Blip had always believed in science and logic. It had always been his foundation, his rock. The only thing that remained stagnant in an ever-changing universe. Everything was explainable and everything made perfect logical sense.

So how had a girl just magically appeared in the darkest corner of the room without either Lunk or him noticing?

"Hey," he said gently, trying to force himself to be calm and collected. "Are you all right?"

She looked up at him for the first time and an overwhelming amount of fear flashed through her features. Immediately, she backpedaled, letting out a strangled gasp. Her back hit a desk and she pulled herself even further into a protective ball.

Blip and Lunk shared a concerned glance.

"She doesn't like you," Lunk commented bluntly.

Obviously not. Blip only sighed and knelt down, trying to look less intimidating. "Listen," he urged. "I'm a doctor. I can help. Why don't...we all sit down and...talk?"

"S-stay away from me," she hissed. The fear was gone, only to be replaced with pure malice. "I...I know what you are."

"Uh..." Blip glanced back at Lunk who shrugged unhelpfully. "What...do you think I am?" Why in the universe is she afraid of me? He was sure he'd never seen her before. A: she was female and girls never stuck around when he was nearby. B: No one was ever afraid of him. (As Drew always liked to mention, he was 5'7'' and about as intimidating as a green bean). And C: Whoever she was, she clearly wasn't human. That much he had observed from her flowing green hair and fiery pink eyes. Immediately, his mind began sorting and categorizing the known planets of the alliance. She didn't look like she came from the same world as Lunk. Most Gillian citizens had darker hair and eyes. And she didn't have fangs or claws or any animal-like limbs like would be expected from Kiteran or Alariz. In fact, besides her hair and eyes, she looked almost-earth-like.

"You're one of them," she spat. "You're one of the traitors who betrayed my kingdom! You TRAITOR!" She lunged at him and he lurched back with a cry of alarm. Lunk stepped between them, grabbing the girl by the shoulders and pulling her back before she could murder Blip with a screwdriver.

"Whoa!" Lunk protested. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out! Now, usually, I'm the one instigating the fights but this time, I think I can play the other side so why don't we all just calm down and talk about this?"

The two stared at one another for a long moment. Blip risked a reassuring smile and immediately regretted it as she looked more like she wanted to rip his head off than even remotely beginning to calm down. The girl continued to glare but with Lunk's encouragement, backed away slowly. "Where am I?" she hissed. "Where's the castle? Why is there a human on Galgria?"

"Ah," Lunk said, sounding as if he'd just figured something out. "I get it. You're Galgrian. Makes sense."

"She's...wait...it makes...huh?" Blip frowned. "But I thought-" I thought Galgrians were supposed to be the heads of the peace treaty! They're supposed to be a people of harmony and unity! There was nothing harmonious or unifying about this girl.

"Would someone please tell me WHY I AM HERE?" the girl huffed.

"An excellent question," Blip said softly, "but we're at as much of a loss as you."

She raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? You kidnapped me and I demand an explanation!"

"'Kidnapped'?" Blip repeated. "Um...no. That...wasn't us. But that does make more sense, I guess." He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, no, not really. I am still concerned about this whole being-transported-off-of-our-planets thing. Because I don't think any of us what to be here. Except for you maybe," he added, glancing toward Lunk who shrugged.

"So...you didn't kidnap me?" She arched an eyebrow, still not looking convinced. "Who did? And what are you doing here?"

"Another good question," Lunk answered before Blip could, "but we think it has something to do with this." He took the blueprints from the scientist to show her.

She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, no, sorry. Don't believe it."

"Uh...what's not to believe?" Blip inquired. "I mean...it's...it's all here, right? The...the blueprints and the...the tools." He gestured around to the dusty workbenches. "All that's left is..."

"Someone to build the machine," Lunk cut him off, folding his arms and smirking.

The girl laughed tonelessly. "I'm sorry, do I look like some lowly mechanic to you?" Blip flinched but she ignored him, plowing right on with the insults.

"Well, I'm sure there's a reason we're all here together," Lunk said hastily, catching the expression on the human's face and reacting accordingly. "So why don't we all calm down and think this through?"

She crossed her arms and huffed. Blip leaned back, letting out his breath and adjusting his glasses anxiously. There must be a logical reason for this, he reminded himself. So focus on that. Science is your strength. Use it.

"Okay, so, here's what we know," he went on slowly, straightening and beginning to pace thoughtfully around the small room. "We've all been...for a lack of a better word...summoned here for some...purpose. Something do with this, most likely." He gestured to the blueprints. "The only question is...why?"

"You're unusually bright for an earthling," came a new voice from the shadows behind them. "What do you think?"

Immediately, the three whipped around and sprang back, spotting a hooded figure sitting awkwardly on one of the tool benches across the room. The girl braced, reaching for anything to defend herself while Blip cringed behind Lunk fearfully.

Where did she come from? How did she get in here?!

"Who are you?" Lunk demanded, voicing Blip's thoughts, already creating fists, ready to fight.

The figure tilted her head. Blip felt chills dancing his spine as he immediately began to process the information he was seeing. Someone else was there. How long had she been there, watching them?

"I'm the one who brought you all here."

Well, whoever they were, they clearly didn't believe in tiptoeing around the point. Blip was thankful for that, at least, even if he was still completely confused. It was a feeling he was not fond of.

"Why?" he questioned, his voice still shaking.

The figure daintily uncrossed her legs and hopped off of the desk, landing gracefully, earning a whimper from the scientist and an even more tensed stance from Lunk. "For the answer to that, you must all come with me."

"Yeah, no." The girl crossed her arms and leaned against a table. "That's not happening, sorry."

She didn't really sound it.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Lunk demanded. "That...there's not an entire army waiting outside that door to eliminate us now that we've seen too much?"

"Wow, suspicious aren't we?" The figure sighed. "Well, do you see anyone else here taking claim for kidnapping you? Besides," she added, grinning, "if I'd wanted to kill you, wouldn't it have been wiser for me to do so while two of you were unconscious?"

That actually makes sense. She wouldn't have risked letting us wake up and escape. So she might be telling the truth after all. "But why?" Blip repeated. "Why are we here? What could you possibly want that would warrant-"

The figure exhaled again, beginning to sound a little exasperated. "I could tell you," she said slowly, "but I think you already know the answer." She took three thin papers from her pocket and handed them to the teens. They took them cautiously, Blip more so than Lunk. The green-haired girl snatched hers away with a growl and sunk back into the shadows to open it.

Ignoring the others, the scientist quickly scanned the letter, immediately recognizing the handwriting on the envelope as his own from four years previous. This is my application to the ISA, he realized with a jolt. But wait... how did she... He glanced up, seeing his shock mirrored in Lunk's expression. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

"Wait!" he stammered. "A-are you saying..."

"Believe it or not, your applications were not as overlooked as you believed. All of you applied to the ISA for specific reasons and-"

"I never applied to go to some boring school filled with whiny cry-baby peace dreamers," the girl sniffed. "You made a mistake." She tried to shove the paper back into the figure's hands but the second girl wouldn't take it.

"There's been no mistake," came the cool response. "You may not have applied yourself, Princess Elillia, but your father did for you."

"Huh?"

"Princess?"

Blip spun around so quickly that he nearly toppled over. The girl glared down at him heatedly as both he and Lunk stared, unable to believe their eyes or their ears. This girl was the princess of Galgria?

"But wait..." he went on, realizing the figure had not finished what she had been about to say. "You said the ISA didn't overlook our applications. Does that mean they're the ones who brought us here?"

"In a manner of speaking. You see..." the figure slowly began to pace the room, the heels of her shoes clacking loudly against the concrete floor. They watched her warily. "There is more to the ISA than meets the eye. While it is indeed a center and a source for spreading peace and intergalactic unity throughout the galaxy, its main purpose is something else; seeking out worthy and capable candidates for something much grander and extraordinary."

"And?" Lunk urged when she paused.

"And congratulations," she said wryly. "You three have been selected."

"Selected for what?" the princess groaned. "To be roughed up and kidnapped and held hostage against our wills halfway across the galaxy?"

"'Held hostage'?" The girl tilted her head. "I'm not holding you hostage. Any of you. In fact, you're welcome to leave at any point." She stepped back and gestured toward the door.

Immediately, Blip took a step toward it.

"But," the girl went on, her voice freezing him in his tracks, "if you leave, you'll be missing out on fulfilling the one deepest wish you've ever had. A chance to make a real difference. Up here. In space."

She had him. She knew it. Somehow, she knew he couldn't leave. Not like that. Not if it meant...

"I didn't think so." She sounded almost amused. "And I take it the two of you feel the same?" She glanced toward the others. Blip followed her gaze, finding Lunk nodding slowly. The Princess, Elillia, on the other hand, leaped from the table and bowled past them toward the door.

"Forget this! I'm going home!"

The girl slowly spun to watch her yank at the doorknob. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she admonished.

"And why not?" Elillia snapped. "You said we were free to leave, didn't you? Well, I'm leaving! Good riddance to you all!"

"Step out that door, Princess, and you'll find your world drastically changed and your kingdom, along with any hope of you becoming their queen swept out from underneath you!"

She froze. "What are you talking about?" she hissed.

"You've been chosen, just as they have," the second girl responded. "To leave now will jeopardize the entire party and the mission at hand."

Elilla shot her a poisonous glare and slowly backed away from the door.

"Mission?" Blip echoed. "What mission? Is that why we've been chosen? What is it we have to do exactly? Is there something wrong with the universe? How are we supposed to fix it?"

"Patience, eager one," was the response. "All in due time. First, we must be sure everyone is on the same page." She glanced once more to Lunk who folded his arms and gave his nod of acceptance. He seemed so put together and his expression was blank. Blip wondered how the Gillian could possibly be so cal, but somehow, at the same time, he didn't care. This was a chance of a lifetime for him! This was what he'd always wanted! His chance to be a hero-without the help of the academy! His chance to prove that he was just as good as the cadets. Because out of all of the applications, he'd been selected. Not them. Him.

A feeling welled up inside his chest. A feeling he'd never experienced before. Was it...was it pride? Was he...was he actually proud to be a part of something? To be part of a group. One that wanted him for him...

At least, for what his application said.

As for the others, well, he'd have to wait and see about them. Already he could tell that Lunk was relatively calm and collected about everything and he'd probably tolerate his presence. The Princess on the other hand...she still looked like she would rip him to shreds the moment she got the chance. Even as he gathered all of this information, he could feel her hate-filled glare on his back. He squared his shoulders and did his best to ignore her. Maybe if he showed her that he wasn't a threat (or a traitor, whatever that meant because he was sure he hadn't betrayed anyone recently), she'd leave him alone.

"Well, now that we have that settled..." the girl lowered her hood to reveal shimmering brown eyes and long frizzy blond hair. She grinned and her smile beamed with joy. "Welcome officially to the secret headquarters of the ISA Special Ops Division. My name is Analexa. I am the co-navigation expert for all of the deep space operations at this location, as well as the head of the Crisis and Defense Center. I know who all of you are of course. But for the sake of introductions, allow me. Dr. Blip Hanson, engineer and tech specialist-"

Blip blushed. "Well, I don't know about expert..."

She smiled and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously as she went on. "Lunk Gritton, weapons specialist as well as navigator."

"Sounds good to me," the Gillian responded with a grin.

"Princess Elillia Vander, resident planet expert and...well, we'll work on the negotiator part later."

"Hmmmph," came the girl's response.

"Well, she's just a ray of sunshine, isn't she?" Lunk leaned over to whisper in Blip's ear. The scientist nodded, glancing the princess's way and then quickly snapping his eyes toward the ground as she caught him staring.

"Of course, that is only three," Analexa went on before they could stray too far from the conversation at hand. "There is...another member of your team."

"So where is he then?" Lunk demanded.

"He arrived before you did," the girl went on. "And...well...here, I'll just let you meet him and see for yourself." With that, she pushed herself off of the desk and went to something beyond Blip's line of sight. He turned, finding her sliding a table to the side and pressing a hand against the wall. At first, he was confused. Was she trying to find something? A key perhaps?

But then, before he could wonder too much, there was a loud groan and the wall before them split apart, revealing a looming corridor, dimly lit by unusual glowing orbs that Blip couldn't even begin to describe or name. He hesitated, waiting as Analexa gave him another reassuring smile and then started down the passageway, closely followed by Lunk and the Princess.

Shoving out the sinking feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach, he followed.

The corridor was cold and dark, reminding him slightly of a cave or a cliff behind a waterfall. More than once he imagined this all being a trap and the roof collapsing on them but nothing bad happened so he kept his head down and continued on.

They made several sharp turns and he tried to keep track of them in his head; left, left, right, left, left again, two turns to the right. But soon, everything blurred together into one and he did not know how much time had passed before the tunnel finally began to widen and the group emerged into an enormous underground cavern.

"Whoa..."

"Oh, wow..."

The room they'd walked into was easily five hundred times the size of a house. Overhead, the roof of the cavern arched away from them, creating a dome-like structure. Near the center of the room, a tumbling waterfall roared and brightly colored birds chirped and squawked from their perches in ginormous trees, species Blip recognized as not indigenous to Earth.

But beyond the beauty of the cave, the thing that caught Blip's eye first was something else. Something huge and metallic fastened toward the back of the cavern. Something that looked oddly familiar. He glanced toward the rolled-up blueprints Lunk was still carrying. Almost like...

"Uh...is that a robot?" Lunk questioned, having noticed it at the exact same moment. "That's a robot, isn't it? Tell me I'm not the only one seeing a robot."

"You're not the only one seeing a robot," Blip breathed automatically.

"Are these them?"

A new voice rose above the thunderous roar of the waterfall. Analexa was the first to turn and Blip peered around her to find the man standing, arms crossed, leaning against a large boulder with a slightly bemused expression on his face. No, scratch that, it wasn't bemused. It was more...disbelieving. Immediately, Blip felt the temperature in the air drop several degrees and he automatically shivered as his gaze met the man's crystal blue and all of his fiery determination and recklessness was visible.

"Blip, Lunk, Princess," Analexa took a deep breath. "I want you to meet the fourth member of your team. Your space expert and go-to master pilot, Dashiell Coolstar."

"Nice to meet you," Lunk said, holding out his hand.

Dash looked past him, ignoring his gesture. "These are the pilots the ISA has sent?" His voice was cold and emotionless. "I was expecting...a lot more."

"Well, it's not exactly like we asked to be here either," Elillia snapped back fiercely.

"Um...actually, we kind of did..." Blip pointed out.

She ignored him.

Analexa rolled her eyes. "Coolstar, we've already been through this. The ISA believes that the four of you together can successfully do what the rest of the alliance has not been able to. So, yes, this is your team."

Why does he dislike us so much? Blip wondered, unable to restrain the wince of hurt. He'd heard his entire life why he wasn't good enough or big enough or strong enough, but to hear it from a complete stranger was worse than anything.

Dashiell Coolstar. Why does that name sound so familiar?

Dash raised an eyebrow. "And they're all pilots?"

"Not all of them," Analexa said, trying not to glance Blip's way, probably trying to prevent him any further embarrassment. "But that's what you're here for. To train them. You're the best pilot in the galaxy. Surely there's something you can teach them."

"Train us?" Elillia demanded. "Train us for what?"

"For what else?" Analexa responded. "The four of you are going to pilot the Super Robo Mecha."