They didn't know what to expect when they ran into a process of what seemed like a satanic ritual of selling one's soul. Just kidding. That's not what happened. They saw a huge, a huge power sphere injecting some sort of power into Ochobot. Reverse knew this, because he could sense the power flow. He could tell that this large power sphere was transferring something to Ochobot.
Fang pressed his back against the wall. "What are we going against?"
Reverse turned to him. "It's some sort of energy transfer. If I'm not wrong, that's the power sphere that Bora-ra's using Ochobot to find. They must be after the power he has."
Fang contemplated this. "But if Ochobot has it, won't Bora-ra come after him?"
"Ah, it's a never-ending cycle," Reverse groaned. "I'm not spending my time protecting some power sphere. They're not even my forte."
The energy flow started to weaken, attracting Reverse's attention effectively. As he and Fang peeked through the corner, the yellow beam had completely shut off, leading to Ochobot collapsing to the stone-cold floor.
Reverse's body acted before his mind did. It was a bad habit, especially in his occupation, but it's simply instinct. He caught Ochobot in his hands before he hit the ground.
Fang followed his boyfriend's steps, taking a good look at the larger power sphere.
Reverse rose, still holding Ochobot with one hand. "Teleportation? Bora-ra's after the power of teleportation?"
The larger power sphere leered eerily close to them. Fang leaned back slightly to avoid his face coming in contact with metal.
"Who are you?" the power sphere demanded in a raspy voice. "No one has been able to trace us!"
Ochobot's scanners slowly came online. He floated off Reverse's hand and blinked at them. "What are... you guys doing here?"
Fang scoffed and crossed his arms. "We wouldn't be here if your team was knocked into next week."
"Leave," the large power sphere emphasised. "This is between us power spheres!"
"It's fine." Ochobot flew before the power sphere. "They're on our side. Their names are Boboiboy and Shade. Boboiboy, Shade, this is Klamkabot. I see you're already notified of the teleportation power. How?"
Reverse shrugged. "Bora-ra's still after you. He doesn't know you transferred your power to Ochobot. Don't forget me and Fang don't have powers like your team. We can't win against Bora-ra when push comes to shove."
Fang nodded. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but... uh... you two need to get back to TAPOPS."
The two power spheres stared at them. Klamkabot advanced towards Reverse, pointing an accusing claw at him. "How did you know it was teleportation?"
"We did our fucking research, thank you," Reverse quipped, turning around. "There's no time. We'd like to return to space, thank you, considering we're not humans—"
A rumble among the walls. The entire cave started to tremble, causing unstable debris to collapse off the ceiling. As the noise gradually grew louder, Fang grabbed Reverse's arm and broke out into a run.
"Go!" Reverse yelled.
Too late. An explosion erupted inside the walls, revealing to be none other than the red alien and his hideous crony himself. Both Ochobot and Reverse wasted no time in catching up with the two boys. As more missiles began to fire in their direction, they dodged falling crystals that threatened to take their lives.
Running aimlessly through untouched tunnels, they had run into a factory-like setting, seemingly abandoned for centuries. (Also, who knew Klamkabot can fly with that big body?)
Reverse spent no time looking back, because it was not on their favour. Bora-ra himself was a threat enough, but the main priority was to dodge those missiles his henchman was delivering. If they don't take out the backline, there's no point in hacking down frontlines that don't do any damage, because you're gonna die either way.
"Get inside!" Ochobot pointed to an empty box. "Klamkabot!"
Reverse and Fang didn't like the odds, but with Ochobot here, they couldn't use their powers as freely as they would do. Another missile launched itself right in front of their footing, causing them to leap straight into the box that Klamkabot could barely get a hold of, nearly dropping them in the process.
"You okay?" Reverse said.
Fang wiped the dust off his cheek. "Not dead yet. They're still after us."
"Yeah." A missile sailed next to them. "That I can still see."
"Hold tight!" Klamkabot warned as he picked up speed.
Reverse kept a close eye on Bora-ra's henchman. He was big in size, equipped in technology to make up for his loss of mobility and heavy weaponry. This was a force to be feared – for someone like Gopal. Reverse and Fang had faced many foes much more threatening than this clown, but if they're in mid-air in a high-speed chase that involved not being able to use their powers? That's kind of new, but they can't say they've never had this sort of experience in their lives before. Maybe once or twice, but ever so rarely.
And of course, they had jetpacks. Isn't that kind of unfair?
Klamkabot dodged more incoming obstacles. They could run, but not forever. A missile collided directly on the machine next to Klamkabot, and he was forced to change course. However, if he managed to get off like that, Bora-ra would have to change his name. A miniature black hole below appeared out of absolutely nowhere, officially ending the chase as the larger power sphere was attracted towards it, taking a significant amount of damage.
Fang and Reverse managed to jump out the box and land on the two metal walkways, Fang on the lower parallel, but Ochobot and Klamkabot weren't so fortunate. They were officially knocked out cold, which meant for both of them, they could use their abilities to the maximum, provided they don't destroy the place in the process.
"You'll take which one?" Reverse asked.
"Considering the test, I'll let you do the grand honours." Fang winked at him. His glasses glowed at the press of the joint and it shifted into a mask that resembled a wolf. He phased through debris and walls and reached above the henchman's cannons. Activating his powers again, he reached inside the mechanisms and pulled out the power source.
Reverse watched them as Fang jumped off, once again in perforation mode, as the crony fell to his death.
"You have some nerve, interfering with my business," Bora-ra growled, approaching him.
Reverse grinned and brushed his chocolate bangs from his face. "What can I say? Neither of us want to be here in the moment."
Bora-ra scowled. He charged at Reverse with his axe raised, screaming bloody murder. Reverse stood, grinning as the larger alien approached him in alarming speeds. Then at the very last moment, he sidestepped and leaned backwards as the axe swung over his head, missing his hair by a sliver. Reverse's leg was outstretched, and he tripped the alien backwards. All of this was done in a fluid motion with no second spared.
Reverse leaped back, flexing his fingers.
Bora-ra rose, angrier than ever. "How dare you!"
Reverse smiled. "Watch where you step."
"What?"
Reverse pointed next to Bora-ra. At the same time, he used his finger and drew a full circle in the air. A dark line, outlined by glowing silver, mimicked his motions as it drew itself next to Bora-ra. When the circle was completed, a new black hole was created. It was not Bora-ra's, but it was Reverse's. Without even realizing the actual situation, Bora-ra was sucked into the black hole, never to be seen again.
Smiling so wide it hurt, Reverse closed the black hole with a mere thought. Then he was suddenly tackled by someone from behind.
"You know you're really cute when you smile, right?" Fang whispered behind him, wrapping his arms around Reverse.
Reverse's smile converted into a grin. He put his hand on Fang's, and for the moment, it was only them, with a corpse down below, and two unconscious power spheres still yet to be rebooted.
It'd always been comforting to know that they had each other.