Here we continue the whole mood swing debacle! Hopefully these two nerds will make up. Please enjoy!
The two searched through the city streets, getting confused stares from the citizens. The sky was a dark blue with the city lights chasing away the stars. Tilamat felt breathless in a city like this, it wasn't as advanced as Tabithia or their controlled planets but the beauty of the city still captivated him. He quickly shook that off as he almost walked into Mandarin.
"Where could he have gone?" Tilamat asked, looking into an alleyway.
Mandarin sighed.
"That's a good question because most of the old places he would go to are gone by now." He said.
Tilamat walked up next to him.
"Are there any new places we might find him at?"
Mandarin placed a finger under his chin.
"We should probably check the places we usually go to first before anything." He said.
Tilamat nodded as the two continued their search, not noticing the clear sky began to become covered with clouds.
They checked the museum, the park, the arcade, and even at the pier. Mandarin sighed, where did he go?
"Okay so...where else can we check?" Tilamat asked.
Mandarin thought on it when he felt a drop of water hit his snout. He shivered and looked up. The clouds were now dark and heavy with moisture as it began to rain.
Tilamat groaned loudly.
"Are you serious?!" He whined as Mandarin placed a hand over him.
"Let's just hope the others found him because I am not going to search for Sprx in the rain." Mandarin huffed as the two searched for shelter.
The two looked around frantically, hoping that there would be something still open. They then came across a large burger like structure with several tables. Mandarin tried to look around for other forms of shelter but most of the places either seemed too small or closed.
"Hey!" A voice called out to the two.
Tilamat and Mandarin turned to see Mr. Gackslapper poking his head out.
"You should come in! It's raining cats and dogs out here!" He called out.
Tilamat and Mandarin looked at each other before rushing over and going inside, Mandarin having a bit more difficult time height wise.
The door closed and Tilamat shivered before Mr. Gackalapper handed him and Mandarin towels.
"Thank you." Tilamat said.
Mandarin wiped his face a bit before looking around.
"I'm surprised that you're even in out in this weather, it's not like the robot is leaking is it?" He asked Mandarin.
Mandarin sighed.
"No thank goodness."
Tilamat was confused by the interaction between the two, shouldn't this human be crapping himself because of Mandarin? tilted his head.
"Then what are you doing out? You hungry? Because I still got some hover burgers left to-" he began as he went over to his grill before Mandarin held up a hand.
"Oh no you don't have to do that. We don't want to impose." He said.
Mr. Gackslapper waved a hand.
"No it's fine, business today was slow anyway." He said, beginning to cook from inside the restaurant.
Tilamat watched with peeked inquiry while Mandarin sat down, feeling a bit guilty. He raised an eyebrow at Tilamat's behavior, unsure why he was staring so much. Then a light bulb went off.
"You've never tried human food have you?" He asked.
"Nope, never." Tilamat said flatly, watching intently.
Mandarin snickered as he continued to watch. Mr. Gackslapper make three plates and handed two of them to Mandarin and Tilamat.
Tilamat picked the burger up and examined it.
"So uh you're a Tabithian aren't you?" Mr. Gackslapper asked.
Tilamat looked up and nodded as the man placed a burger on the third plate.
"Huh, for some reason I thought you'd look like a tree person or something." He said.
Tilamat snickered.
"No those are Truithians, though I can see why you'd mix those up." He said before placing his attention back on the burger.
"Oh sorry."
"No don't worry about it."
Mandarin blinked.
"You can eat it you know." He reminded him.
Tilamat only nodded a bit before slowly taking a bite. He paused, then quickly began to devour the whole burger. Mandarin couldn't help but laugh at the sight while Mr. Gackslapper's eyes widened.
"Woah slow down!" He exclaimed worried.
Tilamat finished the burger minutes later and looked around.
"What that's it?!" He asked, causing Mandarin to laugh harder.
Mr. Gackslapper looked over at Mandarin worriedly.
"He's never really tried human food before?" He asked.
Mandarin could only shake his head, having the giggles now.
Tilamat licked his fingers and sighed remorsefully, that was too good and now it was gone.
"We don't have food this good back home. I mean it's good, but the closest thing we have to these 'burgers' is the big Zlorg worm." He sighed.
Mandarin turned to him, disgusted.
"It's a specialty back home."
Mandarin rolled his eyes, he didn't even want to know.
Mr. Gackslapper smiled and held up the third plate.
"Well I'm glad you like it, I'll make you another plate after I get this to him." He said before going to the other side of the restaurant.
Tilamat cheered while Mandarin paid attention to where the cook was going. He turned to what seemed to be a closet and opened it.
"Here, I made some burgers and thought you'd like one."
"Thanks, I could really use one." A voice said.
Mandarin perked his head up.
"Sprx?!"
Sprx poked his head out and his eyes widened.
"Mandarin!"
Everyone stood there in silence while Tilamat looked at them worriedly. He then got up and began to lead Mr. Gackslapper away.
"Wait what's going on?" He asked.
"Uhhh something that these two need to work out." Tilamat coughed before the two went into the storage room.
Sprx and Mandarin didn't speak at first, the rain outside being the only sound present. Sprx rubbed his arm and awkwardly looked off to the side.
"You...you know I didn't mean what I said-"
"I know you didn't..." Mandarin sighed, knowing that even though he didn't mean it, it still hurts.
Sprx took a chair and sat down a foot away from him.
"I'm serious, I was being stupid as usual." He explained.
"I don't think you're stupid!" Mandarin denied.
Sprx jumped a bit but smiled a bit.
"Thanks, I was just so sick of the mood swings." He explained.
Mandarin tilted his head.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
Not the accusations again!
"Mandarin-"
"No that came out wrong, what I meant is I feel there's an underlying issue between our constant hostility." He explained, reviving a confused look from Sprx.
"Huh?"
Mandarin sighed.
"What I'm trying to get at is that we've always had a tense relationship in the past. When I came back it seemed to get better, but fights like what happened earlier really makes me worried." He explained.
Sprx's back straightened a bit. That was true, it wasn't like how it was when he was leader but when he came back there were still some tense feelings still lingering.
Mandarin set down his meal and looked at Sprx dead in the face.
"So be honest, do you still harbor ill feelings towards me for betraying you?" He asked.
Sprx flinched.
"I'm not accusing you, I'm just asking." Mandarin added.
Sprx glanced off to the side.
"Believe me it's not as bad as it used to be." He admitted, causing Mandarin to nod.
"I mean after you left, I hated your guts. When you came back the first time to take over Shuggazoom, that made it worse. Then when you came back the second time and you were reformed...I don't know." Sprx sighed.
Mandarin was silent, letting him continue.
"I mean I don't hate you or anything, I just...I don't know." Sprx sighed.
"You still have the after effects of what happened. That is more than understandable." He said.
Sprx bit his lip.
"You said a while ago when I was feeling guilty about what happened with the Alchemist was that you understood how I felt. I never did know your reasoning behind that." Mandarin pointed out.
Sprx looked up, he never did tell him about the Fire of Hate incident. He cleared his throat a bit.
"Oh that, well a year ago before the war happened, Valina and your clone tried to find all these pieces to resurrect Skeleton King." He began, Mandarin listening intently.
"We tried to stop them when they got the Ice crystal of vengeance but...that didn't go well and when we tried to stop them getting the Fire of Hate, we were close but..." His voice trailed off before continuing.
"I grabbed it and its hate consumed me, corrupting me." He said, finding it hard to speak.
Mandarin was about to stop him but Sprx held up a hand.
"No I got this, anyway I gave the Fire of Hate to Valina and your clone and joined them to resurrect Skeleton King. I helped them bring back one of our biggest enemies and I basically helped cause a war." Sprx sighed.
Mandarin shook his head slightly, knowing that wasn't true.
"But the team helped me realize that it wasn't my fault, that the Fire of Hate made me hurt everyone and helped resurrect Skeleton King. It took a while but I did eventually forgive myself." Sprx said.
Sprx picked up his plate and began to eat the burger.
"So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand you a bit more now." He said in between bites.
Mandarin smiled a bit, feeling the same way.
"Again I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier." Sprx said.
"No my mood swings were stressing you out so I should be the one apologizing."
"Mandarin you can't even control them so don't even go there."
The two then heard the storage room door open and Tilamat and Mr. Gackslapper peek their heads out.
"Is it safe to come out now?" Mr. Gackslapper asked.
Mandarin nodded.
"Yes of course." He said as the two left the storage room.
"Should I know what's going on, because I don't want to impose or-"
Mandarin waved a hand.
"Oh no it's fine, Sprx and I had a fight earlier but it settled down." He explained.
Mr. Gackslapper nodded, understanding.
"Until I yell at you again from stress." Sprx muttered.
Mandarin smirked at him.
"Oh the others would rip into you next time you yell at a pregnant person." He snickered.
"They probably will!" Sprx agreed.
Tilamat sighed, at least the two will get along somewhat better now.
The rain the four heard stopped and Mr. Gackslapper looked outside.
"Well what do you know? It stopped!"
The others went outside, the rain did stop and the sky was beginning to clear up.
"Wow! Me and Mandarin made up and the rain stopped!" Sprx said, laughing a bit.
"It's emotional timing." Mandarin snickered
Tilamat sighed, happy that they're finally getting along.
"Sprx!"
The four turned to the others running towards them, some of them looking quite peeved at Sprx. Mandarin stepped in front of him just in case the others will kill him.
"Thank goodness you are ok!" Gibson sighed.
"You have a lot to apologize for Sprx!" Nova huffed.
Mandarin sighed.
"Don't bother, he's already apologized." He said.
"He still yelled at you." Willow pointed out.
"And I yelled at him, we're even." Mandarin shrugged.
Chiro sighed, at least happy they weren't at each other's throats anymore. He turned to Mr. Gackslapper with an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry about all this."
"Don't worry about it Chiro, besides shelter was the least I could do for them." He said.
Chiro smiled, that's good. He turned to Tilamat, who came out with Mandarin and Sprx's burgers in his mouth.
"And uh thank you for your help too. How long are you going to be staying here?" He asked.
Tilamat gulped down the hamburger.
"Until Mandarin has the baby, I'm going to be going to the Ranger 7 prison to try to get volunteers so the prisoners can boost their emotional states." He said.
"Their emotional states?"
"I don't know something the prison ward thought up of." Tilamat sighed before continuing the eat the burgers.
"If Sakko gets pregnant I swear to Veran-!" Mandarin laughed.
"He'd be too tiny anyway!" Jinmay laughed.
Chiro snickered before looking to the others.
"Alright team, let's go home." He announced and everyone agreed.
Sprx looked back at Mr. Gackslapper, who was closing up.
"Thanks again for the shelter!" He said.
"No problem!"
He walked up to Mandarin. Willow smiled and leaned over to Antauri.
"Well at least that's out of the way. Wonder what made the two make up?"
Antauri chuckled.
"We could only wonder, but at least hopefully they'll fight less-"
"Excuse me Mr. Moody I didn't except to give you royalty treatment!"
"When you decide to carry a child for eleven months, you gain the right for everyone to treat you like that!" Mandarin snapped.
Chiro sighed, not again. However their interaction was different than before. It seemed a bit friendlier than before and Sprx snickered and playfully slapped Mandarin's leg.
"You ass." He scoffed.
"Hey maybe we should let you have a go at this. There are pregnancy simulators out there that can have you have all the same symptoms." Mandarin chirped.
"Uh right now is a terrible time! We have evil breathing down our necks!"
Mandarin rolled his eyes.
"Fine scaredy cat."
"I'm not a scaredy cat!" Sprx defended.
Everyone sighed in relief, thank goodness.
Yaay they made up! Now Mr. Gackslapper was awkward for me to write since it was my first time writing him so hopefully I did okay...hopefully. Thanks for reading!