Disclaimer: The Hot Wheels series is owned by Mattel. Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 is owned by Mattel and Nerd Corps Entertainment.
Bringing to Light
Fear not, my child, for I am watching over you.
Waking up within her power orb, the feelings of nostalgia registered in Sage's sensors. This was the fifth time this week this had happened. A voice rouses her from sleep mode in her power orb, and it left a feeling of nostalgia behind as she woke up.
It happened ever since Krytus was freed a year ago. It first came to her the night after she and the Battle Force 5 got out of the Blue Sentient planet. The voice had been faint back then; therefore she could not make out anything about it.
As the nights went on, the voice gradually got loud enough to a point where she could hear it and make out some facts about it. The first, and most obvious one, was that it was male. The second puzzled her. It called Sage his "child" and said that he watched over her. Was it one of her axioms? Or, perhaps, a guardian angel?
Her pondering was interrupted, however, by the whir of the lift coming down. Stepping out of her power orb, she managed to see a frantic A.J. wearing only a T-shirt and black boxers. He ran over to Sage and held her shoulders as he caught his breath.
"A.J., remain calm," Sage instructed. "What happened?"
"It's Vert!" A.J. told her in between pants. "He's gone!"
"I am confident he could not have gone far," Sage assured him as A.J. showed her the empty bed in Vert's room.
"I checked on the test track already!" A.J. said. "Where do you think he went?"
Sage went back to her previous thoughts as the Canadian continued to fuss. A.J. eventually noticed her turn away and approached her. "Sage?" he asked. "Sage?"
She didn't reply. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.
"I...was just reflecting on a certain portion of my memory," Sage explained. "It is incomplete."
A.J. gave her a puzzled look as they walked out. "This section of my memory took place sometime after the war. The Blue Sentients uploaded a program into my mind, but they never specified what it was. I tried accessing all of my functions to find it, but it seems...cloaked."
"Cloaked?" A.J. asked. "Like they hid it from you?"
"You guess correctly," Sage affirmed.
"You'll find it somehow," A.J. told her.
"Will I?" she asked, turning to him with some worry. "I have tried everything I could. I am supposed to know of any functions in my systems that are of vital importance. If this is only a minor function and doesn't affect me, I can either choose to delete it or place it in a backup file. This conundrum had eluded me countless times. I must know of this and fill the missing portion of my memory in!"
A.J. could now see the stressed look on her face. You never know what could happen with a computer. This he learned when he had to get his laptop fixed one day due to a virus infecting it. He put a hand on her shoulder, but it wasn't a forceful grip like last time.
"Totally!" he answered with a smile on his face.
Sage smiled back, her doubt cleared. "Thank you," she thanked.
Hearing a noise in one of the bedrooms, A.J. let the door slide open and peeked in. "Found him," he whispered softly.
Sage looked in and smiled upon seeing Vert and Zoom sleeping together, the older teen embracing the younger as he continued to rest. A.J. got out a spare blanket he took along with him as he was heading back to his room. "Should we tuck him in and say goodnight?" A.J. asked.
"I believe it would be best for him to remain here," Sage said, noticing the small smiles on their faces.
A.J. draped the blanket over the sleeping duo's bodies. Vert and Zoom were oblivious to this as the two walked out, the door closing behind them.
As the dawn's rays shined through the window in his room, Zoom stirred and opened his eyes, groaning a little due to the bright light. He sat up and stretched, feeling more rejuvenated than usual. He heard a yawn next to him, and turned to find Vert, who was also awake and sitting up. "Hey," the older teen greeted. "How'd you sleep?"
"Better than any other day," Zoom replied. "And thanks for...you know."
"No problem. I had a feeling you wouldn't get over it that easily," Vert said with a smile.
"Huh?" Zoom asked as he looked down to find the tan blanket. "Where'd this come from?"
"Goood morning!" A.J.'s voice greeted cheerfully from outside. The two smiled and got out of bed to go see him.