Hey everyone, it's been a long time I know. Once again, I apologize for the lack of timely updates. Time is a precious commodity I can't afford to waste. But, you don't wanna hear about that. You came for a story! And that's exactly what I have for you. But before I go any further, I do have anonymous reviews to answer.

Guest: Well I certainly appreciate the compliment, here's the next one!

Lovable Crystal: Your enthusiasm is well received lol. Here's the next chapter, hopefully some of your desires are fulfilled with this!

Someone: Sorry for making you wait so long, hopefully you feel this chapter is worth it!

And that's it for anon reviews. I again apologize for the time it took. Many factors went into how long it took for me to update this, not the least of which was just pure laziness on my part unfortunately. But, I hope this somewhat makes up for the wait. I hope you all enjoy! I own nothing except the story and the OCs therein.
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It took a while for everyone to make it back to the robot, and somehow doing so caused everyone to have a sobering moment. While they still had a mission to complete, they couldn't just ignore the lingering fact that one of their teammates was still undergoing emergency surgery. "We're gonna go and get ready for our next move," Chiro then knelt down and took a gentle hold of Nova's shoulder. "Hey Nova, why don't you go and check on Sprx?"

Nova didn't respond verbally, but she did look over her shoulder and give her leader a brief nod before making her way towards the recovery ward. To say that she was worried wouldn't have been a strong enough way of putting it. As she wrung her metal hands, she found herself in front of the recovery ward door; visions of Sprx's broken body invaded her thoughts and caused a shiver to go down her spine.

How many times had it been now that she'd had to cope with the possibility of losing him forever? Sprx was the only one who treated her like a woman, and not just a warrior or "one of the guys" as it were. She knew her team loved her, she knew they cared about her...but somehow, Sprx was always different. His flirting got a little overbearing and there were times where she just wanted to clobber the red monkey for some suggestive comment he made...but in the end, she always knew that she could count on him.

Nova had always believed that actions spoke louder than words, and the actions that Sprx had taken over the past few months finally convinced her that he cared for her more than just as another teammate. He was frank with her, was willing to risk everything for her...and of course, she was the only one who could reach him when the Fire of Hate had a hold on his free will. That, more than anything, told her that his love for her was true...and it made the possibility that he might not survive all the more painful.

Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, Nova manually opened the door to the recovery ward where Gibson and Otto were still working even after hours of emergency surgery and repairs. "How is he you guys?"

The blue and green monkeys looked up from their work, glanced at each other for a moment, and then they turned their attention to their third in command. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Nova felt her heart drop.

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"So what exactly are we gonna do about ol' three eyes?" Capt. Shuggazoom asked even as he stretched out any kinks in his body after the past couple fights. "You said you had a plan but I think after what we saw back on Kathori, killing this thing isn't going to be nearly as easy as we'd like it to be."

"I agree, that's why we're gonna try something a little different." Chiro nodded. "First thing we gotta do is track down Haral, if we're right about him being controlled by that monster, then we'll need Gibson to do some fancy work with the sensors and try to pinpoint those dark energy readings. Hopefully with the nuclear reactor shut down, he'll be able to zone in on exactly where he is without anymore interference."

"Somehow I don't think it'll be that easy." Capt. Shuggazoom crossed his arms. "Haral is clearly a high ranking official in this planet's military, he may even be the top dog for the whole planet for all we know. Getting to guys like that is always a dangerous operation, especially considering we'll probably have a bunch of unsuspecting soldiers getting in our way to keep their commanding officer safe from the 'invading alien forces.'"

Chiro sighed, of course the old hero was right. "I hadn't even thought about that." he looked back and forth between his remaining two teammates. "I'm open to suggestions." Chiro's request was met with silence. "Jinmay?" she said nothing. "Ok...how about you Captain? You've been right so far, any ideas on how we can get to Haral without having to take out a whole army of innocent soldiers in the process?"

The elderly superhero slowly shook his head in response. "Chiro, much as I'd like to believe that's all we'd have to deal with, I've had just as many experiences where the subordinates are just as guilty as their master. It's possible that we'll have to actually take them down just as hard as Haral."

"No."

Both Capt. Shuggazoom and Jinmay flinched at the bite in Chiro's voice. "No? No what?" Capt. Shuggazoom asked.

"I'm done 'taking them down,' we know that ooze monster is the only real enemy here. Even if the soldiers are following orders from Haral, they're just as much a victim as he is. You heard what that hazmat guy said, the nuclear reactor was meant for peaceful purposes until the monster showed up and somehow turned it into a weapon. We're going to find a way to free these people and let them get back to their lives without killing half of the population."

It took a moment for Capt. Shuggazoom to find his voice after Chiro's little speech. He coughed into his fist and cleared his throat before attempting to talk again. "Well, you're the boss. So I guess we'll try it your way...we might be able to use the fact that we saved their world to try and make our job a little easier, but we'll run the risk of them warning Haral that we're coming. If we just show up at the front door and he decides he doesn't wanna talk to us, he'll probably order his men to take care of us instead, if you get my drift."

"Yeah...I get your drift." Chiro scratched his chin in thought before a sneaky grin spread across his face. "So we'll just have to have a little backup plan in case that happens."

"And what pray tell might that be?"

"Simple," Chiro shrugged nonchalantly. "While one team knocks on the front door, another team will be sneaking through the back."

At that, the elderly hero rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Look kid, far be it from me to tell the leader of the Hyperforce how to do his job, you've been doing this long enough to know what you're doing...but I really don't think we have enough guys here to make this plan work safely."

"Sure we do!"

Chiro, Jinmay and Capt. Shuggazoom perked up and turned their heads towards the sound of the familiar voice, and their faces lit up when they saw who it was. "Sprx!"

"The one and only!" The red monkey was clearly banged up, there were still scars left behind from the burns he'd suffered and there was fur missing in certain parts of his body. But - with a little help from an ecstatic looking Nova - he was standing just the same, with all his robotic parts replaced and looking brand new. "What, you think a little heat rash is gonna take me down? Gimme a little more credit than that."

"Don't make jokes," Nova glared at him half-heartedly. "I'm still trying to calm down after Gibson's little idea of a joke."

Sprx chuckled weakly at that. "Personally, I give 'im credit for trying to lighten up and become less of a stick in the mud, I probably would've done the same thing." his smirk disappeared when Nova decided to let go of him and his still weak body fell to one knee. "Guess I deserve that, sorry Nova."

"Telling me that he has 'bad news' when I ask about you is not funny," she spat down at him. "I thought you died, not that now he'd have to listen to you talk again."

"I said I was sorry," Now Gibson walked in, holding his head in his hand with Otto trailing close behind. "In all seriousness, there were moments that I questioned whether he'd pull through or not...but something inside of him just refused to give up, and that gave Otto and I enough time to get him up and running again."

"I think I know what that something was!" Otto sing-songed with a big grin, totally oblivious to the blushes on both Sprx and Nova's faces. "So what's going on out here? I could use something else to do, my fingers are cramping up from all the work I did replacing and fixing parts!"

"Well, now that you guys are ready to rock, I think we've figured out a way to get to Haral and finish off that ooze monster once and for all!" Chiro pumped a determined fist and watched in satisfaction as his monkey team exchanged pleased expressions with each other. "Gibson, get to the bridge and increase power to the sensors so you can pinpoint where Haral is, after that we'll get this operation started!"

"Acknowledged!"

"The rest of you follow him up, I uh...gotta get a new scarf." The monkey team laughed at that and started making their way to the transportation tubes, but then a frown appeared on Chiro's face when a certain someone passed him. "Not you Jinmay." The robot girl froze in place and kept her back turned to her boyfriend even as everyone else zipped off to the bridge. She flinched when he put his hand on her shoulder, and she allowed him to turn her around and look her in the eye, his forehead creased in apparent concern. "You haven't said a word since we got back to the robot, something on your mind?"

Jinmay looked away with a deep frown, she wanted to tell her boyfriend everything that she was thinking about, but something inside her kept her from doing so. "Chiro...I-"

Suddenly the robot's alarm went off, and Nova's voice came over the intercom. "Chiro, we need you on the bridge!"

The Hyperforce leader scowled and tightened his fists in determination before he once again directed his attention to Jinmay. "We're not done here, something's obviously bothering you and we need to make sure that's taken care of." he sighed. "But first we have to take care of this problem."

"Ok."

The timid response wasn't what he was hoping for, but it was the best he figured he would get right now, so he nodded and rushed to the transport tubes with Jinmay right on his heels. Seconds later, he was on the bridge with the rest of his team, and he leaned against the main console as he looked up at the main viewer. "What's going on?"

"We've got a situation!" Nova pressed a button, and the screen suddenly showed hundreds of Tasneemian soldiers making their way towards them. "Looks like Haral didn't waste any time scrambling his troops, they're coming this way and I don't think it's to thank us for beating the nuclear monster!"

"Hate to say I told you so Chiro, but I told you so."

Chiro scowled at Capt. Shuggazoom for a moment before he looked back at the screen. As much as he hated to admit, it looked like the elderly hero was right after all. "There's no way I'm going to take out a whole army of innocents just because they're taking orders from a possessed general." he clenched his fists with teeth gritted before whipping his head around towards his scientist. "Gibson, can you get a lock on the source of the negative energy readings?"

The blue monkey wasted no time adjusting the controls, and seconds later a pinging radar indicated the exact location of what Chiro was looking for. "There!" he pointed at the precise spot on the screen. "It appears Haral is hiding in the heart of what appears to be a heavily fortified military base. Getting to him isn't going to be an easy task by any stretch."

"All I needed to know was where he is." Chiro turned around and walked a few steps before looking over his shoulder at his team. "We're gonna play on offense and defense at the same time. Nova, Otto, Sprx and Gibson, you pilot the robot and keep that army's attention, but don't attack unless absolutely necessary."

"So you want them to just take potshots at us?" Otto shrugged with a worried grimace.

"You don't have anything to worry about," Chiro turned around and stared intensely at his team. "If the most powerful threat this planet could throw at us was a transformed nuclear reactor, then there's nothing that army's weapons can do to hurt the robot. Haral's under the control of that sludge monster, and he sent his troops on a suicide mission in hopes that we'll give him enough time to come up with a better plan to destroy us...we're gonna let him think he succeeded."

"And what are you gonna do kid?"

The leader glanced at Sprx. "I'm going around the back way with Jinmay and Capt. Shuggazoom, if the whole army is coming here to take us out, then that base should be at least a little easier to sneak through." Seeing that Nova was about to offer a rebuttal, he spoke up again before she could get the words out. "There's no more time to discuss it! Hyperforce GO!"

Once the call was made, the Monkey Team sprung into action - albeit somewhat reluctantly - and zoomed off into their respective vehicles. "Well, it feels good to be back in the saddle again." the red monkey chuckled weakly.

"Whaddya suppose is wrong with Chiro?"

Otto spoke the question on everyone's minds, but it was met with nothing but silence until Sprx offered a lame reply. "I dunno, maybe he's just tired, one nap doesn't necessarily make up for days of non-stop action after all."

"Or maybe he just doesn't want another life on his conscience." Nova's statement stunned all the monkeys into silence once more, but after a few moments of anxious pondering, their trains of thought were derailed when they suddenly heard the sound of what seemed to be thousands of pieces of metal rapidly hitting the hull of the robot. "Looks like our company's arrived." the yellow monkey said.

"It appears Chiro was right about one thing," Gibson said as he adjusted the settings on his sensors. "Their means of attack are no threat to us, archaic copper-jacketed projectiles with a lead core. The robot's hyper armor won't even have its paint scratched no matter how many rounds they fire at us."

"It may not hurt the robot but it's sure giving me a headache!" Otto groaned and covered his ears as the sound of the bullets reverberating off the metal continued to increase in volume.

"Compensating now." Gibson adjusted a few more controls, and the sound started to muffle until it nothing more than a faint - but still annoying - sound of thuds against the hull. "Well, Chiro did say not to engage unless absolutely necessary, and given that their weapons can't harm us, I see no need to offer any form of retaliation."

"Maybe..." Nova thought for a moment, and then a determined expression appeared on her face as she grabbed the controls and lurched her Foot Crusher. "Or maybe not!"

"Whoa!" the team shouted in surprise at the sudden motion, and Otto was forced to compensate for the movement with his own Foot Crusher before the robot fell over. "Nova whaddya doin'?!"

"It's called strategy Otto, just follow my lead!" Nova made the robot take another step back, and another once Otto copied her movement, and then she twisted the robot around and started making it walk in the other direction. "Are they following us?"

"Ya better believe it." Sprx replied as he watched the horde of soldiers give chase. "So what gives Nova? Why're we running from these clowns?"

"We're buying Chiro time," Nova grinned conspiratorially. "If the army thinks they're succeeding in chasing us off, they'll keep chasing us! So while we keep them busy-"

"Yeah!" Sprx smiled in realization. "Chiro'll be able to sneak onto the base no sweat! Great call Nova!"

"Let's hope it is," Nova smiled, though it was filled with apprehension. "I get the feeling Chiro's gonna need all the help he can get."

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"Looks like the Monkey Team had a bright idea, now we should be good to go from here." Chiro started flying towards the set coordinates, his teammates right on his heels.

"So what exactly are we gonna do once we find Haral?" Jinmay asked.

Chiro looked over his shoulder and smiled a bit. "You just leave that to me."

"Chiro-"

"Don't worry Jinmay, it'll work, just trust me!"

The robot girl bit her lip and nodded numbly, between Chiro's apparent unwillingness to actually share the plan he had in mind...added to the concerns that were already running through her own mind, Jinmay was beginning to feel trapped between a rock and a hard place. "I really wish you'd tell us what you plan to do, I don't like being kept in the dark like this." she said quietly.

The Hyperforce leader gave a resigned sigh and frowned at his obviously anxious girlfriend. "I know I'm asking a lot, but what I have in mind could be...dangerous."

"Dangerous how?"

"Dangerous I don't know," he sighed again. "We've only ever tried it once and it worked, but this time I'll be doing it by myself. It might work, it might not. It may hurt me or I may not feel a thing. This is a total long shot...I just..." he closed his eyes and shook his head a moment before gathering his courage and screwing on the most determined expression he could muster. "I can't let another innocent victim die, not like this."

Jinmay felt the need to press further, but she was forced to hold her tongue when Chiro suddenly dove down and landed behind a large boulder. "What's going on?"

"We're here."

The trio peered over the rock, and there they saw the military base Gibson had pinpointed for them. "Don't see that many guards, looks like Haral really did send the whole army out there." Capt. Shuggazoom said.

"Fine with me, just makes our job that much easier." Chiro moved to activate his communicator, but just before he pressed the button, his hand hovered over it for a moment before he clenched a fist and shook his head.

"Chiro?"

The boy turned his head towards his girlfriend. "I was gonna check in with the Monkey Team, but I think the best thing we can do right now is go to radio silence." he turned back towards the base and saw two Tasneemian soldiers guarding the front gate. "They may not be as technologically advanced as we are, but I'm not willing to risk that they don't have a way to pick up communicator signals."

"Agreed." Capt. Shuggazoom nodded. "So what's the plan?"

"First thing's first, we gotta take out those guards." he looked towards Jinmay and pointed two fingers in the direction she would go. A silent nod confirmed she understood her assignment. "Alright, Captain, watch our backs. Let's go Jinmay!" the two young heroes split up, silently and swiftly making their way over the barbed wire fence and sneaking up behind the unsuspecting guards. With a quick chop to the neck, the guard went limp, and only a second later, Chiro saw in his peripheral vision that the other guard had as well. "Looks like those biology lessons Gibson made me sit through are finally paying off." he took a glance at Jinmay, and his smile faltered when he saw that Jinmay had for some reason powered down her armor. "Jinmay? Everything working alright?"

"Y-Yeah!" she quickly armored back up and forced a smile. "See? Now let's find Haral!"

Chiro briefly raised an eyebrow at her, but he quickly shook it off and dragged the unconscious Tasneemian soldier out of sight, Jinmay following his lead seconds later. "It won't take long for someone to find these guys, we're officially on the clock!" he waved Capt. Shuggazoom over, and the elderly hero sprinted over to join the two young Hyperforce members. "We won't have much time, let's move!"

The trio sprinted along the edge of the military base, dodging guards and making sure to remain as quiet as possible even as they made their way towards the given coordinates. "We almost there Chiro?" Capt. Shuggazoom whispered.

Chiro briefly glanced at the scanner, and he looked over his shoulder to nod at the elderly hero before motioning ahead of him. "Haral should be inside that building, once we get past those guards, we'll be one step away from finding him, and then I can put my plan into action."

"But how are we gonna get past them?" Jinmay asked.

Then all hell broke loose.

ATTENTION ALL UNITS, LEVEL FOUR SECURITY BREACH, LOCATE AND ELIMINATE THE INTRUDERS AT ALL COSTS!

"They know we're here." Chiro growled as the message repeated itself over the base intercom, and almost immediately the area was swarmed with soldiers searching for the unknown intruders. "Looks like we're gonna have to go all out, if we stay here they'll eventually find us, so let's take 'em by surprise! Jinmay, cover us, we're going in! Hyperforce GO!" Before the robot girl could protest, Chiro had leaped into the sky and come down hard, slamming a Thunder Punch into the ground and catching several soldiers off guard and knocking them off their feet as the force of the punch shook the area.

Unfortunately, it also alerted the rest of the soldiers as to their whereabouts. "Intruders located in Sector G6!" that was the last thing the soldier got to say before a Monkey Fu blast sent him and several others flying.

"Come on!" Chiro punched down the door and started running through the building, with Capt. Shuggazoom close behind and Jinmay doing her best to keep her teammates from getting shot, using her armor-plated body as a shield. "Through here!" he led the two through a hallway where there were soldiers waiting for them with machine guns aimed and ready to fire. "Get down!"

The two humans ducked before the shots fired, and instead they bounced off of Jinmay's back, causing her to flinch and turn around with her teeth grit in anger. "Leave them alone!" her eyes glowed as she fired her lasers at the attacking soldiers, but she stopped almost immediately when she realized that her eye beams had blasted a hole through not one, but several walls, luckily the soldiers had dodged in time. "What..." she looked at her hands in fear. "What's happening to me?"

"Jinmay!"

Chiro's voiced snapped her out of it, and she shook her head to get herself focused, the firefight was still taking place and she was the only one protected against the Tasneemian weaponry. "I'll lead, tell me which way to go!"

"Make a left!"

She started running, the bullets bouncing off her armor as she tried her hardest to suppress the power of her eye beams. Behind her, she could hear Chiro and Capt. Shuggazoom launching attacks at their pursuers. As she made the left, she found herself face to face with what appeared to be a soldier in some form of battle armor. "Uh, Chiro?!"

The Hyperforce leader turned around to see what had caused her to stop, and he saw an eight foot tall armored machine, with a Tasneemian soldier sitting inside at the controls. "He's gotta be the last line of defense, Haral is right around the corner!" Chiro flinched as a laser blast flew past his head. "Oh yeah, major technology boost." he turned to his girlfriend with a determined expression. "I'll take care of this guy, get behind us and make sure no soldiers get to take a potshot at us!" He saw her nod before he turned his full attention on the armored Tasneemian. "Alright pal, since you're just following orders I'm gonna take it easy on you, let us get to Haral and no one has to get hurt!"

The soldier didn't even answer, instead he swung the armor's mechanical arm at Chiro, which he easily dodged and responded to with a swift Lightning Kick right at the joint holding the arm in place, causing it to fall off and throw the armor off balance. Then with another hard punch, Chiro sent the controllable armor crashing into the nearby wall, crackling with exposed electricity as it malfunctioned. "Alright, that's that! Hyperforce GO!" Once the order was given, the trio sprinted around the corner and saw a long hallway with one door at the end. "This is it!" They reached the door, and Chiro punched it down, and he immediately saw their target, sitting at his desk as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Haral!"

"I knew that they wouldn't be able to stop you Hyperforce, although I'd hoped they'd be able to slow you down more than they did." the Tasneemian general said with his fingers steepled. "Well no matter, I'll simply dispose of you myself."

"Ya can't fool me slimeball!" Chiro pointed an accusatory finger. "You've got Haral under your control, just like you took control of Po back on Kathori!"

"Is that what you think?" Haral chuckled as he pushed his seat back and stood up to face them. "A strange creature did recently arrive on Tasneem, yes. It found me and attempted to take full control of me as you suspect..." he walked right up to Chiro, who glared up at him with a vicious snarl. "But after a mere few moments, the creature found that we would be much better served working in unison, and so instead of having my free will taken from me, we've merged into a much more productive, and profitable, symbiotic relationship."

"I don't believe it." The Hyperforce leader grit his teeth and clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles cracked. "You willingly put your people through this? You deliberately unleashed that monster on your own planet, what for?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" the evil general laughed with a slight tilt of his head. "With the planet facing disaster, there would be no choice but to invoke martial law, which means the military takes full control until the issue is resolved." he leaned down and grinned maliciously at the furious young boy. "And since I now have complete control over the military, that means-" Haral was abruptly cut off by a sudden burst of anger from Chiro, the punch he'd thrown had sent him staggering back a few steps, and he rubbed his jaw as he smirked at the boy who clearly wasn't through fighting. "I don't think you realize what you're up against boy, perhaps it's time I show you the true power this merging has granted me."

All Chiro saw was Haral open his third eye, and everything went black.
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A/N: Soooo...yeah. Sprx is ok, but now Chiro and Jinmay are suddenly having some struggles. We know what Chiro's going through, that much is obvious, but I'm curious to know if anyone reading this has any idea what's going on with Jinmay, and maybe if they have theories as to why. Obviously I know, since it's my story, but feel free to share your thoughts, I'd like to know what you think.

Well then, I guess that's that for now. I promise I'll try to make sure the next update doesn't take so long. If you liked it, make sure to leave a review! I'll see you all next time!