Ice was getting really tired.

They had continued on their journey to find SinarBot with Solar in the lead and Thunderstorm bringing up the rear. Despite being near Solar, Ice is still affected by the heat, especially with his lower-than-average heat resistance.

Solar sneaked a look at him. Ice was now extremely sweaty and was paler than usual. The light elemental's eyes flicked over to Thunderstorm and saw that he was looking at Ice as well. Cathing Solar's meaningful look, he nodded.

"Let's take a break first."

Ice almost slumpeed to the ground in relief. He was really grateful of his brothers. He only wished that he won't be a burden to them.

The trio had only set up one tent, which was Ice's. Solar figured that the atmosphere of his tent would help Ice the most.

All of their tents are made according to their powers. It's just like the cabins at Camp Half-blood. The atmosphere of each tent depends according to the owner's power. For example, Ice's tent has a winter-like atmosphere.

With that, Ice stayed inside his tent while Thunderstorm and Solar camped outside, looking out for any threats. There were none, but they were revisited by someone.

Thunderstorm was the first one to see her, having the sharpest senses amongst all of them.

"C-claire?!" Thunderstorm stuttered upon recognizing the newcomer.

(Thunderstorm: *huffs* No, I didn't.

Author: *rolls eyes* Sure... whatever makes you sleep at night.)

Claire hid in fright once she recognized Thunderstorm. Thunderstorm inwardly flinched when he saw her reaction but didn't show any outward emotion.

Unlike Thunderstorm, Solar didn't hide his reaction. He visibly flinched and lowered his head in shame. If this is the effect of his prideful attitude, then he hated to know it affects the people close to him.

"Come closer if you want. We won't hurt you."

Clare hesitated but peeked her head after hearing Solar's (uncharacteristically) gentle voice.

"Y-you p-promise?"

"We do."

Solar turned to Thunderstorm and raised his eyebrow.

"What? We need her to not be scared of us," Thunderstorm said defensively.

The lightning elemental smiled inwardly when he saw Claire fully come out of her hiding place, albeit scared. Solar stretched out ahand and the small cactus alien hesitantly took it and sat down with them. She eyed the glass of water next to Thunderstorm. Noticing where she was looking, the red-eyed BoBoiBoy gave it to her, under the excuse of 'can't have her dying of thirst.' Solar secretly rolled his eyes.

Ice had emerged from the tent looking better than ever. He saw the newcomer and raised an eyebrow as he made his way over to them.

Claire seemed to be skittish when he arrived and Ice figured that it wasn't because of fear. Despite his curiosity, he didn't say anything. Instead, he discussed what's going to happen next with Thunderstorm and Solar.

"So, SinarBot," Ice said nonchalantly. Beside him, Claire tensed a bit.

Solar sighed. "We still have no lead on him. I tried to locate its location but to no luck. Something might be blocking its aura."

"Why are you looking for SinarBot?"

All three heads looked at Claire who had just spoken. She ducked her head in order to hide her face.

"We are part of the TAPOPS, an organization which collects power sphere and protects them from those with evil intent," Solar explained to her.

Claire nodded and smiled as if she was satisfied about something.

"I know where the power sphere is.  It is with us for generations," she said, her shyness and fear now gone as she now knew that the people she had met were trustworthy.

The trio exchanged a look. Who knew that one encounter would change everything?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wind, Fire and Leaf had attacked with renewed vigor, slightly taking Damon by surprise. He quickly recovered, however.

Fire had attacked first from Damon's left side. Damon quickly countered his attack but barely countered Wind's attack from his right. The two elementals then attacked simultaneously, leaving Damon winded and burned.

Leaf stalked forward like a predtor stalking its prey. His face lacked its innocent look, replaced by a serious look, his eyes seeming to look into your soul. He was glowing softly and the rest watched in fascination as his clothes changed from light green to a black and green color scheme.

Thorn smiled. "I guess it's time to finish this, huh?" he said while circling a thorn vine lasso above his head.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Their journey inside the dark cave was relatively quiet and peaceful, which unnerved Atalanta a bit. She bit her lip anxiously as she subtlu scanned her surroundings. After all, peace is never good for long.

They did a left turn (in accordance to Dark's senses) and Earth suddenly tensed. He looked behind him and saw that the way they cane from was already blocked by a huge pile of rocks, effectively blocking any way out.

"This will definitely not be easy," Earth whispered.

"Not easy would be an understatement," Atalanta said, still looking forward.

Earth turned back to the front and saw, well, nothing. Even Dark was confused. However, they figured that something was wrong based on how Atalanta was tensing.

"Atalanta? What's wrong?" Dark asked their female companion.

Atalanta didn't say anything. She seemed to be staring ahead of her, frozen in fear, her mouth open in a silent scream.

Finally, she snapped out of her trance. "Come on," she whispered urgently.

Dark and Earth sped towards Atalanta who seemed to run like a cheetah's hot on her tail.

Around the corner, they all stopped, panting hard.

"What happened back there?" Earth asked, worried.

Atalanta collapsed with Dark catching her before she hit the ground. She seemed to be close to hyperventilating  There was tears in her eyes.

Dark could sense a huge amount of fear coming out of her. "Atalanta?" he asked softly as to not surprise her.

Atalanta took a deep breath. While it did nothing to calm her, it gave her a chance to speak.

"B-be careful. S-something will t-trigger your worst f-fears and m-memories."

Earth and Dark exchanged looks. Dark was specifically anxious. After being manifested, all of BoBoiBoy's dark memories of his past were transferred to him. The stressess and anxiety was passed on to Fire, the anger and grudges manifested alongside Thunderstorm, the fears were given to Earth, the ignorance to Leaf, the insecurities to Solar, the misery to Ice, and the pain to Wind. Dark personally knew them all since part of his powers include determining others' darkness.

Atalanta was a different story. She never had anyone to pass all het negativities, so they all resulted in being surpressed inside of her. Dark figured that if Atalanta didn't let it out soon, she'll be destroyed from inside out.

"I know what you're going to do, Dark."

Dark snapped out of his thoughts to notice the girl in his thoughts looking at him. The second thing he noticed was that they are all sitting down on the floor, with Atalanta leaning back on the wall.

"Are you reading my mind or something?" he asked her.

Atalanta tilted her head to the side, her face expressionless. "I know what you are capable of, Dark. And from that, I can deduce what you are thinking, also considering how searching you were looking at me."

The shadow elemental sighed. "Atalanta-"

"No." Atalanta held up a hand as Dark opened his mouth to say something. "Not now. Perhaps soon, after we finish this mission. It'll only slow us down."

Earth looked back and forth at the two like he was watching a tennis match. He knew what they both meant even if they don't say it. If there's one thing that's keeping them together despite their differences, it's their emotions. The mutual understanding that they are all suffering in one way or another.

Without another word, they all stood up to continue. Atalanta took Dark's hand and squeezed it. Earth put a hand on his shoulder. Dark smiled gratefully at them. He knew he was next.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Thunderstorm's a total tsundere," Ying giggled. "It's so cute yet so frustrating."

"And the other two's reaction!" Yaya chuckled. "It's like they wanted to bash Thunderstorm's head to the wall from his horrible excuses!"

"Yeah!" The two high-fived.

"Maturity and battle smarts," Kaizo muttered. "That's how Leaf evolved into Thorn."

"Perfectly suited with Solar's attitude," Fang muttered, chuckling slightly. Kaizo chuckled as well, hearing him.

When it came to the last trio, they all watched in a somewhat horrified fascination as the events unfold in front of their eyes. Due to the uograded technology of the cameras, they were able to see what Atalanta had seen.

"Atalanta..."

"When we first heard her story, I already thought that it was horrible. But what we heard was only sugar-coated," Yaya whispered.

"And here I thought that my past was bad," Fang whispered.

Commander KoKoCi and Admiral Tarung regretted their decision to make them undergo that type of challenge. They looked at each other and decided to call them.

"Dark, Atalanta, Earth," KoKoCi greeted. The others were silent.

"Commander." The trio did the TAPOPS salute.

KoKoCi looked at Tarung then back at them. "We offer you an easy way to get to the power sphere. We figured that your challenge might be too much for you to handle."

Something briefly flashed in Atalanta's eyes but it disappeared before they could decipher what it is. She looked at the other two.

"No, commander. We refuse."

To say that they were all shocked was an understatement.

Seeing their looks, Atalanta continued. "I think this is what we really need, Commander. To face our dark side, and to learn to accept and move on from it." The other two nodded beside her.

Admiral Tarung smiled. "I commend the three of you for your courage and determination."

"Thank you, Admiral." And the message ended.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I'll try to update more today, as a Christmas gift. But I can't promise it.

The next chapter will be the final part of the Toughness Test. I swear it. It's getting too long.