Disclaimer & Warning: This story is purely fan-made; I will not and never will own SRMTHFG! or any of it's canon characters, I'm only using them here for my own sick amusement. Be warned, this story is rated T/M for a reason. I am very big on details, and some things may be graphic in this story - gore, death, blood, etc. Triggering material may also be present in some chapters. If this offends you, please turn away now. Constructive criticism is welcome, so please feel free to do so: I am constantly learning how to be a better writer and anything to help would be greatly appreciated.

Shout Out: Thank you to all my beta readers, you know who you are. Without you, I'd never have been able to get this done!

ARC ONE: SCENE TWO

'FIRST IMPRESSIONS'

"Change is the law of life. Those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." - John F. Kennedy

[*] Light...

Bright light. Hanging above him. All around him.

A pitiful whimper was breathed passed Chiro's lips, one shaky hand coming to rest over his eyes to try and block out the light. It wasn't particularly painful, just annoying and not what he wanted to see when he first woke up. The hand that wasn't protecting his vision spread against the metal underneath him, the smooth surface cool to the touch and not particularly comfortable. There was already a small pain starting to dig into his spine. On reflex alone, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, groaning as he rubbed his abused eyes with the heel of his palm. What in Shuggazoom had even happened? He couldn't remember, everything was a blur of green- wait a minute.

It all came flooding back to him in a wave. Exploring the outskirts, finding the giant robot, the switch in the strange room and the sudden light. And the noise. The deafening noise! He gasped at the shock of his memories, eyes snapping open expecting to see the strange room full of bulkheads and switches. What he got did nothing to ease the steadily growing terror in his chest. He was pretty sure he was still in the robot but... this... was not the room he had been in before. Bulkheads and consoles were replaced by dusty offline computer screens, strange machines and glass tubes. Sterile white light filled the room from above, while the liquids within the tubes glowed with their own luminescence. Glancing down, he discovered that metal floor he'd passed out on had been replaced with a smooth metal table. The familiar weight of his backpack was also missing from his person.

Chiro felt new beads of sweat trickling down the back of his neck; he had passed out cold in the other room, and last he knew his backpack had still been attached to him. He couldn't have gotten here on his own, and with a quick glance around the table he confirmed his backpack was no where in sight. There was only way he could've gotten here without his backpack, and the realization filled him with dread.

Someone else was in the robot with him.

A living, breathing person had brought him into this strange room and taken his backpack. Probably was still in the robot somewhere too.

Great Shuggazoom he couldn't recall a time when he had screwed up this badly!

Chiro stifled a fearful whine and swallowed it back down before it could leave his mouth, his hands coming up to claw at his raven hair in fear. His body curled in on itself on the cold metal table, his mind going a hundred miles per hour. How was he gonna get out of this one? Who was in the robot with him, which room were they in and were they coming back for him? That last question had his heart rate speeding up to unsafe levels again. If they were coming back for him, he had to get out of here and fast. The image of the transportation tubes appeared in his mind, giving some hope to his otherwise hopeless situation. If he could get back to the tubes and get back to the robot's foot door, he would be home free!

In an adrenaline fueled rush, the boy blindly scrambled off of the table. The moment his feet made contact with the floor however, something went wrong. In his haste, he made a wrong step; to his horror he felt one of his legs crumble under his weight with a sharp pain. He yelped loudly and instinctively tried to catch himself on the table, but his sweaty hands slipped from the smooth surface and he collapsed in a graceless heap. Chiro hissed as a dull throb pulsed its way up his right leg, a couple of tears squeezing from behind his tightly shut eyes. He gingerly rolled himself into a sitting position, forcing his eyes to open so he could check the damage he'd done to himself. The second he reached out to brush his fingers against his injury, he recoiled as the throbbing turned sharp and mind-numbing. In dawning horror, he realized he'd just twisted his ankle.

Scrambling for a shred of the hope that had just been snatched from him, Chiro fought back the fear threatening to overtake him and reached back up to grab the edge of the table. Putting his weight on his arms, he began to pull himself up, managing to get back onto his one good foot while using the table as a crutch. 'This is good,' he thought through the haze of pain. 'I can still make it. I can still get out of here!' he was almost giddy, a grin threatening to split his face while he limped to the end of the table. His way of escape was still a good ways off, the metal door sealed shut against the outside world, but on his immediate left there was a large computer of some sort. It didn't reach the door either but it could at least get him closer. That was what was most important right now; he'd figure the rest out as he went.

Inhaling a deep breath through his nose, Chiro cautiously leaned and reached for the console, carefully leaning on his good left foot. But he underestimated how far the distance was; he leaned too far, and his good foot slipped out from under him. Reflexively he put down his other foot to steady himself, and cried out when the sharp pains ricocheted through his body. He tumbled to the floor face first; his hands caught him before his face hit the hard metal, but now the pain was too intense for him to do anything but breathe through his teeth. His vision went watery, pools of fearful, pained tears gathering in his eyes and slowly trickling down his face as hope fled from him. It was over; there was no way whoever was in the robot hadn't heard him cry out like that. Any minute, someone was gonna come through that door, and he wouldn't be able to get away from them.

The eleven year old curled up on his side, his back to the doorway and his hands over his head. He didn't want to see whoever came through that door for him. He was too scared to face the fate he could no longer escape. As if on cue, the hydraulics on the door hissed, signalling the arrival of whoever had brought him in here. Chiro drug his knees up closer to his chest, curling further in on himself. The tears began to multiply, small whimpers escaping his lips as several sets of footsteps and whirling sounds filled his ears. So it wasn't just one person, but several...!

"Hey!" a surprised sounding feminine voice was the first one he heard, one set of footsteps quickening their pace before a shadow fell over him. "What are you doing on the floor?" he sensed her reaching for him, and he flinched away violently, surprising whoever it was who was hovering over him. "Ah, man, the poor kid's scared out of his wits..." there was sympathy in that voice now, sounding so genuine and sincere that it honestly confused him. That was not what he was expecting; weren't kidnappers suppose to be mean? "Otta, help me get him up. I think he might've hurt himself." another shadow joined the first one, and then two gentle pairs of hands eased him up into a sitting position.

Chiro kept his eyes resolutely shut, his hands covering his eyes. Years of experience told him that even though someone acted nice it didn't always mean they were; it could be a trick, something to make him let his guard down. A soft chuckle sounded from directly in front of him, the closeness of the sound startling another whimper from him. "Aw, c'mon," a new, slightly deeper feminine voice soothed - the one called 'Otta' he guessed - as two small hands covered his."We're not gonna hurt ya. We can't be that scary, can we?" she sounded nice, even if her hands felt weird. They were hard and smooth, made of metal like the table and floor, but unlike the aforementioned surfaces these were warm. So very warm. Curiosity bubbled through the fear, and he let the strange pair of hands gently pull his down...

...and he found himself face-to-face with the strangest thing he'd ever seen.

Blue eyes widened to what felt like the size of dinner plates, while big black optics closed under the mirth of a smile. "There we go! Hiya!" one metallic hand waved in front of him in a joyful greeting. Chiro blinked in response, staring at this little green creature with the happy smile that knelt before him. Take away the metal and robotic parts, and he was pretty sure it could be a monkey. A robotic talking monkey. His eyes turned from the green monkey, falling upon three others - a yellow one with big pink eyes that was right next to him, a blue one with black eyes like the green one standing by the table, and a black one with green eyes a little ways off from the others.

Well, he wasn't afraid anymore, but what was he suppose to think about this? Was this a dream?

Yeah, it had to be a dream. He must have knocked himself out when he fell that second time and now he was dreaming...

The longer the silence went on, the more awkward it became. The smile on the one he believed was Otta vanished from her face, her hand falling from its greeting posture to rest at her side. She tilted her head, regarding the human boy in front of her before she turned to the yellow one. "Um... this is awkward." she chuckled sheepishly. "Did I say something wrong?"

Her golden furred companion shrugged, looking just as put out as she did. "Maybe he can't understand us, Otta." it was the first voice that addressed him, so this was the other female then. "I mean, nobody else could before, y'know?" the dejected look that passed the green monkey's face was heartbreaking.

"Um, actually... I think can understand you?" the statement phrased as a question was out of his mouth before he knew it, trying to make sense of everything that was happening in this dream. "You didn't say anything wrong, I'm just..." he trailed off when both females snapped their attention back to him suddenly. Along with them, he could feel the eyes of the other two turn to him as well; Chiro shrunk down slightly, unsure about being the center of all the attention. Now here he was wondering if he had said something wrong instead.

The shocked silence lasted for only a second before Otta broke it. "He can understand us!" the green monkey moved in on him then, her hands grabbing one of his and quickly shaking it as if in greeting. "Hi there human! I'm Otta! Welcome to the Super Robot! Oh boy, this is the first time I've been able to talk with a human! I mean I can't believe you can understand what I'm saying!" she spouted off, looking for all the world like she had just been given the greatest thing in the universe.

A slight blush reddened the boy's cheeks, his eyes turning away from the green monkey to stare shyly at the floor. "It's nice to meet you too, Otta." in spite of all the confusion and the strangeness of the event, her smile was contagious and Chiro felt a smile growing on his own face. This Otta was right, she wasn't that scary. In fact, she didn't seem scary at all. None of these robotic monkeys were scary, and they didn't seem to want to hurt him like he originally thought. And this was a dream right? Might as well go along with it. "Yeah, I don't really understand all of this either. But um, was it you guys who brought me in here? Where am I anyway?" he asked.

The blue monkey then cleared his throat quite loudly. When it didn't seem to get the desired affect, he cleared his throat another time, sending a glare in Otta's direction. Otta blinked, her hands stilling in their rapid greeting. She glanced over at the blue monkey in confusion, who shot her another annoyed glare, then with a sheepish smile she released Chiro's hand and stood up. She backed away, muttering a soft 'sorry' while her tail came up behind her to scratch her head. It had to be one of the cutest things Chiro had ever seen. "Yes, well," the blue monkey spoke for the first time, a slightly deeper masculine tone. So this one was a male then. "You are in our Sick Bay. We found you unconscious on floor in the Engine Room and wanted to make sure you weren't seriously injured." he explained in a matter-of-fact tone that reminded Chiro of some of his teachers.

"Oh," an intense feeling of shame overcame him, his eyes falling to his lap while his fingers picked at the hem of his sweater vest. Only moments ago he had thought the worst of these guys, when all they'd done was try to help him. "Um... thanks. I think I owe you guys an apology then. When I woke up and I was here... I thought that something bad was gonna happen to me." he hunched down, avoiding eye contact completely with any of these colorful monkeys. He was already feeling bad enough, he didn't want to see what their reactions would be.

An amused huff came from beside him, reminding him of how close the yellow monkey still was to him. "Don't worry about it." she said, brushing the apology aside as if it weren't necessary at all. "I think anyone who passes out in one strange room and wakes up in another has a right to be worried. This one is on us, we shouldn't have left you alone in here." her face suddenly fell, the small smirk on her muzzle vanishing into a look of concern. "But are you alright? We heard you shout..." her big, bright pink eyes glanced over him, searching for the reason why he had cried out he realized. For a moment, the obvious concern had him frozen in place, his eyes staring at her. Even if this was a dream, how long had it been since someone had shown concern over him?

A metal hand suddenly waved in front of his face, snapping him out of his stupor. "Um... you okay?" the yellow female asked cautiously. "You were kinda staring." the blush reappeared, and he returned his gaze back to lap. He didn't feel like elaborating on why he was staring, it wasn't that important anyway.

"I'm okay." Chiro replied, nodding his head and offering her a small smile that lasted only a second. He then turned his attention to his right foot, which was still aching. "When I woke up, I panicked and tried to leave..." he trailed off, unsure of whether he should say exactly what happened. Where he had come from, if you got hurt or sick you just didn't say anything. Chiro could recall several instances in which he had been hurt or was slowly growing sick; he asked for help once before, admitted he was ill to someone, and that was the first and last time. No, he'd learned the hard way that in the end it was always better to just grin and bear it.

Those memories had him raising his guard instinctively, his mind coming up with a ready excuse and painting a convincing smile over his lips like it was second nature. Figments of his imagination or not he'd already caused them enough trouble, no need to be the cause of anymore. "I'm fine now though, really." he said, already trying to push himself off the floor. "I-I'm okay, I just gotta- AH!" he had managed to push himself to his knees, but when he grabbed the table to pull himself up he jarred his ankle the wrong way. The room spun around him, the pain was blinding, but he managed to hold onto the table this time and keep himself somewhat upright. Dear Shuggazoom, it hurt so bad.

That familiar sensation of warm metal hands appeared under his arms, gently lifting him up. Higher and higher until his feet were hovering just inches above the floor. He blinked wide eyes down at his floating feet, then snapped them up to what hovered above him. It was the black monkey, the one that had hovered in the background, and he was floating in the air. Chiro's mind went utterly blank, the sight and experience silencing both thought and voice. Carefully the floating monkey placed him back on the table, being exceedingly careful of his injured foot, then floated back down to the floor. "You seem to have injured your foot," a deep, calming voice washed over the silence, the vaguest traces of authority that could only belong to someone who had been in a position of power ringing in Chiro's ears. Offhandedly, Chiro noted the way the other three had turned their eyes to this one, the way others looked to a leader. This monkey must be their leader.

The black monkey met Chiro's surprised stare for a few moments, his face passive and seemingly utterly void of emotion, then broke away and moved to leave the room of the Sick Bay. "Gibson will tend to your injury." he added, looking over his shoulder back to the shell-shocked boy on the table. "When you feel up to it, please join us in the Central Command Room. I'm sure you have questions you would like answered, and I believe you can answer ours in turn." he turned his attention to Otta and the yellow monkey, gesturing with his chin for them to follow. "Nova, Otta, with me." the two in question nodded and quickly joined him, Otta turning around to wave goodbye while the yellow one - Nova he assumed - flashed him a thumbs up before the metal door shut.

Chiro continued to stare at the door long after the three had left, his brain trying to catch up with what had happened. That black monkey had lifted him up into the air and put him back on the table. He'd been floating in midair, and his foot was still hurting far too much for this to be a dream. 'This... isn't a dream, is it? This isn't a dream, this is real. These monkeys are... real.' there was a gentle tapping on his shoulder; his eyes alone traveled to where the remaining monkey - Gibson he'd been called - stood beside the table. "You were staring off into empty space again. You've been slipping into bouts of this since you regained consciousness." the monkey tilted his head, then turned away to pull down a screen on a mechanical arm. "Perhaps I should perform an exam on your cranium just to be safe." the formerly offline screen lit up, showing diagrams of human anatomy and statistics Chiro probably wouldn't be able to decipher in two lifetimes.

...Chiro wondered if he had just gone crazy.

[=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=]

"He could understand us!" Otta's voice practically vibrated with amazement as she skipped beside her teammates to the center of the Command Center. There was an air of excitement clinging to her and a sparkle in her eyes that hadn't been seen for quite a while. "He could understand what we were saying! No human's ever been able to do that before! Actually I don't think anyone ever has been able to talk to us!" for the green mechanic to be able to talk with and befriend others outside of the team was an unobtainable dream. The language barrier had kept the friendly monkey from connecting with others. She had once thought of building a translator, but the idea had been shot down harshly by Mandarin the moment he caught wind of it.

Otta's elation was enough to bring a small smile to Nova's face, but it soon fell into a more serious expression. "Well, at least we have conformation that the Power Primate did something to him." she said, her attention turning back to the doorway they'd just exited. "The kid seemed kinda spooked by us. He was so scared I could actually smell the fear before we even went through that door." she glanced back at Antauri, bubblegum pinks curious. "What do you think, Antauri? You can sense more than we can."

Antauri remained silent, glancing backing at the door to the Sick Bay himself before his eyes closed thoughtfully behind the optical lenses. "You are right, Nova," he sighed. "He is understandably frightened by these new experiences, though he seems to have calmed down since discovering we mean him no harm." however, he found that this first meeting had given him more reservations than he would like. The child had injured himself, a relatively minor injury true but nonetheless a debilitating one. However, instead of asking for help he had tried to mislead them about it and pretend it didn't exist. Isolated the incident probably didn't mean much - they were strangers and he wasn't sure he could trust them. But there was an inkling nagging in the back of Antauri's mind that whispered this wasn't something to be ignored.

Resolutely, he made the silent promise to keep an eye on the situation. Both for the child's sake and his team's.

In the meantime, they had other things to concern themselves with. The great evil was already on its way without question, and they had to get everything in the Robot in working order before it arrived. "Otta," the monkey in question snapped to attention. "Look over the Command Console and see what needs to be repaired." his response was a salute before Otta bounced to the Console. In seconds she had the Command Console's main panel off and was buried deep in the wires and relays. Watching her, Antauri felt a knot of tension appear in his chest; this... wasn't what his purpose was.

Alongside Mandarin, he had trained with the Verron Mystics to learn the ways of the Power Primate, but while they learned the same things their paths diverged quite drastically. Mandarin had never been satisfied, always wanting to push his limits, to learn more and do more while Antauri had been content to lose himself in his meditation and studies. Combat was another thing in which they differed; while Antauri preferred more peaceful conclusions to conflict, Mandarin had thrived in the heat of it all. He was stronger, faster, and fiercer, able to think up strategies for victory and take the lead when things got dicey. When their training years was over, Antauri had been more than happy to defer to Mandarin's dominance while he comfortably fell into the position of advisor.

Now, with Mandarin gone, leadership automatically had fallen to him. The others looked to him for leadership now, not just advice. The responsibilities that Mandarin had abandoned rested heavily on his shoulders, and while he would bear them for as long as needed this was not his role. The prophecy of the Chosen One's arrival had brought some relief, but Antauri knew he couldn't possibly ask a child to shoulder these burdens. One day perhaps, if he chose to walk the path destiny had chosen for him, but not now. "Nova," he pushed his reservations and thoughts down before he addressed his other sister. "Please go and let Sprx know the child is awake. If he wishes not to join us, he may remain in his room."

Eventually, the team's pilot would have to come out and face the reality of the situation. Perhaps Nova would manage to at least make him calm down, if she decided to confront him as she'd wanted to earlier. Sprx always seemed to respond to her presence better than anyone else. The team's yellow combat expert vanished up her own transport tube moments later, mumbling something about how that 'idiot better get his crap together' and Antauri was left alone with his thoughts. He glanced back at the Sick Bay one last time, considering his options.

Though he hadn't known what to expect, he had been pretty sure about how this part would go. Any questions the Chosen One had would be answered fully and truthfully. Everything would be laid out for them, no secrets kept so they could make an informed decision and know what they were getting into. But that was before the factor of a human child - an extremely nervous and young human child - was dropped on the team. There were things that he'd have to be told, yes, but... Antauri wasn't sure how the human would act to having the entirety of it dumped on him so soon. Plus there was the fact that this boy most likely would decide to leave the team after this night. If that were the case, he wouldn't need to know everything.

Walking over to his chair in the Command Center, he made himself comfortable and settled into a deep meditative state. He would have to give deep thought to this matter...

[=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=]

'Well, at least its all still in one piece.' was Sprx's first thought when the door to his quarters open, revealing the dark and dusty expanse frozen in time. After two centuries, it was almost eerie at how everything was exactly has he left it. His recharge pod was over in the corner, several cans of polish and polishing rags were thrown haphazardly upon the floor, and ten models of famous aircraft from across the galaxy were suspended from a ceiling painted to look like the Shuggazoom sky. A mesh net hammock with a couple cushions was placed high in the opposite corner of the recharge pod hung forgotten and unused, his favorite place to retreat to when he'd had to get away for a while.

Sprx fell into the old habit without even having to think of it, leaping into the hammock and settling himself into a reclined position to look at the painted sky. His tail slunk from underneath him, left to hang limply off the side. It was dustier than he remembered, and would need a good cleaning just like everything else, but the security it gave him hadn't changed at all. Here, he could imagine flying out into the open sky, away from all this: the team, the City, the monsters, everything. Granted, he was pretty sure he'd never leave for real, but sometimes he liked to think about what would happen if he did. From the first moment he got into a cockpit and pulled up on the yoke he'd been hooked. The freedom of leaving the ground, the sensation of defying gravity, there was nothing like it in the universe.

But there would always be a major part of him that needed the team, and the team needed him too. All were parts of a whole, as Antauri had put it once, and before Mandarin had decided to try and skewer them all on his energy blade Sprx had believed it too. The anger and hatred surged back up as if called forth by the very thought of his former leader; just thinking of the traitor's name nowadays made him feel sick. Of the suffering that he'd brought to the team he'd led, that he'd claimed to care for and love, what he'd tried to do to the City they had sworn to protected. For what he'd done there could be no forgiveness, least of all from Sprx.

The crimson monkey turned onto his side; the sudden movement brought up a small cloud of dust from the cushions that irritated Sprx's nose and throat. He had to push himself upright to escape it, hacking on the little that had managed to float into his mouth. Oh, yeah, he'd definitely have to clean this place up. And himself by the looks of it. Maybe laying on dust covered cushions wasn't the best idea.

But that could wait, he relented as he settled himself back down on his stomach. One hand reached out from the hammock, gently brushing a small dust bunny off of one of his prized model's wings. This particular model depicted one of the more ancient starships, probably long forgotten by now but forever remembered in his little corner of the Robot. All the members of the team had their hobbies, collecting and building these models had been Sprx's. Mandarin had given him no end of grief for it, even long before he'd started showing signs of his changing morals, but it made Sprx happy. Bitterly his mind wandered back to the 'Chosen One' laying the Sick Bay. He wondered what he'd have to say about this...

The comfortable silence he'd enveloped himself in was eventually broken by firm knocks sounded off from his door, bringing with them a flash of annoyance. He thought he'd made it clear he wanted to be alone. "Do you mind? I'm trying to take a nap here!" he called out, quickly turning towards the wall and flopping on his side. A larger cloud of dust popped out of the cushions from the movement; Sprx had to quickly sit up when he was was sent into a hacking fit. This was how Nova found him when she keyed in the override for the lock and stepped inside.

"Ack- Hey!" Sprx tried to shout, but it came out as more of a choking sound. "I said -gag!- I'm trying to take -cough!- a nap!" Nova's unimpressed look seemed to burn into him. Antauri had only told her to tell Sprx that the human in the Sick Bay was awake, not enter his room. He probably thought Sprx needed a little more time. But time wasn't what they had now was it?

"I can see that," she said in a tone as unimpressed as her look was. "I just came to tell you the kid's awake. You can come down and meet him yourself, or you can stay up here and keep hiding." she turned around to walk out, but didn't get far.

"Hiding?!" came Sprx's incredulous sounding reply. Getting his hacking under control, he leaped down from his hammock to face Nova. "I'm not up here hiding, I'm up here because no one will listen to me when it seems I'm the only one who actually has my head on straight about this situation!" he was aware there was a growl in his voice, something he never usually did, but at this point he was too upset and angry to care.

Nova's expression changed, her eyes narrowing when she locked them with her red counterpart's. "No one is jumping off the walls about this Sprx," well, maybe Otta, but that was for an entirely different reason than this conversation was about. "And yes, you are up here hiding away. None of us knew what the Chosen One one would look like or be like, not even Antauri, but its safe to say we were all expecting an adult. Someone who looked the part of a hero and knew what to do in a crisis. We didn't get that and now your disappointed, your scared and hiding away from it all instead of facing it." her gaze softened then, a deep sigh escaping her nose as she forced herself to calm down.

"The fact is we did have someone who was all of what we wanted, and he ended up betraying us." a vicious growl rumbled from Sprx's throat; it was quickly silenced with a glare from the yellow female. "And you're not the only one here who's scared Sprx. I'm scared too, even if I'm not showing it. We're all scared. We know something worse than we've ever faced on the horizon and we're not sure if we'll be able to take it." she broke eye contact then, glancing down at the floor. The image of that little boy down in Sick Bay, curled up on the floor whimpering in fear and pain, was still visible in her mind's eye. He wasn't a warrior, or a leader by any means. Just a scared little boy who'd gotten way in over his head.

"That human child down there was scared out of his wits too, when he woke up." Nova added, her voice soft while she locked eyes with Sprx again. "He tried to run and hide, and ended up hurting himself." that got another reaction from the angry monkey; Nova had to suppress a smirk when she caught the flash of curious concern in Sprx's optics, gone as quick as it had come. "Gibson's taking care of him now. And we got to talk to him a little; turns out he can understand us perfectly." she actually did smirk this time, the look of surprise on Sprx's face was priceless. "I'm sure he has no idea of what's really going on, or of what he's done. All he knows is that he's in a strange place with strange creatures he's never seen before. He doesn't need your hostility on top of it." that seemed to have struck a nerve in Sprx; he flinched, hardly noticeable but there, and seemed to deflate in front of her.

For several long moments there was a tense silence, then Sprx sighed. "I still don't like this and think that kid should be as far away as possible from this... and us," his tone was resolute, but it was no longer hard. "I'll come down and say hi, but that's it. With any luck that kid will be out of here first chance he's given." Nova figured that was the best she was gonna get right now; she'd take it for now.

A small smile crossed her muzzle, and she reached out to place her hand on Sprx's shoulder. "Come on," she said, gesturing with her head. "Let's go join the others. Gibson should be finished with our new little friend soon, and Antauri wants to clue him in to what's going on. You can say 'hi' then." she got a few mumbles as a response but chose to ignore them in favor of leading the pilot out of his dusty room. She made a mental promise to help him clean it up later; chances are he'd just be concerned with cleaning those models of his. One rule of the Super Robot was that no one touched Sprx's model starships; the last time Otta had snatched one had ended with the green monkey magnetized to the top of the Super Robot's antenna.

As the walked down the hallway to the transport tubes, a sudden ring sounded from their audios. "Monkey Team," Antauri's voice rang out, quiet and serious on all of their personal channels. "I need you all to listen carefully..."

STORY BROADCAST INTERRUPTED.

TO BE CONTINUED IN SCENE THREE.

STAY TUNED.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

WOOOO! Second chapter up, yes! =D And we got the first meeting out of the way; poor Chiro though, but if I woke up and was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of colorful talking monkeys I would think I was in a dream too, wouldn't you? The next few chapters are where its gonna get really fun; I shall be introducing (or for those who have read the previous version, re-introducing) the Headmistress. Now who is the Headmistress exactly? I can't give too much away, especially for those who are reading this story for the first time, but she will be the first antagonist the team will face since their awakening. She has no super villain powers, and will not truly be a threat (at least not anymore), but she will be a definite annoyance and obstacle that the Team will discover they'll have to deal with.

The next few chapters will be pretty much like this one, where the Team and Chiro are pretty awkward and unsure about each other. Mystical power or not, after what Chiro has been through (which you will find out over the course of this Arc and the next) and what the Team has been through with Mandarin, they're not gonna mesh together right away. The chapters afterward will show the merging process; its not gonna be pretty or easy. Our favorite Team has a lot of healing to do, and their new young charge even more so. There will be misunderstandings, heartbreak, and uncertain times, but this is how the Team will grow stronger and become the Team we saw on the TV show. I hope you enjoy my depiction of the journey they'll go on to become the legendary Team we all know and love. x3

The next chapter (or scenes as I'm gonna start calling them) will be up later on tomorrow or the day after, where questions will be asked and answers given from both sides. Sadly, there were no reviews this time around, so the Shout-Out Central area will be fairly bare. But we did have someone put the story on their Alerts! ^o^ Another thing I should mention - while I have some proofreaders, I'm gonna be making some adjustments to the current published chapters every now and then. Adding scenes, taking them away to put them elsewhere later on, shorting paragraphs, lengthening them, and so on until I'm satisfied. What happens is I'll reread a chapter and see how I can make it better, and I'll go and do that. So some advice I have is that with each update you should reread the chapters you've read before - there might be something new there. x3

REFERENCE CORNER:

SPRX'S MODEL STARSHIPS - First off this is never stated in canon or even implied, but I think it fits for Sprx's character. Back under the days of Mandarin, I don't think the Team had the chance to relax a lot, and I can't see Mandarin allowing video games in the Robot can you? So a good outlet for Sprx could be models of legendary or famous starships and rockets. Seems like the kind of hobby a pilot would have. xD

CHIRO'S REACTION IN THE SICK BAY - This one I can't really get into this one without giving much of the surprises in the plot away. But, I will explain where I got the idea. In the episode, 'Night of Fear', Chiro's greatest fear is revealed to be that he's afraid of being powerless and unable to help his Team. He's transformed into a little boy with no powers in what looks like a uniform of some sort. I'm gonna try and expand on this little tidbit and see what I can come up with. Plus, what eleven year old wouldn't be frightened of waking up in a place that he knows he wasn't in before?

SHOUT-OUT CENTRAL:

Thank you, michiforever900304, for adding this story to your Alerts! If I remember correctly you once had my story on your Alerts before, but took it off at some point when I didn't update after a while. Hopefully these chapters and revised prologue was worth the wait. And I hope you stay on for what else to come. =3

COMMUNICATION WITH AUTHOR OFFLINE.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME!