Rewind

Flashback

Chapter 4

"Commander assigned us a new mission." Gempa said as he pressed on the control board, revealing a holographic screen that showed a planet that was purely brown.

"Woah- is that a planet for chocolate?!" Daun said, eyes wide and sparkling.

"No. It's actually a planet made of mud." Halilintar deadpanned as he pressed his own tablet, and the image zoomed in to reveal a wasteland filled with mounds and mounds of mud.

"Ugh... please don't count me in on this." Solar said in disgust while Thorn's eyes merely widened in excitement.

"Gempa! Please, please can I join?!"

"We're... going to need to discuss the plan for this mission and see what our best options are first." Gempa said, turning to Fang who gave him a nod.

"Alright, listen up. Our purpose for this mission is to retrieve a power sphere called: MudBot-" Fang was interrupted by Taufan choking on air and coughing.

"MUDBOT IS REAL!?" He exclaimed in surprise while Thorn perked up in interest.

"So does that mean, Api is really from the future?"

"Wait, what?"

"What does this have to do with—"

"I thought Gempa told you guys not to talk about that-"

"Okay! ENOUGH!" Gempa yelled and everyone immediately shut their mouths. He then turned to Taufan with a frown, "I think we should talk about that later. Right now, we have a mission-"

Fang surprisingly held up a hand, "Nope. Wait. I think I want to hear about this."

Halilintar glared at his friend, "I believe family matters should just stay within the family."

"I'm just saying... if it's connected to a mission, then why not hear him out?" The shadow manipulator said with a shrug, "And why are you guys even treating Blaze like he's some sort of a taboo topic?"

"It's... complicated." Gempa sighed, "Right now, all he needs is to recover. That's what matters. So let's just not talk about this-"

Yaya raised her hand, "Can't we at least know what Taufan meant? Maybe it's relevant to our mission."

"Uhh... hehe... well, not exactly." Taufan scratched the back of his head and Solar rolled his eyes and turned back to Gempa,

"There we go, it's not! So let's just continue on-"

"Then what was the whole 'Api came from the future' thingy?" Ying asked looking at Thorn with pure curiosity.

"Oh! Api keeps saying he came from the future— that's why he got sick." Thorn informed them and Gempa could only bury his face in his hands with a groan. He could already tell where the conversation was heading as their friends continued to look even more confused.

"What—how is that related to-"

"Blaze got sick because he nearly ran himself dry to the point of debilitating exhaustion and him using his powers only made it worse. We tried asking him how he managed to do that impossible feat—and he keeps insisting he's from a future where there's an evil power sphere who can turn good guys into bad guys and he had to fight us off because apparently—we got turned into bad guys and because he couldn't defeat us and his powers wouldn't work anymore, he decided to turn back time using Ying's watch. But of course, we all knew it was just a delusional dream made by his fevered brain." Solar said without catching a breath, before turning to Gempa, "Might as well tell them just so we can get this over with."