Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Kokotiam were once again tasked with the usual. They were sent to retrieve the power sphera ‘Whirlbot’, who was described by Ochobot as:

‘A mysterious power sphera capable of sending themselves or others to other places through whirlpools’.

They asked him: ‘Isn’t that the same as your teleportation power?’

Except they were told that this specific Power Sphera could travel through millions of light years away at once. Dimensionally, in short. Ochobot themselves weren't entirely familiar but T.A.P.O.P.S could understand more once they retrieve Whirlbot.

And that all went horribly when they not only had to fight past other aliens who found out about Whirlbot's location but the planet’s ground often experienced earthquakes.

Things got even worse when Boboiboy split into Halilintar, Gempa, and Solar (much to Fang’s dismay). They continued to search for WhirlBot where the Power Sphera detector’s signal was the strongest, inside a cave. That then ended splendidly when an earthquake happened which caused Fang and Solar to be caved inside.

“–ang– Fa– FANG, WAKE UP!!”

A faint calling of his name. Fang nearly went deaf from the sound of the cave collapsing, the earth crumbling around them. He vaguely feels someone grasping his shoulders but his senses soon became clearer as he snapped out of it.

“Boboiboy?” He coughed out, dust scattered and clouded his visor. Fang slowly sat up and wiped it with his coat and he could see some sunlight slipping through the rocks around him. That is when he spotted a particular someone.

Oh. His relief turned to irritation. It’s just the white one, the arrogant one. While he hoped that the rest of the group made it out of the cave safely, he really just had to get stuck with Solar.

Said element looked at him, with a relieved expression on his face. “Oh, you're awake. Did you hit your head?” The Elemental asked.

“No, I’m fine. Are we trapped here?”

“Yeah. No signal in here but Gempa and Yaya should be the ones clearing the way.”

“Wait… the Power Sphera!” Fang exclaimed as he looked at Solar for explanation but he just responded with a shrug.

“What do you mean— don't tell me we don't have them?!”

“Ying has them, I’m sure.” He checked Fang for any head damage by knocking on the alien’s forehead. Fang swatted his hand away in retort.

He then opened his watch and tried to contact the others. It was mostly static, but somehow Ying’s voice was actually slightly audible.

“F–g? -ang! T–re y– ar-? Wh– ha–ene– –wn t–re?”

“We’re okay. We’re trapped though, can you get us out. It might collapse more if we tried to break through.” Static again… He clicked his tongue, smacking the watch with his palm.

“Whe— re you –guys?”

“Some sunlight is coming in from above. We must be underground.” Solar responded by putting his face near Fang's watch. Fang pushed his head away with his other hand which earned a yelp from the boy.

“Don’t let me get trapped with one of these guys for a long time please…” He pleaded and Ying would be quick to reassure him that they would, considering her previous experience which they all knew about after she ranted about it. That is… if she heard him right at all.

“H—g on. W–l -- to–y— —-ng —the cave collapse fu— er.” Ying’s voice faded into white noise.

What?

“Wait– Ying! Do you have Whirlbot?” Fang asked before communication was suddenly cut off. He let out a groan of frustration before turning to Solar.

“Do you think you can use Solar Leap to get out of here?” The shadow user asked the light elemental.

Solar scoffed. “And leave you here? Puh-lease, you need me.” He said with sass. “And I clearly can't see where I'm going. Unless you want me to destroy the cave by busting through it and risking it collapsing on you instead?”

“Gee, thanks for worrying about me.” Fang said sarcastically.

Great. It would actually be safer to wait for the rest of the group to find them… and for this guy to merge back with the other two first. While they could theoretically get through by;

Plan A: Fang could use a shadow barrier to hold up the cave and protect them from debris and summon a shadow bear to break through the rubble and make an exit, but holding up that debris would take a lot of energy.

Energy that he doesn’t have right now.

Plan B: Follow the same first part of plan except Solar can break through the rubble using a beam, except Fang doesn’t trust him not to accidentally hit the shadow barrier too, causing it to disappear and have them getting crushed under the rocks.

Plan C: …wait for everyone else.

“Hey.” His train of thought was cut off by Solar nudging him. The Element pointed to somewhere deeper into the cave.

“There’s a strange light in that direction. I’m going to investigate it," he said.

“No. We should first wait for the others to find us. Besides, you might start losing your memories and get lost.” Fang reminded the other boy.

“It could be the Power Sphera.”

“You just said that Ying would have it” Fang facepalmed.

“And I might be wrong. There, I admit it. It’s too soon for that to happen anyway.” Solar began walking off to the direction of the strange light.

“You’re losing it already!” Fang exclaimed but decided to follow. Making it down the steep way down himself, no surprise that this one could move fast.

That strange light began to grow brighter the closer they reached and the deeper they ventured. After almost slipping on multiple mossy rocks, they eventually reached a bigger cavern with a shimmering pool of water. Solar being the reason it was shimmering, as the complementary flashlight, and that odd glowing purple ball at the center. The light element had little to no hesitation jumping in unlike his companion. The pool only reached to below Solar’s chest and he dove in to try and find Whirlbot.

“Wh— Solar!” Fang had to step into the water himself to make sure the other didn’t drown, again much to his dismay. Solar then rose from the waters, WhirlBot in his hand.

After inspecting the Power Sphera, Fang spotted multiple trippy swirls covering their body (which almost made him puke a little) that reminded him of those swirly illusions and a blank screen meaning Whirlbot might be powered off or recharging their energy.

Solar sent a smug smirk at Fang. “See? I told you Whirlbot would be here,” he proclaimed smugly which made Fang roll his eyes at the light element.

“Whatever.” Obviously that bruised his own pride. “Just give it to me so we can head back and wait for the others to find us”

“Wait, I’m the one that found them.” Solar declared, stubborn enough to not let the Power Sphera go.

“Well it could be a while before they come here and in that time you might start losing your memories.” Fang reached out to take Whirlbot from Solar’s hands but the light element held on tighter.

“Ochobot told us that WhirlBot can travel dimensionally! It’s not safe if they activate their power suddenly.” He reminded the element, eye twitching already.

Solar would not accept Fang’s distrust. “Just let me.” He pulled against the Gogobugian’s grip.

“Solar.”

“Fang.”

“WHIRLBOT!!” The Power Sphera activated, revealing swirling eyes and a panicked expression as they suddenly shrieked loud enough to almost make Solar drop the powerful robot.

“DON’T TOUCH WHIRLBOT!!” The purple robot yelled as they began struggling against Solar's grip.

“We’re not gonna hurt— huh?” The Light element suddenly felt the water current against him. As Solar and Fang were distracted by the sudden increase in the current, WhirlBot flew out of both their grasps.

“Whirlpool Activation!” They yelled out, their screen changing into a big swirl as one began to form right under them, pulling both Solar and Fang closer to the center of the pool.

“Shadow vines!” Fang threw out his hands, commanding the shadow vines to grasp onto the stalactite on the cavern’s ceiling. Solar grabbed onto him out of instinct, but didn't use his Solar Leap because he didn't want to leave him and he didn't think Fang could handle moving at the speed of light. The rocks broke and Fang lost his grip, causing him and Solar to be pulled under, the water felt as if it deepened and they couldn’t find any ground to elevate themselves. The Shadow user wanted to try again with the shadow vines but found that they were pulled too deep and anything above water was too dark and blurry without Solar illuminating the— shit, Solar.

Holding his breath, Fang looked for his irritating companion. The Light element covered his face against his nose and mouth with his hands, his eyes were shut tightly. Struggling to make light against the strong currents. Against the currents, Fang tried swimming towards Solar. As soon as he grabbed him a bright light enveloped his vision, forcing a gasp out of him and water to suddenly get in his lungs. He closed his mouth and had to remind himself that he was underwater. He had to fight against the bodily urge to cough it out.

It would actually be embarrassing to go out like this— They both thought.

Back on the ship, Ochobot suddenly receives a call from the rest of the Kokotiam.

“Ying? What happened?”

“Ochobot! The signal of the Power Sphera got stronger!” Ying responded.

“Gravity Lift!” Yaya yelled out in the distance. She used her powers to move the rubble blocking the entrance, but progress was a bit slow as they all wanted to make sure that the cave wouldn’t collapse, not with Fang and Solar still in there. And thankfully, Gempa made that easier. The three of them, Gopal, Ying, and Halilintar all stood by as Yaya and Gempa did their work.

As soon as most of the rubble was out of the way, a bright light shone through from inside before fading away. “What on earth was that!?” Gopal cried out.

“WhirlBot might have activated their powers. You need to hurry! Fang and Boboiboy Solar might be in danger!” Ochobot informed them. Halilintar stepped past Gopal, using the glow from his blades to light the way. The Kokotiam gang hurried and Gempa created an easier path for them to go down further without slipping too much and hurting themselves.

They eventually reached the cavern with Whirlbot floating above the pool of water. “There’s Whirlbot!” Yaya pointed out. But where were Fang and Boboiboy Solar?

“AAAHHH DON’T HURT WHIRLBOT!!!” The Power Sphera shrieked out in fear.

“It’s okay! We won’t hurt you, we promise. We’re from T.A.P.O.P.S, Tracker and Protector of Power Spheras.” She gently explained as she floated over to them.

“No, don’t— don’t lie to WhirlBot!!!” They cried.

“We’re not lying to you. Here, you can come to us if you want.” Yaya opened her arms, hovering in the air to Whirlbot’s level but still keeping a distance.

Usually evil aliens who wanted to capture them would forcibly try and grab them, unless this one was waiting for them to come into their grasp. Whirlbot looked at the others who were looking around. Below them, a friendly looking girl, a frightful boy, and a set of twins with one checking the waters for something.

“You can talk to Ochobot so you’ll know that we aren’t lying.” A hologram appeared on Yaya’s watch, Ochobot on the screen greeted the other Power Sphera. Whirlbot’s expression immediately lit up as they saw another Power Sphera.

“Ochobot? Ochobot is a Power Sphera too! You are… Tracker and Protector of Power Spheras!” They spun around in glee.

“Excuse me, Whirlbot! Could you tell us if you’ve seen two of our friends?” Yaya asked which made the Power Sphera turn to her.

“Your friends?” The Power Sphera inquired, before they suddenly remembered the other two people earlier and their eyes suddenly turned into pixels that formed exclamation marks. “Oh no! Oh no no no no no!”

“What’s wrong, Whirlbot?” Yaya followed Whirlbot who hovered down to Ying.

“Your friends were sent away with Whirlpool activation!” Whirlbot exclaimed in a panicked tone.

“What!?” All five of them said in unison, including Ochobot on the other side of the screen.

“This means that Boboiboy Solar and Fang could be on the other side of the Galaxy!” Ochobot exclaimed, his expression turning worried and panicked.

“Um… Farther away actually.” WhirlBot corrected the other Power Sphera.

“Why would you let that happen!?” Gopal reached up towards the purple sphera but it swerved out of the way, covering themselves with its hose-like metallic hands. Him freaking out was actually more reasonable this time. His best friends were literally millions of light years away from them and the culprit was right in front of him.

Ying and Yaya both tried to reassure him that they’d all find a way to bring them both back since they have Whirlbot. It wouldn’t help to make the already frightened little guy feel even more guilty. Amidst the chaos, two-thirds of a whole were having their own dilemma.

“Gempa.”

“Yeah, Hali?”

“Do you know how long it takes for us to start losing our memories?”

“...How many hours is from night to sunrise?” Gempa responded. This wasn’t the first time they were split up for too long. But being dimensions away from each other was far far different than getting separated at a temple. It was only Gempa who could clearly see that the thunderstorm element was shaken because Hali’s face was still so stoic. He took off the earth gauntlets and held his ‘brother’ closely.

“Look, we’re gonna find wherever they are and we’ll merge back with Solar. Now say that to me again.” There was a firm look in his eyes. Gempa has always been the affirming, nurturing side of them but he's also the easiest to get worried whenever something involves their brothers.

Especially when it comes to their youngest.

They could never forget about what happened with Retak’ka.

“We’ll find and reunite with Solar…” Hali muttered.

“And Fang.”

“Tsk, and Fang.”

Chapter Text

The first thing Fang felt was the grainy texture beneath him.

The shadow user coughed, his chest heaving and throwing up the water out of his lungs. He blinked to clear his vision and came to see… sand? He then looked up only to be blinded by bright sunlight. Wait- sunlight?- Wasn't he just in a cave just now?-

His eyes then slowly widened as realization came in.

Oh. Oh no… 

He rapidly stood up, almost tripping over and falling into the ocean water that slapped against his legs as his hand went to his watch. He immediately tried to contact Ying, his fingers rapidly typing the holographic screen.

“Come on pick up…” The Gogobugian muttered under his breath, hoping for the call to be received. His hope was then ruined as a giant X appeared on the screen and words ‘NO SIGNAL’ appeared.

What.

He then tried to contact Yaya but the same thing appeared. A giant X and the words ‘NO SIGNAL’. Gopal then. Nope the same thing appeared. Ochobot? Nope, still the same. Even Kaizo but it's no use, the same screen still appeared.

But T.A.P.O.P.S signals are strong enough to reach the most faraway of planets! Even the stupid cave had enough signal for him to contact Ying, even if it was short and staticy. As he was thinking about how to get himself a signal, his eyes widened as he remembered Ochobot’s words.

‘Whirlbot’s power could also reach a billion light years as long as there are ‘whirls’ that allow them to be transported! It is even said that they could cross dimensions but we aren't sure about that one yet.’

Oh. Oh shit. He's really fucked isn't he?

Fang looked around his surroundings which seemed to be a beach and took deep breaths to calm himself down. Okay. Maybe it isn't right to assume he's in a different dimension just yet. Maybe this planet is just at a very, very, very far place across the galaxy. It may be one of the only explanations why there’s no signal here after all, as his brain said in denial. He’s been left on a foreign planet before, although this time was involuntary. He learned how to feed himself, how to find shelter…

How hard could it be? Again…

“Hey!” The commanding voice made him flinch. Fang turned to look behind him and saw soldiers. They wore old-fashioned stylish looking garments that reminded him of something he saw in Earth’s history? Embroidered with black details, the garment itself was red and long enough to reach the person’s ankles.

The person seemingly couldn’t identify him and spoke in something Fang couldn't recognize. The accent sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. He could tell by the tone of voice that he's being questioned but he couldn't tell because of this stupid language barrier. Not only that, his unfamiliar clothing made them believe he was a foreigner or perhaps enemy.

“Uh… english?”

“Why are you here, kid?” They then asked in English which Fang is relieved by, with an accent that sounded vaguely familiar.

“Me and my fr— companion were sent here by a Power Sphera.” He slowly treaded out of the sea water, his now wet clothes weighing him down. The soldier in front of him raised an eyebrow in a skeptical manner. “Don’t play make believe with me kid. Where did you come from?”

Okay, shit. They don’t even know what a Power Sphera is. He must be on a planet with humanoid aliens similar to him…

“What the hell is a Power Sphera?” They spoke in an interrogating manner.

“Uh— Cannonfire. Me and my companion were brought into the sea after we got hit by… cannonfire.” Wait— shit. Was Solar even with him? Fang began to look around frantically, facepalming when he realised that Solar was in-fact not with him. He tugged his dampened coat closer as the breeze hit him.

“Did you see another person with a cap and white clothing? A little shorter than me?” Fang asked, hoping to at least get some answers to where the light elemental may be.

“No.” He was met with a cold response. Almost as cold as he was. As another harsh breeze hit the shores he was thinking on how he can get himself out of this situation.

It was then that an idea came to mind.

It may sound stupid, but it may work. Plus, he learned from the best.

“I— I don’t remember where I’m from.” He tried pulling off the most clueless look he could muster. The person’s suspicion seemed to ease. They allowed him to walk closer to shore without stabbing him at least. But he can’t entirely be sure that they immediately won’t. The person seemed to take enough pity that they placed a hand on his back, thinking he’s going to get stabbed— then he started feeling warmer. Huh?

‘So these humanoids must have powers too…’ Fang thought. Despite them not even knowing what a Power Sphera is, he assumed these abilities were part of their biology.

“What is this place?” Fang asked to which the soldier turned to him and hummed. “So you really don't remember anything, huh?” They asked and Fang nodded.

‘Perfect,’ the shadow user thought. Not only does he rid himself of possible suspicion, he also gets to know how this planet works. Now his primary goal should be to find Solar as soon as possible before the light element begins to forget things for real. He really has learned from the best.

The soldier took him farther to the land. Along the way, Fang was given an extra cloak over his wet clothes which he refused to change out of.

“How did you do that?” Fang asked as he looked at the soldier.

“Do what?” The soldier looked at him.

“Do your powers help others feel warmer?” Fang clarified.

“Kind of. I'm a Heartrender. That means I know how to control human anatomy, so don't mess with us kid. Lest you want your heart to suddenly stop beating.” They chuckled after their explanation.

‘They can do what now?’ Fang paused. How is that even possible without a Power Sphera? But wait, human anatomy? Would that have a different effect on his kind? He may look like a human but he didn't want to find out and he started feeling more disturbed by it as this Heartrender had just used their abilities on him moments ago. Either way, he's fucked if they find him out. Can other people on this planet do that too? The questions raced in his mind.

Soon the soldier brought him to their other comrades. Both of them were wearing similar garments to the Heartrender but in blue. One of them had cuffs with red embroidery and asked. “Who’s kid is that?”

“No idea. Found him washed up by the shore, claimed he can’t remember anything” Then the Heartrender whispered something he couldn’t catch.

“Did you think he also forgot his fashion sense or something?” He heard another one of them snicker which followed with more snickering but he ignored it.

“He probably hit his head. You should help him get it checked. I can’t really sense anything but I’m not a proper healer.” The Heartrender said.

“Annie was sent to the next town. That’s not far, I can take him there.” Said the one with the silver-embroidered garment to which the Heartrender nodded. They then turned to Fang's direction and asked him, “What’s your name, kid?”

“Fang…” He replied, then realizing that his name might sound peculiar to them, the soldier raised an eyebrow. “Well that’s a strange name.”

Fang internally cringed. “It’s a nickname. I think,” he said, still trying to play the amnesiac.

“You a Grisha?” He was asked.

“What’s a Grisha?” Fang inquired. Despite his earlier claim of not remembering a thing the person still looked appalled.

“Seriously? Your head is worse than I thought… Grisha are masters of the small science. We can manipulate what makes this world, like elements.” The Heartrender explained.

“Like… magic?” Elemental power went unsaid… However, he was immediately given the stink-eye. What did he say wrong?

“No, kid. It’s not magic, it’s the small science.”

“Oh. Well I don’t have powers like that.” Fang said and they somehow believed him and that was technically the truth anyway. Once they turned their heads away Fang suddenly spoke up.

“Wait! Could you help me find my companion?” He looked towards the three ‘Grisha’.

“Sure, I guess,” Said the silver one. He should really ask for their names actually. “What’s your friend’s name?”

“...Boboiboy?” He said slowly. Fang immediately regretted it once they gave him a confused look.

“Oh great. What’s next? He has a twin named Gagagirl?” The Grisha with the red cuffs laughed.

“Sorry— I meant, Oboi. I think.”

“Just take the horses and get him checked out. We’ll keep an eye out for his friend.” Said the Heartrender. Horses? It’s like that whirlpool sent him back in time. Still, he played along. Except, he’s never ridden a horse in his life. Flying a spaceship? Sure, he’s practically an expert. Even riding on the back of his shadow falcon and flying while fused with it. This was out of his element.

They had to help him onto it while Fang silently prayed that it wouldn’t kick him off immediately. This might be the most embarrassing moment for him right now. He could feel his face heat up, the tips of his ears turning slightly red because he actually felt like a kid (not that he hasn’t made his friends feel that way to condescend them before). The Grisha accompanying him called themselves a ‘Squaller’. Someone who controls the wind, like Taufan.

“After this I need to find my companion as soon as possible.” Fang said.

“You’re really worried about them huh?” The Squaller replied.

“He gets lost… My own memory may be off right now but he’s been… a special case.” He’d explain further but already think he’s crazy enough.

“Here!” They toss the Squaller an infantry rifle. What the hell is gonna appear along the pathway for them to need that?

“All set, and hurry back” Said the Grisha ‘Inferni’ (that one was self-explanatory) who gave a thumbs up. The Squaller held onto a lead connected to the borrowed horse. Thank God he would guide him instead of Fang having to actually drive the damn thing. He knew he’d get thrown off in no time.

They mentioned that the town shouldn’t be too far, which is what Fang thought. He took the time to observe the geography and climate of the Planet. Earth’s flora and fauna were already beautiful in his eyes and this Planet just seemed so similar to it. Although it was colder than what it was like in Malaysia. He retained his attention back to the path when along the way, they were suddenly stopped by a girl.

“Huh, Annie?” The Squaller was approached by someone wearing a garment similar to the Heartrender but the embroidery on her cuffs were gray instead of black.

“Vodzu! We need to get out of here!” She seemed out of breath. Footsteps were lightly approaching, making the leaves crack. Fang started looking around frantically, being the first to hear them.

“What—” Vodzu began hearing them too. And all of a sudden, smoke suddenly infiltrated the air around them. Then followed the sound of wolves.

“Drüskelle!” Annie yelled to warn them. The Squaller immediately hopped off his horse and used his abilities to blow away the smoke. Through quick action he unstrapped his rifle and aimed for one of the men’s heads. No hesitation. He fired, startling the horses from the sound of the gunshots, causing Fang to get thrown off, landing in the dirt.

“Annie, the kid!” He fired again, his shot returned by a tranquilizer dart to his arm. Vodzu swore in that familiar foreign language. Shit. What was even happening? Fang started slowly up after being flung. He backed himself up against the three as he heard gunshots, smoke bombs, and men ambushing them. A strong wind blew all the smoke away, along with one of the men who he assumed were Drüskelle who was thrown in his direction but Fang managed to swerve out of the way quick enough. The man’s back hit the tree bark hard and he was out of it for a few seconds. Then one of them spoke something in a language that Fang can’t recognise. Something about ‘Drüsje’ or whatever.

Either way, that man who was previously nearly hurled at him started to get up and their wolves surrounded him too. Fang hurried to stand and turned his head towards Annie and Vodzu who were quickly getting surrounded and restrained, more of them were focused on Annie specifically.

“Annie! Fang!” The Squaller called out, trying to gather his strength when Fang was suddenly grabbed from behind.

‘Well it's now or never,’ Fang thought.

“Shadow Tiger!” He casted. The animal emerged from the ground. The rest of the Drüskelle froze in shock. Fang commanded the shadow to attack the one holding him and it pounced on the man, clawing his arms until Fang was freed from his grasp. Then it slashed through his torso. He swiftly restrained the hunter against the tree with shadow vines before casting a grasp to restrain the wolves too. Even the Grisha’s had a gobsmacked expression, not at the ones hunting them down but at Fang. The Drüskelle shrugged off the dread at the sight of the boy’s powers and attempted to capture him again, but the shadow tiger got to them first. Some of the men were nearly torn to shreds and Fang ended up restraining them with the first hunter that he caught.

After his shadow tiger ends up tearing some of the men to pieces, Fang then hurried to try and help up the other two only to be met with fear and wariness. He looked at them in confusion and he can't help but be reminded of when his current friends thought he was 'evil.'

“Y—you are Grisha! A Shadow Summoner!” Annie pointed at him, her hand trembling.

“I am not a Gri—” Fang tried to explain but was interrupted.

“Liar.” Vodzu cut off his explanation. “Your memory suddenly has holes the moment your stories don’t add up. How do you explain this?” He then gestured to the multiple unconscious Drüskelle around them.

“I said that I don’t remember!” Fang argued back. He didn’t even know that summoning shadows was a Grisha thing!

What he didn't know was, to them, a teenage boy has the ability to create Merzost but can’t ‘remember’ what a Grisha is. Vodzu wanted to stop believing him. There was only one known bloodline of Shadow Summoners and it just happened to end in the hands of possibly the most infamous Grisha in their era.

Could the Darkling… really have a child? Or could this child be the Darkling?

“We need to take you to the king immediately.” Vodzu declared, approaching Fang slowly but cautiously. ‘King? So this planet has royalty?’ The Squaller almost took him by the wrist when Fang swatted his hand away.

“I can’t. I need to find my friend.” He couldn’t let them. Not when he was already imagining what’s going to happen to a forgetful Solar on a completely foreign planet. And to be clear, he wasn’t concerned for Solar, he was concerned for the people that will cross him.

Fang took a step back. “I’m not going with you,” Fang said in a firm voice which made Vodzu and Annie raise their guards, preparing for a fight against whoever this kid really was.

What they didn't expect though, is Fang suddenly casting his shadow falcon when the Squaller created winds that pulled Fang towards them. Fortunately, the falcon manifested quickly. It picked Fang up with its talons and began to fly away with him frantically muttering “Go go go!” to it. The falcon was getting too far away too quickly for them to do anything to catch him. Honestly, Fang thought that the Squaller would begin to chase him like how Taufan makes himself airborne. Seems like he expected too much though, but that doesn't mean he's not thankful to make a quick getaway.

“Couldn’t you have stopped him or something!?” He turned his head towards Annie.

“He wasn’t even wounded, Vodzu. Did you expect me to suddenly gain the capabilities of a Heartrender?”

They were still numb from the effects of the darts. Annie helped Vodzu recover quickly.

“We still need to let King Nikolai know about this.” Vodzu said in a firm tone.

“And if there are more Drüskelle around the area? We are kind of near the Fjerdan borders after all.” Annie tried to reason with the Squaller.

Vodzu turned to the men restrained against the tree. “We find out,” He said as he picked up the fallen rifle.

Chapter Text

The first thing Solar noticed is a rather soft texture beneath him and the warmth of what felt and sound of a fireplace. It was strange of course, he could've sworn he was drowning in a whirlpool a second ago so this sensation would be the last thing he would feel coming from that. ‘No shit, Sherlock, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one,’ Blaze would have said if he was here.

He let out a groan, his chest aching, head pounding, and his throat felt like it had chalk shoved in. But all of a sudden, he could hear faint footsteps headed towards him. “Oh. You're awake,” he heard a rough and old voice say.

Before he could say anything, the rim of the edge of a glass of water was pressed against his lips, the water touching his lips for a brief moment. “Drink.” The owner of the voice ordered and unable to resist his thirst, he drank the water in greedy gulps.

Honestly it was uncharacteristically unwise of him to accept water from a complete stranger who may have ulterior motives but he was honestly too thirsty to care. He could hear Halilintar's voice saying ‘What if it was poisoned?!’ at the back of his mind.

Solar let out a shaky exhale after basically inhaling the water before looking at the man in front of him. The man seemed to be in his late 40's, a stubble on his chin, light eye bags under his eyes and seemed to have a permanent resting bitch face. “Where am I?” Solar asked, his voice scratchy.

“Fjerda. Just found you washed up on its shores.” The man responded which made Solar blink. ‘Fjerda?’ He thought. ‘It must be a country on this planet or dimension.’ While he usually doesn't assume he got sent to another dimension, he doesn't want to rule out the possibility after seeing Whirlbot's power. Plus, aliens exist and he himself and his friends have access to powers that can shape the world, the concept of other dimensions existing should be nothing new.

“So,” the man said as he set the glass on a table. “Where'd you come from, kid?” He asked the light elemental.

“Uh–” Solar tried to explain before he was interrupted. “I wanted to say you're probably from Shu Han, but I don't want to assume.” The man said. ‘Shu Han? Probably another country in this dimension but at least that helped a little,’ Solar thought.

“...Yes. We were travelling when suddenly our… ship was hit by a storm and it sank. We almost drowned and it seemed like I couldn't remember anything before that.” Solar tried to explain to the man, hoping he would buy his made up story.

“Uh–huh.” The older man raised an eyebrow. “And what happened to your crew members?”

“I— I don't know.” Where is Fang actually? This is worse than he previously thought.

If this would continue, it is now a must to initiate the ‘protocol’ Commander Koko Ci initiated in case Boboiboy's elements gets separated when split. “Could I… borrow some paper and something to write with?” Solar asked.

“Sure, kid.” The older man stood up to get it for him. Solar would then close his eyes and recite to himself in his head; ‘You are Boboiboy Solar, you are in a different planet or dimension caused by a Power Sphera named Whirlbot and your objective is to first find Fang and second, a way back to the rest of your friends, merge back with Gempa and Halilintar who are your elemental ‘brothers’, and go home.’

He made that a mental note to be made physical later on.

Solar then wrote what he recited to himself once he was given writing materials. He kept it in his pocket with the pictures of his friends and his ‘brothers.’ A picture of Fang specifically paperclipped onto the note that had a red marker saying ‘FANG!!!’ with underlines.

The light element gave the old man a sincere thanks. Though the old man insisted on Solar at least bringing a coat with him but he refused. But before leaving, he turned around and decided to ask the man about this planet. He can't deny his curiosity after all. “I'm afraid that I'm a foreigner here. Can you tell me more about Fjerda?” He asked the man.

“Depends where you plan on heading, kid. Since you're a foreigner you should be wary of Drüsje and if you do see one, tell a Drüskelle.”

“Drüskelle?” Solar raised an eyebrow at him. “Can you explain to me what that is?” He asked.

“They hunt Drüsje. Witches. A ‘curse and mistake’ to this world.” The old man didn't hold his disdain in his voice as he spoke about these ‘Drüsje’. Maybe that's just how they are commonly referred to here. Still, it's harsh.

“And what are the abilities of these ‘Drüsje’ that are so dangerous?” Surely no match for him right? Better safe than sorry anyway.

“Some of them can manipulate your body against its will. They are the most dangerous to encounter. Others can manipulate elements such as air, water, and even fire. While some can manipulate metals or even chemicals.” The old man explained in a grim tone.

“Elemental power. . .?” Solar muttered. Would he be considered Drüsje if he were caught? But if the Drüskelle were against witchcraft then they shouldn't have any powers of their own. It won't be too much trouble if he runs into them. After all, they are not Captain Vargoba or Retak'ka. They are human.

“Thank you for your assistance, mister.” Solar said, grabbing a piece of paper and writing the information down, pretending to be wary of these ‘Drüsje.’

“Where do you plan on heading, kid? Since you’re a foreigner you should be wary that Drüskelle soldiers might suspect you are Drüsje which I'm presuming you are not.” Asked the old man with a subtle threatening tone.

Solar easily picked up the subtle change in tone in the man's voice but he decided to not comment against it lest he wants to risk himself attracting more suspicion. “Do you remember the direction of where you found me? I plan to head there first.”

“It’s just straight ahead, and if you see one of those witches, be wary. No concrete idea on what they could do to you.” The old man told him to which Solar nodded in response. He said ‘Thank you’ and ‘Goodbye’ before proceeding to walk in a random direction. Solar planned to find somewhere with less people so he can think of a plan to alert Fang about his location. That was probably his best option and he couldn’t keep wasting time unless he wanted to lose his memories here of all places. Using Solar Leap, he went from a cold town area to an even colder forest. ‘Nice sense of direction, man’ Ais would've said.

He rolled his eyes at himself as he imagined that voice. Hopefully he didn’t run through a wall without noticing this time. This place seemed desolate enough for him to create a signal. His name was Solar after all, he could be his own flare gun. He pointed towards the sky and concentrated his energy, feeling the power build up within his body and eyes glowing a bright white.

“Solar Beam Strike!” He casted the light out with just his finger. A powerful beam erupted from Fjerda from where he was. The energy caused the birds within the forest flocked to get out of the trees at the bright and burning source of energy and animals nearby scurried away to a safer place. Fortunately and unfortunately, Fang wasn’t the only one who saw this signal. Random civilians, Druskelle, and even sailors at sea noticed this beam of light from Fjerda all thinking ‘What the hell is that?’ Some of the snow that surrounded him actually melted from the blast, creating a patch of ground clear of snow along with a few bent and burnt trees.

After a few minutes, the beam dissipated and Solar blew the smoke around his finger. He knew he just attracted a lot of possible unwanted attention by that beam. But no matter, he'll just blast them away.

He's the strongest element after all.

And he'll show them why.

Shadow falcon had been airborne over the snowy lands for a while and Fang himself was starting to get tired. Besides keeping an eye out for someone who could blend right into the ground of this place, his thoughts were running wild with other questions about what he knows about this planet so far. ‘Shadow Summoner.’ That’s what they called him. So that’s a Grisha thing? And what could they mean by only having one known bloodline? They wanted to bring him to their king… they couldn’t actually think that he’s related to this ‘infamous Grisha?’ But that fear and bitterness that he saw when he summoned Shadow tiger—

A bright beam of light interrupted his thoughts as it appeared in his peripheral vision. Oh, who could that possibly be? No shit.

“Clever… really clever,” Fang said with an edge to his tone. Moron. Solar is supposed to be one of the smart elements but his arrogance overshadows that aspect of him. This does make one part his job just a tad bit easier and everything else harder if those Drüskelle find him. Those men really had something against the Grisha people. If Shadow Summoning is a Grisha thing then could light also be? Fang then steered Shadow Falcon towards the direction of the beam.

Solar huffed and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Now he kind of regrets not taking the coat from the old man despite the earlier incredible display of power. No matter, he could just warm himself up easily with his powers. He then sat down on a nearby rock, to rejuvenate his energy and to pass the time in hopes Fang could find him. He then blinked.

Wait– is Fang even here?

What if he didn't even end up on the same planet or dimension as him?

No– he quickly shook that thought of his head. It doesn't even make sense as they were both in the same whirlpool, it's only logical enough to think that Fang ended up here as well.

But then again, he hoped he didn't accidentally waste his energy for a powerful attack like that.

Okay this may not work well as he originally thought. Solar was now laying down the cold grass and staring up at the gray snowy skies, thinking about if his plan even worked, which is uncharacteristic of him. He's usually always confident about his plans, confident about how they will work because he's the smartest out of his fellow elementals.

That was then he heard rustling in the forest surrounding him and quickly sat up.

Unlike his vision, he had rather good hearing. Footsteps in the snowy grass of three? No— not a definite amount but enough to surround him. Solar stood up from where he was laying, his back dampened from the snow. He may (kinda) think of Fang as a carrot-donut and popularity obsessed freak, but in the fight against Captain Vargoba he knew that the Gogobugian was at least reliable. The Light element saw their faces and they were staring at him in suspicion and as if he's the most disgusting thing that grazed this planet. ‘So these are the Drüskelle huh?’ Solar thought, feeling his power activate on his fingertips bringing them up in front of his face.

“I assure you, it would be a big mistake coming across me.” Solar boldly proclaimed, keen on not destroying the environment around him. The approaching Drüskelle hid behind the surrounding trees. One spoke in a language Solar can't recognize while hiding, causing the light element to narrow his eyes and look at them in confusion. He pointed his hand in the direction of the voice and fired a focused Solar Flare shot, small. As he knew how destructive it was if it wasn’t. A bright beam of light enveloped the area and the spot the Drüskelle was in that would've definitely killed them if they hadn't dodged last second as it burned a hole into the tree.

Unfortunately, it seemed like they knew how destructive his powers can be as after a few minutes of silence, a bunch of Drüskelle suddenly jumped out of the snowy treeline. Solar was prepared to take them all out in one blast until he heard a Bang! His right leg suddenly went numb. A dart pierced through his skin and veins. Startled, the Drüskelle caught him with his guard down and then restrained him all at once. Both of his arms and his left leg were grabbed, preventing him from moving. Solar tried to blast them but was jabbed in the diaphragm which caused him to miss and forced the air out of his lungs. Pathetic. He can’t be losing! He’s been through worse before!

Maybe he should've asked Halilintar to teach him close combat. Not that he would ever admit that though.

“Solar Leap!” He shouted out loud before suddenly getting shot again at his lower back with the tranquiliser darts. It seemed he only got a pathetic short distance of five meters away from the Drüskelle. It only seemed like a moment, but Solar could see the surprise on their faces when he ‘teleported’ even a short distance, almost as if they hadn't expected him to do that.

They spoke again in that unfamiliar language with one of the men looking at another with what sounded like an accusatory tone before the other one responded with a bite in his voice. Solar spotted one of the Drüskelle in the distance. The one that shot him. His eyes widened behind his visor with some sort of unbridled rage. Without further hesitation he blasted at the man’s torso with a focused Solar Flare Beam before he could be shot again. Blood spilt from his torso once the flare burnt through his skin and bones.

One of their comrades had fallen.

“Who’s next?” Solar pointed a finger, watching closely how they moved. The needles still ached where each of them landed. One of the Drüskelle’s eyes widened before pointing their rifle at him and shouting an order.

“Stovret Druschel!” (Kill the witch!)

It was then he felt someone grab him from behind, making his eyes widen. The Drüskelle said something to him in that unfamiliar language in a rather smug tone. Solar then quickly activated a Solar Sphere and burned the man’s skin which brought a cry of agony from him.

“I told you this was a mistake.” He shot him the same way as the other, this time in the throat. Suddenly, Bang! It was if time slowed down when Solar used his speed to concentrate his power on his hand before he caught the bullet with his gloved hand.

He brought his fist between his eyes before opening his hand. The bullet fell on the once snowy grounds. The Drüskelle that shot him looked back at him, horrified.

No, this is unnatural. A Sun Summoner shouldn’t be able to do this. This is beyond unnatural.

The light element stepped forward towards him. He wanted them to pay, to bring them to his knees, despite his right leg protesting every movement he wanted to push himself like he wanted to with the doubt in his heart.

But that was the moment he lost.

Because his own anger caused him to hear the next gunshot far too late. Solar checked himself quickly. Nothing vital was hit, right? Right? It felt like it pierced him from behind.

“Desjenet!” (Stand down!) The Drüskelle that took the shot shouted at him. He sounded like he was commanding him.

But to whatever he said, he's never oblige. He’s the strongest. The others would never let him live it down (if they were here). They were about to fire at each other again—

“Shadow barrier!” Someone yelled from above.

“Huh?” The group of Drüskelle and Solar saw the dome forming beneath their feet that trapped the light elemental inside of it. Fang jumped off from the back of Shadow Falcon and entered the barrier with Solar through the hole at the top of the dome before it closed off.

“You!” The Gogobugian looked furious. “I thought you were the smartest one! What kind of move was that!?” He was obviously referring to the Solar Beam signal.

Solar forced himself to stand up just to argue back. “Anda merosakkan pukulan saya! Saya boleh tahan sendiri!” (You ruined my shot! I can handle myself!) He yelled at Fang in Malay. Boboiboy himself would sometimes retort to his lingual roots when he was emotional and it's a trait his elementals also picked up.

Fang retorted in the same language. “Adakah itu yang sepatutnya kelihatan seperti 'mengendalikan diri sendiri'? Menembak diri sendiri—'” (Is that what ‘handling yourself' is supposed to look like? Getting yourself shot—’) His furious expression suddenly fell at the realisation that Solar was actually shot. He swore, ripping the cloth from the hem of his own sleeveless coat.

“Fang?” Solar raised an eyebrow, letting out a surprised yelp when Fang suddenly wrapped the cloth around his abdomen.

“Macam mana awak masih berdiri?” (How the fuck are you still standing?) He tightened the wrap. Being in elemental form sure did the body wonders.

“Kerana saya boleh mengatasinya!” (Because I can handle it!)

“Tidak, anda tidak boleh! Itulah sebabnya saya di sini sekarang, akui sahaja!” (No you can’t! That’s why I’m here right now, just admit that!) Fang pointed at Solar’s chest.

“Anda akan ditembak di kepala sekarang jika saya tidak masuk pada saat terakhir. Berhenti berlagak seperti anda lebih baik daripada saya, Boboiboy!” (You’d be shot in the head right now if I didn’t come in at the last second. Stop acting like you’re better than me, Boboiboy!) He raised his voice louder than intended, and Solar took a step back along with a deep breath.

“Kita perlu singkirkan lelaki ini.” (We need to get rid of these guys.) Said Solar.

“Saya tahu itu! Awak pernah berjuang bersama saya sebelum ini. Kenapa awak perlu berlagak seperti saya juga tidak kuat?” (I know that! You’ve fought alongside me before. Why do you have to act like I’m not strong too?)

Solar couldn’t answer that.

Because every explanation that would come out of his mouth is him attempting to justify wanting to affirm himself.

“Lupakan saja. Cuma jangan halang saya cuba menjadi seorang yang menunjuk-nunjuk.” (Forget it. Just don’t get in my way trying to be a show-off.) Fang held up both his hands, getting ready to cast his next move. “Shadow Octopus!” The Gogobugian raised his arms and the dome around them formed into the enormous eight-armed sea creature.

Fang then commanded the shadow to use its tentacles to grab all the Drüskelle surrounding them. Every single one was too shocked by the Shadow Summoner’s appearance to get away from it in time. The Octopus slammed the men hard against the ground by their heads while also destroying the surrounding forest.

“Ayuh!” (Come on!) Fang grabbed Solar by the hand and led him out of there, through the direction that he came here from Ravkan territory and to whatever its neighbor is called. Shadow Octopus can handle the rest of the Drüskelle (that Solar didn’t kill). The Shadow user summoned his falcon again, but Solar could tell that he was tired. They both hopped onto its back. The falcon swiftly took off and flew towards the direction of… somewhere.

“Where are we heading?” Solar switched back to English and turned his head to Fang.

“Away from them first. The people of the next land want to bring me to their King and the people here want you dead. We are… kinda fucked right now.” Fang also switched back to English as he hesitantly admitted.

“Why would they want to bring you to their king?” Solar furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy.” Fang responded with a smirk, the kind that showed irritation instead of smugness. As the adrenaline wore off, the pain of the bullet wound suddenly became more evident in Solar’s expression, one of his hands lightly clutching his abdomen in pain. Still, he stubbornly refused to appear weak in front of this absolute freakazoid—

“Don’t try to tough it out. You can relax if it really hurts.” Fang said, gaze drifting to the wound before looking back at Solar. The elemental rolled his eyes and leaned on him slightly. The shadow user didn’t expect that— but the little guy was snappy enough and Fang decided against saying anything.

Bang! Fang felt like a needle pierced through his shoulder, and the next dart followed to his other shoulder. Shadow Falcon suddenly dissipated and the two were falling towards the water. The wind blew against their ears as they were falling at high speeds and Fang felt too numb to summon Shadow Falcon again, wincing as he tried anyway.

“Fang!” Solar called to him. He’d use Solar leap but he wasn’t sure if his friend could handle it even if he was an alien.

“Ack— Shadow raft!” He casted. Both of them were suddenly caught by that surface. The Light elemental hurried to the edge of the raft, raising his hand and supporting himself with the other. He held out his palm and used the Solar Eclipse Beam again. The blast propelled the raft away from the Fjerdan’s that somehow made it past Fang’s Shadow Octopus.

He only stopped once they were far enough away from land. Solar briefly allowed himself to lay back on the raft. To be honest, he had never been shot in his life since he first manifested. Unfortunately for the Gogobugian, he had to maintain the raft’s structure despite the state he was in. These hunters had better aim than Solar—

“Give me a minute,” Fang cut off his train of thought, laying down. They’ll plan the next course of action later on.

Solar then sat down at the opposite of Fang, his gaze drifting where the darts pierced his shoulder. Concern drifted over his features before he let out a sigh and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Fang’s eyes momentarily went wide. Solar rolled his eyes.

“I said are you okay?” The light elemental asked again. Fang blinked, not expecting Solar, of all the elements to ask that.

“I–I'm fine.” Fang said, rubbing his shoulders after plucking out the darts. Solar raised his eyebrow. He knows the shadow user is lying but he knows he would not admit that. So, he let it go, for now and just laid in the raft.

That source of power was enough to even catch the attention of sailors at sea. The Privateer was no exception to that. It wasn't just any beam of light it had to have come from a Sun Summoner. But a display that powerful can't have just been done by any Sun Summoner. And in Fjerda of all places?

Why that's just a death wish.

“What are you planning now?” Zoya asked him. The sight had shocked her too but she knew that he'd come up with something absurd right after.

“Let's make a quick change of course.” Sturmhond responded to her question.

“You must really be working hard to get us killed today.” She said with a subtle irritated grin, her teeth clenched.

“I'm a model of diligence,” he flashed a smirk. Zoya rolled her eyes and walked off to assist with adjusting the sails.

Who knows if he'll run into someone who also knows his old friend? Little did he know that the culprits themselves would be the ones paying them a visit.

Chapter Text

After sailing for a while closer to Fjerdan territory (a horrible decision, really) none of them had seen Fjerda’s own ships close to this area. Something was up and it was possibly related to that strange light. His gaze fell onto Zoya, but she beat him to it, already looking back. The Privateer then played it off with a smirk when he got caught. Though instead of rolling her eyes she jerked her head towards the edge of the Volkvolny. And oh.

“Privyet!” The Privateer called for his second-in-command who hurried over to him from across the deck.

“Take the wheel for a while will you? I thought I saw something” Sturmhond let go of the wheel and Privyet’s own hands quickly replaced his captain’s.

He then went to the edge of the ship and saw… two strangely dressed teenagers? Both who noticed him and looked surprised, the one dressed in almost all white focusing on making sure they didn't fall while holding the other one with the red eyes wearing a horrendous looking coat that was torn at the bottom. They were hanging from the edge of the hull by a rope made of… shadow? And what's strange enough they looked nearly dry even though they looked like they were swimming towards the ship. The Privateer drew his sword immediately, pressing the blade against the rope.

“Well, well, what brings you to my humble ship, strangers?” He gave his iconic smirk. Zoya rushed to his side, looking down at the two intruders.

“Come on!” Sturmhond encouraged. “Otherwise I’ll have to see if you can still handle these waters while we’re sailing right here. And neither of you looks like you still got it.”

There wasn’t a boat in sight that could have taken them here! So unless they were secretly riding an aircraft somehow and crashed into the water, Sturmhond was going with that theory for now. “How on earth did you even make it this far?“

“We swam here!” The one with white clothing said impulsively. “We were travelling and our boat sank so we swam to the nearest ship which just happened to be yours!” He said. Their story looked believable enough? Both of them do look exhausted and slightly injured but them looking almost dry doesn't make sense.

“These are children…” Zoya commented. And she’s right, even if they are intruders from Shu Han (as the boy in white looked, he assumed his companion was the same). Why should he let some kids drown in the open sea without questioning them first? They were going to see for themselves if they inherited the ideologies from their land. He grabbed the very suspicious vines made out of shadows with his hand to keep it from swaying.

“Help me out will you?” He turned his head to the Squaller. Zoya obliged, commanding a strong gust of wind to bring the two boys up and then cushioning their fall with air. The kid with white clothing eyes widened momentarily before his expression turned blank again. Sturmhond approached and interrogated them again.

“Alright kids, either of you mind telling me which one of you did that?” He pointed towards the direction of where he last saw the light beam. The kid with strange orange glasses looked alarmed for a bit from how Sturmhond turned his head to him. I mean duh, he was the one with the bright clothing and the Star Symbol on his funny looking hat with spikes.

“We… don't know what you're talking about…” The kid with the red eyes said slowly.

“And I saw what you just used to climb up here, a rope out of shadow.” Sturmhond couldn't hide the disdain in his voice. The kid with dark purple hair winced at his tone. “So are you really an enemy or might you be a potential ally?”

“Uhh…” The brown haired kid trailed off for a moment. They couldn’t gaslight, gatekeep, their way out of this one could they? Not with how this… pirate? —was looking at them like he already knew and wanted them to admit it.

The brunette let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. I'll admit it. I was the one who made the beam.” He admitted.

“I mean, I can tell. Most Grisha on the run don’t exactly blind others with the symbol color of their power.” Said Sturmhond. The brunette blinked before turning to his companion.

“Am I really that obvious?” He asked to which the other facepalmed. Sturmhond looked at the star symbol on his hat and his rather very bright clothing.

“Well maybe if you toned down the white, take off that symbol, and maybe change the orange on your pants to something more discreet than you wouldn’t be as much.” Basically ‘change your whole look’ went unsaid.

His words seem to make the kid with red eyes smirked triumphantly and slowly stood up, stumbling a bit as he had to lean on the railing and pointed at his companion.

“Ha! Finally someone questions your fashion sense!” He exclaimed which caused the brunette to scowl before also standing up.

“At least I didn't wear a mushroom and called it good!” He retorted back.

“For the last time! It. Was. Not. A. Mushroom!”

“Well it looked like one!”

“Oh for crying out loud…” Zoya was close to facepalming herself. Someone was being more annoying than the Privateer for the moment. Sturmhond did not appreciate someone else taking his spot in that area, or any area actually.

“So you are a Sun Summoner?” He asked the kid in white who stopped bickering with his companion to answer his question.

“That’s an oddly complicated way to say my name and my powers, but yes, I am.”

“Oh? What’s your name then?”

“Solar!” The brunette responded. The Privateer looked disappointed.

“That’s…” A Sun Summoner who’s name is Solar. First the clothes and now the name. Where are his parents!? He thought.

“And you are?” He turned to the other one with the black hair and odd red eyes.

“Fang.” The teen responded with a heavy sigh. Sturmhond turned his head to Zoya.

“You saw it too right?“ He whispered to her. “This one might be…”

“A Shadow Summoner.” She responded with slightly gritted teeth. Fang looked confused at the accusation, like this wasn’t the first time he heard that.

“What an unlikely duo, but it seems like we’re brought back here all over again.” Sturmhond gripped the handle of his sword. “I’ll ask you this once because people with your kind of powers are usually a bad experience.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that..?” Fang muttered before a sword was pointed at him. He looked at Zoya who only crossed her arms, that look on her face was one of mild distrust. Can’t have history repeat itself.

Solar brought up his hand, pointing towards Sturmhond. “Don’t you dare lay a hand on him!” He yelled at the Privateer. Zoya clasped her hands together, he heard swords being drawn and guns… again, pointed at the two of them.

“He needs to answer first. Who did you come from?” Sturmhond asked Fang but the Shadow Summoner’s arms were too numb for him to raise in surrender.

“We don't remember anything.” Fang claimed as he locked eyes with Solar, seemingly having a silent conversation before Solar nodded as well.

“You used your powers just fine. I am really not buying it” Sturmhond deadpanned. “I know! I’ll start counting. Ten, nine—”

“...m–my parents are deceased,” Fang admitted (that was fast). He was too exhausted to put up with this disguise and another fight. “I don’t have other family with me right now.”

“Fang…” Solar, albeit his concern, looked surprised at his quick response. Besides the ache in his body, the Shadow Summoner looked away from his gaze with his eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed tightly to hold back his emotions. Well he wasn’t acting at least. Sturmhond should know, he’s a great actor.

“Stand down.” The Privateer commanded his men and they obeyed. “Well you didn’t take the chance to attack me and my crew when you could have, considering what you just did earlier.”

He eyed Solar, “So I personally decided that you aren’t a threat. For now.”

Both of the teenagers sighed in relief once the attention was off of them.

“But you’re still on my ship, and you better not draw any of the Shu or Fjerda towards us.” Sturmhond reminded them. He placed his sword back in its sheath and extended his hand.

“Pleasure to have you on board with us!” Neither of them took it, yet he continued on anyway.

“Name’s Sturmhond, Privateer and Captain of the Volkvolny right here” He tapped his foot on the wooden flooring. “I reckon that you don’t mind sailing with us for a while considering your predicament?”

Not that they really had a choice… Fang nodded on behalf of him and Solar. Sturmhond pointed a finger at them, “Behave.”

Then he walked to Zoya, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We found our culprits, luckily. Better we turn back now and you know what that means.” He said with a wink.

Fang and Solar were later sat at the deck, kept a close eye on by the rest of the crew. Not bad, but Fang seemed like he would prefer to be laying down. The ‘Sun Summoner’ on the other hand seemed curious about Zoya. He would watch as she called the winds against the sails to change the course of the Volkvolny, his eyes carrying a hint of familiarity and... longing?

Sturmhond himself would ask them more questions but the kids looked exhausted enough. The ‘Shadow Summoner’ obviously wasn’t holding up as well as his friend with the cloth around his torso. But then again, he hoped that Fang wasn't like the Darkling.

Solar watched as the woman who seemed close to Sturmhond manipulated the winds to blow against the sails of the ship to make themselves move faster. Her powers are literally like Taufan’s, but it seemed like there is more to her powers. He looked at Fang who looked like he's about to throw up at any minute. While he does feel kind of pity for him, it doesn't make sense how he can get used to traveling in a spaceship more than a boat.

He winced and almost let out a cry of pain as he felt pain in abdomen when the ship lightly rocked against the waves.

Oh.

He almost forgot about that.

He looked down and saw the dried blood on Fang's ripped off purplish-magenta coat and possibly new ones seeping in. It did seem like the bullet hit him somewhere in his lower back close to his abdomen but thankfully none of his vital organs were hit if he's able to stay conscious for this long. But that didn't exactly make the aching pain in his body better either. He laid against one of the beams, hoping it would ease the pain.

The light elemental then looked at Fang and debated on telling him but the shadow user looked exhausted and nauseous enough so he decided against it.

Maybe he'll tell him later.

“You did tell them you got shot, right?” Fang suddenly asked.

Solar suddenly found the water very interesting before he could feel Fang’s suspicious gaze at him.

“You did tell them, right?” Fang asked again with gritted teeth and Solar let out a frustrated groan.

“No…” The Light elemental admitted sheepishly.

Fang inhaled sharply, his hand pinching the bridge of his nose before looking at Solar again.

“You know… for the element that is supposed to be the smartest, you sure do act stupid.” Solar gave Fang an offended look at his comment.

“He–” Solar didn't even get to finish his sentence when Fang suddenly pulled him up, wincing as he felt the pain flare up. He looked up and saw Fang’s expression contorted into concern for a second before dragging him across the ship.

The shadow user then dragged him to the woman who manipulated the winds, who then eyed Fang with a distrustful look.

“Uh, excuse me? But my friend got shot. Can you help him?”

“He what?” Zoya uncrossed her arms, she looked at the cloth around Solar's abdomen and noticed that there was blood seeping through.

“Genya!” She then called for one of the crew members. A lady with deep auburn hair and an eyepatch came as soon as her name was called.

“Step aside,” Zoya told Fang and he did what he was told. She approached the light element, placing her hands on his arms to hold him up. She seemed to be wondering how he held up like that for so long.

“Come on. We need to take him to the sick bay.” The Airbender lady (as Solar decided to call her for the time being) led Solar to the inside of the ship, leaving Fang alone on the deck and under the watch of Sturmhond. He nearly stumbled on his own feet several times from the sharp bursts of pain as they rushed past the halls. Once they stopped in front of a particular room, Genya opened the door for them before he sat on the sick bay’s bed. He assumed that the other crew member was Drüsje too. Maybe they are the kind that has control over human biology like the old man said which piqued his interest.

“How painful is it?” The lady with red hair asked him with a gentle tone.

“Not that much.” He said, mustering up a nonchalant tone. He’s been through worse after all. Getting thrown through metal doors and ending up floating in space makes a bullet wound look like a scrape on the knee. But somehow the former events were what happened first.

“Could you take off your jacket? Your wound needs to be inspected” Genya asked politely to which Solar nodded and did so.

“Are you Drüsje?” He asked them innocently, not a single idea on what that word really meant besides what he was told (magical people as the old man said). They both paused what they were doing and looked at him appalled and offended.

“What?” Solar asked, confused about what he said wrong.

“...you do know that means ‘witch,’ right?” Genya slowly said.

“Oh. Oh!” Solar placed a hand on his mouth. “That’s just what I was told by an old man in Fjerda about those with powers here. I apologize.” He explained, hoping it would clear up the misunderstanding.

“Don’t listen to whatever those self-righteous crazed hunters have to say about us. ” Zoya commented, her voice barely concealing her anger.

Solar tilted his head. “So what are you guys actually called?” He asked.

“Grisha. We are called Grisha. I’m not sure what you were told about us but we aren’t the monsters they make us to be. You’re like us.” The Airbender remarked and Solar blinked.

Like them?

“You mean in the way that I can manipulate light?” Solar wondered.

“You just admitted that you were a Sun Summoner. Are you really that unfamiliar with Grisha?” Zoya raised an eyebrow with suspicion. If he wasn't unfamiliar with this world already, then Zoya must've thought he had really bad amnesia (which he eventually will get).

“None of the new Sun Summoners in Ravka are this young, actually.” She continued. ‘New Sun Summoners?’ Solar thought. That means they haven’t existed for that long or they haven't had new ones in a long time or at all.

Well he didn’t know that about them. Solar was then asked to show the wounded area and had to lift his clothing a bit. He had a bad feeling about being so vulnerable. Why did he let Fang call him out!? Maybe he could have just cauterised it but what effect would that have if he merged back with the others like this?

“No exit wound at the front. It’ll need to be extracted before I can seal it otherwise it might poison him.” Genya said before she turned to the other woman. “Zoya, do we have a Fabrikator on board?”

“I need to ask Niko— Sturmhond.” She quickly composed herself, eyeing Solar before leaving him with Genya.

Solar raised an eyebrow at the slight slip up but didn't mention it. “What's a Fabrikator?” He looked up at the other woman. “Miss Genya?”

“Hm? Oh, Fabrikators are Grisha that can manipulate composite solids and chemicals. You don't see them often,” she kindly explained.

“Wait! is that how the bullet will be—”

“Removed from you? Yes, but don't worry you're in good hands. After that I can seal your wound.”

“I have more questions!" Solar exclaimed excitedly which seemed to amuse Genya a little before he quickly cleared his throat to compose himself and seem proffesional.

"About Grisha powers, I mean.” He muttered and behind his visor there was a hint of sparkle in his eyes. It was more prominent when she agreed to answer them. He wanted to ask the Airbender lady too later on. And oh did he have a lot to ask.

Fang walked up to the higher part of the deck to where Sturmhond is. He wasn’t exactly quiet and he realised that as soon as he was greeted by the Privateer with his hands on the wheel.

“Trying to sneak up on me? Well that’s not the first time.”

“Okay, seriously. What did you mean by people with my powers being a bad experience.” Fang asked, a hand on his chest.

“Have you really never heard of The Darkling?” Sturmhond raised an eyebrow.

“...what’s that?” Really now? A Shadow Summoner who doesn’t know about the Darkling. Fang seemed to notice the questioning look on Sturmhond face because he's now trying to explain himself. “Look, we’re not exactly from here so just explain it instead of trying to condescend me!”

The Privateer rolled his eyes. “The Darkling is a Shadow Summoner, like you. And he’s a bad experience because for one guy he managed to do a lot. He created a shadow fold full of monsters that almost tore apart the economy of our nation, made more monsters like that out of some people…” His grip on the wheel got tighter and Fang seemed to notice. Oh he didn't even get to mention half of what he did, but the kid got the gist of it. “I'd say he was determined. Too determined that he didn't care enough about anything else.”

“Well I would never be anything like that,” Fang said, crossing his arms.

The Privateer just smiled in response, “You better not.”

“Have you met The Darkling?” He asked Sturmhond.

“...I have. Invaded my ship once with his monstrous little minions to try and take a girl. I've got a hint, she and your friend have the exact same powers.”

“Oh,” Was all that Fang could respond with. He mumbled something that Sturmhond just barely caught.

“Wait, what—” He turned his head to face the Shadow Summoner.

“I mean, I met some people earlier today. When they found out that I was a ‘Shadow Summoner’ they wanted to take me to their King.”

“Oh.” Was Sturmhond’s response. It might seem crazy what he'll say soon enough…

“Am I… going to get executed?” Fang pointed at himself, eyes wide with concern of the possibility.

“Executed? No no! Don't take The King of Ravka to be so cruel. He’s as merciful as he is handsome, charming, and clever. So long as you really aren't him.” If Zoya was with him right now she would definately be rolling her eyes.

“I don't know what you're getting at.” Fang glared at him from the side of his gaze, he leaned on the railing by the wheel. “Ugh…”

“Well you can't blame me. You've got dark hair, sharp features, oddly… red eyes, you’re kind of— pale–er?” Sturmhond raised an eyebrow. The teen did seem like he was getting paler. Fang hurriedly rushed past him and leaned over the railings on the edge of the Volkvolny. Sturmhond heard a gag from him and a light splash from the water below. He let out an offended gasp.

“Oh come on, the waters aren't that bad and neither is my steering!” He could hear Zoya laugh discreetly from the back. Once Fang was feeling slightly less queasy he approached the Privateer again, his voice low from the ache in his throat after that.

“So you think that me and him are… related?” The kid raised an eyebrow.

“What other explanation could there be?” Unless he was some sort of miracle worker in working with Merzost to get these powers.

“I don't have other relatives. Besides my older brother.” Fang turned his head away.

“Oh really? What's your brother like?”

He showed some reluctance before speaking. “Well, he looks like me. Although we haven't spoken much lately. He’s really strong and capable since he's a leading role in our organization even if he is too extreme about that role.”

“...and what's your brother's name?” Sturmhond asked carefully.

“Cap– I mean— Kaizo” Just Kaizo. “He's not a Grisha, by the way.”

Sturmhond almost let out a sigh of relief. He'll trust them for now. But something was also suspicious about the other kid, how was he so powerful despite seemingly wearing no amplifiers? That's what he wants to know, who are they and where do they really come from?

“So, what's our course?” Fang asked him.

“Ravka! We were already on our way there previously. Until we happened to cross paths.”

“Y–you're not gonna bring us to the King are you?”

“After your friend just alerted all of Fjerda and possibly Shu Han about a new Sun Summoner twice as powerful than a Saint with amplifiers? You might need all the help you can get. Especially since you probably alerted every single Drüskelle in the area.”

“Oh,” Fang looked at him again, seeming like he had more questions, but couldn't tell if Sturmhond was getting sick of them. The kid looked like he thought of something and just walked off.

“Psst! Fang! Fang!” Sturmhond heard Solar call to his companion as he walked up the deck and towards him and past Zoya who was accompanying the kid. Despite the slight blood staining his shirt he seemed like he was no longer in pain.

“Oh, you’re not dead…” Fang said with a fake expression of disappointment.

“Of course I'm not! I survived worse, remember?” Solar looked at him, a smug grin on his lips before his gaze turned to Fang's shoulders.

“How are the shoulders?” The kid said as he observed Fang's shoulders.

“Fine. The sedatives or whatever are wearing off. How's your memory?”

“About that!” Solar held up his jacket that got previously dampened. “The pictures I had of you are smudged. I managed to dry and salvage my notes though.”

“The pictures??” Fang narrowed his eyes, a bit weirded out. Sturmhond didn't know what the pictures meant but he could tell that they were important. “Why would you need that? I'm right here!” He pointed at himself.

“But what if we get separated?” Solar tilted his head.

“Then remember this face!” Fang raised another hand, now pointing at himself twice. “And it's not Robert Tan by the way!”

The Privateer let out a chuckle as the two bickered. Once they returned, he planned on having the two be monitored at the Little Palace, but before that he could perhaps even bring them with him to visit an old friend. Just to make sure.

Chapter Text

The Aura of the T.A.P.O.P.S spaceship became tense as a visitor pulled over. The automatic doors opened for Captain Kaizo who walked in to three anxious teens, Boboiboy in dual split for some reason, and—

“Where's Fang?” That was the first thing he asked. He turned to Ying, Yaya and Gopal, who looked at each other as if urging one of them to speak up. Then he turned to Boboiboy Gempa and Boboiboy Halilintar who both who straightened their posture in his presence.

“Captain!” Ochobot hovered over. “We're sorry to say this, but during a mission to retrieve the Power Sphera, WhirlBot, Boboiboy Solar and Fang have been sent to another dimension by their power!”

Kaizo blinked, not believing what he was hearing.

“What?” Though his face remained blank the tone in his voice was clear enough.

Yaya walked to him. “It's true, Captain! Boboiboy Solar and Fang are both in another dimension as said by WhirlBot. We're trying to find a way to bring them both back but WhirlBot is on low power and we don't know where they are!”

Another Dimension? That could possibly be millions of light years away. Fang and a part of Boboiboy? He's heard about them losing their memories when split up for too long. Kaizo took a deep breath to compose himself, trying to appear stoic despite the situation.

“How long will it take for the Power Sphera to recharge?” He asked Ochobot.

“A few days at minimum, but we're doing what we can to help them charge faster.”

“Can I see the Power Sphera?” Kaizo asked them urgently. Ying, Yaya, and Gopal all looked confused at his expression. As if they expected him to be more emotional about it. Maybe angry at their recklessness for the way they handled the Power Sphera but he knew this was not the time to get angry.

“...WhirlBot is charging as of now. It may take days for them to get enough power and make another whirlpool at minimum, especially to another dimension that far.” Ochobot responded to him. Kaizo felt his heart sink from distress, running a hand through his hair.

“What has the Admiral and Commander said about this?” They can’t see him panicking despite how cold he felt on the inside. He began tapping his foot as he waited for them to answer.

“They decided that our next missions will have to be delayed to prioritise the sudden emergency, but we were the ones who decided to contact you.” Yaya stepped forward.

“And why’s that?” The Captain crossed his arms over his chest. “Am I meant to take over your missions in the meantime?”

“T–that’s not the main reason, Captain! When we get access to the dimension we’re asking you to come with us in retrieving Solar and Fang.” Yaya explained, hoping he’d understand. This was for his brother after all. But how cold he looked about it wasn’t exactly reassuring.

“Alright. I'll go with all of you.” Kaizo said, surprising the Kokotiam. The Captain raised his eyebrow at their reactions.

“What?” Had he said something wrong? Ying zipped forward, an apprehensive expression on her face.

“Haiyaa! With that expression you looked like you were going to turn us down and tell us you had more important things to do! Couldn't you at least look more worried about this? Especially for Fang?” Ying said, looking at him with an angry expression but also worried for her friends.

“I am worried,” Kaizo emphasized, kind of offended that they didn't think he cared for his brother.

“Even if I don’t look that way. It’s… a habit.” He admitted, an unreadable expression appearing on his face.

He’d been used to being the dependable one, and to be emotional was to be frail. At least in his eyes. Because if he started falling apart then the next one would be the person looking up to him.

Even in situations where it was safe for him to.

That’s what led to the belief that he was always cold and calculating. That was true, it’s how he wanted to appear anyway. But it still hurts to be accused of not caring for your own family, your only family left. Sure he was a bit… rough in his methods but he still cares!

“Hah? Didn't you literally kind of torture him when we were kids?” Gopal said, which got him a light slap in the arm from Yaya and a pained yelp from him.

“OW! What was that for?!” He exclaimed at the gravity manipulator.

“Ish! You can't just blurt out things like that in front of him, Gopal!”

“But isn't that technically the truth though?! And don't forget he did that to Boboiboy too!” The others may not have noticed but Kaizo sensed Boboiboy Gempa tense up while Boboiboy Halilintar clenched his fist..

…Okay maybe he had a point.

“No, you are right to confront me for that. I understand that my methods were probably… extreme in the past and you were just children so it may have soured your perception of me and Fang’s relationship.” Kaizo said solemnly that made the rest of the Kokotiam go silent. He realised that they noticed his tone had gotten softer.

He remembered the time when he felt betrayed and hurt after Fang chose these earthlings over him during their battle. These earthlings who only knew Fang for about a year compared to Kaizo who raised him and known for most of his life. However, his own anger and grief blinded him to the point he hurt his own brother, the person he's supposed to protect.

It was only after their battle, Kaizo kept in touch with Fang on Earth through occasional– but rare– calls. It was then the rest of Fang’s friends stared at him with an expression he couldn't quite tell at the time but he noticed it was only mainly when he was around Fang and even Boboiboy. He could tell it was probably because of his higher authority but there was something more to it.

But after seeing the Kokotiam battle with each other, their teamwork, the way they all trusted each other, the way they all spent time together, and the way Fang looked happy when he was around them. He made the realization that the expression back then was protectiveness.

They were protective of him when he was around his own brother.

That's when he knew he failed.

He couldn't believe at first that sending Fang to Earth on that mission was a mistake, that it made him soft and that it may be a detriment for their missions and that it will get him killed one day.

Oh how foolish he was.

Because seeing the determined expressions of the rest on the Kokotiam’s faces, sending Fang on that planet was not a mistake after all.

Because he has actual friends to worry for him, to care for him, and help him. Sure, Sai and Shielda are there and they get along with Fang very well but it made Kaizo glad that he has friends around his age to get along with.

Now he wants to do what he can to make sure he won't lose that.

Gempa cleared his throat as he approached the galaxy rebel. “We thank you for your sincerity, Captain,” he said politely and he could hear a light scoff coming from Halilintar but it did sound like he agreed with his brother. It was clear the earth element also inherited Boboiboy’s trait of forgiveness, even the aloof Halilintar seemed to have begrudgingly inherited it as well.

Kaizo wondered if he even deserved it.

WhirlBot was greeted by the same group of teenagers they had encountered a few hours ago, along with Ochobot and Kaizo when they entered the charging sanctum. Though the Power Sphera was wary as they hadn’t met him before.

Almost as if sensing their unease, Yaya spoke up. “Don’t worry WhirlBot! This is Captain Kaizo, he’s a relative of our friend and he’s here to help us get both of them back.” Yaya reassured them as she approached the purple Power Sphera. Kaizo had to force himself to look less threatening through his expression but judging from the look on WhirlBot's face it didn't do him any good. Luckily, Ochobot was there to vouch for him.

“Kaizo is a member of T.A.P.O.P.S too, he may look like he's constipated but he's trustworthy!” Ignoring the comment from the yellow Power Sphera and the snickers from Gopal and Halilintar, he didn’t try to stop them with a fierce glare as scaring them may do the same to WhirlBot. But at least Gempa lightly hit their heads with his quake fists to make them stop.

“Um— okay,” WhirlBot ignored the comment too, but it seemed like they trusted Ochobot enough to do the same for him. “Charging is at almost thirty-percent power!” They informed everyone by showing their power percentage through pixels on their screen.

“Huh? Only thirty-percent? It’s been hours! Are you trying to be the second Databot?” Gopal complained.

“Sorry! This specific dimension is the farthest WhirlBot has taken themself to by accident!” WhirlBot responded, the emoticon on their screen showed a comically crying face.

“Do you think you can send a whirlpool to this dimension?” Ying asked as she came forward.

Whirlbot nodded, “Yes! WhirlBot can save the coordinates of previous locations or dimensions they’ve been to but it has to be the same waters!” They said while nodding eagerly. “So WhirlBot needs us to go back to the cave.”

Well that seems doable enough. Kaizo can simply ask Ochobot about the location where WhirlBot was first found.

“Before we plan our course of action. Do you know anything about the dimension you sent my brother and his friend in?” Kaizo asked them, taking a few steps closer. WhirlBot's screen seemed to show a thinking expression for a moment before an exclamation mark appeared.

“Well, this particular dimension is known for its unique kind of humans! They’re called… Grisha? Maybe? WhirlBot didn’t stay for a very long time so they don’t know much. But WhirlBot does know that not everyone in that dimension has the Grisha powers so other humans hunt them down for execution. Actually, those humans may mistake your friends for Grisha people! That’s crazy, right!?” WhirlBot’s current emoticon shifted to a more curious one in contrast to everyone else’s expression which was horrified.

“Wait– execution?! We need to get them out of there immediately!” Gempa exclaimed, his face turning into one of worry and distress.

“Gempa, calm down.” Halilintar said in a firm voice, putting his hand on the earth elemental’s shoulder. Said elemental looked like he got called to the principal's office in school because his children got caught getting into a fight.

“But Fang and Solar! What if–” Gempa got cut off by Halilintar raising his hand.

“Fang and Solar will be fine. They are capable of handling themselves just fine. Plus, you've seen how powerful Solar is, and even if Solar lost his memories, Fang will be there to help him.” Halilintar tried to assure his younger brother although Kaizo could see the worry on the lightning elementals features.

Fortunately, Halilintar's words are enough to calm Gempa down, the earth elemental kept taking deep breaths. “Yeah… yeah you're right… hopefully…”

While it obviously wasn’t new at all for them to be hunted (courtesy of an orange capped boy and how they're all powerful in general) that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be worried at all even if Solar and Fang could handle themselves. ‘It’s been a few hours already, is the Sun boy gonna start to forget?’ Kaizo thought. As he was brainstorming, an idea came to mind.

He turned to the two Boboiboy’s. “How long will it start for you to start losing your memories?” He asked which caught their attention.

“Hmmm… It usually depends how many were split into and since we're split into three, it would take us twelve hours before we start losing our memories.” Gempa replied. Kaizo placed a fist over his palm.

“Alright, I have a suggestion for our next course of action. Once WhirlBot is capable of making another portal I want two of you to stay on the other side as backup and to monitor them, and I need two of you with me to cross, that makes three of us going through that whirlpool.” He explained.

“Wait— three? So who will accompany you, Captain?” Ying asked, tilting her head a bit.

“One,” He pointed at himself. “Two,” He pointed at Yaya. “And Three,” He pointed at Halilintar and Gempa with two fingers. The rest of the Kokotiam seemed puzzled at first before a spark of realisation flashed on their faces. Well, almost all because Gopal still seemed confused.

“Weh? Doesn't that technically make it four?” He asked before getting lightly smacked in the arm, again, but this time from Ying

“OW! Why does everyone keep hitting me today…” The dark-skinned boy complained as Ying clicked her tongue.

“Ayah! He meant elemental fusion, of course!” She reminded him before a look of realization and excitement dawned the boy's face.

“Really?! That means I get to see Boboiboy Gentar again!” Gopal exclaimed with excitement. Huh, so that is the name of one of the new fusions Boboiboy gained lately. Ochobot hovered over.

“That's a great idea! With only two Boboiboy’s, there will be a chance that Solar and Gentar could lose their memories slower!” Ochobot explained and Kaizo nodded.

“That means Ying and Gopal will stay here, understood? It’ll be easier to keep track of each other the less of us there are and Yaya will help us in getting from one place to another in case it may be far. Are you up to the task?” He asked all of them to which the Kokotiam nodded eagerly. Kaizo sensed their determination.

Good.

He was well aware they’d do anything for their friends.

According to WhirlBot themselves, it would still take at least five hours or longer for them to gain enough power. That was with the inclusion of using other Power Spheras to help them charge faster.

As what he heard from Yaya; it was they themselves who decided to contact him. Their next missions were delayed because of the incident, so in the meantime Kaizo decided to step in and take over for their sake. He's an adult after all it should be him who's used to this.

After some time passed, it was already late at night in Earth's time. He wanted to check on WhirlBot's progress while the rest of the Kokotiam got some sleep before the plan took action. He suddenly halted in front of the doors when he heard two people talking within the charging chambers. Two people… who had the same voice.

“Do you really think it will be okay to fuse into him?” Said one of them.

“Why?”

“Because you know how… overwhelming he can be? Sometimes?”

“I get what you mean but it's still safer this way. We'll at least find out if we lose our memories slower. It's alright, Gempa. He may be… annoying but he's still reliable. Plus with his energy absorbing powers Captain Kaizo’s energy manipulation can make the fusion last longer.” The elemental that he assumed to be Halilintar reassured the other.

Gempa let out a sigh in response before speaking.

“If you say so, but we should still try to tone it down. Everyone else is asleep after all…” Kaizo then heard footsteps approaching before he stepped out of their sight. Just as he expected, Gempa and Halilintar walked out and to their sleeping quarters specifically for the elementals.

However, their words still ring in Kaizo’s head. Energy Absorption? That's a power he hasn't seen yet from Boboiboy's elements and fusions and what did they mean by him being slightly overwhelming and annoying?

He shook his head out of those thoughts and cleared his throat.

“Ahem,” he fake-coughed so he could catch their attention which he succeeded in as they both turned around to look at him with a surprised expression.

“Cap— Captain Kaizo!? How long have you been standing there!??” Gempa looked at him, startled by his sudden appearance.

“Long enough to hear your conversation.” Kaizo curtly replied. They then hear one of the Power Spheras activate causing Gempa and Halilintar to look behind them.

“Ding ding ding! One hundred percent!” WhirlBot flew from their charging port and spinned around, a happy swirling emoticon on their screen. They hovered towards the three of them. “Whirlpool! Let’s make a whirlpool and save your friends!” They excitedly said.

“That’s great! Hali, let’s wake everyone up.” Gempa said as he turned to his brother. The other elemental raised his right hand which was closed in a fist and Gempa did the same. After some anticipation, both elementals bumped their fists together, a swirl of energy spinning around them.

Kaizo felt the hairs in his body rise due to the red electricity surrounding the vicinity of the fusion as Gempa and Halilintar's bodies fused into one and a figure emerged from the bright light along with a giant hammer. Gentar came out, a confident smirk on his face as he stared up at Kaizo and his hammer slung over his shoulder.

“Ready to put the plan into action, my bro Kaizo!” Gentar saluted. Huh, so this is the elemental fusion between… two of the most mature elements.

Kaizo begins to wonder if the elemental fusion was a good idea.

“It’s Captain.” He corrected him dryly to which Gentar simply dismissed with a shrug and responded with;

“Sure, Captain Kaibro!” The fusion rushed past him to presumably go and wake up the others. “YO, YO, YO!! It's time to rescue my bro Fang and my bro Solar!!” Kaizo proceeded to hear Gentar's hammer banging against the walls, shaking the entire station.

‘Is this what they meant by slightly overwhelming?’ Kaizo thought to himself. Well surely, it can’t be that bad. He was familiar that Gempa and Halilintar were the most responsible out of the other elementals, so surely at least their fusion would also at least be responsible. Right?

…right?

Chapter Text

The Volkvolny’s hull rocking against the waves began to slow down until he no longer felt the air against his face. Fang then heard Sturmhond speaking with the light elemental from behind him.

“Alright kids, we’re gonna go meet an old friend of mine. She’s the lady that runs the orphanage at Keramzin.” Sturmhond said with a hand on his hip.

“Orphanage? Wait— are you giving us up for adoption?” Solar asked him with a face of mild concern. Hearing that, Fang snapped his head towards The Privateer.

“You better not! I already have a legal guardian. I just need to get back to him.” ‘Even if he isn’t exactly the most responsible,’ he thought. Sturmhond raised his hands in mock surrender at the accusation.

“Adoption? No..? I’m just paying a visit, catching up, asking a few questions. You two will walk with me while Privyet and Zoya will be in charge in the meantime!” Once the gangplank was lowered he waved to the rest of his crew and walked down to the docks aside from Fang and Solar who looked reluctant.

“Come on, I swear I’m not giving you up for adoption!” He yelled out to the two of them.

“I swear if you lie, I won’t hesitate to blast you.” Solar threatened which made Sturmhond let out a chuckle.

“Oh you definitely will. I’ll take your word for it though.” He motioned for them to hop off the Volkvolny. The two decided to oblige with whatever the Privateer was planning for them. They had enough energy for a fight if it wasn’t anything good.

“It’s a long walk. Maybe a few miles. Normally I’d have a ride but I wasn’t originally planning this visit in the first place.” Sturmhond did a light stretch, waiting for the two to follow before proceeding. They're both used to long walks. Fang knows, he’s been through worse back at T.A.P.O.P.S.

He believed that for a while, but as the walk got longer he started to wish he could use Shadow Falcon instead. Since he knew that Solar couldn’t just use Solar leap without leaving them behind or potentially getting lost again. So he's going to ask just that! He tugged on Sturmhond’s sleeve.

“Can’t I just manifest Shadow Falcon to take us there faster?” Fang looked up and his gaze was met by an uneasy and disapproving look.

“And risk the entirety of Ravka and Fjerda knowing there might be a potentially new Shadow Summoner? No,” Sturmhond said in a stern voice. Fang internally winced. Right, he almost forgot most of the planet thinks he's apparently evil, again.

“So, who is this friend of yours we’re going to meet anyway?” Fang asked.

“You’ll meet her anyway once we get there.” Sturmhond replied mysteriously.

Alina heard heavy insistent knocking on the front door. She got the other children to quiet down and left them with Mal before heading there. Her visitor was unfortunately impatient. And it all made sense as soon as the knob clicked and she opened the door slightly to peer through.

“Nikolai..?” She said in a hushed tone. Seeing the King under his Privateer identity heightened her suspicion and reasons for his visit. The King looked panicked when she said his real name and that was when she heard the voices of two teenagers.

“Wait— Nikolai? I thought your name was Sturmhond!”

“Actually I heard Miss Zoya call you Niko… is that your name?” Asked the other as Nikolai began to shush them. Of course the identity fraud, classic Nikolai fashion. Alina opened the door further to see their faces. One teen had odd red eyes and glasses and wore a horrendous shade of magenta for a sleeveless coat. While the other teen has blinding white clothing with orange highlights.

Overall they are practically saying ‘target me!!’ with their clothing.

“Are you… giving them up for adoption..?” Alina asked and both teens let out an offended gasp and looked at Nikolai with a betrayed look.

“I thought you said you weren't going to give us up for adoption!!” The two teenagers said in unison, startling both of them and Nikolai who tried to defend himself.

“I am not! I’m just here to pay a visit. They’re not even my kids, Lina, I plan to drop these two off at Os Alta right after.” He placed a hand on the edge of the door.

“And why’s that?” She felt herself raise an eyebrow.

“They’re… a special case, and they’re tired. Won’t you let us in? I can pay you back for the trouble once I return.” He said, trying to appear completely harmless. That made Alina roll her eyes, but for the sake of the two confused teenagers she opened the doors for them. Nikolai continued talking as Alina led them through the halls of the orphanage.

“Mal! Can you take care of them for a while? We have a few guests.” She stopped by one of the rooms. Mal raised an eyebrow seeing Sturmhond, but with the other children nearby he decided not to expose the Privateer’s true identity, he shared Alina’s sentiment of surprise from the sudden unplanned visit. Fang and Solar peeked from the side of the door frame to which Nikolai pushed their heads back, earning a light chuckle from Alina.

“Sure,” he said with skepticism, prying the eyes of the kids away from their visitors by continuing from a story he was previously telling. She felt a soft smile seeing their enthusiasm before shutting the door.

“You look like you’ve walked all the way here.” Alina commented on their appearance.

“Because we did. He made us do so.” Said the teenager wearing white. Aline gave The Privateer a side-glare.

“So, why did you bring two teenagers to me if you aren’t going to give them up for adoption?” She asked ‘Sturmhond’.

“I wanted to ask, are you sure you don’t have any distant relatives?” He asked with hesitation in his voice, almost as if he's dreading something for the worst.

Alina raised an eyebrow in surprise. “None that I know of,” she replied before giving Nikolai a suspicious look that also contains wariness.

“Why..?”

She could see Nikolai almost sigh a breath of relief. “Long story short. I found another Sun Summoner. One nearly thrice as powerful without amplifiers somehow.” Nikolai patted the kid in white by the shoulder, who responded by shrugging him off. “His name’s… Solar.”

Alina could've sworn her eyes almost bulged out of her head, not only from the fact he's a Sun Summoner named Solar, but she also made a look of realization as she remembered something. “That beam of light… Was it–”

“Yes. Again it was me.” Solar confirmed, almost getting annoyed that he had to clarify multiple times.

“Also what are amplifiers?” He unintentionally cut off her question. Alina took a minute to gather her thoughts. She remembered that everyone she lent her power to were originally her Soldat Sol and The Darkling’s former Oprichniki, yet she had never seen this boy’s face in her life. They don’t even look alike which made Nikolai’s question feel a bit ridiculous. That must mean there’s more to Solar’s origin, and by the look on his face he felt the same way towards her.

“Amplifiers are the remains of animals or sometimes humans that can increase a Grisha’s power. The only thing that can make you that powerful would be Morozova’s amplifiers, but they were destroyed so there’s no way—”

“I told you they were a special ca—”

“Let me finish!” Alina spoke over Nikolai, almost causing the two teens to jump as she raised her voice. It’s a small habit she picked up after learning how to discipline children. Solar looked at her, suspicion behind those orange glasses.

“There must be more to you, lady, if Mister ‘Sturmhond’ over here asks if you are related to me.” Solar crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing at her a bit. He’s definitely more confident in his abilities than when she first discovered it by herself, and she was older than them. ‘Would it really be safe for me to reveal this?’ Alina thought to herself. Well he’s still a teenager so hopefully she can convince him to make a promise. She leaned closer and whispered something to Solar.

“I was the original Sun Summoner, Sankta Alina, who destroyed the Shadow fold and created a new order of Sun Summoners, but even I had to use three amplifiers to do that. Everyone that I lent my power to were already soldiers, Ni— Sturmhond probably brought you here because well, it just doesn’t add up.” The former Sun Summoner explained to the new one. Solar looked like he had even more questions than he previously did.

“That doesn’t have to mean that we would be biologically related— wait… what is the Shadow fold?” Asked the younger Sun Summoner.

Alina noticed the boy with darker hair avert his gaze as she mentioned the Shadow Fold. He had a troubled expression which led her to assume that he knew.

“You’ve really never heard of it before?” She raised an eyebrow.

“His friend did say he has really bad amnesia.” Nikolai commented.

After all that she’s been through, Alina learned to build her patience. She took a deep breath and explained it to the younger Sun Summoner, how it was made and the horrors within it, who created it, and how it was she who helped destroy it. Solar’s eyes seemed to widen behind his strange orange glasses before turning his head towards his friend like his thoughts had clicked.

“Are you certain that you may not at all be related in any way?” Nikolai tried asking again. Alina rolled her eyes in response. She also heard Solar muttering something under his breath but she didn't question it.

“If I had any relatives they would have most likely grown up in the same place I did. We don’t even really look alike, don’t you think so?” She turned to Solar with an eyebrow raised.

“Aside from the white streak in my hair, no,” he responded

“What do you even plan to do with them once you take them to Os Alta? You know you can risk what happened to me to happen to him, right?” The Apparat, the worshippers, her becoming a Saint. The memories flooded within her mind. Alina felt herself start getting a bit more frustrated.

“Do you really want the full story?” Nikolai asked with slightly gritted teeth despite his smile.

“Saints, what did you do?”

“You should be thankful to know I happened to be the one that saved them from drowning!” He turned to them and said; “Kids, will you let us have a word in private?” The Privateer asked them ever so kindly and despite their reluctance they obliged. However it is he got them to trust him, she won’t press further. There was something more important. The teens obliged as they went outside before the door to the room closed.

Nikolai turned to Alina, the tone in his voice becoming defensive. “Firstly, that beam of light was not my fault. I want to take them to Os Alta to be under protection after they alerted all of Fjerda and possibly the Shu if we’re unlucky enough. They’re powerful, and you want to know what’s worse?”

“No, no I don’t,” she deadpanned, her expression unimpressed.

“We have a new Shadow Summoner too.” The smirk on his face faded. Alina felt the color drain from her face, and her heart sank along with it. “Is it–?”

“It’s the other kid, Fang, somehow he and the Sun Summoner are close friends though. Quite the unlikely duo am I right?” He tried to joke but it fell flat. When Alina heard Nikolai's words, she felt her breath growing heavy, her head pounding from the memories of the Darkling flooding her mind, she couldn’t do this again.

“Hey, hey, listen to me.” Nikolai said gently, looking at her with a concerned expression. “I know how it sounds but the kid spent pretty much the entire trip worrying about his ‘companion’. I want to keep him under close supervision but I also want to give him the benefit of the doubt. You know him better than anyone, do you really think he would try to pull off something like that?”

“You know that you feel a part of him still resides within you.” Alina responded. ‘King of Scars’ she thought. After the final fight against the Darkling, when Nikolai was turned into one of those monstrosities, now he was left with scars and traces despite having changed back into a human.

“I’d ask… someone else about this. If she were here,” Alina looked away from him.

“What? The old hag?” Nikolai let out a chuckle despite the atmosphere. “She’d probably sass the heart and life out of the poor boy. Don’t forget that she might hit him too.”

The light jab at Baghra’s attitude earned a subtle smile from Alina. But he had a point, they shouldn’t compare such a monster to a teenager who does look like he had no idea what's going on. The former Sun summoner inhaled deeply to calm herself.

“And you’ll admit to them that you’ve pretty much been committing identity fraud this whole time?”

“Hey, I just came from a formal bargain in Kerch! You can’t expect me to just show up to an auction letting everyone know I was the King of Ravka.” He crossed his arms.

Alina looked like she was about to make a rebuttal before she thought about it and closed her mouth. “I mean, that’s fair enough.” She shrugged, making sense of his reasoning.

Nikolai smirked, “See? You still get me. Seems like my charm hasn’t worn off one bit.”

Alina could feel a vein about to burst. She leaned forward towards the table to grab something.

The two of them heard a loud thump as if a book had hit a hard surface.

“Did he say… the King of Ravka?” Fang whispered, his eyes widening as he pressed his ear against the wood. Solar quickly shushed him.

“They’re gonna hear us, you moron.”

“Oh, I'm a moron? Says the one who didn't tell anyone that he got shot!” Fang hissed back and Solar clicked his tongue in response.

“I'm pretty sure I was doing fine before you ratted me out!”

“Doing fine slowly bleeding out apparently!” The Shadow user didn't buy his excuse.

After pretending to leave, they both collectively agreed to secretly eavesdrop on Sturmho– Nikolai and the woman whose name is Alina as said by Solar. And not only it seemed that Nikolai and Alina seemed to have a bad history with the previous Shadow Summoner, but Nikolai is also the fucking King of Ravka, the person Fang has been trying to avoid getting himself sent to.

Unbeknownst to them, their bickering is causing the door to slightly open. And unfortunately, Fang noticed that it was too late as both of them lost their balance and fell forward, accidentally exposing themselves. The two adults looked at them with a surprised look before Nikolai's turned into disappointment like a parent who caught their children grabbing the cookie jar.

“Hadn’t I just told you two to shoo?” The Private– King looked down at them with a disappointed look, hands on his hips and everything. The two of them quickly got up. Solar dusted off his clothing trying to be nonchalant as if that didn’t just happen. Fang on the other hand pointed an accusatory finger at ‘Sturmhond’.

“Are you actually the King of Rav—” His mouth was suddenly covered by the Privateer’s gloved hand.

“Shh! There’s another curious audience just in the other room, you know?” He let out a sigh and pulled his hand away, wiping it on his fine coat. Sturmhond or ‘Nikolai’, as he heard the woman call him previously, seemed displeased like he just ruined his clothing. If he really is the King he probably has a hundred replacements for it anyway.

Fang looked at Nikolai with an expression of disbelief before he lowered his voice so one would hear. “Are you actually the King of Ravka?” He whispered.

Nikolai smirked, “That I am!” He proclaimed while she rolled her eyes and the other light user did the same.

“Unbelievable, this guy was actually glazing himself this whole time.” Solar let out a scoff.

Both adults looked confused at Solar’s choice of words. Oh right, different time periods. “Glazing..?” Alina said slowly.

“He meant that this guy was praising himself for being ‘Merciful and charming as he is handsome and clever’.” Fang said mockingly and Alina shot Nikolai a dry look.

“‘Merciful and charming as he is handsome and clever? Really?’” She was cringing internally, it was kind of written all over her face. She didn’t comment further on it though. It's like she had already accepted it as his typical behavior.

“I don’t have any more questions. That means we best be heading out. Come on, kids,” Nikolai motioned for the two to follow him, earning a grown from Fang. He was already anticipating the ache in his legs to return from that long walk.

“But we just got here! You’re making this feel like it was pointless.” Fang argued back.

“Well you just heard everything so you should know why it was important.” The Privateer, now revealed to actually be The King, tapped his foot impatiently. ‘Oh, right’. He should’ve known better than to disobey orders anyway. This day has just been confusing. When you get the key to an answer in this world, it turns out that key just leads to another door of mysteries that keeps multiplying with each one that you open and walk through. He wanted to just give up on asking further questions. They were going to leave sooner or more later anyway (he hoped). Then this whole accusation of being a ‘relative of the Darkling’ theory wouldn’t keep stalking him left and right.

“Fang.” He felt Solar place a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. Not that he would admit it but he was thankful that he did.

Solar then looked to the direction of Sturm— Nikolai standing by the windows near the front door. He was peering through like he was observing something from afar. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, Alina walked up to them with a guilty looking expression.

“Listen, I'm sorry about what you heard. It's… unfair to compare you with someone you've barely even heard about. But I am just concerned about you, especially after everything we went through could repeat with you.” She spoke in a gentle tone. One that Fang assumed she had picked up from working here. It was pretty unfair to him. Yet even after his powers were revealed to her, the sudden kindness had surprised him.

“I know my powers may be confusing and scary to your people, but it's kind of just natural to me. Since getting here I've really only used it to protect myself and Solar.” Fang didn't retaliate with any snark like he sometimes would. After all he can't have others believe in some sort of villain within him. ‘Not again..’ He thought.

“Before you leave, you two must have walked a long way here right? Don’t you want to eat first before heading off again?” She offered politely. “We have some soup with carrots and—”

“Huh? Really!?” Fang’s expression lit up. Did they really have the time for that? Probably not, but he agreed to her offer anyway.

Solar rolled his eyes but they seemed more fond than annoyed. “Of course you would agree immediately. Some ‘free thinker’ you are,” he teased with a smirk.

“Of course, you both can have some. Did Nikolai even feed you while you were travelling with him?” Alina asked, leaning down a bit to their level. Fang had thought about it for a minute. They haven’t even noticed they both hadn’t really eaten anything since getting here.

“Not really, no.” The Shadow user responded. Alina looked at Nikolai with disappointment, again.

“You're the King of Ravka yet you couldn't feed two teenagers?” She said in a deadpan tone.

Nikolai turned to look at Alina with a thin smile. “Well since you’re the one who’s offering—”

“It’s for both of you except Nikolai.” She said to Fang and Solar while trying to control her own amusement. Said King looked at Alina with a hurt and offended expression but was ignored.

Hot carrot soup. The scent of it had the shadow user barely contain his excitement. Honestly since they’re in a completely different time period he assumed they might’ve had to eat stale bread with a chance for a hint of sawdust (from what he learned about the Victorian era on Earth). He was relieved that they didn’t have to. Alina brought them their bowls, light steam coming from the cream-colored soup with carrot and mushroom bits. She then sat down at the dining table too.

“So, can I ask how you were able to manage your powers that well at your age?” As soon as Alina asked that, Fang miraculously stopped himself from eating the carrot soup and looked at Solar with an ‘oh shit’ expression and the light elemental was looking at him the same way.

“Uhm– We had… great teachers!” Solar quickly improvised. Well he wasn't exactly wrong though. Despite the harsh methods of training they endured at T.A.P.O.P.S he can't deny that their teachings were effective along with Hang Kasa’s teachings. Alina looked at them with suspicion for a moment but she fortunately didn't question them.

After that, Fang decided to go back to gorging on his carrot soup, humming in delight. Solar looked at him with a rather disgusted expression at how fast he was going.

“You will literally fold for anything carrot related, won't you?”

Fang only responded by ignoring and paying no mind to Solar’s comment. He only focused on the food before him. It wasn't as good as Qually’s carrot soup as he begrudgingly admitted but it's still pretty good.

“Nikolai said he was going to take us to a place called Os Alta, do you know why?” Solar then asked Alina. She then let out a heavy sigh. What? Another reason to be disappointed in Nikolai?

“In Ravka, it’s mandatory for Grisha to be trained at the Capital to serve the crown.” She explained which made Fang pause. Wait— is that why he was asked if he were Grisha? He was going to get recruited in their army?!

“...and what age do Grisha get recruited?” Solar asked slowly, concern etched in his expression.

“I believe usually around ten or so. That was the age Mal and I were inspected to identify if we were Grisha or not.” She took a sip of the liquor from her glass. Fang and Solar looked at each other. ‘That young?’ They both probably thought. Well Fang isn't exactly surprised, he was recruited into T.A.P.O.P.S at a young age as well but for war?

“When I—” Alina cut herself off, looking past the doorway to the dining area to make sure no one could overhear them. “When Sankta Alina was first discovered for her power she was taken to Os Alta for safety, but on the way she was attacked by Fjerdan soldiers, Drüskelle, and after your… very subtle reveal I don’t have many doubts that they may come for you as well. That goes for your friend too.” She said in a grim tone.

“Why do these Drüskelle want to catch us anyway?” Fang asked, wondering why a bunch of grown men want to catch two teenagers. Not that this hadn’t happened to them before but there was always a reason.

“They think we are witches basically,” Solar answered for him. “It was like in the past when there were things they didn’t understand and ended up associating their misfortune with others for the cause because they imagined and feared what suffering they could put upon them. You know the history,” he shrugged.

“I also may have accidentally called Miss Genya and Zoya a witch…” He admitted which caused Alina to look at him with a shocked expression.

“But in my defense, I didn’t know ‘Drüsje’ meant ‘Witch’ and that the old man in Fjerda who explained it to me was being racist.” He hastily added before he lightly blew at the soup he scooped up in his spoon before putting it in his mouth.

“And you’re still alive?” Alina chuckled.

“You know Miss Genya and Zoya?” Fang looked up from his bowl before putting another spoonful of soup in his mouth.

“Of course! Genya and I met at the Little Palace back in Os Alta.” Alina responded happily, most likely reminiscing about her friend. “Zoya… is more of a personal story, but it was years ago so I’ll just say that she’s as strong and capable as ever.”

“But about those Drüskelle, you don’t have to worry too much. We’ve handled worse, I'm the strongest after all!” Solar proclaimed before Fang looked up from his bowl and gave him a pointed look.

Solar, noticing Fang's look, conceded and groaned. “Fine! We're the strongest. Happy now?” He begrudgingly admitted and Fang smirked.

“Very.”

Eventually they finished with their soup. Fang, of course, finished up first. The Light and Shadow users stood from the table and gave their thanks to Alina. Once they met again with Nikolai in the halls of the orphanage he welcomed them with open arms… and reprimands for teaming up with Alina against him.

“Just my word of advice, stick with each other and don’t go off and start causing conflicts because of your ideals.” Alina whispered to them.

“Trust me, Miss, I definitely plan on sticking together.” Fang said with gritted teeth and eyed Solar who looked away. Alina sweatdropped at their interaction.

“You know, Nikolai said you have really bad amnesia yet you seem to remember things just fine, is there a reason why?” She asked Solar. Fang and Solar looked at each other, wondering how they would explain this without sounding too nonsensical.

“Uhh–” The light elemental tried to start before he was interrupted by Fang.

“Because he's still with me!” The shadow user exclaimed. “When Solar is around with people he's familiar with, he's still able to remember things but when he's lost he'll slowly start to forget.” Fang explained and Solar nodded frantically beside him.

Aline looked at both of them with a questioning gaze before asking; “How often do you use your powers?”

The shadow user and light elemental looked at each other, not expecting that kind of question. Should they refer to how much they’ve used it so far? She still thinks they’re Grisha after all.

“Well so far we’ve only used it to defend ourselves and get away from the Drüskelle, then I used my abilities to climb that ship—”

“Sparingly. And only when we need to,” Solar curtly said, not beating around the bush as usual. He looked at Alina with a curious expression.

“What brought up this question?” He asked her.

“It's that… There's usually a negative side effect to Grisha not using their abilities for a long time. I’m speaking from experience. Your amnesia may be a negative side effect from using your powers so sparingly.” She explained. ‘Well that's an easy excuse we could use,’ Fang thought and it looks like Solar did as well.

“Uh– yes. We have been assuming that has been the cause for it. That light beam was a way for me to let out my powers.” The Light elemental explained. Alina seemed to buy the explanation.

“Are you two ready yet?” Nikolai asked them. His expression still looked a tad bit disappointed in them, but he’s stopped whining about it since Alina told him to. It was a bad look for him to act a bit childish in front of the children. They said goodbye and thanked her for the soup. Nikolai waited for the two of them outside the building. Fang dreaded the long walk they’d have to take back to the Volkvolny. Endure it. You've been through worse. He told himself.

“By the way, Miss Alina said you were going to enlist us in your army.” Solar said bluntly as they walked through the path. Fang looked at the brunette with an incredulous expression at just how blunt the elemental is sometimes. They had enough on their plate, they couldn’t just suddenly be part of another planet’s war, again.

“She did? She might have over-exaggerated it! Besides, the Shadow fold is no more and we can handle ourselves. I’m only taking you to the Little Palace for your safety.” Nikolai tried to explain. Fang and Solar looked at each other ‘Well it's not like we have a choice either way,’ Fang thought. Plus, it's the safest option for them right now. His hair was suddenly ruffled.

“Don’t worry, kid. We can try and find your brother so that he’ll know you’re okay.” The King reassured him. He did tell him that back on the ship. Fang shook his head in response, swatting Nikolai’s hand away.

“No it’s— fine. He can manage without me for a while, so you don’t have to.” Truth be told, he wasn’t even sure if Kaizo would actually come for him now that he thought about it. Surely the Captain had more important things to do, right? So the task to rescue them would be handed to the rest of the Kokotiam and what’s left of Boboiboy.

However, an underlying sense of bitterness began to well up inside his chest. Was he… really not that important to Kaizo? He shook his head. No. He cannot be selfish right now, his brother probably has more important things to tend to–

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a familiar warmth on his shoulder and he looked to see Solar looking at him with a concerned expression. “Whatever you're thinking. I'm pretty sure he's looking for you,” the light elemental tried to reassure the shadow user. It’s like he could somehow read his mind. And Fang doesn't know whether that's good or not.

“I know– it's just–” Fang tried to say before he let out a groan. “Ugh– nevermind…” He trailed off, the words getting stuck in his throat before he could let any of them out. He heard Solar let out a sigh next to him.

“Look, I get that he doesn't show nor even look like it, but he does care even if he's absolute shi– don't look at me like that, you know it's true!”

“They’re at it again…” Nikolai muttered to himself, not feeling surprised anymore. He clapped his hands which got both the teens attention.

“Oh, and after we just left the place you two are already squawking at each other again.” He dramatically lifted the back of his hand to his forehead. Like those exaggerated poses made by damsels in distress from those movies. “You’ve already left me to starve back there and now you do this? Please just keep your attention focused on the path ahead otherwise anything can happen.”

Solar and Fang stared at him with a dry expression. ‘King of Ravka? More like a Drama Queen…’ Fang thought as they continued walking along the pathway...

When they stopped arguing, that's when they started to notice that the walk back felt… strange.

It's almost as if something or someone is watching them.

Fang turned to Nikolai and judging from the look on the King’s face, he felt it as well. Keep walking, went unsaid but it's clear he also wants them to keep their guards up and keep their attention on the road ahead as Nikolai advised.

As Fang was observing his surroundings, he was suddenly shoved to the ground by the Light elemental. “ACK—” he yelped out. He tried to turn to look at the brunette with an angry expression.

“WHAT WAS THAT FOR—” His words were cut off as he heard a bang. His heart sank to his stomach, the sound still ringing in his ears. No no not again–

When Fang turned to where the light elemental is, he was fortunately not shot, again, but instead had his arms pinned to his sides by a bola.

“Solar!–” he heard Nikolai shout behind him but when the shadow user turned around to look at the King, he saw a gun pointed towards him from a distance. Solar attempted to burn through the metallic string when he heard a click and a gun was pointed at him yet again, preventing both of them from making any sudden movements. They heard the sound of another sudden bang and the bola was aimed at Solar’s legs causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground and let out a yelp of pain.

“Now, now–” Nikolai tried to say before the gun pointed at him clicked again.

“Quiet.” The attacker spoke. “Tell the Sun Summoner to surrender himself.” He said as he quickly pointed the gun to the restrained teen before pointing it again at Nikolai.

“For your sick experiments?” Nikolai bit back through gritted teeth. Fang perked up at the word, a bit panicked, he snuck a quick glance at Solar but it was hard to read the light elemental’s expression with the perspective of Fang only being able to see the bill of his cap and stupid visor that is always stuck to his head (as if his isn't stuck as well and is just there to look cool).

“Shit.” Fang swore under his breath. Should he risk manifesting a Shadow Barrier again to buy them time? But judging from the way these people's guns are pointed to them, they wouldn't hesitate to shoot at any sudden movements.

From the corner of his eye, Solar was suddenly being pulled away by another one of them. Except as he looked at them, the first thing he noticed was the rapid-flapping metallic wings on their back, the bones on their limbs being plated out of similar material. ‘Is this another Grisha thing!?’ Fang thought in a panic. They appeared to be more hostile than the attackers with guns, like slaves to violence. Except there were more of these creatures, and they began to surround them. Solar still hadn’t broken out of his restraints even though Fang knew that he could. It frustrated him a bit but he also didn't want to risk the light elemental possibly getting tranquilized, even killed if he so much as moved an inch.

When he looked to Nikolai, who was still being held at gunpoint and trying to think of a way out of the situation on their behalf, he had a feeling about the King having something more against the Darkling. More than he was told just by the look and tone of disdain every time he spoke about him. This wasn’t about approval, it was life or death, and he’ll be damned if he let either of them get shot because of his inaction. After all they might know about Solar but from the fact that they haven’t tried to restrain him like the light elemental led to the assumption that they don't believe that he’s Grisha. Fang raised his arms to look like he was surrendering himself, the attackers raised their guard and the metallic soldiers began to hover off the ground.

He just had to make it quick.

Chapter Text

Nikolai watched as one of the Kherguud picked up a struggling Solar from the ground as they began to flap their wings, he stepped forward before raising his arms in surrender as the gun clicked against him.

“What do we do with these two, sir?” The attacker pointing the gun at him said.

“Kill them and get rid of the evidence. We don't have any use for non-Grisha anyway.” The one pointing a gun at Fang responded.

(He could've sworn he saw a single tendril of shadow coming from Fang’s fingers at the corner of his eye.)

Solar bristled at the attackers words, his expression one of fury. “HEY! Don't you dare– Gh-!” His words were interrupted when the Kherguud pressed the tranquilizer gun against his temple.

“Quiet,” the metallic winged person ordered.

Before both attackers could shoot, Nikolai saw something leap out of the forest at the corner of his eye and proceeded to latch on the Kherguud carrying Solar. The winged person let out a surprised yelp and began struggling as the creature latched onto their back, dropping Solar in the process.

Taking advantage of the shell-shocked expressions on his attacker's face, Nikolai quickly disarmed the Shu of his gun and shot him in the head. The surrounders’ formation began to fall apart as they were caught off guard by the sudden attack from the Shadow creature. Merzost? Nikolai shook his head, he needed to deal with the Shu first. Their bullets had no effect on the Shadow Tiger and after it shredded through the Kherguud’s throat it went for the others next, its jaw now stained with blood and flesh. Whilst that, he took cover behind the tree and aimed for the attackers closest to Fang and shot them, urging the kid to get behind him as soon as he got his attention. As Fang rushed towards him a bright light engulfed that area of the forest, blinding everyone at once. Nikolai blinked rapidly to adjust his vision, turning his head to the obvious source and let out a sigh of relief as he saw that Solar had freed himself from the net and his now-melted restraints–

Wait.

How did he melt his restraints with his hands tied?!

The Sun Summoner muttered a string of incomprehensible words as he tried to get the melted restraints from sticking to his body. When the attacker had aimed their tranquilizer gun at Solar, The Sun Summoner was suddenly behind them faster than the blink of an eye. And before Nikolai knew it, the attacker’s torso was no more as red and yellow flashed before his eyes.

These kids were brutal. With their lack of hesitation it was like this wasn’t the first time they’ve been attacked like this, at least by his assumption. Once the soldier fell lifeless onto the grass, Nikolai called out to him.

“Solar! Come on, we need to get out of here now!” He raised his voice with urgency and Solar teleported to him at light speed. Nikolai blinked at the teen appearing in front of him all of a sudden before he shook his head out of his stupor.

“You two are just full of surprises aren’t you?” He commented as he led them quickly through the path. But then he was suddenly stopped by a hand on his arm. The King turned around and saw Fang with an urgent expression on his face.

“We can't just run, they'll catch up eventually!”

“Oh no, if you’re proposing that we use that ‘Shadow Falcon’ that you mentioned earlier I swear—” He barely noticed the two teenagers giving each other a look and then nodding.

“Shadow Falcon!” Fang casted, bringing his hands up to manifest the creature out of the shadows. He was about to refuse when he was slung by Solar over his shoulder and carried towards the giant falcon. Its back was large enough to carry all three of them but it didn't stop Nikolai feeling like he could fall off at any minute despite Fang and Solar making sure that he didn’t. He’ll only admit it to himself but he found it terrifying that Fang could summon and unsummon living beings out of the shadows like it was natural.

“Fly!” Fang commanded and Nikolai’s eyes widened in panic.

“Now wait–” He didn't even get to finish because the shadow creature flapped its wings and took to the skies. The sudden rush into the air earned an uncharacteristic shriek from the usually composed King of Ravka. So instinctively, he held on the thing closest to him so that he wouldn't fall.

That thing just happened to be Fang’s face.

“Hey–!” Fang yelled out just as Shadow Falcon shrieked, their cry echoing throughout the forest as they almost lost course.

“Ish, so dramatic.” Solar rolled his eyes and helped his friend out by prying Nikolai’s hands from him. He let the King hold onto him for support instead. Just a little bit though. The Sun Summoner looked like he wouldn't hesitate to throw the King off the falcon’s back if he so much as touched his face.

With Shadow Falcon, the trip back to the ship was much faster. Fang landed his pet atop the deck where they were surrounded by Nikolai’s very wary crew. He unsummoned it to allow Solar and the King to hop off.

“We need to leave! There may be attackers following us right now!” Solar walked up to Zoya as he warned her and the rest of the crew. Despite still being shaken up from the flight, Nikolai stepped up to give them orders.

“The Shu. They know about Solar too and they have Kherguud soldiers with them. We need to get the Volkvolny flying and head to Os Alta straight away!” He dismissed them with a wave, leaning on a pole as he took a deep breath. He told them not to mind their recent mode of transportation and focus on getting to safety first, questions later. Solar nodded in agreement. What was the big deal about Shadow falcon anyway? The gangplank was quickly lifted from the docks.

He watched closely with interest as the crew hurried to prepare the ship to set sail. Solar then remembered Nikolai’s words, wait— flying. ‘This ship can fly?’ He wondered. They must have some amazing technology despite their time period, nevertheless it piqued his interest and he really wanted to observe how it was done.

Zoya and presumably more Grisha with the same powers as her got behind the sails. “The Volkvolny is a heavier one but we’ve done this before. Ready!? Five!” Nikolai’s tone became more commanding.

“Four! Three!” He continued counting down and the Squallers moved together in such neat orderly fashion. They spread their arms wide as sails had lifted into position.

“Two!” As soon as the count reached there, Solar heard a screech from the distance. Shit. It was those flying soldiers again. They threw another bola at him, but the Light elemental had dodged it just in time. He shot back with a light beam, only to have it reflected by the metal plating on the soldier’s arms. Seeing this, Nikolai gave his final count.

“One!” He said with urgency. A massive swoop of wind had begun to lift the ship. Though the sudden shake made him nearly lose his footing. The Squallers heaved and repeated their motions and the ship slowly lifted higher, taking to the skies. Solar looked over the edge of the ship, his eyes wide with wonder as he looked at the ground and ocean below.

“Fang! Fang! Are you seeing this!?” He tried to ease the excitement in his voice. Solar turned to the Shadow user who was already clutching his stomach as if preparing for the worst before it even kicked in.

“You’ve been to space… why is this any different?” Fang raised an eyebrow. His voice was low enough that no one else heard him mentioning space.

“Hmph, so you can’t appreciate how technology works in this time period?” He pouted and crossed his arms. Of course he’d been on a spaceship before in space. But he was so used to advanced technology that it even impressed him that they were able to conquer the skies despite not having any of that. His eyebrows then raised as he heard that screech again. They followed them!?

“Saints,” He heard Nikolai mutter like it was a swear. Then he gave out another order.

“Prepare for a fight! The Kherguud followed us! Ready the firearms!” Nikolai shouted out to his crew. Then he let out a subtle gasp as he remembered.

“The Squallers…” Right, if they were attacked it could lead them to crash. Solar could deduce that much since they were the ones controlling the winds that helped the ship fly.

“I got it.” The light elemental raised his hand.

“But you—”

“I got it. Fang!” He called out to the Gogobugian, who looked like he was feeling queasy, again.

“What happened to being the strongest?” Fang mocked, standing straight with a groan.

Solar rolled his eyes. This wasn’t out of his element, but Fang had more defensive capability than he did. Plus, if he wants to defeat those metal soldiers he cannot afford to miss his shots.

Solar and Fang hurried to the Squallers against Nikolai’s advice, but he was already occupied with helping his men with the firearms. One of the flying soldiers attempted to dive in when Fang casted his Shadow barrier to block them. As much as the Squallers gave Fang an odd look, they couldn’t get distracted. The Shadow barrier was lowered to create a window for Solar to hit them back, but their metallic wings once again reflected his shot.

“Are you serious?” Solar muttered under his breath. Note to self, next time he’ll go for their head. He flinched at the sudden sound of rapid gunfire from where Nikolai was.

One of the metal soldiers flew in from behind. In a swift motion, Solar spun on his heel and pointed in their direction. The tips of his glowed a yellow light before a bright light beam was shot at the soldiers head. Where a head used to be, is now half burned off. That and also a body hitting the deck of the ship.

Solar could feel Fang’s grimace behind him but the elemental couldn't help but stare at the body. Honestly, after seeing these Khergud as Nikolai called them, this feeling of curiosity hasn't been able to leave his chest. Are they humans that are just born this way? Robots? Humans inside a robot?

“OI!” He blinked as he was snapped out of his thoughts when Fang called to him. The shadow user has an irritated expression on his face.

“You can think about this shit later but now it's not the time.” Fang reprimanded him, his hands raised in a guarded motion. Solar wordlessly nodded and turned his attention back to the flying metal soldiers.

“Look out!” He spotted another one in the distance, about to shoot them with a beam when the previous soldier with half of his head burned off flew towards him. Solar had to visibly hide his shock before he stepped sideways so he didn't get tackled. How on earth did they survive that!? Especially since their heads didn't consist of the same metal plating as their limbs.

“Shadow hand!” Fang yelled out before the flying soldier could attack Solar. The Shadow hand threw them against the mast and finished them off. Solar’s momentary surprise served as a distraction and it created an opening for the Khergud in the distance to shoot a net towards the Squallers, hitting Zoya. Said Squallers let out a grunt of anger as the metal weighed on her body. The ship’s artillery aimed for the rest of the Khergud but they managed to swerve out of their way. Luckily, Solar thought to aim ahead. With the Khergud being too focused on avoiding the bullets he managed to land a focused beam at its head. This time their head is no more as the third Khergud fell. ‘Last one,’ Solar thought as he turned to look around for the last metal soldier standing– or– flying in this case.

Fang along with other members of the crew rushed over to help Zoya free when suddenly, a pair of metal wings appeared and descended onto the deck. And before Solar knew it, the Khergud swiftly grabbed the net Zoya was in and took off.

“Miss Zoya!” They both shouted out which caught the Privateer’s attention.

“Hold your fire!” Nikolai commanded. Afraid to hit her, the artillery and Solar halted their attack. The net hugged her tightly which kept Zoya from having enough space to move her arms or use her powers.

The Khergud flew higher while carrying the struggling Squaller.

“Shadow Eagle fusion!” Solar heard Fang yell out. The wings, head, and talons connected to Fang caught the attention of nearly everyone on the ship, including Nikolai who looked horrified. Before they could say anything, Fang took off and flew towards the Khergud. The Shadow user tried to pull the net back by using Shadow eagle's talons.

“Hey kid, the net might rip! Deal with the Khergud first!” Zoya shouted to Fang, still struggling against the ropes. She couldn't even slip an arm through the gaps of the net. Despite her initial hesitation from seeing Fang in this form it was because he was still attempting to save her with the powers they've seen someone else use for the exact opposite that she decided to try and help him.

Fang nodded at her words, and used one of his talons to rip the Khergud’s metal-plated arm. But they were much more durable than he thought. They screeched at him, which made him flinch back. The Soldier pulled its arm back along with Fang towards them. When suddenly a focused beam of light hit the Khergud's left eye, causing them to let go of the net. Fang tried to fly and catch Zoya but was grabbed by the Khergud who was now trying to rip him to shreds.

Zoya was falling fast onto the ship's deck, still unable to move her arms or free herself. When she thought that she'd hit the hardwood, she instead felt the air rushing against her face. Her fall had slowed enough to keep Nikolai from being crushed when he caught her thanks to one of the other Squallers. Still, he nearly fell over from the force of it.

“Hey—”

“Just let me out,” she scoffed. He slowly put her down and sliced the net open with his sword. After seeing that Zoya was okay, Solar returned his attention to the last of the flying soldiers right above them.

“Fang! Move your damn head!” Solar called to him, trying to aim for the Khergud. He watched as the Shadow user grabbed the Khergud by its neck with his right hand and pushed it away from him. He focused a deadlier beam to the Khergud's head, muttering a silent plea that he wouldn't accidentally hit Fang before going in for the shot.

The focused beam burned through the soldier's head. Thanks to this, Fang was able to break free. He knocked the Khergud away with Shadow eagle's talons causing them to fall and Fang made sure they didn't suddenly get back up before flying back to the ship.

“Care to explain how you did that?” Nikolai approached him.

“Uh– Shadow Eagle fusion?” Fang raised an eyebrow.

“What else would it be?” The King deadpanned.

Fang looked like he was about to retort before shrugging. “Okay but I have a feeling you won't like my answer.”

Nikolai looked determined, “Try me.”

“I don't know.”

The King of Ravka faltered for a moment.

“What?”

“It’s just a natural part of my powers. Ever since I unlocked the ability I’ve just been able to… do it.” Fang explained, hoping it would be enough but the suspicious and wary look Nikolai gave him wasn't helping.

“...Okay but can you do it to other people?” The King asked with a weary tone in his voice.

“He can explain that later. I thought you said we need to get out of here as quickly as we can unless we encounter more of those… flying metal people.” Solar’s interference to the rescue once again. He stepped up and Nikolai placed his hands on his hips.

“Alright but you have a lot to explain later, young man!” Nikolai said to Fang who just looked confused before the King turned to Solar to listen to what he had to say. Once Nikolai turned to face him, he began to explain his idea.

“Can this ship handle moving at a faster pace?” Solar asked which made Fang whip his head to his direction with narrowed eyes and a gaze that screams; ‘What are you planning this time?’

Solar just sent a shrug. ‘Just trust me on this,’ went unsaid.

“The Volkvolny itself is already sturdy enough to handle rough seas, but for flying the Squallers would have to overexert themselves for that.” Nikolai responded.

“Well what if something were to propel it forward?” The light element raised an eyebrow.

“Well where are you going to get that?” The King asked in a skeptical tone. Solar then turned to Fang with a smirk.

“Fang! Make sure no one including me flies off the ship!” He gestured to his friend.

“Wait— Wait! You better not accidentally blow up another ship!” Fang commented as Solar rushed past him to head towards the back of the deck. Rushing up the steps, he made a gesture with his hands like that of a photographer.

“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna aim at the ship.” He rolled his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He headed to the very back on an elevated platform to make sure he wouldn’t damage anything near him.

“Also I got better at my recoil,” he tried to reassure the shadow user.

Fang let out a resigned sigh. That didn’t really help. “I don’t believe you.” As he saw Solar charging up a beam, the light gathering at his hands, he suddenly casted Shadow Vines to grab the crew members, along with Solar, and keep them secure on the ship’s ground

Solar could hear a blood-curdling yet also girlish scream that could rival Papa Zola’s from below and a ‘The Shadow Summoner is turning against us!’

“He’s trying to keep you all from flying off!” The light elemental shouted to the people below, hoping it would calm them down. More light gathered in his hands, forming a large sphere of light. He casted his hands outwards and the solar beam erupted from the sphere, it pushed back against him but he wasn’t flung away and smashed through a wall this time mostly thanks to the Shadow Vines keeping him secure. Meanwhile the Squallers still had their hands free, allowing them to keep in track of the sails.

The powerful blast gave enough propulsion to move the ship at an ungodly speed for a flying ship to do. As the wind pushed against him, his hat nearly flew off but his hands were too occupied that he wasn’t able to grab it. That's when a Shadow hand suddenly stretched out from the floor and caught it. Solar was focused on controlling the blast of light to give Fang a proper thanks.

“You're welcome!” The Shadow user said with snark , manipulating the Shadow hand to keep the Light user’s hat on his head.

After travelling miles within minutes, Solar began to diminish the blast of light from his hands after spotting a large fancy structure from above. He gave the Squallers time to adjust to the pace, gradually becoming slower before completely halting the propulsion blast. At the same time Fang released the Shadow Vines that held everyone in place. Still, he got those uneasy looks from everyone else. It was getting tiring.

“Is that Os Alta?” He pointed below. Nikolai quickly looked over the deck as soon as he was free of the Shadow Vines.

“We’re right over it. Get ready to land!” He turned his head towards the Squallers and rushed to take control of the wheel. The Ship began turning in the direction of the palace. Solar then hears the sound of wood snapping. “The Mast!” He heard others yell. Perhaps making the ship propel forward forcibly faster than it should wasn’t the best idea. Oops. He heard Fang let out a loud, tired groan before manifesting Shadow Vines, tugging the mast to keep it from falling before the ship landed. Somehow he heaved that massive wooden pole into place. The crew looked at him appalled by his strength and power. ‘Show off…’ Solar thought before hopping off the platform to help Fang.

“Don’t interfere! Your dumbass has done enough.” Fang’s feet began slipping against the wood.

“As if. I thought you made me admit that we’re the strongest.” Solar pulled on one side of the Shadow Vines. Fang grunted and decided to pull on the other side. The vines wrapped around their arms and wrists for a better grip. The ship began to turn around and descend towards the direction of what Solar believed to be the Little Palace. But damn this thing was heavy. No! Fang was able to hold this whole thing up by himself, only for a minute though, but still. He fueled his strength out of pure burning spite.

The ship floor beneath them shook roughly, causing the vines to snap and the mast to fall over, hitting the edge of the ship. Thankfully they’ve ‘successfully’ landed by the palace at this point. Both teenagers let out an exhausted sigh, their hands and arms aching red.

“That could’ve been… a lot worse.” Fang said with a resigned sigh.

“Could've been a lot better too.” Solar responded, turning his head to the broken mast falling over the ship. “But at least we’re here. And I told you it would be effective—”

“You think?” Both of them were startled when the King raised his voice. Followed by the sound of the wooden mask cracking in the background. They turned around and saw a very furious Nikolai.

“Now what if the Squallers lost control of the sails? What if someone had actually flung off? Or what if we crashed landed and all of us had died and perished horribly?”

“...At least that didn't happen..? Everyone is alive and your ship is almost perfectly intact right?” Solar tried to do some damage control as he heard Fang face-palm beside him.

Nikolai let out a disgruntled sigh before he grabbed the light elemental and the shadow user by the collar of their shirts.

“Wha–”

“Hey!”

“No I'm serious when that's the least amount of destruction I could–”

“Little boy! Don't even start with me!”

Both of them had silently accepted their fates.

Chapter Text

After swirling about in a whirlpool for who knows how long!? The great fusion Gentar was lifted out of the water by the force… of Yaya’s gravity lift. He, along with his Captain Kaibro were hovering above the ocean thanks to her. Yaya could, of course, fly by herself.

“Yaya, conserve your energy. I will create an energy raft,” Kaibro drew his energy blade. Woah! They’d make a great duo if they fought together. He watched in amazement as the Captain created an energy barrier that doubled as a raft for them and Yaya dropped them onto it.

“Seems like we just landed in the middle of an ocean… Thankfully we didn’t drown.” Kaizo said as Yaya looked around.

“But how do we find them, Kapten?” Yaya asked. It would take forever to look for Fang and Solar in this possibly vast world.

“Do you see that?” Kaizo pointed at the clouds towards the north. As the two teens observed, it just looked like something had sliced through the clouds. Something must’ve come from that direction or towards it.

“Let’s focus on finding land first. For now we should conserve our energy. That way is our best bet.”

Meanwhile, Gentar hummed as he put his index finger in his mouth before raising it in the air to feel the wind. He closed his eyes for a moment before they snapped open and pointed to a random direction with a confident smirk on his face. “I say we go this way!” He declared.

“Eh?” Yaya and Kaizo looked at him in confusion.

“That’s… the same direction where I pointed.” Kaizo deadpanned.

“Of course! I’m simply backing up your claim. You see,” He paused as if there was a spotlight on him. “The birds! The number of things they are able to sense about the world around us from the sun down to the very magnetic field. But for us, the wingless, with nothing. It could all boil down to a sense of wind. The ocean currents! May go where the wind follows, and that could be the direction of land.”

“Is he always like this?” The Captain asked the gravity manipulator to which Yaya simply shrugged.

“This is my first time even seeing Gentar in person since I only heard of him from Gopal and Qually.”

“Supposedly…he has a slight point.” Kaizo muttered.

“What?” Both Yaya and Gentar turned to him. ‘That bullshit actually worked?’

“About the ocean currents. If Fang and Solar ended up here as well, that is the direction they’ve most likely ended up.” Kaizo looked towards the direction of where he and Gentar pointed again. He placed his hand in the ocean waters to feel the current.

“Right. So it is in this direction.” Said the Captain.

“Yo, Kaibro. I got a way we can get there!” Gentar slammed the head of his hammer against the edge of the energy raft. “Gentar thruster!” He motioned with his hands as if he were working a generator by pulling the cord.

“My specialty is energy absorption, Kapten. Go ahead!” He thumped his fist against his chest like he wanted the Captain to land a hit on him.

“You’re… going to use your hammer as a thruster?” Kaizo asked, pointing at the giant hunk of metal on a stick. Just by saying that his specialty was ‘energy absorption’ they should’ve been able to decipher his idea clearly and yet… is that underestimation that Gentar sensed from him?

“It can do that! Don’t underestimate what I can do. It’s important I look after my bros and gals. Especially, with how much you’re doing for us to find my brother Solar and our bro Fang. I have to do what it takes…” He gripped the hammer handle with one hand and dramatically reached to the heavens with the other, slowly bringing that hand into a fist and pulling it towards his chest.

“—To get us out of here!”

“You’re acting like I need to stab you.” Kaizo pointed the blade of his energy sword towards Gentar. “Just grab the blade, but not too tightly. I trust that you know how to do this of course?”

The fusion nodded confidently. He grabbed the blade with his own hand like he was taking an offer he couldn’t miss. Although he did grab it a lot more roughly than he should’ve. There was definitely a cut in his finger for that. ‘A small price to pay to be a hero…’ he thought to himself. The blade, and himself began to glow. His hammer let out continuous beeps as it continued to charge energy.

“Yaya, hold on tight my frie—” His voice was cut off as a surprised shriek as the energy raft suddenly drove against the waters faster than a speeding bullet. The sudden energy overload in his weapon maximised the power he could output from the thruster. It nearly flung them off. Luckily his companions were quick thinkers.

“Gravitational weld!” A glow of pink emitted from Yaya’s hands, keeping them grounded on the raft like they were flies on a glue trap. Not the best description— but it was the best annotation he could think of right now! With this kind of speed they should reach the land they’re looking for within minutes.

“Don’t fret! NOW FULL SPEED AHEAD! We're up, we're off, and away we go! We're up, we're off, and away we go!” Gentar shouted loud enough through the billowing winds, completely unaware of the bewilderment of Kaizo.

“Is he singing!?” Kaizo shouted out, the wind whipping at them with great speed so it was hard to tell.

“He’s even stranger than how Gopal and Qually described him…” Said Yaya, looking at Gentar like he was a madman. Her voice was drowned out in the open sea.

However, unaware to Gentar, they were rapidly approaching land fast. “Gentar, I think you can stop now!” Kaizo tried to shout out but his voice was drowned out by the winds and his very muffled singing.

“GENTAR—” Both Kaizo and Yaya tried to catch his attention once more before the energy made boat crashed into the beach, the collision causing Yaya to accidentally deactivate her Gravitational Weld and launching all three of them and landing face first into the beach.

The fusion let out a yelp as his face was abruptly filled with sand, the tiny little grains going into his mouth and eyes. Gentar immediately got up and spat out the sand that got into his mouth and rubbed out the ones that got into his eyes.

“Nailed it.” He said with a groan before getting up. He turned to the others and saw them getting up as well, dusting off the sand that stuck to their clothes. Kaizo had to take off his mechanical mask to get the sand out of it.

“Have some restraint, Cadet.” Said the Captain with a scoff. The fusion looked around the area. The three of them seemed to have ended up close to a snow-covered forest that looked strangely destroyed.

“Kapten, there’s people over there. Should we ask them about the situation?” Asked the gravity manipulator. Kaizo closely observed their appearance, seeing this, Gentar did the same. They seemed to wear those heavy coats and yet they had that ‘old-timey’ vibe to them.

“Let’s do that. But proceed with caution. They may be wary of our appearance.” He gestured for the two to follow him carefully.

Yet as soon as they approached, the men raised both their guard and their guns.

“Sten!” One of them said, in the same tone that one would say ‘halt!’ to an intruder. So they did. They all eyed their very fashionable clothing. So fashionable it made them look so hostile towards the three of them.

Kaizo raised his arms in a surrendering gesture. “We come in peace, we mean no harm.” However, in response to that, the men pointed their guns at him.

So much for hospitality.

“Psst,” A man approached his comrade. “The tall one appears similar to Shadow Summoner earlier.” He said to which the other one nodded.

‘Wow, wonder who that could be.’ Gentar thought as he listened in.

“That one with the hammer has the face of the Sun Summoner. They could be related, and worse, Drüsje.” With the way they said that specific word, Gentar presumed it must be a slur.

“Oh look, they know my bro Solar!” Gentar accidentally said out loud.

“Be quiet, Gentar!” Both Yaya and Kaizo shushed him.

“The Sun Summoner’s name is… Solar?” One of the men says, squinting in confusion. Kaizo then cleared his throat so that all attention was on him.

“If you know where this… Shadow and Sun Summoner went, we promise we'll be out of here as soon as possible.” Kaizo carefully said while side-eyeing Gentar throughout the conversation.

Unbeknownst to the trio however, one of the men shot a bullet at them. And due to his supreme awesomeness, Gentar quickly blocked the bullet using his hammer while shaking his head disapprovingly.

“Tsk tsk tsk, that's not very polite to shoot my Kapten Kaibro and my gal Yaya.” He said smugly, ignoring Yaya’s confused look and Kaizo's ‘Please stop calling me that.’

“If you tell us where you saw my two other bros, we’ll call it a truce. Otherwise…” He lifted his weapon, the handle resting on his shoulders. Pure flexing.

“Tig, drüshire! Pe Demjin! ” His speech was interrupted so rudely. So they want to fight, huh?

“I didn’t get to finish. You won’t survive the power that quakes the very earth and thunders the storms!” He held his other palm towards the group of soldiers.

“Vad?” The man at the front raised an eyebrow. Gentar took this as an opportunity and smirked as he raised his hammer. “It's Gentar time–!”

“Gravitational weld!” Yaya said without further hesitation. A pink aura emits from her hands, she hovers as the group of men are suddenly glued to the ground beneath them.

“Hey wait! I was supposed to—”

“Sorry, but they could have shot us again while you were still talking.” Yaya replied. She kept her hands out to endure the effect of her powers.

“She’s right. We won’t get any answers from them. Peacefully at least.” Kaizo said, stepping forward. The Captain unsheathed his energy blade and put the edge of the blade underneath one of the men's chin.

“Now where is this Sun and Shadow Summoner you spoke of?” He spoke coldly.

‘Little’ was a little bit of an understatement to describe the palace at Os Alta. And for a moment Fang actually forgot that the King was previously just mad at them. Despite the fact that they saved them from those… things. The broken mast was mostly Solar’s fault anyway!

Right now, Nikolai is currently leading them through the large palace, passing by people who greeted the King with respect while shooting Fang and Solar strange looks. Walking through the palace felt like walking through TAPOPS station in a way, in a sense that it's close to its grand structure except this time it's much prettier than the white sterile walls in the station.

Maybe Fang could ask Koko Ci to make the station look a lot less boring.

Nikolai eventually stopped by a room that Fang assumed it's his. “Alright I think it's eventually time I get rid of these clothes, you two stay outside and don't even THINK about doing anything.” He warned them with a stern glare.

Fang raised his arms in exasperation. “We don't even–” His sentence was cut off by Nikolai's stern gaze peeking through the doorway and the shadow user let out a disgruntled sigh. “Fine…” It seemed to have satisfied Nikolai enough as he finally closed the door.

The red-eyed teen looked around the hallway they were in and spotted Solar in a contemplative expression. “...What are you doing?” He asked the light elemental as he seemed to have been snapped out of his stupor.

“I'm just… thinking,” Solar replied to which Fang raised his brow.

“About what?”

“That I should've started losing my memories right about now.”

Fang blinked. Huh, he does have a point though, last time he checked Boboiboy can only last 12 hours when he splits into three before he starts losing his memories. He then shook his head and pointed at Solar with a reprimanding expression.

“Well you better not! I don't need you to start losing your memories on a far away planet right now!”

“Well no promises for that, Robert Tan.” Solar said before turning his head away. Hey, he saw that grin!

“Hey hey hey, don't act like you don't have anything planned, you little shit!”

“I’m joking. Calm down.” His face fell flat in response. Fang was about to retort when a voice echoed throughout the hallway.

“King Nikolai! I'm here to report about–” An unfortunately familiar voice and face entered into view and Fang definitely did not go behind Solar to try to not get himself recognized. Thank you very much.

“How the fuck did you get in here?!” Fang groaned as Vodzu’s voice echoed through the hallway. Solar pointed at himself with a confused expression.

“Me?” The light elemental asked.

Vodzu shook his head, “No, not– actually who are you?!” He pointed at Solar with a confused yet also guarded expression. The light elemental turned his head slightly to look at Fang.

“Do you know this guy?” He asked to which the shadow user groaned again and nodded.

“Yeah, he's the guy I told you about who was trying to take me to Nikolai…” Fang explained, finally stepping into view. Vodzu, however, looked displeased at the way the teen just casually referred to the King.

The Squaller looked like he was about to retort before The King himself returned to the hallways, changed into more distinctive clothing. Mainly a long embroidered tailcoat seemingly made of expensive… fabric material. Outside of his Privateering clothes, he looked like actual royalty.
What he didn’t expect was him coming back, with a whole new hair color. His previously red-tinged hairstyle was now golden blonde and his chin stopped being so overly-pointed.

“You were blonde the entire time?!” Fang exclaimed, looking at Nikolai with a shocked expression.

Nikolai, however, had a tired look on his face as he pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a tired groan. “I leave for five minutes and there's already a ruckus?! Outside my room no less!”

“I apologise, your majesty. But I’ve come to report about a new Shadow Summoner… who is right next to us.” Vodzu responded with a deep bow.

Nikolai raised an eyebrow. “What did you do?” He slowly turned his head towards Fang, who shook his head like he was being accused of murder. The shadow user sputtered incoherent messes.

“I didn't! If anything, I actually saved their asses!” Fang defended himself. Nikolai then turned to Vodzu for confirmation. The Squaller looked hesitant at first but as he was about to say anything, Fang spoke again.

“At least I'm not Mr. Use A Big Ass Light Beam!” Fang retorted. He’s never going to get over that one stupid decision that possibly alerted the entire planet. Solar turned to the shadow user with an offended expression on his face.

“Excuse me, but at least it's one of the better solutions than blindly searching this place!” Solar snapped back.

“Well there would have been better solutions than painting a massive target on our backs!”

“Oh what idea would you propose then since you know so much better.”

“You–!”

“Wait, he is the one that—” Vodzu pointed at Solar.

“Yes! Enough with that already!” Fang and Solar nearly yelled together, mid-accusation.

“I’m glad to know that you’ve introduced yourselves to each other so splendidly.” Nikolai took a deep breath to calm himself. “You don’t need to worry about them. ”

“Anyways, what were you going to say?” Nikolai asked Vodzu.

Said Squaller blinked out of his stupor before clearing his throat, “Yes, what the Shadow Summoner said is true, he saved me and Annie using Merzost.”

“Merzost?” Fang asked out loud.

“Abomination. Like a corrupted form of magic. It’s the creation of something, like what you’ve done. Same power that creates monsters and things like the Shadow Fold.” Oh, it’s the whole ‘Shadow fold’ ordeal all over again. Also OUCH. Like he could get that some of his other shadow creations may be scary but some of them are cute! Like Shadow Koala!

“Well, actually—” Solar pushed up his visor. “He still saved you, didn’t he? He saved your King over here too. Who I, mind you, was screaming for his–” A hand was quickly clamped over the light elemental’s mouth. Sometimes he just didn’t know when to shut up about certain details.

“Anyway!” Nikolai turned his attention back towards the Squaller, glaring like he dared Vodzu to acknowledge Solar struggling against him. “I’ll be keeping a close eye on these two…” He seemed tempted to say ‘troublemakers’ yet decided against it. Fang’s not even that bad! Unlike a certain destructive lightbulb.

“All I ask for is the trust and patience of my subjects. And for you two to stop accidentally destroying things.” Nikolai emphasized the word.

“It's not like it was intentional…” Fang muttered under his breath while he could faintly hear Solar mutter something against Nikolai's hand as well.

“But your majesty, is it really safe to let them stay here?” Vodzu asked, eyeing Fang warily to which the shadow user responded by glaring back.

The King sighed again, “You don't have to worry about anything, if they were up to something, they probably would have done it by now.” He finally let go of Solar's mouth, the brunette staring up at Nikolai with an irritated look.

“Alright, children, as King I have many things to attend to so I cannot afford to spend my time with you any longer… we do have rooms with two beds in them don’t we?” Nikolai took a moment to ponder. “Nevermind, if not I’ll ask someone to show you your rooms.”

“Wait, but we can’t stay here forever! We have to—” Fang paused. Now isn’t the right time to reveal something like that just yet. Could he even understand? That they’re from another dimension?

“I don’t understand where else you have to go.” Nikolai said. “But here, you will be safe.”

Sure, the two of them will be safe from the rest of this planet. But the planet won’t be safe from one of them. Fang took a glance at Solar. When the others come to their aid, maybe then he’ll explain everything. Hopefully with everything they’ve been told so far the King won’t expect them to be their heroes. Not today.

Nikolai then called someone over and asked them to show Fang and Solar to a vacant room within the Palace. One that would be able to accommodate them both while being close to his own room in case he would be needed. The servant nodded politely.

“Run along now, just–! Not too fast.” He warned them. Fang looked back at him as the servant began to leave them elsewhere. The King had a wary expression before the two of them disappeared around the corner.

“Your Majesty, is it really okay to trust them? Especially the Shadow Summoner?”

Nikolai looked at Vodzu with a contemplative expression. While the Squaller in front of him does have a point, both Fang and Solar seemed to have no ulterior motives so far. “They can be useful, but we mustn’t have our own history repeat itself. You heard them anyway, they can’t stay forever. They’re here because of precaution. Even the Shadow Summoner is more wary of his counterpart’s capabilities.”

“Is it because of his capabilities and power over light?” Vodzu inquired.

“Worse.” Possibly. The young man had such incredible power. No doubt that he knew how to handle it. The worst part about it, according to Fang, was the other’s tendency to ‘forget’. He overheard their conversation back on the Volkvolny, if Solar could forget even the name and face of his friend, Saints’ know what would happen if he forgets control over his own power too. ‘That blast of light…’

“...How much worse, exactly..?”

Nikolai responded with a dismissive wave. “Station some guards to be watchers and remain in front of their door tonight. Don’t have them notice though.” He ordered.

Vodzu nodded, “Understood, your Majesty.”

Solar and Fang entered the bedroom that the servant directed them to. This bedroom is definitely much more grand and spacious than the ones they have at the station. There may be only one bed but it seemed spacious enough to equate to two beds.

“What are you doing?” Solar asked as he watched the shadow user start smoothing his hand over the bed covers.

“Checking for lead and getting the sawdust out of the way,” Fang responded.

“Paranoid much?” The Light user went ahead and sat on the edge of the bed, the sheets sinking slightly. “It feels fine to me.”

“For now.” Fang carefully traced the bed frame for signs such as flaking in the paint and any signs for rust, at least that's what Solar assumes Fang is looking for. It wasn’t that late yet. So the only thing they can do is… lay down for the next few hours until they get tired.

“UH-UH! You have your own side of the bed!” The voice that Solar mustered out sounded like a squawk. Dramatic much… he laid down horizontally on the bed.

“Okay fine, geez…” Fang muttered. “I was gonna take this side anyway,” he then started setting up a pillow barrier with him taking the left side and Solar taking the right.

Fang also laid down horizontally, making his and Solar’s head parallel to each other. They both stared up at the golden-colored canopy of their bed. It's almost as if they're both stargazing but instead of stars it's up the flaxen swirls that covered the canopy.

“Fang, what if the others don’t find us in time? I might start to think I’m part of this world. As long as everyone here believes that too… they’ll think I’m sort of Saint too, won’t they?” He pondered on Alina’s words. He recalled her saying that he was one of the youngest of the new Sun Summoner’s. More powerful than her with three amplifiers. “I don’t have many doubts that they may come for you as well. That goes for your friend too.”

“You admitted it already. We can handle it.” Fang responded lightly.

“But what if I don’t want to handle it..?” Solar unexpectedly said without thinking. He blinked. Shit, shit, shit. There is no way he blurted that out to Fang out of all people?!

He could hear Fang snort beside him. “Never thought I'd hear you say that but if you don't want to, then maybe I can handle it.”

Solar let out a scoff, “Really?”

“No of course not, idiot.” Fang retorted back.

From the context clues of what he’s gathered about these ‘Saints’. Alina spoke about being a Sankta like they were people who could work miracles. They used that title like it was a swear. So frankly, does that mean ‘Saints’ are… worshipped? Oh that felt wrong to him. He could handle the attention from being popular, but being outright worshipped? That just left a bad taste in his mouth.

“...So what do we do now?” Solar asked, his tone sounding dry and dreary.

Fang snorted, “Fuck if I know.” He let out a humorless chuckle.

The room fell into a kind of silence that wasn't awkward or uncomfortable, it felt… nice. It's probably one of the first few times they fell into this kind of silence that is not after arguing or when one of them is injured. But it's not like Solar would ever admit that to Fang of all people.

“You know it was pretty funny when you hid behind me earlier.”

“Alright! I'm going to sleep now!” Fang quickly pulled the blanket provided for him and put it over his shoulders, actively ignoring what the light elemental said.

“So you're gonna sleep horizontally then?” Solar pointed out which brought out an irritated mutter from the other. Fang began to readjust his position so that he's more comfortable and resting vertically now, accidentally kicking Solar’s face on the way.

“Agh! Hey!” Solar cried out as he got up from his spot on the bed, adjusting his position as well. He let out a grumble as he fixed up the pillow barrier between them before lying down again on his side of the bed.

As the light elemental laid down, his hand unconsciously went towards the nearest blanket and put it over his shoulders. He was beginning to become comfortable when the light weight of the blanket disappeared from his body. His brows furrowed and eye twitched

“You can keep yourself warm, you know?” Fang responded as if he sensed the irritation radiating off of his companion. This just feels like a really lame sleepover. Minus the wealth and luxury practically surrounding them from all corners.

“Well what if I don't want to then?” Solar pulled the blanket back from him. Both of them continued to tug on the light sheet of fabric until they were at least half-satisfied with their own share of blanket. What has suddenly gotten into him? He’s sure that Fang might be wondering the same. The light elemental took off his yellow visor and placed it on the nearby, he hadn’t realised how drained he really was until he felt himself relax against the mattress. He might actually sink into it. After everything that happened today, Solar finally allowed himself to close his eyes.

Big mistake apparently. What exactly? Solar wasn’t sure, all he could focus on was the comfy mattress underneath him. Wow, did that nap make him feel extremely disoriented. He opened his eyes and looked around his surroundings. He saw that it was dark and the window clearly indicated that it was night but he couldn’t even remember where he was or what he was doing there. Was his bedroom always this lavish?

He slowly got up, rubbing his eyes to adjust them to the dark. He then also noticed a pillow barrier and someone sleeping on the left side of it. He looked familiar though… What’s his name again? Dan? Fan? Tan..? Ah! Robert Tan!

Wait, why is Robert Tan here though? He stepped off the bed, still in his shoes which he never took off in the first place for some reason. He conjured up a small Solar Sphere, the ball of light floating lightly on his gloves. Most of the room was bathed in light with his Solar Sphere, the golden details upon the walls, lined down the corners and the edges of the ceiling, almost as if reflecting its light and almost made the place look like a treasure trove.

Solar blinked. Where is he? It's almost as if he was granted a room that is themed around the 1800’s except this looks even too advanced for a regular 1800’s bedroom. He immediately went towards the door and lightly shook it only for it to be locked. Oh no… they must be trapped here! That’s a completely logical conclusion that can be gathered based on the situation.

He quickly rushed to the other sleeping boy's side. “Robert Tan, wake up!” He lightly shook the other boy.

“Hnnggh. Go back to sleep…” Fang let out a groan, pulling the blanket over him. ‘OH NO HE’S BEEN DRUGGED!!!’ Solar thought. That explained why they're both in this unknown room and why they were both sleeping. He didn't know why their kidnappers were stupid enough to let them roam around the room like this, but it did give him an advantage.

“Don’t worry, Robert Tan. I’ll get us out of here!” Solar said to no one but himself since his companion had gone back to sleep. He raised his wrist in front of him and did the ever so iconic two-finger handgun gesture. The light user’s power surged through from his fingertips down to the rest of his body. He swept his right foot back, bending his knees. He casted…

“Solar-speed leap!” He casted and a bright light enveloped him and the room before he slammed right through the wall and before he knew it, he was now in a random village.

Wait… why is he here again?

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” Fang shot out of bed. His heart pounded from being startled by the bright light and the noise that followed after. Were they being attacked!?

“Solar—” He looked to his side past the pillow barrier. Empty. His eyes slowly widened from the realization. Fang swiftly got up and onto his feet without a care that it might make him lightheaded. No one else was in this room. It was just him and that suspiciously person-shaped hole in the wall.

He quickly ran towards the door and tried to open it only to find it locked. ‘What?’ he thought. When did he even lock the door? That must mean someone locked it from the outside. So he did the only thing he could think of to do in this situation: He kicked the door near the handle until the wood gave out and it swung open. Footsteps approached, guards near his door approached closer. Fang spun around and rushed towards them, nearly grabbing one by the collar.

“Your kingdom is in danger! Where is King Nikolai!?” He screamed

“What happened?” One of the guards asked in an urgent manner.

“The Sun Summoner has lost his memories and disappeared from the palace!”