Soon, the Nix Fixers were shuffling off to the Mines. As the arid air started to grow cooler, the environment started to change as well. The harsh reds of the Magma Wastelands were starting to shift into lush greens of prairies in the space between the two habitats. Tall pipe trees brimming with crisp and bright coconapples sprouted high, allowing for shady spots thanks to the lightbulb sun still in the sky. Happy sunflowers, their faces beaming with gigantic closed-eyes smiles decorated the land. Mountains of gears and bolts were far off in the horizon. Everything was bright and lush…quite the opposite of Nixel Land.
Even still, Voyd was avoiding it all. He was a few feet away from his brothers, huddled up in fear and looking downwards. No longer did he seem like the sanest and most serious member of the tribe for his age. Now, he seemed exactly like his age: a small and fragile child. Obviously, this was something that Kybosh could easily take note on.
"Voyd, you okay?" Kybosh called back to him, as the three continued walking, while the air grew slightly cooler thanks to being near the Mines.
"…Whatever…" His tiny voice replied, not even facing his brother, as he continued to mask his face, which seemed to be glistening with tears at the moment.
Turning away from the youngest of the trio, the Nix Fixers trekked on, as the grays and golds of the Mines started to come into view. But Voyd continued to huddle down, refusing to take in a single bit of it.
It was his first mission all by himself. Sure, he had done other missions like the other Nixels, but he had always done them in groups. Being an actually-born Nixel over one of the millions that filled out the clone hoards meant one specific thing for this little guy: he was young. He wasn't created at the blurred age that all the other Nixels were, he was actually a child. Sure, there was the prince of the Nixels that was also born instead of being cloned, but he actually HAD family. He had a mom and a dad that had servants take care of him, while this young child that was stripped away from his family was drafted years before acceptable in Mixel eyes. But in Nixel eyes, he was considered as indistinguishable as the rest, albeit slightly smaller.
In the Mines, it was almost like the blacks and whites of Nixel Land were blurred to a gray happy medium. Not as colorful as other areas, but it still had its charm. Flecks of shiny gold were also embedded nearly everywhere. It was so sparkly, so shiny, so…distracting. So naturally, the Nixel attempted to grab at it, just to see what it was. Sure, he was supposed to be grabbing Cubits instead, but one little detour for one tiny golden ore couldn't hurt, right?
Turns out, it could, and it did. That little Nixel got his gold, all right…by having small fragments of it embedded into the back of his shell by the mighty force of a Cragster footprint. He couldn't tell if the Cragster just didn't see him, or saw him on purpose and decided to make him pay for being a Nixel in an area that Nixels weren't wanted, but as he slipped into darkness for a while right near the hole that he had dug all by himself to get to the Mines, he could hear something about "help in the Mountain City" and saw that gigantic pair of buck teeth in that stomper's mouth…and that's all he could remember, but remember it he did and would.
"-is Voyd…Voyd? Voyd? Earth to Voyd?"
The voice of his eldest brother snapped Voyd out of his trance. Through his distraction, he didn't even realize that they had made it into the Mines and had already been introduced to the locals. Looking around, it was just as Voyd remembered it: the cool air of the surrounding rocks was a vast contrast to the Magma Wastelands. The plain greys flecked with those tempting golds. By now looking at those metallic pieces were making Voyd's back start to ache, even if he had no shell that bore the cracked footprint anymore. And, furthermore, there were three new grey, black, and gold figures greeting the Nix Fixers.
One was smaller with a rocky complexion and gold sprouting out the top of his head like a crown. Another was very tall, with only one eye, sharp horns, and a mouth guard (Voyd could swear Kybosh looked a bit apprehensive around him). And then there was the third one. The leader. Short and stocky, with one gigantic arm that made his other one seem microscopic in comparison. And a grin that showed off two gigantic buck teeth.
Voyd, being at a loss for words, did the only thing he could think of. He cried. And cried and cried and cried. The bottle he was attempting to shove all of his emotions into had broken, and the contents were exploding out everywhere, shocking both the newfound Mixels and the remainder Nix Fixers.
It wasn't just a normal cry from him, too. Kybosh knew his though-to-be-silent sobs from when they were still in the platoon. He knew the tears of joy that he cried when Ragamuffin was returned to him. No, this seemed like a full blown meltdown. Shrieking like a siren, this miniature Mixel was near-impossible to get near, from the flailing to the tears to the aura of uncomfortableness he was giving off.
"I'm…really sorry about this." Kybosh apologized to the Mine citizens. "I don't know why he's acting like this.
"I do." Umbur muttered under his breath, a smug grin growing, though he was wise enough to hide it from his eldest brother and the rocky Mixels.
"He's really not like this that often, you guys!" Kybosh continued to apologize, as he struggled to comfort Voyd, but every advance he tried only got rewarded with a flailing smack.
"Me try something!" The big-armed Cragster happily offered, as he suddenly broke free from the other two and suddenly lifted the still-screaming Voyd up with his larger hand, rocking him up and down in a futile attempt to calm him down, as Voyd's sobs only rose and lowered in pitch and decibel depending on the location.
"This isn't working." Umbur sighed, facepalming, as the yells continued.
"It's okay!" The Cragster said, attempting to soothe the Nix Fixer. "Big brother Krader is here!"
"Krader, please." The boulder-like one sighed, trying to hide his viewpoint in a facepalm, as if he was suffering from second-hand embarrassment.
"You making this worse." The taller bull-like one sighed almost the same way as the younger one, also trying to mask any embarrassment.
"Shuff, Seismo, please." Krader said. "Me got this! Kybosh and Umbur think me do, right you two?"
"Oh, sure!" Umbur grinned, sarcasm oozing through his voice so thick that it could be spread on toast. "Everything under control, man!"
"See, YOUR brother thinks so!" Krader happily said to Kybosh, who was reduced to facepalming as well. Sure, the Cragsters may have had the elements of rocks, but did that mean their heads were filled with them, too?
"Krader." Kybosh sighed, trying to form his words as tactfully as possible, while his youngest brother continued to scream like a banshee. "I don't think that this is the best way to-"
"NIX, NIX, NIX!"
As if on cue, the return of that monotonic and monochromic chanting spread through the lands. Once again, the dull horde were attacking. At this point, it was near-impossible to tell if it was a brand new one, or the same exact one from the Magma Wastelands, too risk taking to once again realize they'd be destroyed.
"ACK!" Umbur flinched. "Cubit, Voyd, Cubit!"
As if he was entirely ignoring his brother, Voyd continued to wail and scream at varying decibels, while Krader continued to try and rock him up and down, still ignorant of the situation.
"Me got one!" Shuff suddenly called out, pulling out a leftover Rainbow Cubit from the Mix Fest. He ran over towards the two Nix Fixers…and promptly tripped over a pebble so tiny and buried so much in the ground that it made it look like he was tripping over nothing.
As Shuff landed flat on his face, the Cubit soared through the air, circling around…and promptly landed in Krader's outstretched giant hand. Voyd, still blinded by the tears and still flailing his arms, smacked his hand down in a muscle memory move…right on the Cubit. Before anyone could assess the situation, the mechanism was in motion, as a gigantic jackhammer burst out of the Cubit, pulverizing the two of them to pixels and scattering them into one.
"MIX!" Their two voices called out, though it almost sounded like Voyd was saying it out of compulsion, rather than actually wanting to.
In an instant, a Mix of Voyd and Krader was formed. He sported Voyd's body with Krader's head on top of it, only wrapped with Voyd's cowl-like design. On top of him were two of Krader's grey and gold decorations, with Voyd's ear capping off the last decoration. Krader's legs sprouted to Voyd's feet, with gold decorations on the sides. Both arms were Krader's, with Voyd's hand replacing Krader's big fingers. To top it all off, his mouth showed off Krader's gigantic buck teeth, only pointed at the ends like Voyd's fangs.
"We did it!" The Mix said, in Krader's voice, as the hoard of Nixels started to gain on the Mixels, causing the non-Mixed members to back away from them and behind the Mix.
"Um, now would be a good time to see whatever your powers are!" Kybosh nervously said, as the Mix cracked his fingers.
"SLAM!" The Mix yelled, punching down onto the ground with his large-armed hand.
The tremoring echo shook as the Nixels continued to race forward, chanting all the way. Just as the Nixels were about to reach the group of Mixels, a harsh cracking noise was heard, as the ground jutted open in a large crevice, swallowing up the Nixels and plopping them underground, piling them all back into the underground lair of Nixel Land. As if on cue, the ground clapped back together, practically cementing itself back to normal, not even showing a sliver of its shattering.
In a flash, the Mix soon dissipated, returning Krader and Voyd back to normal. Voyd was no longer crying, but was now clinging onto Krader's arm, his eyes still somewhat red from crying.
"You okay?" Krader asked the little Nix Fixer.
"Y-yeah." Voyd shakily said in relief. He seemed drained, but at the same time, at peace, as if the funk of the previous moments had left him.
"You did good out there." Krader said to Voyd, as he cocked his head in confusion.
"But…you were the lead of the Mix?" Voyd asked in confusion. "I did nothing and I was an emotional wreck."
"Mix can't work with one." Krader explained. "Me no do it by myself. You help me with your powers, me help you with yours."
"That was just like me and Vulk." Umbur said. "I didn't see Vulk when I was controlling that Mix, but I felt his presence guiding me on what to do, even if he didn't know what would happen."
"I really don't get this Mixing yet." Voyd said, shakily climbing off of Krader's arm. "We really didn't get to do it back home."
"Up on Mixel Mountain?" Seismo asked. "You all alone there."
"…Sure, that's exactly where I mean." Voyd fudged.
"Whoa, look at the time!" Kybosh suddenly blurted, trying to divert the conversation. "We'll never make it to the last location before dark unless we start heading out! Sorry to cut this short, but we're still missing out on another tribe."
"Oh, other tribe?" Krader asked, as the Nix Fixers nodded. "Me know shortcut!"
Soon, all three of them were by a hole that was dug in the ground and seemed to go on for miles.
"Me made shortcut!" Krader happily said. "Takes you to Mountain City!"
"Cool, thanks!" Umbur said, jumping into the hole.
"Thanks, Krader!" Voyd happily said, crawling into the hole. "See you around sometime!"
"Oh, yeah!" Krader said, as if something caught his mind before Kybosh went into the hole. "Say hi to Electroids for me!"
"Sure thing Krader, will d-" Kybosh started, and then automatically halted. "Wait, you said Electroids?"
Before Kybosh could react, a slight push had sent him down the hole towards the Mountain City, as his own personal hell prepped in his mind.