply on the ground as they'd almost come out of his shoulder sockets and were just barely hanging on. "Gibson...GIBSON!" Nova screamed as loud as she could.

Seconds later the team arrived, and the blue scientist knelt down to assess the extent of the damage with his scanner. "I honestly don't know how, but he's still alive!" Gibson put the scanner away and carefully shifted Sprx's more loose parts so he could pick all of him up efficiently. "But that could quickly change if I don't get him back into the robot for some emergency care."

"I'm coming with you!" Nova's voice had traces of desperation in it as she stared intensely at the blue monkey.

"We're all going!" Chiro caught everyone's attention as he looked out into the distance where the giant robot had since forgotten about them, and was on its way to destroying more of the planet. "We can't fight it like this...we need a plan, so we're going to regroup." he then looked down at his top pilot who appeared to be all but dead with Gibson carrying him in his arms, and the Hyperforce leader growled before clenching an angry fist. "It caught us off-guard once, it won't happen again."

The team rushed to the robot as quickly as they could, and once inside the recovery ward, Gibson immediately got Sprx onto a table and began working on stabilizing the pilot's life signs while Otto hooked him up to wires to monitor his vitals. "His heartbeat is irregular. Otto, bring me the Lectrazine." Moments later, the scientist had a drug in his hand as Otto brought it to him without so much as uttering a word. Then Gibson took a silver tube and placed a small amount of the Lectrazine into it, then he placed the tube near Sprx's neck and pressed on the plunger. "That should help." Taking a look at the monitor, Gibson sighed in relief when he saw Sprx's vitals improve. "He's stabilizing." he then turned to Otto. "Let's get to work. I'll handle his organic body, you work on repairing and replacing his mechanical parts."

"Got it Gibson."

"What can I do?" Nova was standing in the doorway a few steps ahead of her other teammates, with her hands folded in front of her face in worry.

"There's nothing you can do Nova." the scientist shook his head and gave the yellow monkey a reassuring smile. "Fear not, Sprx is in good hands." Gibson pushed a button near him, and the entry way slowly closed until the last thing Gibson could see from outside was Nova weakly reaching out her hand. Steeling himself for the job at hand, Gibson frowned a bit and grabbed another tool from the shelf before looking at the pilot's vital signs again. The task ahead of him wouldn't be easy. "Otto, remove his arms and work on them first, I'll need some space for a while."

"Alright Gibson." Otto nodded and carefully disconnected Sprx's arms from his shoulders, and then he turned to walk over to his workbench. "Hey Gibson?" he asked as he looked over his shoulder. "He's gonna be ok, right?"

The scientist turned to his friend and forced a smile. "Yes he will, but we must get to work for that to happen."

Otto nodded. "Well then, good luck." he continued on his way to the workbench, and he immediately began repairs on the red monkey's arms.

"And the same to you my friend." Gibson gave a small sincere smile before frowning again and looking down at the broken and severely burned body of Sprx. "You'll have to stay with me Sprx, for her sake if nothing else. Let's get to work."

Back outside, Nova slowly lowered her arm as the reality of the situation hit her. Sprx was down, and his very life was now hanging in the balance. She closed her eyes and grit her teeth for a moment before turning around and looking intensely at the rest of her team. "I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm gonna go out there and rip that robot a new-!"

"Nova!" Chiro's shout snapped the yellow primate out of her rage, and she looked up at her leader who was looking at her with both a stern...and yet sympathetic expression. "Believe me, I know how you feel," the yellow monkey lowered her head at his words. "But we can't go out there halfcocked without a battleplan, we've gotta find that robot's weakness!"

"Right." she mumbled in response.

Seeing as the warrior monkey was obviously still distressed, Jinmay got on one knee and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He's gonna be ok Nova." When she raised her head to look at her, Jinmay nodded and gave a reassuring smile, one that Nova seemed to respond to as she gave the faintest of smiles back. With that, Jinmay got back up and looked to Chiro. "Any ideas where to start?"

The Hyperforce leader crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he thought. "Well Gibson and Otto are too busy to give us information, not that Gibson was able to get that much during the fight anyway." Chiro opened his eyes. "But I have a feeling those hazmat guys back there know something that we don't."

"They didn't seem all that willing to talk though," Capt. Shuggazoom spoke up. "And in my experience with these types of situations, that usually means there's pressure comin' from up high."

"Haral," Nova spat the name out like a curse as her brow furrowed. "That creep's gotta be the one behind all this!"

"We don't know that Nova," Chiro replied calmly. "For all we know, Haral might be under the influence of that ooze monster, or he's trying to hide the fact that there's a problem from other citizens elsewhere on Tasneem."

Nova clenched her fists. "I don't care who's at fault, all I know is that someone unleashed that robot and now it's somewhere out there wreaking havoc! We've gotta take it out!"

Chiro nodded. "Then let's go talk to those hazmat guys."

"May not be easy," Capt. Shuggazoom said warningly. "They're probably under strict orders not to divulge any information. We may have to force it out of 'em."

Nova activated her fists and slammed one into her palm. "You just leave that to me."

Several minutes later, the remaining members of the Hyperforce emerged from the robot's chest and flew out to where they last saw the Tasneemians, and sure enough, there were now several men and women wearing either military uniforms or hazmat suits, and they appeared to be walking around with equipment considered ancient to the Hyperforce. "Alright, let's mingle with the locals." Chiro flew down with his team close behind, and they landed in front of a man in a hazmat suit who was sitting on a rock by himself. "What are we up against?" the man turned his head and flinched at the sight of Chiro and his team, but said nothing.

"He asked you a question!" Nova took a threatening step forward.

"Don't answer them!" a well-built man in a uniform walked up with what appeared to be an automatic rifle in his hands. "That's classified information!" his bravado was quickly extinguished however when Nova activated her fists and grabbed the man by the front of his uniform and dragged him down to her level. "I've just about had it with you guys! Your stupid robot is terrorizing the planet and one of our teammates is in critical condition because of it!" she brought him closer to her face, and the soldier seemed ready to scream in panic. "So you either start giving something we can use to help us figure out how to beat it, or I beat you! You've got 'till the count of five. One..." Nova raised her giant fist. "FOUR!"

"I'd speak up if I were you." Capt. Shuggazoom said casually.

"It was never intended to be used as a weapon." the hazmat-wearing Tasneemian finally spoke up, and Nova dropped her victim to the ground and walked over to listen, putting her fists away. "It was designed as a new way to provide efficient energy to the entire planet, we've been working on it for years."

"So what happened?" Chiro asked as he knelt down in front of the Tasneemian scientist.

The scientist shook his head and sighed, and then he took off his helmet which revealed several splotches on his face that appeared to be burn scars. "We never even thought something like this could happen. Merely a few hours ago, somehow our whole nuclear reactor transformed into what it is now. One moment everything was perfectly normal, and the next it became that monstrosity, destroyed our military bases and went on a rampage that we had no hope of stopping."

The Hyperforce members looked at each other knowingly with grim expressions, then Chiro turned back to the scientist. "I think we may have a good idea of what happened, but we can help you. Do you have any ideas how we can stop that thing?"

"Yes, by using these." the scientist got up and walked over to a large crate with several long metal rods inside. "We have these carbon dampener rods, which when inserted into the reactor, would immediately arrest all nuclear activity. Of course, that would have been the plan before it became an evil monster."

"We'll worry about that." Chiro stepped up and grabbed a few rods and tucked them under his arm. "Can you tell us exactly where we're supposed to put these things?"

"From what we can tell, the reactor shifted to the front of the upper torso...but it's too hot, you won't make it!"

"No, you won't make it," Nova activated her fists and slammed them together. "We on the other hand have dealt with things a lot worse than some dumb ol' heat wave."

Chiro turned back to the scientist after Nova spoke and nodded at him. "Thanks for your help. With any luck, we'll be able to stop that thing from destroying anymore of your world." Chiro's expression hardened. "And then we'll find whoever's behind all this and take them down." Chiro turned around and nodded again. "Come on team." with that, the Hyperforce took off into the sky, leaving the scientist in shock along with the rest of the Tasneemians who were present for the exchange.

"So how's this gonna go down?" Capt. Shuggazoom asked as the team flew off towards the robot, which could still be seen far in the distance.

"I take these carbon rods and shove them into the robot's reactor, simple as that." Chiro responded. "Once that's taken care of, we go looking for that blob, it's gotta be the one responsible for all this."

"Great, except for one thing!" Nova exclaimed. "There's no way we're gonna let you get that close to that robot, even with the enviro-suit on you'd melt before you even got there! Let one of us do it, we have more resistance to the extreme heat!"

"Gotta say, I'm with Nova on this one Chiro," Capt. Shuggazoom spoke up. "I know you're tough as nails, but I think this one should be left to someone more suited to deal with this type of situation. You're still human after all, and even with my powers I can't get too close for very long, and if you can't take the heat-"

"Stay out of the kitchen." Chiro finished the sentence and sighed as he flew down to land with his team. Once on the ground, Chiro handed the carbon rods to Jinmay who tucked them under her own arm. "Be careful you two."

Taking a moment to kiss the boy's cheek, Jinmay smiled reassuringly and nodded. "We'll be back before you know it!"

"Come on Jinmay, let's take it down!" Nova and Jinmay both took off, leaving Chiro standing on the ground with Capt. Shuggazoom to wait for their return. "So here's the plan, I'll distract that thing while you fly up to the reactor and shove those rods right into its heart!"

"Sounds good to me!"

"Ok then, let's go!" they picked up speed, and soon enough, Nova was flying in front of the robot's face with her fists held up as if she were challenging it to a fight. "Hey ugly! Catch me if you can!" the robot immediately responded by raising an arm and firing, and Nova managed to dodge the blast and cause the robot to spin around and follow her. "Got its attention!" Nova flew low to the ground and dodged huge blasts from the robot's cannon. "It's all you from here Jinmay!"

"Got it!" The robot girl pushed her foot rockets to the limit and speeded towards the chest of the corrupted nuclear reactor, and once close enough to reach it, Jinmay turned her head a moment and raised her arm to shield her face from the extreme heat. Then she grabbed a carbon rod and reeled back to jab the giant robot with it, but her previous hesitance would prove to be costly as suddenly the robot looked down and blasted a beam out of its empty eye sockets and sent her careening down to the ground with the rods scattering everywhere.

"Jinmay!" Nova stopped and flew down to scoop up the robot girl just as she bounced off the ground, and Nova managed to grab her still flaming teammate just before the robot unleashed an enormous blast from its cannon at point-blank range that would've surely destroyed them both. "That was way too close!" But then they were hit by a blast that barely grazed them; the sheer power of the attack knocked Nova out of the sky, and the two females crashed into the rocks below, groaning from the impact and unable to get back up.

Back at the clearing, Chiro gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he watched the battle take place. "I can't just stand here and watch this, they need help!" he turned to Capt. Shuggazoom and looked at him with a determined expression. "I'm gonna help them, are you with me or not?"

The old man grinned. "I swore an oath to protect Shuggazoom with my life a long time ago. This may not be Shuggazoom, but the oath still applies."

The Hyperforce leader smirked and nodded before taking off into the sky with his rocket pack burning at full power. "Down there! They dropped the carbon rods!" the two swooped down and each grabbed a few carbon rods before flying back up. "Since we can't get too close, we'll have to see if we can't pull off a miracle and throw them in there!"

"I was quite the javelin thrower back in my day, I think Gibson's little revitalization trick might've brought some of the ol' magic back!" Capt. Shuggazoom grabbed a rod with his throwing arm and got a good grip. "Time to find out if it's true!" the elderly man zoomed ahead of Chiro and stopped to take aim and throw the carbon rod into the small hole that was the robot's reactor, but he was suddenly sent flying backwards when the robot slammed its arm into him.

"Capt. Shuggazoom!" Chiro watched as the old hero involuntarily flew out of sight, and he instead decided to try it himself. "Alright you, take this!" Chiro threw the rod at the robot's chest, but his aim was off and it bounced off just as the robot raised its arm to fire. The blast nicked his rocket pack, and Chiro flew out of control until finally he managed to get it off and hit the ground with a hard thud just before it exploded. Of course he had no time to just lay there, as the robot was still gunning for him. "Oh come on!" Chiro ran out of the way and managed to use some fancy acrobatics to avoid getting fried on the spot, and he steadied himself and threw another rod. "No good," he growled as it bounced off again. "These things just aren't flying straight!" he gasped and took off running again as the robot fired once more, and this time the force from the blast himself sent him bouncing along the ground.

He reached for another rod in desperation, but this time he didn't even get a chance to throw it as the robot was once again warming up another attack. He immediately ran, and he was able to stay two steps ahead of the attack and hide behind a large boulder as he gripped the carbon rod in his fist, but he turned and saw the rock was about to give way and he ran again just before the blast would have disintegrated him. He soon found himself hiding behind a tree, and it appeared that the robot had lost track of him after that last blast as it began to walk in a sort of search pattern. "This isn't gonna work." he said to himself between gasps for air. His enviro-suit had been torn in some places and his face shield was cracked from a loose rock smashing into it. Looking down at the last carbon rod in his hand while still trying to catch his breath, the boy's eyes widened as an idea came to his mind. "Boy I hope this works."

He took a moment to glance from behind the large tree to see where the robot was, and seeing as it wasn't looking in his direction, Chiro attempted to calm his breathing and began focusing on the Power Primate. A green glow enveloped his body and a yellow energy appeared in the hand he was holding the carbon rod in, spreading across the rod and making it feel more familiar and easier to aim for him.

Meanwhile, Jinmay had just come to and was holding her head as she tried to regain her bearings, and she saw the giant robot looking around for something, which confused her. "Is it looking for us?" That conclusion didn't make sense to the robot girl...and the only other conclusion caused her mechanical heart to skip a beat. "No!" she turned to the clearing, and sure enough, both Chiro and Capt. Shuggazoom were gone. "Nova, wake up!" she shook the yellow monkey to try and wake her, but Nova remained out cold. "Where are you Chiro?" she got up and frantically raised her finger to the side of her head, making her eyes glow pink as she scanned the area. Eventually her eyes caught a distinct shade of green from behind a tree, and she immediately recognized it as Chiro using the Power Primate. Unfortunately, the same time she'd found Chiro, so had the other robot, and it raised both arms and fired two blasts at once, completely obliterating the tree and everything in the near area. When the smoke cleared, the green glow was gone, and Jinmay's zoomed in vision caught a small piece of fabric slowly floating down to the ground before being completely burned away. "NOOOOOO!"

She closed her eyes and slammed her armored fist into the ground, making a huge divot there as her strength went unrestrained. Shooting the monster that had killed her boyfriend a murderous glare, Jinmay flew off with her teeth gritted and both fists stretched out in front of her as she went in for one final desperate attack. But before she could even get the robot's attention, more smoke cleared and she stopped in midair as her eyes caught the figure of a dead man.

"Time for a meltdown...CHIRO SPEARO!"

The slightly charred and now scarf-less form of Chiro unleashed his signature attack with the carbon rod placed firmly in the middle of the energy, and this time his aim was true as the energy spear and the rod both hit their targets. With a low groan, the robot stopped moving and all the fire coming from its body almost immediately died out as the carbon rod stopped the nuclear activity powering it. "Yes." the boy fell to his knees and panted with exhaustion just as Jinmay flew over his head at full speed and shouted a loud and clearly angry battle cry as she reeled back her fist and unloaded a brutal punch that actually knocked the robot's head off and sent its torso falling to the ground like a fallen tree. "Whoa."

Panting from the exertion, Jinmay watched in satisfaction as the giant robot fell, looking at her own hands for a moment as she realized exactly what she'd just done. "Guess I'm stronger than I thought." but then her eyes widened and she turned around to see Chiro on his knees, also panting. She smiled when he gave a weak wave before slumping forward in exhaustion, and she flew down to him and wrapped him into an embrace after powering down her armor. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Heh..." Chiro breathed out a laugh and weakly wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'll try and keep that in mind."

The robot girl pulled back and smirked, an eyebrow quirked as she remembered the exact words he'd told her not too long ago, and she got up and wrapped his arm around her shoulder so he could have some support. "Guess you'll be needing a new scarf then."

"Guess so." Chiro sighed as his breath finally started coming back to him, and his eyes caught the forms of Nova and Capt. Shuggazoom flying over to them. The Hyperforce leader greeted them once they landed. "Hey guys."

Nova put her hands on her hips and frowned. "You just couldn't resist, you had to be the hero, didn't you?"

"You're welcome." Chiro snarked with a smirk. "So that's the end of that battle, now we just gotta-" his eyes widened as he looked up on a distant cliff. There appeared to be a figure standing at the edge of it. "Jinmay, up on the cliff, who's that?!"

The robot girl activated her robo-vision once more, and zooming in on the figure standing at the cliff, Jinmay growled. The figure in question had three eyes. "We were right. It's Haral."

"Then let's go after him," Chiro jumped up to take off, and then got a painful reminder that he'd lost his rocket pack when he face-planted into the ground and groaned. "On second thought..." he mumbled into the ground before raising his head and spitting out the dirt in his mouth.

Nova and Jinmay helped him up, and looking back towards the cliff, the three-eyed form of Haral was gone. "He's gone." Nova grumbled.

"But now we know who we're looking for," Chiro clenched a fist with determination. "And if he is under the influence of that ooze monster, then this time around, I have a plan."
_

A/N: So hooray! Chiro saves the day with a little Power Primate improvisation. But Haral is on the loose, and Sprx is still down and in critical condition back on the Super Robot. How will the team deal with Haral and the ooze monster that's still somewhere on Tasneem? The answers await in the next chapter. Please be sure to review!