Ice, Thunderstorm, and Solar followed Claire deeper into Planet Sol. For once, Solar noticed that there was no life on the planet except for a few desert plants every few blocks. This led him to wonder why Claire was living on this planet.

"We're here," the young cactus alien announced.

It was a bungalow, meaning that it doesn't have stairs or something. The designs were simple, pretty much like the same with the houses in Planet Gurunda. It wasn't much, as Solar observed, but it's enough to accommodate a small family.

Claire knocked at the door of their house. "Mother, Father. We have guests."

The door opened, and they were greeted by a middle-aged couple. They had admitted them all in with a smile.

The inside was simple, like the outside. It has a living room, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen/dining room. The furnishings are simple as well, but they were sturdy enough to last a couple of years.

The couple invited them all to sit. They tried to give them refreshments, but they all declined as they had just eaten. The couple nodded in understanding and excused themselves. They started discussing something with Claire, and from what they could observe, it was really serious. After a few moments, they seemed to agree on something. The father turned to them and smiled.

"Claire had told us your identities and the events prior to this, but only from what she had observed. We will give you SinarBot." The smile faltered. "However, there's a catch. Once SinarBot is taken off its platform, the platform will explode after five seconds. The explosion will be big enough to destroy this side of the planet. Someone has to sacrifice to prolong the explosion so that the rest will have time to escape."

The trio looked at each other, then to the father. They simultaneously started speaking.

"I'll do it."

They all looked at each other again. Ice was the first one to speak.

"I can try to subdue the explosion using my ice powers. That way, you can contact TAPOPS and all of you will be teleported there."

"No," Thunderstorm said firmly. "The ice would break easily from the explosion that big. I'll do it. I'll transfer the platform somewhere far away with my lightning speed. That way, the explosion won't affect any of you."

"No. We will all survive this." Solar looked at the others with determination. "I'll teleport all of us to a place far from here so that no one will be a victim of the explosion."

"But in order to do that, you'll have to use a lot of energy. Probably more than what you are capable of," the lightning elemental said, worried. Ice has the same reaction as Thunderstorm.

Solar steeled himself. "I have to. I can gather energy from the heat and brightness of Planet Sol. I don't care if I use too much power. Everyone must be safe."

The other two elementals looked at each other. "Alright, Papa Sol. Whenever you're ready." Ice said. Solar cracked a smile.

"It's been a long time since I last heard that nickname."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Ready?" the ice elemental asked his youngest brother. Solar nodded at him, eyes glowing from the energy he had accumulated from his surroundings.

"Here goes nothing." With that, Ice took SinarBot from the platform. Almost immediately, a five-second timer started ticking down.

5

"Solar, NOW!" Thunderstorm shouted at his brother.

4

Solar's body started glowing brightly as he concentrated on teleporting them.

3

The glow spread among the rest of the occupants of the house. Solar started sweating profusely.

2

"Everyone, hold hands!" Solar said. They all did.

1

"Please, please," Ice started to chant under his breath as the last second ticked.

0

The light that erupted in front of them was so bright that they were all forced to close their eyes. When the light had dimmed significantly, Ice opened his eyes only to see Solar collapse to the ground. A few miles away from where they were standing, they could see a huge explosion occur.

Ice immediately ran to Solar's side, still holding SinaBot. "He's only exhausted," he said in relief.

Thunderstom nodded and contacted TAPOPS through his watch. "Mission complete, commander. We're all ready to go back."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To give him credit, Damon didn't look scared, even though someone literally evolved into a more powerful form in front of him. Instead, he smiled ruefully.

"Finally," he muttered as Thorn started to attack him ferociously. Damon was forced to go on pure defense as he was getting attacked from all sides. Fire and Wind, after they got out of their shock from seeing their innocent friend evolve, also contributed to the attack, sending spheres of elements to the places where Thorn can't attack.

Within minutes, Damon was defeated. The three, despite being tired, still kept their guard up as Damon struggled to his feet.

"You three," he panted. "Are more than worthy to get VacuumBot. He's located in a stone house just up ahead. You won't cross any challenges if you just walk ahead." He smiled at them under his mask. "Thank you for the challenge."

Thorn nodded, smiling back at him. "Thank you as well, Damon."

"Please send my apologies to my sister once you meet back with her. I have a feeling that she had joined your team."

They all chuckled. "She did, and she'll get your message."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

True to his word, the trio didn't encounter any challenges up ahead. Still, they didn't let their guard down.

"I'll bet the others will be winded about this," Wind said nonchalantly.

Fire smirked. "Yup. They'll be burning with questions once they find it out."

Thorn snorted at the puns. The other two can't help it and laughed as they continued on making horrible puns and jokes as they go to the stone house.

The stone house didn't seem to have any traps as well, but they didn't dwell on it. Later on, they found out from KoKoCi that there's a trap for anyone who goes in without defeating a guard. It was modified by Damon so that they could go in without a problem. They got VacuumBot from where it was placed and went back outside.

"Commander, mission successful. VacuumBot's with us."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The last trio is far from done. The other teams are already back at the station, talking lightly to each other about their journeys. Solar had woken up and was sitting on a chair, still weak from his usage of power.

However, as much as they want to go in detail about their journey (to each other as the rest were watching their progress), they wanted for all of them to be complete so they waited for Dark, Earth, and Atalanta.

Speaking of the three, Dark was cautiously walking forward, careful of anything. Earth kept looking at Dark at the corner of his eye from time to time. Atalanta was just looking forward, still tense from her previous experience.

Just like Atalanta, Dark just suddenly stopped walking. He just looked ahead of him. The other two, knowing what's happening, were just waiting anxiously for Dark to snap out of the memories.

Dark took a longer time than Atalanta to snap out of his trance. He was squeezing his eyes shut, trying to block out the memories, both from the challenge and in his mind. When he did, he nodded at his companions, his face blank.

Earth looked worriedly at him but didn't say anything as they walked forward. Atalanta just put a hand on his shoulder as a small sign of support and understanding.

Block it out. This is not the right time, Dark thought to himself.

Your memories are quite... dark. 

I am Dark, he retorted dryly.

Touche. 

Dark snapped back to reality as Earth stopped walking. Almost immediately, Earth put his hands on his ears, as if trying to block the sound of silence.

"No, no, no," Earth kept chanting under his breath.

Dark shared a concerned look with Atalanta. They both knew that at this rate, it will be hard to get Earth to snap back by himself.

Dark nodded at her, and she understood. She walked by Earth's side and kneeled down, seeing that Earth was on his knees. She then started to sing a song softly.

When you feel you're alone
Cut off from this cruel world
Your instinct's telling you to run

Listen to your heart

Those angel voices
They'll sing to you

They'll be your guide
Back home

When life leaves us blind
Love keeps us kind
It keeps us kind

Earth snapped back to reality after the first verse, but Atalanta continued singing. The song wasn't just for Earth. It was for all of them. Because nobody's alone as long as they have each other.

When you've suffered enough

And your spirit is breaking
You're growing desperate from the fight

Remember you're loved

And you always will be
This melody will bring you right
Back home

When life leaves us blind
Love keeps us kind
When life leaves us blind
Love keeps us kind

Atalanta just hummed the last part. Earth looked at her. She looked peaceful as she sang the song.

Atalanta noticed his gaze and spoke. "It was my song of comfort. Mom used to sing it to me when I'm down."

Earth nodded and the silence stretched between the three of them. It wasn't the slightest bit uncomfortable, as they all took in the peaceful atmosphere.

"That was a nice change," Atalanta broke the silence, smiling softly.

"Agreed."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They had continued on walking after a few more moments of rest. Atalanta didn't detect any more traps or challenges up ahead. Other than her saying that fact, the rest of their journey was quiet.

At last, they had arrived at the end of the cave, where ShadowBot was innocently placed on a table. Dark reached out and picked up the power sphere. Nothing happened, which made all of them sigh in relief.

Atalanta turned to Earth. "I don't fancy taking the route back to the entrance, especially since my scans. Can you dig us out? Like the dig move in Pokemon?"

Dark looked at her incredulously. "You play Pokemon?"

Atalanta shrugged. "Yeah. Finished it a lot of times already. Although I haven't play Sun and Moon yet."

Dark grinned at her. "How about a battle between you and I? In the direct corner?"

Atalanta grinned back. "Sure. I'll crush you."

Earth rolled his eyes. "Now, before you go into details of your attacks and basically spoiling each other, we'll first get out of this cave. And to answer your question, Atalanta, yes. I can dig us out of here. I think none of us fancy going back there."

The other two mock saluted in a synchronized fashion. Then, the three of them just laughed at their own antics.

Earth dug them out of the cave, Dark still carrying ShadowBot. Back at the entrance, Earth refilled the dug out cave. They all looked at each other. If there's anything significant that happened during the mission other than getting ShadowBot, it's the fact that the three of them became closer than ever.

Atalanta contacted TAPOPS. "Mission accomplished, Commander."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back at the station, Commander KoKoCi, Admiral Tarung, and Captain Kaizo congratulated the nine testers.

"Congratulations to all of you for completing the test successfully. You are all now an official part of TAPOPS. You will all start as cadets, and will be promoted accordingly after you prove yourselves."

All of them did the TAPOPS salute and simultaneously spoke. "Thank you, Commander!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ahh, finally! The Toughness Test is finished. I just made this in the middle of reviewing for exams. xD I was getting bored and sleepy, and it's still morning.

And I still have someone to tutor for his exams as well. T_T Busy week again.

If you want more of Atalanta, you can check the profile of _Amethyx_. Atalanta's one of the main characters in If You Can't Take My Sass, Fuck Outta Existence. It's a collaboration book between seven authors, including myself and _Amethyx_. 

The song in this chapter was "The Messenger" by Linkin Park.