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.”