What's shaking everybody? I'm coming to you live from my computer. This is my first SRMTHFG fan-fic that I've published, so it may, you know, suck. But it doesn't matter, because, as Fred Fredburger once said:
"I am glad that I ate those nachos, because if I hadn't, I never would have known I could eat them all."
(Sniffs) Yea, that's the good stuff. Oh, and I have one question for you all. Why are you reading this instead of my story? Is it that bad? JK, JK.
Stranded on Ariralue
Chapter 1: Sprx and Gibson
"Next time Antauri says 'Gibson, scan that space cloud for hostiles,' why don't you friggin do it, brain-strain!" fumed a red-furred male simian, who was currently trying to untangle himself from a mess of vines. He grunted as he finally extricated himself from the natural prison, only to gasp as he fell into the marsh beneath him.
"Ugh." The red monkey lifted himself out of the murky water, weighed down by the mud and water that covered his entire body. He spat a clump of mud from his mouth and waded over towards the shore.
"Gibson, if we ever get the robot back together, I'm going to launch you into deep space the first chance I get." growled the red monkey. He was glaring at a blue-furred monkey already sitting on the bank. The blue one looked up as his companion approached. Neither seemed too pleased with each other's company.
"The same scenario applies from me to you as well, Sprx." replied Gibson. He spoke with a professor-like accent, his voice clearly carrying a matter-of-fact tone. "And don't you try and blame this predicament on me; you know that space clouds as dense as the one Antauri requested I scan can throw of scanning signals. It's a miracle that I even got a whiff of the threat before it attacked; otherwise we wouldn't even be here." Sprx snorted at this, eliciting a growl from Gibson.
"May I remind you, Sprx, that our current situation is as much your fault as mine. If you and Nova had not been bickering over- what was it? Oh yes, one of your perverted pick-up lines, then the two of you might have been able to react to the threat. If you recall, nearly all damage taken by the robot was suffered on the right side, namely your side." Gibson smirked at Sprx as the already red-furred primate turned a shade redder.
Sprx opened his mouth to retaliate, but, amazingly, thought better of it and shut his trap. He cleared his throat. "Listen, Gibson, this argument isn't a good use of our time. We both screwed up big time, but now we have to make up for it." Gibson was taken aback by Sprx's sudden maturity, but quickly hid his astonishment and nodded.
"Agreed, our first priority should be to find the others. Then we can formulate a plan to get off of this-" he stared uneasily at a large centipede that was crawling some distance off along the marsh "-disgusting planet."
Sprx chuckled inwardly at Gibson's unease, but answered in an even voice. "Then I guess we better get going. We should probably try and find the Fist-Rockets first. They would definitely make things easier." Gibson nodded his consent and pointed to the northwest.
"When we ejected, I saw our rockets go-down in that direction. That's where we should look first."
"Roger." Sprx responded with a thumbs-up. The two monkeys set off towards the crash site, hoping beyond hope that their rockets had survived the crash. However, unknown to the pair, three pairs of piercing eyes watched them as they disappeared into the jungle.
"What armor do they wear?" asked a slow, calculated, and feminine voice.
A voice identical in everything except pitch to the first voice answered. "I know not, but it would appear that they have technology far superior to ours. Did you not see the strange things where their ears should be? And what of those strange devices on their backs? We should be wary of these strangers." The two feminine voices continued to discuss the features and mysteries of these two new strangers.
A third voice entered the conversation, causing the other two to become silent. Clearly, this third voice was one to be respected. "Technology, while important, is no match for the cunning and strength of a true warrior. If it comes to violence, we shall be fine." The voice would cause a man many emotions at once: Excitement, uneasiness, intoxication, desire, fear, hope. "However," the voice continued, "I hope that it doesn't come to blows. The red one…intrigues me."
"I must admit that I two find the red-furred one to be quite interesting." responded the first voice that had spoken.
"I find the blue one to be a bigger source of interest." said the second voice. "He seems to be the most intelligent of the pair."
"Well, we shall see." The third voice watched as the red monkey's tail disappeared into the jungle. She smiled. "We shall see."
"Well, this really sucks." Sprx watched in horror as his already mangled ship was torn apart by a trio of giant lizards. Anger grew inside Sprx as he watched his beloved Fist Rocket torn to shreds by the razor sharp teeth and claws of the dinosaur-like creatures.
"Why isn't this happening to your rocket, Gibson!" complained Sprx.
"I'm not certain, Sprx. There is the possibility that these lizards don't want to travel into a tar pit just to chew on a hunk of metal." Gibson retorted.
"Right." Seething hatred threatened to overcome Sprx. He could barely restrain himself from attacking the giant creatures. The fact that the ship that he had flown to so many victories before was being used as a chew toy struck Sprx on an emotional level many believed he lacked. Only one other thing had ever been able to touch Sprx this deeply, or rather one other person. Nova, thought Sprx.
"What about Nova?" asked Gibson, who was now staring at Sprx. Sprx flushed subtly, not believing that he had thought out loud. "What about Nova?" Gibson repeated.
"I-I was just thinking that w-we should, um," Sprx's mind raced as he tried to think of something. Bingo! "that we should get those dinosaurs away from the wreckage. We both lost our communicators in the landing, and with your ship sinking into that tar pit, the only source of communication we have left is my ship. If we can drive those lizards off, we could send a message to Nova's, Otto's, Chiro's, and Antauri's ships." Sprx mentally patted himself on the back.
"Excellent idea, Sprx. Glad to see that brain of yours can be used for something other than making up bad pick-up lines." Gibson smirked as Sprx took notice of the insult.
"Whatever, Einstein, now's not the time for me to wipe the floor with you. We need to get those lizards out of the way. You ready for a fight, Brainiac?" said Sprx as he pulled out his magnets
"Always, Sprx, always. However, I believe that it would be highly illogical to rush those three behemoths. We have the element of surprise, we should use it."
"You and your dang plans. Sometimes I wish your logic would fall into a tar- Wait a minute!" Sprx exclaimed, a plan formulating in his mind. He checked to see if his rocket-pack was working. "Damn, broken. Gibson, is your rocket-pack working?" Gibson ran a quick diagnostic.
"Yes, it seems to be running well-enough. Why?" A smirk tugged at the corners of Sprx's mouth.
"Listen closely, Gibs, I've got a plan." As Sprx gave Gibson the lowdown, a smile played across the blue monkey's face.
"Two good ideas in a row, I'm impressed, Sparky."
"Ignoring that."
Sprx cast one last look at Gibson, who flashed Sprx a thumbs-up. Sprx nodded and took a deep breath. This had better work, or I'm toast. He ran over the plan once more in his head, sighed, and steeped into the clearing.
"Ahh!" screamed the red-monkey as he fell to the ground, his body shaking and convulsing. He rolled around in agony, apparently oblivious to the three lizards who were eying him.
The three dinosaur-like reptiles licked their chops, savoring the opportunity for an easy meal. As they neared the agonized simian, it apparently realized the danger and took of running, albeit at a greatly reduced pace. The three lizards let out roars of pleasure, anticipating the thrill of the hunt. They took off after the wounded monkey, predator instincts clouding their judgment. The monkey led the three lizards on a wild goose chase, ducking behind a tree just as a lizard bit at him, or swinging away on a vine just as a claw took a swipe at him. It did not take long before the lizards grew completely insane with bloodlust, losing judgment altogether. Bingo, thought Sprx, as he noticed the dinosaurs attempts become more and more sloppy. Time to end this. Sprx took off running in the opposite way that he had been going, scooting between the legs of two of the dinosaurs. The reptiles roared their defiance and charge blindly after him. Come to papa, Sprx thought.
Sprx broke out of the jungle and entered a wide open plain. His lungs were screaming and his muscles were almost paralyzed with lactic acid build up.
"Just…fifty…more…yards." wheezed the simian. The behemoth-lizards broke out of the jungle scattering a few trees as they did so. They spotted the fleeing red dot, and let out defiant roars as they charged. They were completely oblivious to everything except the red dot. They were nearly on top of him now. They could almost taste his flesh as they bore down on him. So obsessed were the lizards by their pray that they failed to notice the blue monkey fly in and grab the red one. They also failed to notice the tar pit they were plowing into until it was too late.
The trio of lizards let out one more roar, before they all sank into the depths of the tar pit, along with Gibson's fist rocket.
"Nice…save…Gibson." gasped an exhausted Sprx. He was currently laying on the ground, eagerly restoring the oxygen his body had been craving. Gibson sat a short distance away, giving Sprx room to breathe.
"Excellent work, Sprx. It's not often that I get to say that I'm glad you're my brother." Sprx simply plastered a smirk on his face that said 'Ditto.' Sprx rested a few more minutes before Gibson began talking again.
"So, are you ready to proceed?"
"Heck yeah, let's do it." With a groan, Sprx got to his feet. His muscles and joints still burned from exhaustion, but he would live. The monkey brothers set off across the plain, back towards the crashed Fist Rocket.
"Excellent news, Sprx." exclaimed Gibson. "It appears that those reptilian predators left the computer well enough alone. It should be able to send out a repeating message for a reasonable amount of time." Sprx breathed a sigh of relief at this news.
"Awesome. Well, let's get this show on the road. Fire up the communicator, Gibson."
"Roger that." Gibson's fingers whizzed over the keyboard, inputting various commands. "There. I've set the next message we record to broadcast every fifteen seconds. The others are bound to catch one of the transmissions." Gibson hit another button and cleared his throat.
"Attention team, this is Gibson and Sprx. We have crashed down somewhere in the jungle. My fist rocket is currently at the bottom of a tar pit, and Sprx's has been torn to shreds. We shall wait at the location of this message's broadcast for rendezvous. Gibson, over and out." Gibson pressed a few more keys, and a message reading 'Broadcasting' appeared on the screen. Gibson sighed and slumped down next to Sprx.
"So, now what do we do?" asked a clearly impatient Sprx. He was curling and uncurling his tail, a sure sign of restlessness.
"Well," said Gibson, "you're going to rest. You still haven't quite recovered from your trial earlier." Gibson cut Sprx off, as he was about to protest. "You need time to let the lactic acids in your muscles dissipate. Don't worry, little brother, I'll monitor the comm. and keep watch. You rest."
Sprx was about to retort about the 'little bother' comment, but realized that there was no harm meant. It was exactly what it sounded like, a big brother telling his little brother what was best. Sprx sighed, but put on a genuine smile. "Alright, bro, you win. But don't let me sleep to long." Gibson smiled at this.
"I wouldn't let you even if you wanted to." Sprx smirked, then rolled over and promptly fell asleep.
"Boy, those zombies sure were ugly, huh?" Asked Chiro, who's attention was being divided between a sandwich and the tag-team fighting game he was currently playing. Chiro was the team's leader and, although he was the youngest, he was also the chosen one, destined to bring peace to the galaxy.
"Well I guess they were ugly, but they were also pretty… well cool. You know?" responded Otto, who was currently using his feet to move his controller while he snacked on a cookie. Otto was the green furred member of the team, and also a mechanical genius. When it came to almost everything else, however, he was a naïve as a five year old. Chiro eyed Otto, and his feet, jealously.
"Stinking monkeys and your ability to use your feet like hands." Chiro was currently trying to play the game with one hand, and was suffering for it.
"Actually, Chiro, the word to use would be ambidextrous." interjected Gibson, who was watching the game with mild interest.
"Thanks for the vocabulary lesson, big brain." Sprx smirked as he got an agitated response from the blue monkey.
"What are you two arguing about now?" asked a yellow-furred monkey who had just walked into the room. This monkey, unlike everyone else in the room, was a female. She also, unlike the others, exuded an aurora that screamed 'Screw with me, and your dead.' This monkey was Nova, the team's greatest warrior.
Sprx couldn't help but stare at her as she progressed further into the room. He carefully looked over her entire body, taking in every detail for what must have been the billionth time. His eyes moved up from her feet, past her legs, moving up her body and pausing momentarily on her lips, before finally quickly glancing into her eyes. The eyes. The eyes he wanted to get lost in, to spend the rest of his days gazing into. All this happened in a matter of moments, and was completely unnoticed by everyone except Chiro.
He really likes her, thought Chiro. He leaned over and whispered in Sprx's ear. "You know, if you really like her, why don't you tell her? Then you could look at her without having to hide it." Sprx flushed at being caught, but recovered.
"I'm just not ready to tell her kid." Sprx almost gasped. He had actually told someone he really liked Nova. Maybe not directly, but it was implied. Still, Chiro had a steady girlfriend, so he obviously knew something about relationships. Chiro rewarded Sprx's faith with a subtle pat on the back.
"Hey, Sprx, no worries. Whenever you're ready. Just don't wait too long." Sprx smiled at Chiro. He's a good kid, Sprx thought.
"You didn't answer the question, Sprx. Why were you two arguing?" asked Nova, who was now standing next to him, hands on hips. Sprx's mind raced as he tried to think up a reply. However, instead of the truth, he decided on something else.
"Well, doll, if you must know, we were arguing over how ugly those zombies were. Gibson seems to think that they were ugly in a sad, almost pitiful sort of way. I, on the hand, said that they were as ugly as you are gorgeous." He supplemented the last part with the wink.
An imperceptible flush of pleasure crawled across Nova's cheeks at the compliment, but Nova quickly covered it up with a very perceptible flush of anger.
"Well, I'm glad I remind you of a bunch of Zombies, Sprx." Sprx's smirk fell from his face at the sight of the seething monkey.
"Hold one there, princess! That's not what I meant!" Sprx waved his hands in a placating gesture. However, Nova was not to be swayed.
"Oh yeah! Well I sure as hell meant this!" Nova reared back her fist and was about to introduce it to Sprx's face when Antauri, who had been quietly meditating above them, suddenly snapped his eyes open.
"Enough, Nova." Nova's fist stopped a fraction of an inch from Sprx's face. She was still seething with rage. Suddenly, Sprx's mouth acted without his brain's permission.
"You have lovely hands, you know?"
"Knuckle Duster!" Nova's knuckles sprung from her fist and made direct contact with Sprx's face. He went flying across the room and crashed into a wall. Nova then calmed down considerably.
"Sorry, Antauri, but he deserved it."
Antauri sighed and rubbed his temples. "Yes, I suppose he did." Suddenly, Antauri's head snapped up and he stared off into nothingness. When he came back to reality, it was with an urgent message.
"Battle stations, team. I sense a grave threat approaching the robot!"
"Monkey's mobilize!" shouted Chiro, as the whole team, even the woozy Sprx, ran to their respective tubes.
Sprx awoke from his dream, shaken awake by Gibson. "What is it, big brain?" asked a groggy Sprx.
Gibson ignored the jibe and replied. "You asked me to not let you sleep very long, so I gave you an hour. Also, I found some food for us to eat. You kept saying 'I…low-vah,' or something like that, which I took to mean a loaf of bread. That, combined with the fact that your mouth was watering, led me to believe that you were hungry. As such, I scavenged what was left of the emergency rations in your Fist Rocket. Here." Gibson handed Sprx a small canteen of water, two candy bars, and an apple.
Sprx accepted the food, but was still reeling. He had been talking about Nova in his sleep, he knew it. Thankfully, Gibson had misunderstood, but the prospect still frightened Sprx.
The two brothers ate in relative quiet for a few minutes, savoring each bite and drink, making them all last. Finally, Sprx broke the silence. "Have there been any-"
He was suddenly interrupted by the beeping of the communicator. "Incoming Transmission" the message on the communicator read.
"Well that answers my question." Said Sprx as Gibson accepted the transmissions. The green, smiling face of Otto greeted them.
"Boy, aren't you guys a sight for sore ocular receptors."
"It's great to see you too, Otto. Is everyone ok?" inquired Gibson.
"We're all a little banged up, but no worse for the wear. What about you guys?"
"My rocket-pack is busted, but other than that we're fine." Answered Sprx. "What about transportation? Did any of your vehicles survive?"
"Well, not exactly. Nova and Antauri's vehicles are gone, completely unsalvageable. However, I was able to fashion a vehicle out of the remains of my Foot Cruiser and the Torso Tank. Sorry to hear about the Fist Rockets."
"Whatever, it's not important, how long do you think it will take you guys to reach us?"
Otto got a lock and their locations and did a quick estimate. "Well, providing the vehicle works, we could get there in an hour or two. If it breaks down, it could be a day or two."
"Well then, let us hope that your contraption wor- oof!" Gibson reached his hand up to his neck and plucked something off of it. It didn't take long to realize what it was.
"Otto, get here as fast as possible. Sprx, we've got company." He held up what Sprx realized to be a dart. Gibson gave the tip a quick sniff. "It also appears that they're using sleeping…potion." Gibson barely whispered the last word before he fell over and promptly began snoring. Sprx pulled out his magnets and scanned the clearing.
"What's going on, Sprx?' asked Otto, and Sprx not only heard the distinct sound that was Otto's vehicle in motion, but also the worry tugging at his voice.
"I'm not sure Otto, but I think Gibson and I are under-" Sprx was distracted by a sudden pain. He looked at his back, only to see a dart protruding from his butt. "-attack." Sprx was able to finish his prior sentence before toppling over next to Gibson.
The two brother monkeys slept, completely oblivious to their surroundings. Completely oblivious to their dear friend Otto, shouting their names, asking what was happening. Completely oblivious of the three shadowy figures striding towards their prone froms.
Don't you just hate cliffhangers? Well, what did you think? Good, bad, a bit of both? Was it too long? Well, shoot me some reviews and I'll do everything in my power to make this story fun for you to read.
SAVE SEASON 5