Author's note: Pertaining to new characters shown in the chapter, check the wattpad version of this fanfic in a few days for visual pictures drawn out by me. I'll be posting it soon but for now, enjoy the new chapter! I had fun writing a specific clash in here so do take your time reading. Don't forget to comment at the end! It really brightens my day to see how you faired with the chapter and your expectations, it really means a lot if you do. Anyway, enjoy! :D
Even before the clock struck six-thirty, both Boboiboy and Gopal were out of their beds, dressed and ready for another day adventuring through the galaxy. But not only was their enthusiasm fuelled by their childish youth and—for out of fear—the curfew waking time of seven am sharp, but because of the ticking time bomb of an event that would soon take place at their next destination, the TEMPUR-A space station.
Currently, Boboiboy swims lost in a sea of thought, trying to reconnect all the things he remembered from their informant, Shielda. He sits casually on one of the chairs in their dining hall waiting for Gopal to finish prepping their breakfast for the day; he could hear the faint clanging of metal and engine hum of a stove from the back door towards the kitchen.
Despite what people would think of Gopal's lax attitude around missions, He'd been responsibly in charge of cooking the teams' breakfast, lunch and dinner ever since the Savage Trial took place months ago. He couldn't really refuse the offer for the status of "Cook" on their ship; it wasn't only because of their Admiral passive-aggressively wanting Gopal to cook the crew amazing food every day but because the second person in line for cook would've been Yaya.
In all honesty, Yaya wasn't a bad cook. She's an… alright cook but that's as far as it goes. With baking however, never in a million years would the people on board the Paladin give her any more opportunities for baking if they could help it.
Boboiboy's fingers drum rhythmically against the table; his eyes remained unfocused, looking forward but with no awareness to the blobs of color and figures waving right at him.
"Huh?" He jumped at the sight of a hand waving slowly across his face, Yaya's face blurred to focus and she greets him with a pearly white smile, he quirked a brow, "Yaya? What are you doing awake? It's six-thirty."
She elegantly pulled a curled index finger to her lips and giggles, "I should be asking you that, Boboiboy. I'm usually awake at five am to prepare for training."
He rolls his eyes, slumping his head down on the table, "Of course you would." He said blankly, "I can't even bring myself to wake up at six. Seriously, how do you do it?"
"Mmm," She looks up in thought, her rosy small lips pout for about three seconds then slowly draws back to her infectious smile, "Well, I wake up instantly the moment my alarm rings and I don't have four or more alarms trying to wake me up again like you guys do."
"Hey," he pulls his head off the table and gives her a playfully offended look, "Below the belt. Don't call us out like that, Yaya. Plus, Gopal has seven alarms, I only have three."
She chuckles at his reaction and sits at the chair parallel to him, "Sorry, sorry. I'll note that little fact down then."
He exhales through his nose and curiously squints, he looks around the dining space and notices the lack of another presence, he had to ask, "Where's Ying? Usually, she'd be the first one here."
"She'd be the first one anywhere with her speed," Yaya begrudgingly agreed, Boboiboy noted that their rivalry never lost age after all these years.
"Must be a genetic thing considering their mothers are like that too…" He thought in conclusion.
Yaya laces her fingers together and lays them slowly on the table, "She's on her way, she just needs to send an intercom to her grandma and mother about our mission yesterday. You know how her guardians are, it's a daily process."
"Hmm," Boboiboy hummed in response.
Yaya furrowed her brows at noticing his still dazed expression and lack of reply, "Hey… You okay? Are you still sleepy? I mean, it's understandable." She leaned closer down to the table and looked up at him, "You still haven't answered me. Why're you guys up so early? Gopal's usually awake a second, or if he's lucky, a minute before seven… So, why're you early?"
Why was he up early?
Boboiboy's downcast eyes dulled a darker brown at her question, he closes his eyes and rubs his thumb and index finger on his eyelids with a groan, "I… I just woke up randomly. It usually happens when I'm too worried… I don't know, I think I'm probably still tense about what's gonna happen today."
"Ooooh," Yaya slowly bobs her head in understanding, leaning back on her chair with a thoughtful look, "Don't worry, I get what you mean. But don't let it bother you, whatever happens when we meet them, it'll be fine. After all, as a team, we can all pull through with whatever happens to us!" She pumps her fists near her shoulders with an uplifting tone; Boboiboy couldn't help but smile at her optimism.
He huffs out a strong "hoo" noise and shook his head wildly, he stops and looks up to the ceiling with a determined look, "You're right. We need to square up and look after the adults. We've got this!"
"Yeah!" Yaya punches the air in support, "That's our leader!"
The door leading to the kitchen opens outward towards the dining table, an irritated Gopal exits out and peels off these cute pink colored kitchen mitts. He lets out an exasperated sigh, "Good news, breakfast is done. Eggs, hotdogs, tocino, the whole nine yards." He waves the mitts dismissively, "Bad news, we ran out of rice and orange juice. So we'll just be having mashed potatoes, minced veggies, and pineapple juice." He threw the mitts on the table and they slide across silently, "We're trying to minimize our veggie use ya know, those things are costly out here in space, who knew? Ugh, I bet Fang'll love the carrots I cooked up." Gopal's toned balanced on pride and sarcasm, either way, he looks content.
Boboiboy, although sad to hear that there wasn't any orange juice, was actually happy about hearing that they'd have minced veggies. For that reason, he'd have to thank Gopal's culinary mastery. He made vegetables taste good, and that wasn't an easy feat for any of the kids in their team to pull off.
"Can't wait for it, Gopal. You're awesome, man." Boboiboy grinned at him and flashed his signature thumbs up.
Gopal posed snobbishly, "I know I am."
As soon as Gopal says this, the two boys felt an unnerving sense of danger a foot away from them in the form of a cute girl in pink. They turned their heads towards her as she speaks with her eyelashes fluttering, "You know Gopal," cooed the voice of a held back tempest, "I asked once and I'm going to ask again. Can I pleeeeaaaase watch you while you cook?" Yaya, who has been quietly watching until now, spoke so adamantly that Gopal almost took whatever she said as a command,
"I said it once and I'll say it again!" He mimicked her words in a more frightened tone, "Having you watch me will undoubtedly make it awkward and creepy!"
"Creepy?! I'm not creepy!"
"N-No no, I didn't mean that you're creepy, I just meant the act of watching me is creepy."
"But I just want to see how you work in the kitchen! How about I video you with my phone?"
"Now that's worse! Can't you just stick to the recipe books I recommended?"
Yaya pouts childishly, "But it's totally different if I have an actual lesson in front of me or at least a teacher! Please, please, pleaaaase? I'll let you have a free batch of my cookies!"
"Gah! No! Anything but that! Are you seriously threatening me with your cookies?!"
"Why're you acting like my cookies are weapons, Gopal?!"
Boboiboy had to admit, every time he'd watch these two bicker, it would always feel like he was watching an old married couple bicker, or a sitcom about two always arguing characters.
…Or both.
He couldn't help but let out a laugh.
Yaya and Gopal stopped midway their back and forth with Yaya shaking Gopal's shoulders with her bare hands and the poor boy shielding his face of any impact of a fist. Now frozen in place looking at Boboiboy, they looked at each other in confusion before fiddly stepping away from each other.
Gopal shook his head, "Having fun watching us, Boboiboy? It's nothing to laugh about." He said flatly.
Boboiboy shrugged his shoulders and leaned on the table, "Yeah, I know, but ya have to admit… You two make a pretty hilarious comedy duo. Ever thought about applying professionally?"
Gopal lays a hand on his own chest and gasps dramatically, "H-How could you? I thought you and I already had our own comedy duo thing going on!"
"Since when?" Boboiboy snorts.
"Since we met! Oh, woe is me. Doth my best friend betray me so."
Yaya and Boboiboy laugh at Gopal's offended mock and proceed to chat about something other than the meeting that'll take place when docking at the TEMPUR-A space station.
He was glad he had these two around, and thankfully, he might actually have an idea for the third rule Shielda told him about.
At around the afternoon, earth time, the Paladin continued to soar through the black sea of space, and within the humming aircraft sits five teens all accounted for along with the Admiral by the main cockpit's seat and a silently sleeping Ochobot on Boboiboy's lap. Their attention immediately focuses on the windshield in front of them as they view through the glass to see a TEMPUR-A station branch slowly coming into view. From what the kids heard, their meeting point had changed to a closer branch of TEMPUR-A and a, more or less, available branch that was an easier and more convenient place to visit.
That just made the trip a lot quicker and the anticipation of the teenagers more ill at ease.
"I've never visited a TEMPUR-A station before…" Boboiboy muttered under his breath, Ying caught on to that and chuckled.
"Neither have we, you know. We're always together on missions."
He hummed shortly then asked, "Aren't you tense?"
"I mean, yeah I guess? Who wouldn't if you haven't been to someplace you don't know."
"No, no that's…" He kept his voice down, watching to see if Fang or Admiral Tarung would hear. With the coast clear, he leaned lower and whispered over to her, "That's not what I meant. I meant about meeting these people. The teachers."
"Huh?" Ying paused for a second in confusion before replying, "Well… I guess I am. But, just think of it like this," She holds an index finger up and whispers back, "Just think of them as a regular Power Sphere. We kinda have an idea of what they're like, but we don't know how to handle them just yet, right? We don't know how to capture them properly."
"Wait, capture?"
"Just an analogy, keep up." Ying continued with a blank look, "But just like every mission, we prep up with what we know. We analyze the situation and from then on, despite eighty percent of our plans being thrown out the window," She rapidly mentions, "For whatever plan we have left, we cope with it. We just hope for the best like we always do, so… Just think of it as another day on a mission. M'kay?"
First Yaya, and now Ying was giving him a pep talk. It was calming to know the girls were the best mediators rather than the boys in their team. To be fair, the girls were more in touch with those kinds of things anyway.
A small bubble of thought popped in his head where Gopal and Fang tried to console him, instead of what Yaya and Ying did, the boys just ended up teasing him and calling him out on him being a scaredy-cat. He shook off the thought with an irritated growl and smiled thankfully at her.
"Thanks, Ying."
"Don't mention it." She confidently said with a wink before leaning back on her chair.
Ying wasn't always this bold. She wasn't always in the position of giving moral pep talks with such a positive look on her face. Three years ago, she would've been skeptical of the situation herself. She would've been nervous like him and girlishly shaking in her chair at what would await them. Whatever reaction she'd have was justifiable considering she was eleven years old.
But again, that was three years ago.
Now, she was more extroverted, she had a good head on her shoulders and she handled pressure well. She learned how to deal with situations after she was assigned the Lieutenant rank along with Yaya and she grew with a mature and rational mindset. Of course, she still had quirks to her that stuck over the years. She still talked rapidly like she didn't believe breathing was an option, she was easy to anger—Just like most women he met—and she still held the prodigal brilliance of a kid beyond her age.
Witty, confident and smart.
While Boboiboy's thoughts fell past what they were originally talking about, Ying squinted at the front of the screen and leaned her body forward, then a gasp escapes her lips as the confidence in her face suddenly dissipated, she leaned her body back with her eyes widening and her jaw hanging.
The reaction was enough to snap Boboiboy out of his juvenile thoughts, "Huh? What's she looking at?"
Curious and concerned, he turned to look the same direction she gaped at and froze, his fingertips dug onto the armchair of the seat he sat on and his heart's temperature dropped a thousand degrees.
Half a ways from their ship was the TEMPUR-A space station branch with nothing too out of the ordinary at first glance. But, now with it in full view and the docks opened for people to see, there was one large anomaly residing on those docks.
Pirate ships.
And not just any pirate ships, those were Captain Vargoba's pirate ships.
"Vargoba?" Fang called out in disbelief, his mouth slowly dropping.
Like a trigger word, Ochobot leaped from his sleep stasis and his robotic eyes blinked wide open, "Huh?! Vargoba? Where! Oh no—"
Boboiboy quickly caught Ochobot back into a calming embrace and stroked the robot's top, "Hold on Ochobot, relax… We don't know if that really is—"
"What the—?!" Gopal shoots up from his seat in a delayed panic, "Whoa, Whoa, WHOA. Hold on, I thought we defeated Vargoba! He's gone, right? RIGHT?!"
"Cadet." The Admiral commanded in one word then looked at him with an eerie calmness, "Be quiet and watch closely."
Gopal's contracted eyes slowly slid to look at the window in front of him again and squinted at the scene.
Instead of seeing the station bombarded with holes and burns, it was the fleet that seemed to take the brunt end of their expectations. About three ships of building-wide sizes rested at the front of the station with terrifying battle marks from an unknown source. Perfectly shaped circles shoot through the wood and steel of the ships taunting anyone who would see the feeling of astonishment along with the slight linger of intimidation. The ships were exposed, depleted of energy and stripped off of resources. The many people who they remembered as part of the crew of Vargoba were bound by the wrists to their back walking down a platform from their main deck and onto the TEMPUR-A landing pad. Many other cadets of TEMPUR-A in uniform guide the pirates off the ships and inside the station and count them off as they file further inside specific passageways.
The Paladin docks a few feet away from the pirate fleet and land with no issue. When the team makes their way down the cargo hold of the ship, the hatch to the outside slowly folds outward to open and a familiar Commander greets them with a puffed-out chest.
"Everything's under control, just for your information," Commander Koko Ci saluted and spoke before anyone could say anything.
Despite the minimal bit of explanation, Admiral Tarung quickly saluted then stepped off the platform with a growl, "Yes, yes I would expect nothing less— but what exactly is the status here, Commander? What are these filthy pirates doing all bunched up together? I thought you said in your message that there weren't any missions for this branch today. Did you mistype something?"
"No no," He quickly followed Admiral Tarung as he saddled up towards the line that corralled the many bound pirates. "It was a surprise ambush from afar. Apparently, after the many months they'd gone without their Captain, the ones who managed to get away from the fight banded together to take revenge. Our intel relayed more on the subject like how they got the ships back, who the people on board were and how they survived but, I don't want to bore you with the details so—"
Boboiboy and his team slowly followed suit and noticed the other trailing ship behind the Paladin descend from the air to dock. Captain Kaizo's ship weighed light in comparison to their ship, but compared to its utilization, it was more for fast travel than battle.
A shadow creeps from under the ship and the icy presence of the Captain chills the team to their core, although something was different, "No dawdling, get moving." he directed strictly from afar, his voice a bit muffled from his face being obscured by his active mask.
Everyone quickly turned about and walked off towards the direction Admiral Tarung went.
Boboiboy thought it odd that Captain Kaizo was wearing a mask inside a safe zone, especially in one without active threats to them. However, despite these thoughts, the boy decided to just keep it to himself until he knew a reason for the Captain's strange behavior.
The team entered the conversation between The Admiral, Commander and a currently star-struck female cadet of the TEMPUR-A crew, who was smiling a little too much at the Admiral, then listened in.
"So what's the big deal?" growled Tarung, "A bunch of washed-up scrubs tried to infiltrate you guys, so what? TEMPUR-A's branches are unbreakable."
The woman deeply nods her head, "You are absolutely right, Sir Admiral Tarung… Sir." With a pause, she lets out a pained and prolonged reply, "Uuuuuuh… But, they actually did manage to… infiltrate us." Before the Admiral could say something, she quickly salutes and stands so straight and so fast Boboiboy could hear her back pop, "But they almost breached our interior security because of a surprise ambush towards our patrolling spaceships. The assault was led by one of Vargoba's trusted and well-trained mates. The remaining fleet… They're out for revenge."
"And look where that ended them," Tarung commented with a point towards the family duck line of pirates, "Wobbling to confinement with their tails between their legs." The proud tone fades and he snaps a look towards the female cadet, "But that brings me to my next question," He then looks over to the Commander, "You said they just attacked a few moments ago, we were so close by, why didn't you call us for back-up?"
Commander Koko Ci cleared his throat at the question and looked as if he knew he was going to be asked that, "We didn't need to. Our recently arrived visitors decided to help out on their way here."
"Oh? Is that so?" There was a hint of haughtiness to The Admiral's voice but it quickly got overshadowed by the look Tarung gave to the cadets and Lieutenants listening, "I think you kids have an idea about what our visitors are capable of, hm?"
Comically, they all took one more glance at one of the pirate ships docked nearest to them. A rookie TEMPUR-A cadet with short brown hair tried to peek through one of the enormous holes made through the ship, he placed one hand on the side of the hull and, with added weight, caused the ship to creak loudly. The area he leaned his hand on instantly shoved forward as if it were paper and his entire body fell through the hole with a loud cry of surprise and he disappeared inside.
The team gulped, "Yes sir…" they said in awe, all wondering about the people behind the remnants of the ruined fleets.
Boboiboy felt a wash of realization the moment he looked away from the ships.
Whoever these people were, they were going to teach him.
At least… He hoped it wasn't only him, but presumably everyone on the team, and maybe even Fang too.
"Awesome."
The entire group continued their way down another set of hallways inside the station. The hallways were impeccably neat and tidy, something you'd expect of a large organization branch. The halls were coated a bright silver with covered metal plates screwed to the side, a few hallways were different with long circular glass windows that showed off different rooms and curious areas, other hallways were almost constricting not because of it being too narrow but because of the dense and quiet atmosphere that only allowed the hum of the entire station reverberate across the area.
Commander Koko Ci led them like cattle through the labyrinth and strode at a decent pace, Admiral Tarung followed after, then the kids, and finally, Captain Kaizo. No one questioned as to why he didn't stay in front like he usually does in Power Sphere missions, but here he was, stalking them silently with his hand dangerously lying on the hilt of his sheathed energy sword. Truly, no one dared to question why. The entire way through the hallways was solemn and entirely tedious; the only notable worthy occurrence was a small blackout that lasted a minute or so, but other than that, nothing happened.
A few people working for the TEMPUR-A crew passed by them on the way; saluting and greeting them a good day before heading back to work wrangling up all the remaining pirates from the docks. Another male cadet, coming from the direction they're walking towards, roughly pushed a wrist bound pirate down the hall, shoving him forward to make him walk.
"Come on, keep walking. I haven't got all day, swab."
The pirate stumbled forward again, grunting in response to another shove.
Boboiboy and his compatriots could only walk past them in silence, hoping that their self-restraint could contain their curiosity at the scene the cadet caused. The sounds accompanying the group were a set of irregular steps of boots and shoes against metal and occasionally a distant engine hum, however; that balloon of silence soon popped with a croaked out call from the bound pirate.
"…Kassim?"
The muffled rasp of a torn voice called out to a forgotten name. Those who knew of that name turned back to see the gas-masked pirate looking at them, waiting for a reaction.
The one who donned the said identity said nothing; even the dull faded color of blue outlining his mask couldn't shed light onto any indication of a shift in expression. Only his mask stared back, and nothing else.
Feeling the dense air get thicker by the second, words started to spill out of Boboiboy's mouth before he knew it, "What's your name?"
The pirate looked appalled from behind his mask, surprised that he got an answer from someone else rather than the person who had betrayed him in the first place. His voice came to nothing, his head turning away from the group to keep walking with no reply. The cadet accompanying him only gave Boboiboy a shake of his head, as if disappointed at the result of his actions.
Boboiboy's brows drop in pity, his heart breaking at the sight of the pirate. It pained him to see someone so broken, so crushed of emotion out of being betrayed. He'd heard bits and pieces, but apparently, while Boboiboy and his team were handling Vargoba and the Admiral and Captain to the other remaining raiders, Captain Kaizo had encountered the same two pirates he'd made friends with during his time undercover; however, the encounter proved to have been more than just a surprise.
Captain Kaizo acted as if nothing happened, or to them, believed that nothing started in the first place. To Boboiboy and to that pirate, they could only hope something mutual came out of their time together on the ship, like that weird bro-handshake they did and how fast they memorized the cleaners' jingle together along with accurate choreography of the dance.
However, that thought came short-lived after he remembered that those pirates tried to get them killed first.
"I shouldn't pity him but… I guess I shouldn't say anything then."
They couldn't do anything but move on, continuing to avoid any necessary comments on the decisions of the man who fought lost to virtue.
Silence ensnared the group as they picked up from where they stopped, following the Commander down a low decline and with a deeper accented light that kept the hallways lit. The hall hued to a dark grey, the metal floor's edges pulsed a faint light yellow light from the sides and guided the way towards a left turn, then a set of doors.
One, two, three, four, five.
The Commander halted, turning about to jerk his head slightly to the right towards the wide mechanical door, "They're in here. They wanted a snack so we suggested they stay in the break room."
"Hoo boy," Gopal muttered anxiously, his body trembled at the sentence and he hid behind Boboiboy, grabbing onto his shoulders, "We're gonna meet them… We're going to meet whoever took out those fleets on their own…!"
"Wait, they took them out all on their own?" Boboiboy whispered back.
Gopal vigorously nods his head, "Yeah! Admiral Tarung was talking about it, weren't you listening?" He waved a quick dismissive hand, "Forget it dude, I'm too busy freaking out!"
Boboiboy was a second away from calming his friend down before Captain Kaizo nudges past the teens in front of him. His presence was quiet like an untouched morning lake and his breathing was calm yet held possibility of a storm, a storm that'd be unmatched, uncomparable and even feared by humans and aliens alike.
Admiral Tarung's expression was cautious, not out of fear but out of worry. The tiger-like alien took a step aside for Kaizo and gestured towards the door, he stills.
Boboiboy could only imagine what he was thinking. What exactly was Captain Kaizo thinking at this moment? Six years of distance and practically non-existent contact could probably change a person's impression. Thanks to that, everyone else along with Kaizo was a tad bit closer to equal ground knowing nothing of what would happen after the doors would open. But Captain Kaizo knew the history of these people, at least, knew what they think he did. Names, looks, and personalities.
"How much of it would change over six years?", Boboiboy wondered, "…How would I know which person is which? Which person's the puppeteer and which is the fighter?"
Captain Kaizo approached the door closer and slowly gets into range of where the motion sensor was, the metal splits open to reveal the inside of the break room area. A simple break room greets them with one rectangular, long and lone table in the center of the room, it sits vertically with five vacant seats pushed towards it. The head of the seat, however, was occupied by one humanoid boy.
He couldn't have been older than Gopal or Fang with his looks and he appeared human save for the yellow-ish pigmented skin. Young, quiet and occupied in thought, a gentle intelligence surrounds his presence. His head tilts up from looking at the center of the table and the swept light ash blonde hair waves across his forehead. He jolts at the sight of Kaizo and pushes himself off of the seat; revealing what he was wearing. It looked simple with a touch of formality, a purple scarf rests on his adolescent shoulders and a gleam of a golden emblem rests on the bottom-right of the scarf.
"Captain Kaizo?" the boy spoke doubtfully as if trying to confirm the identity of the masked man in front of him. But, he knew. He knew that from the mask alone and the hair peeking behind it, that was definitely who he thinks it is.
Gopal leaned over next to Boboiboy and whispered in disbelief, "This nerd's the one who's gonna teach us? He doesn't look… strong."
Boboiboy nudges him, "You're one to talk."
The boy in front smiles and speaks out, his voice; hushed, like a stream of sand banking off a decline, "It's… You're really—"
Behind Kaizo's mask emitted an impatient grunt, "Where are they?" He asked, shooting straight to the point.
The unnamed boy stiffens at the cold question, the pleasant surprise in his eyes was quickly replaced with hurt. He formally places a hand on his chest and gives a short bow, "Forgive me, Captain. They said…" his sentence trails off and his back straightens, he looked worried, "…They said they wanted to surprise you. There."
"There?" Admiral Tarung echoed after stepping in next to Kaizo looking for an answer to the indicated "there". The blonde boy's eyes lit up again and he smiles at the Admiral's direction. A quiet look of understanding shifts between the two of them and soon, Captain Kaizo breaks the short silence with a confusing question.
"Was there a blackout a while ago?"
"Huh?" The boy's brows furrow and he squints at the question, "A blackout? Today?"
Gopal snorts discreetly and mutters under his breath, "Of course there was, it happened a few minutes right after we entered the passageways."
The boy, however, was oblivious to the question and slowly shakes his head, genuinely giving out a bewildered look, "No. I don't think—"
With an angry snarl and a turn of his heel, Kaizo ran out of the room without another word.
The Commander lets out a panicked yelp and chases after the now running Captain. Everyone else gives a look and a nod before giving chase, the unknown boy follows.
Boboiboy matched the speed the blonde boy was going at and ran side by side with him, he gives a smile and a wave, "Uh, hi! My name's Boboiboy. What's yours?"
The group turned left and a sharp right past a corner and the boy continues to run with him, he turns to Boboiboy with a warm smile, "Vane. It's nice to meet you, Boboiboy." He looks awkwardly towards the head of the group and chuckles uncomfortably, "I suppose this isn't the best situation to meet a new friend."
While he was looking at Kaizo ahead of them, Vane caught sight of a similarly dark-haired boy in their group running alongside the Captain. A sharp gasp escapes his pale lips, "F-Fang?"
Fang's head angles to the side and he glances over his shoulder as he runs, "We'll talk later, just follow the Captain!"
Without replying back, his lips push into a thin line and he continues to follow.
While they continued on their chase, a thought occurred to Boboiboy in the midst of sprinting, "How could they have passed by us without being seen? Did they take a different route? Possibly…" Boboiboy could only imagine how awkward it would be if they just ran into each other in the hall.
After the same long route back, Captain Kaizo was the first to exit out onto the docking area, he stops in place after seeing his ship lit blue in activity from afar.
Ying runs out right after the Commander and Admiral do, she gapes at the spindle ship, "What?! The ship's active! But…" She squints at it, "It's still docked. Captain Kaizo, is Lieutenant Lahap inside?"
Surprisingly, he answered without cutting his gaze from his ship, "No, I sent him out on a private mission weeks ago."
Just before the people at the back of the group could catch a break, Kaizo dashes off once more towards the ship; everyone immediately follows with Gopal trailing behind.
Thankfully, whoever was inside left the lower station hatch open for the rest to run inside. With the Captain leading the way, they all run up the short flight of platforms leading towards the central shuttle of the interior of his ship. The main computer was left on and the engine greets them in an active hum.
They all stopped in place, surveying their surroundings to see if they could find any source of life on the deck. Fang was the first to notice the short hallway leading out to their left had one of the doorways open at the end of it, he points, "Over there, Captain!"
Kaizo wastes no time and shoots himself straight down the hallway, rushing out towards what looked familiar to Boboiboy and the gang.
It was the same place they'd fought against Captain Kaizo and Lieutenant Lahap three years ago. From what they remembered, it was called the "Battlefield Training Grounds" respectively.
They all entered the training grounds and felt an instant rush of nostalgia. The training grounds were the same as before, its dark tiles were lined with a faded neon blue, thirty or forty meters stretched across the wide flooring and an open view showed off the pirate ships parked a ways from them and the open spectrum of the dark canvas of space dotted with resting stars. It all looked familiar to them.
But in that picture stood two people from afar; two unrecognizable figures with their bodies facing towards them, as if they'd been waiting for the group to enter. Boboiboy could only describe impressions off of the looks from afar.
To the left was a tall and kind-looking male with features so delicate he'd be immediately compared to that of a porcelain doll. His skin was similar to Vade's, a light yellow in color, however unlike Vade's skin; this man's skin was immaculate like an untouched relic; pristine and polished. His ash-blonde hair is swept back and was held in place by a chain circlet of gold decorated with amber-like jewels, the amount of wealth in that circlet alone could rival that of a Power Sphere's worth from the look of it. A thick galaxy patterned shawl drapes over his left shoulder and under, a pure white tunic embroidered with golden patterns webbing across his powerful chest, his broad shoulders accentuated the long teal sleeves peeking out from the white vest and a decent amount of rings and jewelry adorn his slender fingers and wrists. However, what really caught Boboiboy's attention was not the tame lavish of his appearance, but his eyes. Like two diamonds caught under a constant moonlight, it shines translucently from across the way and glints in luster. Only the faintest of movements could reveal a slight color to them, and that color was a very faded and barely noticeable gold pooling at the brim of his pupils. His eyes didn't even look like eyes, they looked like man-made artifacts built for the purpose of admiration. With one look, Boboiboy immediately felt like he should kneel in his presence but suppressed the instinctive urge and turned to the other person to the right.
A woman this time, considerably shorter than the other man but taller than the teens in their group. Her skin was a caramel brown with a rough and calloused texture to them like he was looking at sandstone. If he had to compare her attire to something similar, it'd definitely be like something out of a cyberpunk comic. She had on a raven latex mantle with a large hood pulled back to reveal her scarlet bob cut hair that greatly hued pink at the tips up to her bangs. Her eyes blinked wide and he could see the round and opaque innocence from her magma colored eyes as she looked across the training grounds. From under the mantle, she wore a one-piece black latex dress that ended at her knees. All across the attire were glowing neon orange strips pulsing slowly like a heartbeat, glowing faintly across her dark apparel. The first thing Boboiboy thought of was that she was the type of person who worked as a spy with the way she was dressed, someone who'd chuck a knife at you if you said something stupid, but from the moment they all entered, she flinched uncharacteristically in surprise and pulled her gloved hands up to her chin in a quick panic.
Those two were an obvious odd pair, one was heaven and the other was purgatory. Two dissonants, oil and water, sky and sea, yet somehow, they stood next to each other like it was the most normal thing in the galaxy.
Someone nudged him from his left and he saw Ying leaning towards him to whisper, he tilts his head towards her and waited.
"Got any idea yet? Like… which one of the two is the Puppeteer or the Fighter?"
Boboiboy almost forgot he needed to find out which one was which. The whole situation nearly made him forget.
He takes a closer look at them from afar and couldn't really pin who was who. A fighter? Could it be the expensive-looking man? Or maybe even the mousy rouge looking lady?
"Uh…" he whispered back disoriented, "I uh, I'm not sure Ying. Your guess is as good as mine."
"Thing is, I don't have a guess. Neither of them looks the part." She replied swiftly and taps a finger on her chin, "But Shielda did say there were a total of five people we're supposed to meet. Captain Kaizo and the two here right now included, we've only met three out of the five."
"So the last two we haven't met… Could it be them?"
Ying shrugs, "Guess we'll wait and see."
Boboiboy nodded back and dove his attention back to the quiet before the storm.
The air was thick with tension as the Captain refused to give them a reaction. He gave no movement, no sound and definitely not the chance to first engage the conversation.
The two adults across from them exchanged vague looks of trepidation to each other before looking back to the newly arrived group. The woman spoke first, "Um, it's good to see you, Kaizo."
Boboiboy could see Captain Kaizo's fist clench tighter and the thick material of his gloves rustle.
"I feel like we should dip." Gopal whispered from behind with his knees shaking like a plate of jello on a washing machine. Boboiboy could only hush him before looking back at them.
Captain Kaizo's shoulders tensed at the familiarity and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword, "Was it fun for you two? This cat and mouse chase? Making a fool out of me, the Admiral and the Commander? You two were never the trouble-makers." His head slightly angled to the left, "Still acting like children, I see."
The beautiful man spoke softly after releasing a disappointed exhale through his nose, "…It's good to see you too, Kaizo." His attention wavered from Kaizo and slowly slid to the person behind him, more specifically, the other recognizable face to them. His eyes widen, "Fang?" his voice started. The previous disappointment dissipated and a fresh wash of delight replaced his dour expression, his voice was clear with a sprinkle of refined etiquette as he took a step closer towards them. The woman next to him perked at the name and looked the same way as the blonde did with a hopeful expression.
"Fang? Th-that's Fang?" Her gloved fingers move to her soft smiling lips, she chortled in delight, "My goodness… You've grown so much Fang!" she yelled out from afar with an adorable wave to him. Despite her shouting out towards them, the tone of her voice didn't match. Her voice was naturally quiet, soft-spoken and cloud-like.
Everyone in the gang turned to Fang after being called out like that, he cleared his throat and waved, "Uh… Thank you, Deria." After smiling to her awkwardly as if she were an aunt in a family reunion, he then turned to the man and politely bowed towards him and pulled himself back up with a more tactful tone, the same tone he'd use when he addresses towards his older brother, "Prince Hari, it's good to see you."
"Prince?" Ying echoed in surprise before bowing the same way Fang did, the rest of the teenagers panicked and followed the same example. From across the way, Prince Hari chuckled in amusement.
Boboiboy thought to himself with a look, "Prince huh? Well, that explains a lot."
Vane, who has been quietly following their group, pulled a hand up towards them in a stuttering fit, "O-Oh, wait, no y-you shouldn't really—"
"Please, don't be so formal." The Prince interrupted, his tone sounding more of a command than a request but the smile on his face only proved friendly intentions, "I have already addressed to the Commander through my message of consent that I didn't want to be treated the same way as my kingdom does to me. I'm neither beneath nor above anyone here while I've accepted this mission. Here, my title is nothing but a different name. So go ahead and treat me the same way as you would your friends." Soft and silent as a new moon, a smile drifted across his face.
The kids reluctantly pulled their backs up and looked at each other before breathing out in relief, the Commander raised a hand to get his attention from the side of the group and gave a short bow, "A thousand apologies, Prince Hari. But, I wasn't able to tell them that. Forgive me."
Hari raised a palm up with a soft nod, "Don't fret, please. I'm not the least bit upset." He turned to Kaizo this time and softened his smile, "Though I will say, I didn't expect you to have your mask on even before we could meet. Why is that, Kaizo?"
The woman's shoulders rise slowly and she whipped her head towards the Prince, "Hari, come on. Don't make him angry."
"We're already here, Deria. I think he's past angry at this point." He replied softly, an almost missable trace of bitterness lingers in his tone, a contrast to his hospitable and welcoming impression. "But it'll be fine—" he faces Kaizo with his billboard worthy smile; "...You called us because, after all this time, you need our help. Right, Kaizo?"
"Hari—!" Deria scolds, her hand almost reaching for him but stopped mid-way as Hari politely puts a hand up, a gesture for her to stop.
The masked Captain's temper was a full glass of water just waiting to spill at the slightest of tampering and on the brink of cracking a chip off the brim. "I don't need your help. I never did. I've only contacted you for a recommendation for the boy behind me."
They all angle their gaze towards Boboiboy behind Kaizo. His shoulders rise in surprise at the attention and waved with an anxious smile.
Kaizo continued, "If you have a problem with my request then I think you know what we need to do." he grabbed the handle of his sword and with one swift pull, unsheathed the concentrated blade of energy without a hint of hesitation. "I'm hoping you remember how the rules work."
At least twenty-five or so feet away, Hari nods politely, adjusting the shawl on his shoulder, "Of course, at least give my memory some credibility, Kaizo. The first one to get knocked off the grounds or ship, yes?" Hari lets out a disappointed sigh and gazes at Kaizo, afflicted, "What happened to you, Kaizo?"
Kaizo flicks the blade horizontally and tilts his head up, "Speak with your weapon, your Highness."
Commander Koko Ci jumped at the sight of the two males preparing for combat, "P-Prince Hari? Captain?"
Boboiboy's mind reeled, "This… took a 180. It hasn't even been five minutes and now he wants to fight them? Well, this IS Captain Kaizo…"
Ochobot, who has been right behind the gang, grabbed Boboiboy's shoulder from his back; Boboiboy could only console the fearful robot with a pat on his robotic hand.
Meanwhile, Admiral Tarung's reaction couldn't have been more relaxed. He crossed his arms and grinned excitedly, "Don't get your pants in a twist, Commander. It's just a spar. Their ethics, their rules, let's shouldn't intrude." He gave the gang a look of warning, "They talk with combat with their pride on the line. Those are the kinds of kids I teach."
The realization hits Boboiboy as he hears this.
So the Admiral DID teach kids. More specifically, this team. Captain Kaizo's old team. And, from what Boboiboy deduced, it was probably during their time at the Supreme Intergalactic Academy. The hints should've been obvious, but he literally just pieced the correlations together.
Fang didn't say anything; instead, he took a few steps back and pushed up his glasses.
The Admiral moved a hand in front of the gang and gestured for them to move back, "Alright, get back everyone. Get out of the kill zone before you catch the debris."
Everyone followed his directions and took those steps backward, watching as Hari and Deria assess Kaizo from afar. Vane robotically moved backward even before he was ordered to and waits, his hands intertwining in front of him and his thumbs twiddling timidly.
In a flash, the familiar blue energy of Kaizo's power created a barrier separating him and the team behind him. Surprised, Boboiboy ran up and placed a hand on the blue shield and inspected it. It was exactly like the one he used when they fought here on the training grounds, "Hey, what gives? We don't need a barrier. We can handle anything that might hit us."
Yaya nods her head in agreement, "Surely I can catch anything that might hit Gopal, don't you worry."
Gopal snapped an offended look to Yaya, "Wh—Hey! Why am I the only one you mentioned?"
"Let's be real, Gopal." Boboiboy pats a hand on his broad shoulders and shakes his head, "You won't be fast enough to dodge whatever would be shot at you. Remember the soccer ball training we had when you were still trying to find out your powers?"
"Well, yeah! My reflexes were second to none!"
"More like none at all, Gopal."
The three of them snickered at the joke and Gopal playfully shoved Boboiboy, "Some friend you are." He whipped his head to Fang who was a few steps away from them, watching Kaizo, "Hey, Fang! Tell them I've got good reflexes!"
It was like talking to a wall.
Fang stood pensive yet on the brink of a twitch of anticipation. His hands were clenched into fists and his focus was entirely sucked into the situation his older brother was in. He didn't reply to what Gopal said, but instead, replied to what they were talking about earlier.
"Remember what happened to those ships at the docks? The ones with holes in them? Without this barrier, we'd be roasted." Fang adjusted his glasses again, a tic he started to get whenever he got nervous, "Only Prince Hari was the one responsible for those."
Ying flinched, baffled, "The Prince did that to those ships?"
Fang replied coolly with an eerie tone to his sentence, "Would you believe me if I said he was holding back?"
An unnerving chill shot through their spine at the thought and their shoulders stiffened. It was a wonder why Fang was so tense. Now, they knew better.
They didn't have to answer to believe it was true.
Boboiboy could only watch as the three started to prep for battle and a little thought made him wonder about something. Specifically, Deria. The odd one out of the combatants.
What exactly can she do?
Within the silence came a spark of tension, the atmosphere solidified and pushed down on the already thick tension and urged for movement.
Then, before Boboiboy's mind could register movement, he found Captain Kaizo's figure gone from where he stood and instead found a familiar energy disk expanding on the ground and fading in a snap. Kaizo was already mid-air above Hari and Deria with his sword drawn upward to slash down; no holds barred.
"So fast." Ying commented ironically.
Despite how fast he moved in a blink, the reflex of Deria quickly matched Kaizo's and her voice rang out like a church bell.
"Sense decrease: Eyes!"
Her apricot eyes dulled to the gaze of a dead fish that see through everything and nothing. Slowly fading in orange markings suddenly pulsed on her cheeks and a blob of a translucent dome expanded from Deria's body and exploded outward, then disappeared.
Nothing happened.
"I know your tricks!" Kaizo yelled out unfazed. The momentum of gravity pulls him downward; augmenting his speed as he slashed his blade downwards. Deria was a second away from the blade meeting her forehead, but then, a clash.
A metal screech of impact rings across the grounds, the sword flared with energy at what had connected with the hit. Kaizo growled in frustration.
"But so do we." uttered the voice of Hari.
With only one hand, the Prince held out what looked to be a glowing and almost blinding iridescent object in his grasp. It was strong enough to deflect the sword but small enough to be shaking in his hand. The golden to white glow of it disappeared in a flash and materializing in his grasp was what looked to be…
"I-Is that a gun?! And it's one of those guns with the switching chambers!" Gopal shrieked in disbelief.
The gun itself looked antique as if it weren't supposed to be used in combat. Its base was a clean white with golden carvings outlining the barrel and handle.
"It… looks more like a pepperbox gun." Yaya said flatly, slowly taking in the image of the suddenly appearing firearm.
Ying nods at the comment, "So it's kinda like a revolver, right?"
"Yeah."
Boboiboy wasn't gonna question how the girls knew more about guns than the guys did, but again, they knew more about things in general than the boys do in the first place.
Boboiboy turned back to Vane, "Hey Vane, what can Prince Hari do?"
Vane's mouth opened to reply but was quickly hushed by Fang placing a hand on his shoulder, Fang shook his head and looked at Boboiboy, "Just watch."
Curious and wary of his reaction, Boboiboy gave a rough gulp and turned back towards the fight.
Hari forced Kaizo back with a shove and pointed the gun at him, "Deria, get behind me."
"Right." She replied instantly and threw her hood on, slowly starting to withdraw her steps.
A small glow of light emitted from the muzzle of the firearm, it expanded like a balloon and shrunk to the size of a dot. Then, a gunshot. A straight white line drew through the air and Captain Kaizo barely dodged it with his shoulder an inch away from the sizzling discharge.
"You two are still too predictable." Kaizo barked from under his mask and struck a defensive position.
A rumble of a low chuckle vibrated from Hari's throat, "We'll see."
Hari proceeded to amble forward, aiming and slightly missing with a few of his discharges. Regardless of whatever Deria did to Kaizo or the bullets shooting point-blank towards him, Kaizo continued to bob and weave between the countless gunfire shooting inches from him and sometimes deflecting the shot with a slash of his blade with impeccable precision. A few shots caught Kaizo's coat, but his movement never wavered; his footing never halting.
Gopal squinted and tilts his head in the middle of watching the battle, "Hey, what was Deria's thingie all about? Ya know, that invisible dome thing? Nothing else seems to be happening…"
Vane, who has now been explaining a few things for the group, eagerly called out to Gopal, "Ah, Miss Deria's power has already taken effect and… It isn't supposed to be noticeable."
They all swiveled to look back at Vane for a second; Gopal bolted his fists to his hip and shot a skeptical look, "Ha? Then what's the use if I can't see it?"
Vane pointed towards the fight as if gesturing them to look, which they did immediately, then he continued to explain, "Miss Deria's power focuses on the senses of an organic and living body. She can tamper your senses by either making the person blind, deaf, sneeze, or even affect the temperature on their body. She can affect one person or even a group, it's pretty scary." He scratched his cheek with his index and furrowed his brows, "Thing is, even with what seems to be an advantage to Miss Deria's side, the drawback is that she herself is also affected by her own power."
"Wait what?" Ying exclaimed in surprise and looked back and forth towards Vane and the fight, "So the sensory power she used a while ago… It had something to do with decreasing… Eyes?"
Yaya added to Ying's assumption, "It probably means that she decreased their sight. That means… Both Captain Kaizo and Deria are blind right now?"
Vane smiled and nodded, "Precisely."
"That also means… The Captain has been dodging bullets blind? How trained does someone need to be to dodge bullets blind? Especially if they're point-blank!"
Worry started to flood the teens' minds as they continued to concentrate back on the battle.
"Sluggish!" Kaizo roared out after dodging past two shots aimed for his chest. He shoots forward and swung his sword back before slashing widely.
"Now that I noticed it, Captain Kaizo is kinda using more area-based attacks."
Hari predicted the attack and used the gun to slap the blade's tip off balance then point it directly at Kaizo's mask. Before he could pull the trigger, Kaizo's blade zipped away and a familiar glow of blue surrounded his right ankle. Kaizo spun and aimed for Hari's head and the blonde quickly moved his hands up to block. The kick connected with a heavy slam and a shockwave of wind imploded within their two bodies. Despite the recoil of Hari's body, he held his position strong and pushed off Kaizo's foot and positioned his gun to shoot forward.
The dance continues, Kaizo switching from blade to hand to hand combat and Hari parrying and trying to gain distance between them. Kaizo gave no second of rest to Hari as the barrage of slashes from his blade started to get closer to his blind spots.
From the earlier statement of Vane, something about Kaizo's blade swings was off. Boboiboy noticed only a slight delay of movement to his swings than when they'd always fight side-by-side. Usually, his swings were straight to the point, one slash then a pause to shift the position of his blade. But now with a loss of sight, Kaizo swung like every second was a drop of water in a desert to him. It wasn't desperate, but it leaned on erratic.
"He… Probably IS fighting blind right now. How long does Deria's power last?"
When Kaizo got closer towards Hari, he tries to jump away again, "Deria!" Hari called out and pumped his hand back, the gun blinks in a flash and disappears.
Deria, who they didn't notice, had been discreetly circling the grounds and had moved a few feet behind Kaizo. She jabs her palms outward and pulls them back, "Sense decrease: Ears!"
The same transparent sphere appeared again from Deria and inflated out to phase through everything again.
"It's ears this time…" Ying muttered next to Boboiboy watching the fight intently, her teeth biting the tip of her thumbnail.
Kaizo, who was just about to arc his blade vertically, was suddenly interrupted by Hari's booming voice.
His kaleidoscopic pupils flickered and the entirety of his eyes blazed white.
A chill ran through Boboiboy's spine as he watched the white flash across the Prince's face.
Hari's voice echoed in command, "Light Burst!"
As if the sun had appeared right before them, Hari's figure suddenly shone a blinding bright light so brilliant that it put the summer rays to shame.
Everyone behind the barrier had their heads quickly turned away, surprised yelps and gasps escaped from the small group and Boboiboy had to stop himself from looking straight at it in disbelief.
"Light Burst? But… That's MY move for Light!" He thought in a confused panic.
What exactly was Hari?
Even without looking or facing the direction of the rupture of light, the presence of it warmed their eyelids and skin. The sheer heat forced them to shut their eyes tight; to bend lower in place. The seething light from the prince heated the exterior of the ship and the hiss of something burning soon disappeared after the light started to die.
When everyone looked back up, they noticed Deria shielding her eyes as well. However, a few meters across from her was Captain Kaizo within a newly created energy sphere barrier.
He stood inside with his sword sheathed and his mask now deactivated, his face finally shown for the two other adults to see. With his free hand, he rubbed his eyes with grit teeth and furiously growls from under his breath. He pulls his hand away to shoot a glare at the prince, "Cheap trick, Hari. You weren't the scheming type."
Hari could only chuckle lightly, "I wasn't, and I'm still not. But it at least managed to make you show your face to us."
Kaizo paused for a moment then shook his head.
Hari blinked, then jolted in place, "Oh. Right, of course. He can't hear us." He then held out his hand elegantly, "But you can see this."
"What's he bringing out now?!" Gopal exclaimed before being hushed by Admiral Tarung's hand on his mouth.
Under Hari's hand formed a longer and stouter looking firearm, and just like the pepperbox one, it had an aura. The pulsing gold aura surrounding it shattered like glass as soon as he held onto the handle and the large gun dropped onto the ground with a heavy slam.
"It's a cannon…!" Ochobot whispered in disbelief at the sight of it and squints, "It almost looks like Ice's cannon, right Boboiboy?"
The reply fell on deaf ears; Boboiboy was too engrossed in the similarities to answer back.
"Apologies in advance, Kaizo. But I know how weak your defenses are—!" He pulled back the shawl on his shoulder as it flapped upwards, his two hands gripped the cannon in place and pointed towards the defensive Kaizo, "Infused… Light Blitz!"
The barrel within the cannon began to rotate, slowly starting to whir to life. The cylinders inside glowed a heated white and everyone watched as the firearm began to warm up. Without a choice, Kaizo had to remain in the sphere, waiting for the attack to come.
Then in a second, the cannon fired.
White balls of light shoot out of the cannon, one by one, slamming and breaking through the defenses of the blue energy barrier.
The outer sphere broke first, then the middle, then the closer one to the last…
Some balls of light bounced off of the barrier with an irritating vibration, some others missed entirely and flew off towards a part of the ship. Luckily, the only damage it did cause was a circle imprint and a few missing metal plates.
The cannon's whirring dulled and stopped, steam started to float out of the muzzle and Hari hurriedly reloaded by closing his eyes. As if he was praying, he muttered an incantation under his breath and light started to accumulate around him. The flecks of light started to pull towards the back of the cannon and began to recharge.
Kaizo called back his mask and deactivated the barrier surrounding him.
Still in the process of reloading the cannon, Hari opens his eyes slowly; his brows furrowing. When he did, he noticed that Kaizo wasn't even in his place anymore nor was he running towards the wide-open Prince.
He was running back towards Deria.
"K-Kaizo?" Deria muttered out in surprise and took one step backward, she continued to back off the more he started to cover ground towards her and she quivered. "Stay back!"
Ying yelled out, stupefied, "What's Captain Kaizo doing?! He should know the rules of combat! Never turn your back on the enemy!"
Boboiboy responded hoarsely, trying to focus on the battle, "He must know what he's doing."
Hari continued to point towards Kaizo without any inkling of restraint. The revolving of the cylinders started to speed up rapidly, the force of it turning was enough to erratically blow back his sleeves and hair back. He tried to aim the muzzle towards Kaizo with a slow tilt of the cannon.
"Infused—" Hari bellowed through the sound of wind and machine grinding across the air.
Deria and Kaizo threw fists and kicks. Kaizo, the more combat-oriented fighter, quickly ended the exchange with a kick to her chest. Deria wasn't quick enough to evade his next move as he went in and grabbed the hood of her mantle, she yelped in surprise at him tugging and her knees buckled downward, in a desperate panic, she yelled out, "S-Sense decrease: Eyes!"
The effect of it detonated once more with it passing through everything like a gust of wind, Kaizo didn't look the least bit affected and continued to summon out an energy disk below him.
"—Light—"
Like a comet through the atmosphere, the blur of Kaizo's figure, literally dragging Deria by the hood, drove forward with an alarming amount of pressure, and with the direction he's going at, it was as if he was diving straight towards the cannon.
He was diving straight towards the cannon.
It didn't look like he was going to stop.
"He's gonna get blasted, Boboiboy!" Yaya shook his right arm in a frenzy and continued to shake him harder, "He's—"
"—Blitz!"
At the last minute, Captain Kaizo transferred the energy boost to his right hand where he held on tight to Deria's hood and flung her like a pillow towards Hari. The cannon glowed, the balls of light expanded and shrunk into the cylinders; Kaizo took the beat of pause within the battle to use his sword, mercilessly ripping the blue blade through the air towards Deria and Hari.
The sound of a heavy tear of metal and air followed by white noise smashes through the second of silence, a blast of white and blue energy combusted like an exploding star and like a wave from a tsunami, it pushes back everything within a twenty-foot radius and managed to shake the ship with a forceful jolt to the right.
The people behind the gaunt barrier stumbled back at the shockwave and hurriedly stood back up to see what had happened. They leaned close to the barrier separating them from the battlefield and spotted only the Captain on deck with his sword still out, his figure rigid and tense; ready to strike at the hint of aggression.
Gopal inhaled sharply, "Are we sure this is just a spar?"
"Where's Deria and Prince Hari?" Yaya cut in worriedly, hovering up to inspect the training grounds through the view from the barrier.
"They…" Boboiboy muttered and gulped after realizing they weren't on the platform anymore. "They must've gotten thrown off the ship…!"
Captain Kaizo deactivated his sword and the barrier behind him, "Fight's over, I win." He concluded the battle and turned his back to face towards the group watching him, he walked forward without remorse and commanded as the barrier blinked away, "Bring them to the Paladin once they've recovered. Once you're all ready to leave, send a transmission to my ship. I'll be in my quarters."
Hesitating to even move after Captain Kaizo walked passed them and back into the interior of his ship, they reluctantly moved and ran forward to peek down below at the edge of the balcony-like platform of the training grounds.
Deria and Hari were ten-feet through one of the pirate ships docked and covered in splinters and dust. From the angle they were looking at, Deria probably got flung through the thick mast and broke through. It was toppled on top of her body along with the large dirtied crimson sail of the pirate ship, she painfully tried to push herself up but the mast pinning her down was at least as heavy and as wide as an oak tree. Like a mouse caught in a trap, she looked up, balked and beaten, using her free hand to pat her face off of the dirt and dust settling on her skin.
On the other hand, there was the Prince, bottom buried and feet jutting out of the newly made hole on the deck. His previously tamed back hair was messily strewn about his forehead, his once pressed and clean attire was ruffled and scratched; splinters decorated his attire along with planks and boards resting on his tall figure. As he sat inside a now breached open hole in the main deck, a distressed groan escapes through clenched teeth while attempting to push himself out of the wooden puncture. Surprisingly, his galaxy shawl was still intact and unscratched on his left shoulder; though, he couldn't say the same about his pride.
The TEMPUR-A cadets who had been doing their jobs corralling the remaining pirates off of the ship on the first floor looked terrified at the sudden additional damage to the captured aircraft. A few cadets who were near the first ship started to climb the broken hull to check who had landed on deck, Hari pushed himself out of the hole with a stumble and a grave cough.
Just a few seconds ago, Hari held himself with such grace and elegance. Now, he crouched on the ground in a coughing fit, stumbling off the floor to stand like a drunken sailor trying to prove gravity didn't exist.
From the platform of Captain Kaizo's ship, the rest of them watched from afar with worried gazes. Yaya began to float, "I should go and help them. Ying, come on."
"On it." replied Ying.
The girls began to descend down the ship to help the victims of the brutal assault while the boys watched in awe.
Gopal hummed in thought before asking, "What actually happened there? Why didn't Prince Hari shoot? He clearly could've shot at Captain Kaizo no problem."
Vane, who had been standing at a polite distance, took a step closer to the boys. He tilts his body forward to get in Gopal's peripheral and waved meekly, "If I may," he continued with a soothing tone, "From what I saw, Kai—Captain Kaizo was only able to avoid being blasted because of Miss Deria. You saw how he threw her towards Prince Hari?"
Gopal and Boboiboy nodded.
"She was in the line of shot of the cannon, that was the reason why he didn't shoot. He didn't want to risk hurting Miss Deria." Vane said with downcast eyes.
Fang spoke roughly to their left and fiddled with his gloves, "That's one of the reasons why he works alone. He can't have anyone keeping him down." He strapped the gloves tighter and narrowed his eyes, "…Not even me."
The hurt in his voice lingered. Boboiboy broke the melancholy, "But, besides all of that… I have several questions."
Vane and Fang looked startled, slowly turning their gazes towards each other and then hesitantly back to Boboiboy.
Fang grinned, but it didn't look genuine. A flash of guilt crosses his expression, "Uh… I'll introduce you to them properly. When the Captain calms down and…" he looks back below to see the TEMPUR-A cadets now helping Deria and Hari stand up properly, "When we can get them all to calm down."
Boboiboy nods, suspicious, "Hm… Sure, I guess."
This rampant domino line of ridiculously coincidental and confusing questions would soon come to an end.
At least, Boboiboy hoped it would, because, after today, he'd need a few minutes, or at best, an hour or two to process everything that had happened and what has yet to happen.
After a few hours, the Paladin had departed from the TEMPUR-A station and swam back into the sea of space. In the male restroom of the aircraft, the rush of water squeaks to a close at the turn of a faucet knob, Boboiboy flicks his wet hands downwards and pats them on the sides of his pants. Ochobot hovers next to him and tilts his body, "What a day…"
"You tell me. I didn't even DO anything and I feel tired…" Boboiboy replied wearily, "I didn't think there was so much bad blood with those three."
"Hm. Well, to me, it only seemed like Captain Kaizo was the one feeling angry."
Boboiboy hummed in thought and looked up at the mirror by the sink, a loose strand of hair pokes from his left and he tucks it back under his hat, "I guess so. But, think about it… If there's so much bad blood with those three already," Boboiboy turns to Ochobot in concern, "Can you imagine if all five of them meet up?"
Ochobot shakes his body, his mechanical hands settling on his head, "Ugh, I don't even want to think about that just yet."
Boboiboy chuckled dryly and looks back towards the mirror, losing himself in his curious eyes.
His focus dove back into his pool of thought, a rush of questions began to formulate for when he had to ask them later.
"Who are they? Why did they react that way? What should I even do to make them calm down? How do I interact with them? What did Captain Kaizo do? What did they do? What kind of people are they? How long will they stay with us for?"
One particular question seized his attention.
"Why does Hari have Light's power?"
Boboiboy must've been looking too hard at the mirror because Ochobot began to worriedly mutter softly, "Boboiboy? Hey, are you okay?"
The boy's expression returned innocent, he turned to Ochobot with an apologetic smile, "Oh, sorry. Just… Just lost in thought."
Before he could walk out of the restroom to finally sit back in his bed, the door swung open towards him. He froze in place as a new face walked in with a look of surprise.
It was Vane.
"Boboiboy, there you are." A smile tugs on his lips, "I was actually going to look for you, I'm sorry if I disturbed anything."
The constant polite mannerisms made Boboiboy feel informal. He scratched the back of his head with a wave of his free hand, "N-No, it's fine. I was just going to head to bed in a bit. Uh…" he tilts his head slightly, "Do you need something?"
Vane nods gingerly and gestures for Boboiboy to follow him outside. Ochobot and Boboiboy exchanged looks before exiting the restroom with Vane slowly walking ahead of him, the blonde starts, "I was actually going to apologize on behalf of the prince."
"Apologize? Oh, speaking of, where are they right now?"
The last thing Boboiboy remembered was that they got on the Paladin and headed directly to the quarters assigned by Admiral Tarung. They didn't even come out yet to give any greetings of sorts to the team.
Vane shyly scratched a finger on his cheek, "Um, right. They're still in their rooms. Miss Deria is sharing a room with Miss Shielda and… I'm sharing with Prince Hari."
Boboiboy's list of questions piled at the mention of Vane sharing a room with Hari. He did notice that they kind of looked alike with the same skin and hair color. Vane continues.
"Prince Hari didn't send me here, of course. He's currently asleep. But, I just felt like you all deserved an apology for the sudden… brawl. It wasn't like him to suddenly agree to a spar but… I had no choice but to stand back and watch." Vane's head angles down, Boboiboy couldn't see since he was walking behind him but from the way Vane's stride shifted, he probably looked sad. "I have already said my apologies to Ying, Yaya, and Gopal."
"And Fang?" Ochobot added curiously.
The name snapped him off the dour state and his head angles just enough for him to peek from his shoulder while he walked, "Ah, yes. I was actually going to see him. Um…"
He stops. Boboiboy and Ochobot slowly stop too.
Vane turns his body fully to face towards the other; the blonde's eyes stared vigorously at Boboiboy like a bull at a matador. However, there was no anger in those eyes, it was something else. It was as if the unknown emotion was suppressed; enclosed in an etiquette built around formality. He then spoke softly, his chin tilting down, "How… How long have you known Fang?"
"Fang? Uh…" He had to think about it. "I guess about… three or so years now. I think. Why?"
The answer seemed to slightly affect Vane. His eyebrows raised and a soft expression washes across his face. Realization.
The formal boy nods slowly, taking in the information before letting out a small chuckle, the smile returning to him, "No reason. I'm also sorry for the quick introduction earlier. Here, let's start over—" He held out his hand to Boboiboy and gave him a charming boyish smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Boboiboy. I'm Vane, I hope we can get along."
Boboiboy, still a bit confused, decided to shake the bewilderment off and accept the hand, he shook it twice with a decent grip, "Nice to meet you too, Vane."
Vane nods in acknowledgment, then another towards Ochobot before removing his hand, "I should get going to bed. We'll settle all the questions you might have for tomorrow once we're all rested."
Boboiboy nods and waves, Ochobot awkwardly waves back too and Vane left as quickly as he came leaving them alone near the cadet quarters down the hall. The silence of the Paladin's corridor was compressing, the distant hum of the engine vibrates across the ship and the feeling left him cold and uncomfortable, especially at night.
Boboiboy's hand slowly drops down to his side and he wonders again for the nth time today.
"Seriously, who are these people?"
The night drew to a brisk and quiet close with the questions left wide open.