Chapter 9
Solar stared at the book next to him in deep thought as he continued swirling the solution in the test tube he held.
It was the Power Sphere Book that Blaze had brought to him earlier that morning before they had to leave for a mission.
He remembered how frazzled his brother looked and how it seemed like he hadn't slept at all the entire night. Which was unusual.
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"Look! I knew you wouldn't believe me unless I had proof so I got one!" Blaze had barged into his laboratory and almost made him drop the beaker he had been stirring.
"Blaze!" Solar scowled as he turned to him, "Did you not see the 'Do Not Disturb' sign outside or do you want me to buy you a pair of glasses?!"
"I did see the sign. But I decided to ignore it. Just like all the nonsense you tell us." Came his snark reply.
Solar rolled his eyes in response, "If you're trying to convince me with your own set of nonsense. Then you're doing a terrible job."
"It's about MudBot." He clumsily made his way towards him, a familiar book in his hand, "You guys think that the planet he's in is uninhabited, and you're right! But also wrong!"
"You're not really making any sense-" Solar was almost hit in the face by the book his brother had been carrying as the other shoved it to him.
"You guys thought it's just a quick retrieval mission, but no! We're going to be attacked by Slough monsters!" Blaze hastily said, pushing the open book to his face, "See! It's says so right here that-"
"I can't read anything with you shoving the book in my face like that." Solar impatiently grabbed the offending object and tried checking what he meant.
"'MudBot is capable of creating mud and manipulating it. No further details about the power sphere.' Wait a minute- did you just underlined this with a pen?? This is a library book-"
"Focus, nerd. I don't really care about that."
"Not unless you want to be banned-"
"Look, I'll worry about being banned to a place I go like once in a century later. Right now, I'm trying to prove to you something!"
"Yeah. Things that we kind of already established in our meeting." Solar placed the book on the table next to him, "And that your Slough Monsters weren't mentioned here."
"That's because there's not much further information!" Blaze insisted pointing at the book for emphasis, "Mudbot is definitely capable of manipulating the mud to the extent of creating monsters!"
"Don't be ridiculous you don't have enough proof-" Solar paused as it all clicked together and turned to his brother with a frown, "Is this another one of your future things?"
Blaze froze, "And what if it is?"
"Then you don't really have proof aside from your own word?" Solar raised an eyebrow at him.
When there was no reply he looked away and continued mixing his experiment, "You're not going to get out of this mission by telling us about these Slough Monsters you made up. I still won that match we had."
"It's not about that, nerd!"
"And anyway, if these are real, then the more reason that they need you to stop them."
"I'm not backing out! I was just gonna suggest swapping Gopal with Ice!"
Solar turned to him in surprise, "What?"
"Gopal will be useless for this mission!" Blaze insisted.
"He can help transform the mud into something sturdier to walk on to." The light manipulator placed the beaker back on the table and started taking his gloves off, "So that you won't have to be the only one trying to make a path while looking for MudBot. Besides, I don't think Ice can help you with that since I'm pretty sure not all of you knows how to ice skate."
"I don't want Ice to freeze the muddy ground. I want him to help freeze the Slough Monsters!" His brother explained, his patience obviously running thin.
"You don't even have proof-"
"Fine! If you don't believe me, then think about it! Let's say there are no monsters. Then we won't lose anything by having Ice there instead, right?" Blaze asked expectantly.
"What are you talking about? I just told you that Gopal would be better helping you out in making a path while searching for MudBot."
"Ugh! I'm not explaining this right!" Blaze stomped hard on the ground, looking like he was ready to throw a tantrum, much to Solar's amusement.
"Why are you even telling me this?" He eventually asked, "If you want to swap Ice and Gopal, shouldn't you be asking Gempa?"
Blaze scowled and crossed his arms, "He probably won't listen to me."
"What makes you say that when you haven't even tried?"
"Because! I just know, okay?!" Blaze retorted and quickly turned to walk away.
"Does it have something to do with the future too?" Solar asked, voice hesitant. He knew he was pushing it, but he wanted this. He wanted to know more with at least his brother's consent. He had learnt from his mistake.
Though, he was still tempted to steal the notebook whenever he got to see it.
"Gempa banned me from a lot of missions in the future." Blaze glared at the floor, "Because I made a mistake. And no matter how much I apologized and begged him to let me go with them, he wouldn't let me join."
"That doesn't sound like Gempa."
"It's because I almost got our friends killed."
Solar stared at him in disbelief, before immediately snapping himself out of it as he remembered none of these future things Blaze was saying were supposed to be real.
But he couldn't help but sometimes believe him with how raw his brother seemed whenever he starts sharing a piece of information about it.
"You were the only one who got him to listen when I was really needed on a mission." Blaze admitted, still glaring at the floor, "Of course, it wasn't because you were trying to help me. You made it clear to me that it's because you knew better when it came to strategy."
The last part stung as he couldn't help but frown at what the other had said.
Solar and everyone else knew how much Blaze loved being a part of the mission. Always trying to get himself in, even when it involves diving into deep seas.
So, even if that's what Blaze believes it to be, Solar was pretty sure he was also doing it for his brother.
"Anyway." Blaze huffed as he turned to the door with a scowl, "Seeing that this had been a complete waste of time, I should go get ready for this mission. Where the Slough Monsters will be waiting for us. Don't say I didn't warn you!"
He watched his brother leave before sighing. He then took off his visor and headed out of the laboratory as well.
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"Me?" Ice looked at Solar then at Gempa who looked just as surprised.
"Yes. Mud has the same freezing point to water. Thus, you can freeze it and be able to efficiently create a pathway for the others during your search for MudBot." Solar explained as he handed his tablet to Gempa, who numbly accepted it.
"I don't think that's a good idea. We'll be wearing bulky protective suits for the mud. We'll have a hard time maneuvering over a frozen ground."
"You'll be fine. It's not like you guys are at a time limit there." Solar shrugged, "And hey, at least if you slip around, you'll definitely be faster."
Gempa sighed, "I'm serious, Solar. Gopal could at least transform things into Yaya's hard cookies or something. He'll definitely be more useful for this."
"On the contrary-"
"Look. I don't want Blaze pushing himself too hard in this mission. We need someone who can help him create a pathway where everyone won't slip around."
"I agree with, Gempa." Ice spoke softly, "I don't think I'll make the job easier by being there."
Solar could already tell where this was heading as Ice nodded at Gempa. He didn't want to have to do this.
But...
"Blaze wants Ice to be there."
Maybe he could guilt-trip them into agreeing.
"Blaze... did?" Ice looked surprised.
It's not like he could tell them that it was all because of the made-up future. They would definitely have the same reaction as Solar.
"Yup. He approached me awhile ago." Solar elaborated, "He said he wanted Ice and not Gopal."
Gempa snickered at that. That was a good sign.
"Gopal will feel betrayed if he hears that."
Ice smiled a bit at hearing that as well, "I thought he was still angry at me."
Solar froze. He... did not know that. This changes things then.
If Blaze finds out what he did by lying (omitting some part of the truths) to Gempa, he might think he was manipulating the situation again. Using him as an excuse to have Ice there, when they were actually not in good terms.
Why was he doing this again??
"B-but you can't tell him I told you guys." Solar coughed awkwardly, "He was insistent I tried to show you some sort of proof so you could agree."
"Wouldn't it have been better if he just told me outright?" Gempa asked, looking exasperated.
"He did... think about it... but he thought you wouldn't agree." Solar cleared his throat awkwardly
Why was this so hard??
"He said it'll be more believable if I tried presenting some sort of research or something."
"But still..." Ice sobered a bit, "...it'll definitely be hard to walk around on solid ice."
"We can abandon the protective suits? I think it will be easier for us that way. It's not like we'll be needing them that much if we're planning to harden the mud in the first place." Gempa then suggested, surprising his two other brothers, "What?"
"I didn't think you'd agree so easily." Solar admitted.
The earth-manipulator sighed, "Usually, I wouldn't. But Blaze had been through a lot. And this is just a simple mission of retrieving MudBot. There's no harm letting him have things his way for now."
"Gempa..."
"And maybe... it'll be easier with Ice just freezing the ground than having Blaze throw fireballs on it. Who knows how many fireballs he'll need! It might cause another episode and you know we can't risk that--"
"Alright, deep breaths, Gempa. You're being a helicopter mom again." Solar smirked as he watched the other turn red.
"I'm not! I'm just looking out for him!"
"He's fine. I mean you've seen our fight." Solar pointed out while Ice nodded his head.
"And he will be." Ice assured their leader, "We'll make sure of it."
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Solar sighed and placed the test tube back to its rack. He then took off his gloves and grabbed the book off the edge of the table he had been working on.
"We can abandon the protective suits? I think it will be easier for us that way. It's not like we'll be needing them that much if we're planning to harden the mud in the first place."
He opened to the page where MudBot's information was written and stared at the only two sentences under it's description.
"I didn't think you'd agree so easily."
"Usually, I wouldn't. But Blaze had been through a lot. And this is just a simple mission of retrieving MudBot. There's no harm letting him have things his way for now."
Solar bit the inside of his cheek.
"Seeing that this had been a complete waste of time, I should go get ready for this mission. Where the Slough Monsters will be waiting for us. Don't say I didn't warn you!"
What if Blaze was right this time? Maybe he should've come up with a plan and have both situations accounted for instead of having just the idea that it was going to be a simple retrieval mission.
What if taking off those suits could make it worse if those Slough Monsters did appear?! He should've thought of a more convincing plan to-
"No. They're not real." Solar slammed the book shut, feeling more stressed out than he should.
He let out a sharp exhale and started typing on his watch. He needed to contact them and check on how the mission was going.
He paused and waited for a response.
There was none.
"Okay. No need to panic- maybe there's no signal there." He muttered to himself and sighed.
Is this what it feels like to be Gempa??
He needed a distraction, but he couldn't do his experiments when his head is obviously not in the game.
Solar's eyes landed on the book once more.
Now that he thought about it, Blaze never told him about the Power Sphere who could turn people into bad guys. There was still the case that that power sphere doesn't exist. But he had been right about MudBot being real (and hopefully, he was only right about that part).
And it's not being invasive if he did his own research... right?
He rubbed his hands in glee before grabbing the book and taking a sit on one of the laboratory's cleaner table.
He opened it to a page where there was a list of the power spheres recorded and scowled at the very, very long list.
"I'm betting they don't have all the information of these power spheres. The book is not thick enough!" He scoffed as he skimmed through the pages.
"OptiBot... known to bring you to your most optimum potential... sounds interesting. But I don't think that's it. WrongBot? Makes you do everything wrong... but probably not evil things." He muttered as he continued flipping the pages, "I don't see any EvilBot listed... here..."
He continued to search before looking up in exasperation, trying to remember anything that Blaze could have mentioned to help him with his search.
"I was alone and cornered. I wanted to feel like a hero, but at the end of the day, I knew I failed everyone. I-I was the reason you guys turned into Reverse."
Solar's eyes snapped open, "Reverse!"
He was about to flip the pages back when the door suddenly opened, revealing Halilintar.
"I got a message from Gempa."
Solar felt his heart drop at the worried look on his face, "What happened?"
"Adudu managed to get the drop on them and stole the power sphere."
"What about the others? Are they hurt?"
His brother then looked at him in surprise and frowned.
"Yes. Actually."
Solar stiffened. He knew it could mean a lot of things. That maybe Adudu was the one who caused it. But...even if Adudu was one of the bad guys, he never went too far with his plans and at least had some decent morals.
And he can never actually injure the whole team purposely. At least not in a way that will make Hali look so serious.
So that only meant one thing...
"There were... monsters in that planet apparently. Created by MudBot." His brother continued, "They barely made it out there."
The only one who knew the extent of the danger usually ended up the worse victim, "Is Blaze-?"
The other shook his head, "It's Ice we have to worry about."
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End Of Chapter