InaDan: Flower of Courage

Dropped

"Yea- what do you mean 'too'?"

"Oh-! I... I don't mean-"

The floor below them suddenly gave way, and they give a rather loud yelp as they fell. Their mouths shut when they realized water was below them, and as soon as they stopped descending, they made their way to the surface as fast as possible.

"Sorry!" A man in a strange astronaut-like suit called over to them. "A small miscalculation on my part."

"But you never miscalculate!" Kimiko shouted back. "You did this on purpose!"

"Now, now! Calm down! If you let your anger take over, you'll forget to keep yourself afloat!"

"For a genius professor in the arts of space-time, he's way too carefree." She muttered with a sigh.

"Oh, that's him?"

"Yeah. Professor Crossword Aruno. He only ever appears when he wants to though."

"That's... pretty inconvenient."

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"Hold on! We'll save you!" A brunette called in the distance.

Eva blinked the water out of her eyes, just to make sure. Are those soccer balls? She spotted two familiar figures tying ropes to each ball, before the brunette and a tall blue haired boy kicked the ball in their direction. She shielded herself when the balls made a splash.

But Kimiko was smiling. "Thanks!" That is, until she saw how short the rope was. "Uh... How exactly are they planning to pull us across?"

"Don't worry, we're here too."

"What the-?!"

Two near-identical robots appeared above them, picking up a rope each.

"Please hold on to the ball."

Ban... Hiro... "Thanks!"

They held on as the two robots stared pulling. It was slow and peaceful ride, and they nearly made it to the end when-

"I smell burning." Eva looked up before immediately yanking the rope out of the LBX's hands and into the water.

"Wha-"

"Your rockets were too close to the rope." She explained. "It would've caught on fire if I let it be."

"Ah... My bad..."

"Hiro, is everything alright?" The darker blue machine asked from up ahead.

"Ban, I was careless... Though now, the rope is too wet and heavy for Ikaros Force to carry."

"I'll take over."

"Jin?"

"Triton!" Kimiko watched as another machine, its head looking a lot like a hammerhead shark, jumped on to some kind of hovercraft and flew towards Eva's ball. Strange, white string came out of its palms and stuck to the ball before pulling it along to shore.

Eva smiled at the blue robot as it flew back to its owner. "T-Thank you." To her surprise, he just nodded and turned away.

Professor Aruno cleared his throat. "Well, it's my fault that you two are soaked, so let me make it up to you." He snapped his fingers and suddenly, they were both dry.

Eva blinked. "Wait, how did you-?"

"I simply reversed your body's states as to how they were before you fell in." He smiled. "It's like that near drowning experience never happened."

"Except it did." Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Now, please explain why people are disappearing 200 years in the future?"

"And in Tokio City." Eva added.

"You're from Tokio City?!" Ban asked, loud enough for the other kids to turn their heads.

The blonde blinked. "Ban, what are you saying? Of course I am! It's only been a few... days since... Mi..." Their confused gazes made her shrink.

"What's going on?" The blue haired boy that kicked one of the balls earlier came up with the rest, almost all were wearing the same jacket.

"Hey, Kyou." Kimiko waved with a smirk.

"Who're you?"

"Yikes. I've been gone for, what? Two months? And that's how you're treating me now?" Her face fell when she realized he wasn't joking. "Wow, well... This is awkward."

Eva felt her heart sank when she locked eyes with the black and white haired boy again. She turned to the rest. "You all... really don't remember me...?"

Kimiko clicked her tongue. "It's more likely that they don't even know we existed."

"W-What...?"

Professor Aruno nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, Evangeline, but Kimiko is correct."