Power (Book 1 in SRMTHFG Series)

19

I pull myself up from the rubble of my fall. Chiro and Otto rush over.

"Are you okay?" Otto asks, helping Chiro pull me out of the debris.

"I- no... Skeleton King-"

"He's unconscious," Otto says. "So's everyone else but us."

"How?"

"Whenever you fell," Chiro says, "blue stuff blew across the room and knocked them down. They sorta fainted. I don't know why we didn't." His eyes widen and he smiles. "I'll bet Antauri knows! He knows a lot. More than Gibson."

"That's pretty smart," I say weakly.

"Can you walk?" Otto asks.

"I don't think so," I say, tumbling when I try to stand on my own. I look down to see my leg is bruised and swollen.

"We gotta go back now," Otto says. "Here." He hands me a spare piece of rock. I use it as a walking stick.

Apparently, the impact from my fall opened the door back up. Otto cuts a way out with his saws, and so does Chiro. We find our vehicles back where we left them, hidden from the cavern entrance.

"Here," Otto says. He pushes a button on my bike, making it fold into the inside of the basket. A metal handle poles out, making it look like a shoulder bag. I pick it up and sling it over my shoulder. Otto makes me get in the car and we leave, heading back to the robot.

When we finally come, the other monkeys are about to leave the Super Robot. They see us coming and back up, letting us land.

"Oh my gosh!" Jinmay says. "Chelsea, you're hurt! Really bad!"

Gibson is the doctor and inspects the bruises. He says I have a broken leg. He puts me in my pod and makes it to where it's like a tiny hospital bed; my leg is in a splint, supported by a stand hanging from the roof of the pod. My arm is in a cast.

We tell the monkeys what happened.

"I believe Chiro and Otto were not knocked down because they shared a power with you and, in your mind, they are friends. Everyone else was an enemy."

"The Power Primate..." I choke. My voice is quiet and hoarse.

"I'm no doctor, but you probably shouldn't talk, kid," Sparx says. I nod.

"Alright, let's give her room, now," Gibson says. "Super Robot, prepare a course for Shuggazoom right away. No hyper travel, please." We immediately take off. I laugh.

"What is it?" Jinmay asks.

"Whenever Gibson says 'Super Robot,' he says 'Supah Robut.'"

Sparx falls out laughing and Gibson crosses his arms.

"We'd better leave her be," Gibson says sternly. "She needs rest." Everyone nods and walks away.

I close my eyes, drifting off into much-needed sleep.