Dark Bomber overlooked Tilted Towers from the hillside to the west of the city. It was deserted as usual; the apartment complexes were for the most part empty (which is partially why BB chose to live there), the clock tower was stuck on the wrong time at all hours of the day, and the destroyed middle building was...destroyed. Again. No one knew why, but when it was close to being rebuilt, some natural disaster always erased the progress of the construction workers in a matter of seconds. Anyway, Dark Bomber was simply staring at the building that held Cera and Rex. She was happy for him, she really was. Although she didn't know what love was, she was glad that Rex had finally achieved it. When she left in subtlety, the two of them were simply holding each other in their arms with grins on their face. Rex had finally gotten past that outer shell that Cera had on at all times, and they enjoyed every minute of it.
Sitting on the outskirts of the city, she sighed and laid back on the hilltop she was on. As she mindlessly drifted off, she began to think about the people that she had encountered, whether directly or indirectly. At the present, Rex was the only person that knew she existed. Cera, nor BB, or Drift knew that she was a being. At that thought, her eyes widened.
"Brite Bomber..." she muttered, putting a chin to her face. Love and affection sounded like it would be her thing since, at face value, it seemed that she had a positive outlook on everything. Maybe she could teach her a thing or two? Dark Bomber frowned. While she had no issue with positivity, she did have an issue when positivity was the only thing one person sees. Additionally, who knows how she'd react if she knew there was an "evil" version of herself? She'd undoubtedly feel both scared and frightened. As hopelessness loomed over her, she placed her hands on her forehead in frustration.
"Who knew it would be so hard to feel loved? Or anything in that matter?" she asked, "I wasn't expecting it to be this complicated..."
As she lamented over this dilemma, she heard a little chime that was accompanied with the opening of a glider in the distance. She turned around and saw that Brite Bomber was gliding toward the city (and more specifically, the hilltop she was on) with Drift following her on a driftboard. DB almost forgot that that was Drift since he was wearing an Anubis-like mask on his face. She had to admit that it complimented his look really well and really gave off that mysterious vibe. As BB landed at the base of the mountain, Drift dismounted his mode of transportation. As expected, the former was wearing all smiles. Drift's current expression was unknown; his mask hid a lot. Quickly hiding behind a nearby tree, she tried not to attract attention to herself. All she knew from what she saw was that BB was talking to Drift and Drift was talking to BB. The gestures he made as he spoke, combined with the clear excitement of BB showed that his words seemed to be rather fascinating to her. DB chuckled at her counterpart's childlike demeanor before her heart sinking when she saw Drift place down a jump pad and BB rift away after she hugged him.
"Why couldn't he just walk up to the city? Or build up? Or anything?" she whispered. Her levels of shock skyrocketed more as she witnessed Drift take the jump pad and land right on the hilltop she was on. He was now mere feet away from her hiding spot. What shocked her more was that, instead of sliding down into the city, he simply sat down.
Go away...go away...please... she thought.
"You can come out now. I won't hurt you," Drift replied before looking right at her hiding spot. Trying her best not to gasp in utter bewilderment, she didn't move a muscle. Neither did Drift.
Maybe someone else is hiding here?
"You and I are literally the only ones on this hilltop. You might as well show yourself."
Once again, DB remained hidden. She didn't know what he would do or what he would say. In fact, this is what she was worried about mere minutes ago. With Brite Bomber's reputation of positivity, who would think that there would be a dark version of her on this island? There's no telling what he'd do or who he'd tell.
"Fine, stay hidden if you'd like. It's okay to be scared. I just came up here to talk."
"Why?" DB responded impulsively and without thinking; her cover was blown. Surprisingly, he didn't flinch.
"Well, I knew that something was off about Rex. When he was talking to that Triceratops girl over at the park, I thought I saw him talking to himself as he drove off. There was someone near him that only he could see because you were in his head. However, he saw you next to him. I put my mask on and was fascinated to see a double of Brite Bomber with him. The darker colors made me assume that you were evil."
Drift paused, causing DB to frown even deeper. He had never even met her personally and already thought that she was the villain of the story.
"However," he continued, "I realized that assumption was incorrect. As I approached the bottom of this mountain, I heard you speak. And I understand your concern."
"Speak about what?" she asked meekly.
"Not being able to feel or show any affection. Or not knowing what love feels like. If not both, of course."
Peeking from the tree she hid behind, she noticed that his gaze had gone from looking towards her to looking at Brite Bomber sitting on the ceiling of her apartment, seeming to be painting something. He chuckled.
"And I can say that I'm curious as well."
As he finished that sentence, he took off his mask, which revealed that he was not only smiling but blushing madly. BB had already moved from the ceiling to going inside the nearby convenience store.
"Where I'm from, I never really felt...cared for," he continued, "Not many friends, family forgot I existed...it was easy to overlook me despite the powers I have."
"Why wouldn't anyone be interested in you with these powers you're talking about?"
"Simply uninterested. Plus, superpowers don't exist in that world, so people would've been skeptical. However, this island is the only place I've seen where you can be a ninja, a disco guru, an Easter Bunny, a robot, and a literal ghost pumpkin. But that's besides the point."
At this point, DB was now leaning on the tree in plain view of Drift. BB was walking out of the NOMS store with a bag in each hand and back towards her apartment. Drift sighed.
"This is the most loved I've felt in a while. And I'm grateful for it. On top of that, I also want to reciprocate that love."
"But what does that have to do with me?"
"You have to be courageous enough to approach BB. Because believe it or not, she's human too."
"I'm not scared to, though."
"Really? If that's the case, I'll call her up here and you can say hello."
At this point, Drift's smile disappeared and was replaced with an immensely serious glare with pitch black eyes. Even though DB looked like the bad one, she felt nervous looking at him at that instant.
"I thought so," he said, "And like I said before, it's okay to be scared. Take your time."
She was extremely impressed with his warmth and apparent delight in talking to her despite him not knowing who she was. "I have a challenge for myself," Drift continued, "I want to ask her out on a date tomorrow. She's the type of person that I'd be happy to learn more about. But..."
"But what?" DB asked with the curiosity getting the best of her.
"But I don't know if she even sees me like that. She's friends with everyone on the island, whether male, female, robot, pumpkin, alien, cactus, you name it. Who's to say that one of them isn't her boyfriend?"
"Oh..."
"However, she hasn't said anything about having a boyfriend. And that's the hope that I'm riding on."
"..."
"Also...you're not the only one who feels nervous about this. You remind me of my counterpart..."
"You have a counterpart?!"
"Mhm."
"A DARK counterpart?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed.
"Yep. I think you two would get along."
"What's he like?"
"I dunno. He flew off as I landed with the burger on that hill. With light, there's always some dark."
"Where can I find him?"
Drift pointed towards Pleasant Park. "On the outskirts of Pleasant Park, there's a huge hill that has a broken down castle on it. Check there since mystery is a thing he enjoys. I personally don't know if he's hostile or docile."
DB was ecstatic; there was a chance that there was someone out there who could serve as her first friend!
"I can tell you're excited. And I'm happy for you."
"Thank you...thanks so much for your help!"
At that point, BB had caught sight of Drift and was now waving at him, grinning at him from ear to ear while he returned the gesture. "No problem...if you want a bit of happiness in your day, just look for the Rainbow Smash." With that, Drift rifted away.
Dark Bomber had a shimmer of hope in her spirit and she hoped it would never die out.