Chiro's yells echoed through the citadel of bone.

"Put me down. Now!" an enraged boy screeched as he was carried kicking and screaming towards the master's thrown room.

The corridor widened and the ceiling grew taller, as the room came into view. Large but somewhat empty this was where the 'master' chose to reside. A throne chair was constructed at the back of the room, beside it, two large pools of black ooze bubbled like a pit of lava.

Skeleton King watched in frenzied excitement, as his masses of formless finally threw the kid down to the floor beneath his feet. The King's laughing roar shook the very citadel.

The soft cloud of dust quickly dispersed when the boy finally sat up. Breathing heavy and looking somewhat wretched, Chiro finally got a good look at the being that brought him here.

The boy's good look soon turned into a death glare. The monster that now stood in front of him merely smirked back in response. There glares' were evenly matched. But Chiro did not look away and he did not look scared, a feature the Skeleton King found highly amusing.

"Who are you?" Chiro hissed, exhaustion was beginning to eat up the boy now, and he hated the feeling of weakness that was now grabbing hold of him.

"Oh Chiro, your naivety does amuse me. However allow me to introduce myself. I am the ruler of this realm, the Citadel of Bone, for I am the Skeleton King!"

"Skeleton King?" Chiro repeated in a questionable, almost doubtful tone.

"Correct Chiro. Though Master is what you shall be using to refer to me, from now on."

"Say what?" Chiro asked, caught off guard. When the words finally sank in, the boy's eyes narrowed, his fury held beneath the surface of his so called 'cool' composure.

That last sentence however had just pushed the limit. "You want me to be your slave?"

Skeleton King's laugh echoed through the halls of his chamber yet again. "Slave?" He repeated. "Call it as you will. I saw your position as a near equal to my own, a second in command of a very powerful establishment indeed. For I need an apprentice Chiro, a protégé. One who is dependable and loyal, one who I can teach, one who will learn, one who will carry out his duties in any way I see fit…" His gaze locked onto the child once more. He could sense the very power in him, almost trying to repel him away. No chance!

"Me… why me? What do you want with me?" Chiro stuttered, his voice slightly breaking in his answer. It was clear this mad overlord had plans and they certainly included him!

"It is not obvious? You may be still a strong boned, soft fleshed mortal, but you conceal a great power within in you Chiro. The power primate. That power is the key to your strength Chiro. You are no longer a mere human being now. You have a far greater purpose in life, a destiny that you must and will fulfil; under the careful supervision and strategic guidance of the Skeleton King!"

Chiro flinched from the lectured speech, he had to ask! Slowly standing on his feet he gulped, having a feeling he may regret his next question. Everything had been building up recently, since that big robot incident. It was still a tedious situation, but it felt a whole lot better than one he had somehow lumbered himself with now. "If I refuse…"

The skeleton King's eyes narrowed onto the boy. "I will pretend I did not hear that…"

The super robot had been quiet since the boy had left. Everything had been fixed, cleaned, and upgraded during the quiet time. They were now 'ready for anything' as Otto had put it earlier.

"Antauri, it has been well over two months now, I'm kind of worried about him…" Nova trailed off looking to the ground. The golden warrior was now sitting in the second command's room for a talk. She just needed to voice herself to someone and Antauri was the best for listening and giving advice.

Closing his eyes and giving a small nod, Antauri then re-opened them to look at the monkey in front of him. He was just as worried about the boy as Nova was. He knew he should have gone out to look for the boy instead of relying on him to return. If it was too late, he may never forgive himself for his mistake. He could no longer sense the boy's power primate signal anywhere, and they didn't have any visuals of him around the city either.

With a sad sigh Antauri began again. "I've had similar discussions with the others over the past week Nova. With everything in place now, we should be at least able to delicately scan the surrounding area, without interrupting any of the Shuggazoomians' technology. Though I do believe, he is not even here anymore." Antauri said solemnly.

"Then where could he have gone? The cops may have finally caught up with him I guess" Nova thought aloud, as Antauri merely gave a disapproving look before looking down.

"Oh no you're not saying that he's…. No! He's out there Antauri, I'm sure of it! He's got to be alive, he has to be!"

A deep, but thoughtful silence fell upon the pair, lasting for several minutes until it was eventually broken.

"I do hope your right Nova." Antauri said with a soft sigh.

"And when we do find him, I'm going to pound him into shape in that training room; he'll be virtually rehabilitated when I've finished!" Nova exclaimed as she was already practising her fighting poses. "Wham, bam…"

"Nova." Antauri reminded the golden monkey as her foot was merely centimetres from his face; he never flinched though. "However, I don't doubt your teaching ability."

Nova just re-composed herself from her outburst. Innocently rubbing her tail on her helmet, "I think I'm gonna go train now." Nova excused herself before leaving the second in commands room.