"There it is," said Gibson quietly as the burning sphere came into view.

"Wow," whispered Nova in amazement. "I'd say it was beautiful, but then I remember it could fry us to a crisp."

"You know, I was going to say the same thing about you," Sprx thought to himself. Little did he know, Nova was almost expecting him to say something like that. And he almost did. But he was trying harder not to be so . . . well, he wasn't really sure. He just couldn't ignore this feeling that things would never be the same between him and Nova, and he wasn't exactly sure what that meant.

"Okay team, I say it's time we prepare to board," said Chiro. "Make sure we have everything we need, and stay alert. I don't wanna be there any longer than we have to be."

'Oh oh! I'll bring Curtis!" said Otto gleefully as we danced with the container holding the evil which had possessed Sprx.

"Otto, put that down immediately!" demanded Gibson, angrily. "That is not a toy! If you break it, who knows what will happen! That thing nearly killed us once already!"

Otto's face saddened. "Oh . . . you're probably right. I'll leave Curtis here." He solemnly walked over and placed the container in his chair.

"Gibson was that really necessary?" asked Antauri.

Gibson sighed but did not look at him. "Perhaps not," he admitted. "But we can't afford anymore delays, Antauri. We need to be at our best and you know how Otto can be!"

"We all have our faults, Gibson, but they do not decide our futures. That is done by our actions."

Chiro nodded. "Antauri's right," he agreed. "We need to stand together more than ever now. Ready team?"

The monkeys gathered around their leader as they donned their fire-proof gear. Chiro took a deep breath and lead them out of the robot into the space as they headed toward their fiery destination.

"Good luck!" Alana spoke into the communicator they had left her. "Try not to melt," she added quietly, mostly to herself.

She let out a sigh and looked around the large control room as she spun herself around in her chair. She didn't have a clue what she was supposed to be doing exactly. Just then, the monitor began to buzz. Someone was tying to communicate with her! Was it the hyper force? Were they in trouble already? Oh no! Before she could officially begin to panic, the image of a teenage girl with pink hair pulled into two pigtails looked down at her.

"Monkey team!" she pleaded, the signal coming and going. "Come in monkey team!"

"Jinmay," whispered Alana to herself, he eyes growing with fear.

Meanwhile, the team had successfully made it to the surface of the small sun. Even through Otto's effective fire-proof suits, they could still feel the heat beneath and around them.

'I must say, it is rather scorching, isn't it?" panted Gibson. "I propose we get this over with as soon as possible."

"Agreed," said Chiro, already beginning to sweat. "We need to make sure we stick together team. No one leaves the group, got it?"

His team nodded and proceeded to follow their leader. Just then, Sprx felt something in his hand, he looked down and saw someone was holding his hand. It was Nova.

"Nova?" he asked, flabbergasted. 'What are you-?"

"Come on Sprx," she began, a matter-of-factly. "I know you. I'm not having you run off again trying to be a hero. I'm keeping my eye on you." They began to walk hand in hand.

Sprx smiled to himself "Suit yourself," he whispered happily.

"So how long will it take before we find whatever it is we're looking for?" Chiro asked Gibson.

The blue simian searched his memory. He didn't have the book with him; for fear that it would get burned or lost. "As I recall we're looking for an ember of sorts."

Sprx and Nova stopped. "Wait wait wait," said Sprx. "You mean to tell me that we're looking for fire on a sun?"

The rest of the group excluding Gibson stopped at the realization as well. "Yes," replied Gibson, then realizing he was the only one still proceeding. "What?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" demanded Nova, going into a rage forgetting she was still holding Sprx's hand.

"Ow ow ow," whispered the red monkey, painfully. She released his hand for a moment and blushed apologetically.

"Nova, calm down," insisted Gibson. "I know exactly what I am doing. We merely need to move toward the sphere's core."

"All right," said Nova resentfully, taking Sprx's hand again. "Let's go."

So they continued walking for about an hour, and needless to say the team was quickly becoming exhausted. Otto once again attempted to lift their spirits with a rousing game of "I Spy" but the heat was getting even to him.

"How much farther Gibson?" asked Chiro at last.

"We're practically there," he responded. 'If my calculations are correct, as they usually are, we should approaching it. . . now!"

The team stopped to look around, not exactly sure what to expect. But it suddenly became clear to them. Amongst the red and oranges that simmered to create the scenery, there stood a flame larger than any other, glowing blue with intensity.

Sprx saw Nova's eyes widened as her hand grasped his own more tightly.

"Gibson. . . is it-" began Sprx, but he couldn't find the words to finish. "Chiro?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you said not to split up, but I really think, I mean it's just-"

"I understand Sprx," said his leader. "You stay here with Nova; the rest of us can retrieve it. Just don't move."

He nodded and watched the rest of the hyper force move toward the sapphire flame.

"Monkey team, are you there?" pleaded Jinmay again. Alana was frozen. "Monkey team?"

"Uh, no they're not at the moment," she responded her voice shaky. "They're on a mission."

"I know but- wait, who is this?"

"Oh, I'm uh staying with the robot," she replied. "Alana, I mean. Uh, I'm Alana."

"Okay then,' said Jinmay through the static. "We need help back on Shuggazoom, the Skeleton King is becoming too powerful. We need backup."

"The team isn't here. . , is there anything I can do, maybe?"

"I don't know; just tell them to get back as soon as possible! And don't-"the signal was lost.

"Jinmay? Jinmay!" pleaded Alana as she frantically pressed buttons. "Please be okay."

Sprx and Nova sat in silence, not making eye contact with one another (though still holding hands, much to Sprx's secret delight). Sprx noticed Nova was shaking.

"Hey what's wrong?" he asked. "I thought it was the cold you didn't like."

"Yeah, but lately I'm not all that fond of fires either," she said weakly, unknowingly squeezing his hand. He sighed.

"Nova I-"

"Don't," she stopped him. "You've apologize enough for a lifetime, okay? I just wanna get out of here before-"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shake violently, cracks appeared and the two were separated by hot fragments of magma that flooded from the fractures.

"-before something like that happens!" finished Nova. "Sprx, stay there!" and she flew over to him. "We need to get to the others."

They rest of the team had just cornered the flame when the ground began to shake, and were fighting to keep their balance.

"It must be some kind of force field," Gibson explained over the loud rumbling that began. "When we broke it, the ember's security kicked it; I predict it's only a matter of time before the planet self destructs!"

"Cool!" said Otto.

"No Otto it is most defiantly NOT cool!" replied Gibson angrily.

"Let's just hurry up and capture it before we all die!" ordered Chiro. "Otto, you know what to do!"

"On it!" said Otto, holding the container for the flame, moving carefully toward it.

"Careful Otto!" advised Gibson. "Chiro are you quite sure Otto was the wisest choice for this task?"

"I can do it!" protested his teammate. "I'm not stupid!"

"Earlier evidence begs to differ!"

"Gibson! Otto!" interjected Antauri "This is no time for bickering!"

"Ya know I'm getting real tired of you always making fun of me," said Otto angrily. "I' don't always mess things up, ya know!"

"Otto, focus!" insisted Antauri.

But Otto did not focus. He was so caught up in his rage that instead of trapping the ember, he touched it. Instantly, its light became brighter to the point where it was almost blinded. Sprx and Nova ran to the rest of the group, but collapsed as they shielded their eyes from the light. Somehow the light only increased the ferocity of the earthquake, full mountains sprouted from the ground like daisies, and from them boulder after boulder came tumbling down.

Chiro saw Otto had changed, just like Sprx had. He saw it in his eyes and they way that he smiled. Luckily he was so distracted by the fire he held that Chiro found it easily to surprise him and tackle it away. Antauri followed and acted quickly, grabbing the container after Otto had dropped it when Chiro tackled him. Luckily, the power had not been in him as long as it was Sprx and the evil escaped him once he let go. Antauri caught the flame in the container, but the chaos around them continued.

"What . . . what happened? What's going on?" asked a very confused Otto.

"No time to explain, we need to get back to the robot!" ordered Chiro. "This place is a ticking time bomb!"

The team followed in pursuit, dodging suddenly appearing gaping holes as best they could, and the large lava-boulders that quickly fell from the newly born mountain tops. They tried to take to the skies, but the suits prevented their rockets from fully functioning properly. They did the best they could, but as Nova was dodging one of her left, another suddenly came in from her right that she could not see.

But Sprx did.

"Nova!" he yelled as he jumped to push her out of the way. He was not so lucky, the heavy boulder landed on his legs.

"Sprx!" Nova cried, Chiro rushed over to help her carry Sprx as they continued to run.

"Why would you do that?" demanded Nova.

Sprx squinted in pain. "I've done worse," he responded.

"We should be close to the super robot by now!" panted Gibson.

"Why don't I see it?" asked Chiro. "It should be right-"

Then he realized why he didn't see the super robot. It was gone.