Chapter 41
A 6-year-old Lia ran down the hallway of their house while holding her bear plushie. It was 1 AM the morning. She wanted to grab a slice of chocolate cake.
The lights were dimmed because Lia didn't want to turn all of them on. She was afraid she might end up forgetting to turn them off which will cause the anger of her mother. Besides, if she did turn on the lights, their housekeeper might know so she wanted to prevent that.
As she was already by the refrigerator, she brought out the box of cake and placed it at a table. She was already holding her knife, fork, and small plate. Once she got a slice, she immediately munched on the cake.
She was enjoying every bite of the cake, giggling at how she was able to sneak out of her room without letting everyone know. As she was doing that, she suddenly heard footsteps. She was startled, and what scared her more is the fact it didn't come from the stairs. It came from the living room.
With her curiosity, she slowly walked to the living room only to encounter a figure which scared the hell out of her. She lets out a scream, dropping the plate and fork she was holding. She fainted afterward, and the hit on her head was hard.
Lia woke up in a jolt, breathing heavily. Great, a nightmare. She thought as he looked around to see where she was - her room in TAPOPS station. She sighed as she remembered that they were already asked to go back.
The room was now different. From three beds, it went down to two. Leizel was now her roommate as Ying moved out to Yaya, and Gopal moved out to Boboiboy and Fang. Tarung decided to keep the boys together, to keep things professional. Besides, they can always hang out with their girlfriends after working hours.
Lia heard the door opening and turned in that direction, there goes Leizel holding a glass of water. "Looks like you had a deep sleep. Yesterday's agenda really got you, huh?" She nodded at Leizel's remark.
Yesterday, they went to planet Quabaq for some training by Hang Kasa. Lia finally met the former wielder of Boboiboy's powers. And to her delight, Hang Kasa was able to teach her how to totally utilize her powers that will help them in defeating villains.
She also remembered how did Hang Kasa welcome her.
"Eh? Out of all people, you chose this person?! Goodness! Why?!" Hang Kasa exclaimed in exasperation which surprised the rest. Boboiboy widened his eyes, while Lia was silent. "Aiya, tok. Don't be like that. Lia's more than everything I could ask for." He defended his girlfriend, furrowing his eyebrows.
Hang Kasa raised his eyebrow, "Eh? I wasn't talking to you! I was talking to Lia! Out of all people, you chose this Boboiboy?" He then smirked, implying that it was a joke. The rest erupted in laughter while Boboiboy sighed.
"It was an honor meeting him, and I had fun in the training yesterday," Lia replied as Leizel gave her the glass of water. As she drank from it, her Leizel beside her on the bed, "I have to tell you something."
Lia looked at Leizel then nodded, allowing her to continue. "Uhm... Fang already talked to Ying about her ill feelings for me and he told her that his decision in loving me is and will always be final."
"Wow, that was direct. Honestly, it's been years since she got rejected by him. I'm surprised she still holds a grudge." Lia commented. She knew that after all these years, Ying still has ill feelings toward Leizel. "I understand that she got hurt when she found out about the two of you but you guys didn't do anything wrong to her. In fact, he didn't even lead her on to something."
"Well, they have been friends for over years. I joined the gang three years after it was formed," Leizel sighed, "But yeah, it doesn't excuse her actions toward me. If she doesn't like me, she could have stayed quiet but no, all she does is snap at me."
Lia nodded, "Yeah, everyone else knows that all too well... How is she after the talk?" Leizel shrugged, "I don't know. We'll probably talk about it. I also want to talk to her since I know she's hurting. I know it's not my fault but she is still my friend. It's just sad that our friendship became like this because of Fang."
"Honestly, the way I see it, none of you has a fault here. Ying is human, she has feelings and she really did like Fang. That goes the same for you, it just happened that Fang chose to like you and eventually love you." Lia said with a small smile.
Leizel wiped a small tear from her eye, "Goodness, you're going to make me cry. But I don't want to because we have to go work." Lia chuckled then hugged her, comforting her. Leizel sighed as she leaned in the hug, "Thanks a lot, beb."
Later on, Lia prepared herself for today. It was 6:50 AM, 10 minutes left 'til the working hours will start. She didn't plan on putting her hair in a ponytail so it was let down. The moment she entered the main deck, she got greeted by both Ying and Yaya.
"Good morning, Lia!" Yaya cheerfully greeted. "Hey, good morning! Oh wow, how do you even maintain that?" Ying was referring to Lia's bangs. Lia smiled sheepishly, "Ahm... It takes patience, I guess... Anyways, good morning guys."
She looked around the room, there are no signs of the boys. "Eh? Where are the others?" Ying crossed her arms, "Commander sent them out on a mission. I'm actually surprised that it's just the three of them."
Lia widened her eyes, "A mission? Well, I'm not surprised that it's just the three of them. Didn't commander send them out before? The laundry mission thing?" Ying nodded, "Yes. That's where they met admiral."
"What time did they leave?" Lia asked, still surprised at the boys' agenda for today. Yaya shrugged, "I'm not sure. But I think around 5 AM. They were already gone when I woke up."
The Nova Prix Race was going to happen again. Initially, it was supposed to be held every decade, but the organizers decided to hold another event this time. One of the prizes for the winners is once again a power sphere, which KokoCi is eager to get. He made the boys participate in it, with Gopal and Fang as the racers and Boboiboy as the support crew.
The two were getting ready for the race as Gopal sighed in frustration. "Do I really have to join this? It's better if Boboiboy will be the one joining. He has lightning speed!" Boboiboy shrugged with a faint smirk. "It's about time you join things like these. You'll be okay."
"Ugh, let's just get this over with so we can go back. I can't believe we woke up that early." Fang groaned with his eyes rolled. Boboiboy shook his head, not minding his friends' complaints. "Surely, they are both grumpy today." He thought.
"Why didn't commander let the girls join? Yaya and Ying are competitive so for sure they can win this for us," Gopal suggested, still annoyed at the fact he is going to compete. "Or Leizel, she is merciless when it comes to competitions... Oooh, Lia! Her looks can woo the host so we could easily win."
Both Boboiboy and Fang were utterly dumbfounded by what Gopal just said about Lia. Fang sighed, "Aish, you think it's like that? This gives us more reasons to let you compete. Besides, I'll be with you, duh."
Hearing such a thing about her girlfriend slightly pissed off Boboiboy. "Okay. First of all, she is more than her looks. If you put her in this race, she will do her best. Second, I swear I can crush the host if ever he'll make a move on her. Have you seen how he acts? Weird." He scoffed while rolling his eyes.
"Hehe, I was just kidding... Fine, I'll compete here." Gopal turned to Fang and slightly smacked him, "You better help me out here, okay?!" Fang groaned, annoyed at Gopal, "Didn't I just tell you that earlier?"
Lia listened intently as Yaya told her about the race, "A race? The price is a power sphere? Wow, talk about the marketing strategy so they can earn money. For sure the registration fee is expensive."
"Very expensive. It's a good thing Boboiboy won the power sphere. He fell on the second place but the power sphere is the price to the rank." Ying explained. "Poor Adudu. He won first but the price was Bago Go's cosmetics." Yaya giggled at the memory.
Lia chuckled, "He must have felt so defeated." Ying nodded with a small laugh, "Truly... I hope Gopal and Fang could win this for us. Boboiboy will just be the support crew since he wanted Gopal to do things like these."
"Yes, I do hope so," Lia replied.
Minutes later, Leizel arrived and greeted the rest of them. She shifted over Ying who didn't acknowledge her. She then turned to the other girls, "I just talked to Fang earlier and he said they're preparing for the race. It looks like their competitors are no joke to deal with."
"Are the Bikembars back?" Yaya asked. Leizel nodded, "Yeah, and the past competitors too. Don't worry, I'm sure they can handle this." Then KokoCi and Tarung suddenly entered the room, making the girls salute them as a greeting.
"While the boys are out in the Nova Prix Race, I have an assignment for all of you." Tarung was now in his working personality - tough, aggressive, strict, and ruthless. "All of you must comply with this, or else I will kick you all out of this station!"
The girls were afraid of his threat, but they chose to stay calm to prevent more ruthless remarks from Tarung. KokoCi cleared out his throat, "You girls are in charge of..."
The next thing that they know, the girls were already cleaning the cafeteria of TAPOPS station. The high-ranking officials tasked them to clean the rooms in TAPOPS, since it hadn't received enough cleaning yet.
"And the boys get to race outside? Talk about the subtle sexism." Leizel mumbled, wiping the tables. Lia was washing the used dishes and to her irritation, the plates she was washing looked like they haven't been washed for days. "Who's in charge of washing the plates every day?"
Yaya was sweeping the floor, she sighed. "I don't know. I think Gopal sometimes washes those." Lia widened her eyes, "Sometimes...? So you mean that the plates we use are not fully cleaned?!" She raised her voice, much to the surprise of the other girls.
"Aiya, calm down. We use the trays remember? Besides, Boboiboy makes sure that the dishes you use are fully cleaned." Ying, who was cleaning the cooking area, replied. Yaya nodded, smiling, "Yes, that's true! He does that every day."
Lia nodded slowly, feeling her cheeks go red. She continued in doing her work much to Leizel chuckling, "Aigoo. The little girl went quiet."
Later on, they went to the different rooms such as the training arena, their own rooms including the boys' room, the meeting room, and even the TAPOPS jail. The last room to clean was the library, in which they need to sort out the books by category.
Yaya and Ying argued on who will be the first one to finish. Then they both started using their powers to sort out the books - Yaya by using her gravity power to levitate the books and cast them to their respective categories and Ying with her super speed that made her sort the books fast.
Lia and Leizel were both watching them; they both knew this was going to happen so they didn't bother interfering. "Are there more rooms to clean?" Lia asked Leizel who shook her head as a reply, "No... This is the last room. I guess we'll just watch them."
While Yaya and Ying are still sorting out, Lia and Leizel are just sitting down by the desk. They are talking about the hallucination that happened two months ago. Leizel revealed something to Lia which surprised her.
"I spoke a different language? What language?" Lia asked in confusion. Leizel shrugged, "I don't know... You know that the only ones I know are English, Tagalog, Bisaya, Japanese, and a bit of Malay. But it sounded different... almost like French. Don't you remember?"
"I was under control that time so I wouldn't remember," Lia sighed upon remembering that. "But if it was French, well, it's reasonable. I can speak French." Leizel raised her eyebrow, "Your mom can speak it too, right? Isn't it a bit suspicious that you hallucinated about the masked man then you spoke your mother's language?"
"Aish, I'm sure there's nothing major about the language. I told you I can speak it. I guess it slipped out of my mouth or something." Lia defended with her eyes slightly furrowed. "Yes, yes, you're right. Sorry about that."
All of a sudden, "Incoming!" The next thing that happened was Lia catching the book that was accidentally thrown by Yaya's gravity power. "It's a good thing you caught it... I'm sorry about that. I got out of control!
"It's alright, no worries," Lia replied with a small smile then placed her eyes on the book.
All about Power Spheras
"There's a book about it?" Lia mumbled as she was observing the book. Leizel also took a peek at what's the book about which made her go "ooh". "I didn't know there's a book about it."
Lia turned to see Yaya and Ying still sorting out the books. "Hey, Yaya! Can I borrow this book? I just want to read it." Yaya looked back at her, "Oh, that? Okay, okay. Just put it back where it belongs, okay?"
As soon as Yaya and Ying were finished sorting, they all left the library together. They all ate their lunch together and with the finished tasks, KokoCi gave them a break. It is already 1 PM in the afternoon.
Lia and Leizel went back to their rooms to read the book. They were amazed at the information presented in the book. There was a classification of power spheres and they both looked for the existing ones they retrieved.
Of course, there was Ochobot - the reason why team Boboiboy happened. The First Generation - Klamkabot and DataBot. Then there go the other power spheres such as BellBot, CardBot, FireBot, TrophyBot, EnerBot, and so on and so far.
"How come I don't see Sonobot's name here?" Lia asked in confusion as she looked carefully at the list. "Hmm... Maybe on the other pages. There are a lot of power spheres in the galaxy." Leizel replied, intently looking at the list.
All of a sudden, her power watch rang, she excused herself to go out as it was from captain Kaizo.
Lia continued to read what's in the book. There was one part that caught her eye.
OnceBot - Eleventh Generation
She read all the details under the said power sphere, and to her confusion, she raised an eyebrow, "Sound Manipulation...? Sonobot has Sound Manipulation too..." She mumbled as she went on, not noticing the door being opened. "Hey." Sonobot greeted her owner once entering.
Lia was startled, making her close the book and shove it behind her. "Oh, it's you... Hi, where have you been? I didn't see you today." Sonobot went to her, "You look as if you saw a ghost! Goodness! I was recharging at the power sphere vault."
"Oh, okay okay... Uhm... I have a question." Lia took out the book again and went back to the page. She showed it to Sonobot, "Look at this power sphere. It can grant sound manipulation too... like you. Is it possible that another power sphere can grant the same powers as what you can grant?"
"Oh, uhm..." Sonobot trailed off much to Lia raising her eyebrow. Sonobot coughed, "Well, yeah... I think? Wow, I didn't know there was a power sphere named that... But you know, anything is possible. There are a lot of power spheres in the galaxy so things can happen like that."
Lia nodded slowly, "Okay... But how come you're not in this book?" Sonobot shrugged, "I don't know, the authors probably forgot me or something. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm your power sphere."
"Forget you? Why will they forget you?" She scratched her nape, still questioning Sonobot. "And hey, I know I haven't asked you this... Why didn't you tell me you can grant other powers? You granted Ying shared vision while telepathy to Leizel."
All of a sudden, Sonobot heavily grunted, "Lia, you ask so much questions! It's just a book, and a book can have some editions! Maybe they just forgot me but I don't mind!"
Lia got taken aback by the power sphere's sudden burst. She has never seen Sonobot like that; sure, she gets annoyed and firm with her but not to the extent of that.
Despite her surprise, she remained calm. "The additional powers you can grant surprised me. I was thinking maybe you have more powers to grant which I'm asking because you of curiosity."
Sonobot sighed, "Just the ones you saw, got it? Are you happy now?" Lia shrugged, "I guess. But I'm not with your attitude, you look like you got caught in the act."
The power sphere didn't know how to respond so she just rushed out of the room, leaving a dismayed Lia. She kept her expression before saying, "Yeah, just what I thought."
She then went to a drawer then took out something.
A recorder.
She started to play the recordings that are in it.
"She could have died with the overbeating!"
"I had to... She almost-"
"But I can't do this anymore. This is too much... I would like to-"
There was a moment of silence. She slightly put the recorder nearby her ear to hear the muffled noises. The mentioned phrases earlier already brought apprehension to her. Her heart is currently racing.
"I'm sorry but she can't live in this mystery forever."