"What is it?" Solar whispered.

"I think I saw something moving," Thunderstorm said, readying his cleaver. (Am I right that it's a cleaver?)

Seeing his companions' actions, Ice readied his bow and arrows while Solar used his powers to detect a foreign presence. He bent the light within three kilometers around him and determined where the shadows are moving fast. He had an advantage considering that the sun never sets at Planet Sol.

Solar closed his eyes and concentrated. After a while, he opened his eyes and faced east, readying himself. "Come out now, whoever you are."

A young cactus alien went out from behind the big rock, quivering in fear. "P-please don't hurt me," she whispered.

Ice lowered his bow and slowly went to the young girl. Despite his moments of freezing personality, he also has his motherly moments, mainly because of Fire.

"We are not going to hurt you. Can you tell me your name?" Ice gently said.

"C-claire, sir."

Ice smiled. "That's such a nice name."

Thunderstorm huffed and stormed towards them impatiently. "What do you know of the power sphere SinarBot?"

Claire shrunk away from him as Ice turned to him, his face frosty as if saying 'Why did you interfere?'. Thunderstorm wasn't fazed by Ice's glare. "I-I don't-"

Solar snorted. "Of course. Who would even expect a kid to know what even a power sphere is?" Solar looked at Thunderstorm. "Obviously, someone is as dumb as I assumed him to be."

Thunderstorm was angry, and he faced Solar, electricity sparking from his body. "At least I'm not an arrogant know-it-all prick," he hissed.

"You have the nerve to call me that, weakling?!"

Thunderstorm was furious. If only you knew...

"Weakling?! I'll show you who's the weak one here!"

Cue another legendary fight between the two. Also, cue Ice's dramatic sweatdrop in the background. Claire had long away ran in fear of being involved.

Ice knew that if the two had started fighting, there's no stopping them. He decided to set his tent right then and there and watched the fight from the inside, waiting for them to stop. Seriously, at this rate that they're doing things, they're going to fail the mission.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"What's wrong?" Leaf asked Wind, who tightly closed his eyes.

"Be careful," he whispered at last.

Fire's anxiety kicked in and he looked around for any abnormalities. A few moments later, both he and Leaf tensed as well as a voice whispered from a distance.

"Prepare yourselves."

Leaf barely had time to shield all of them as the enemy attacked them from behind. They all turned around and saw a person that they recognized.

"Damon?!"

Said person smiled emotionlessly (or so they thought since he was still wearing his mask).

"Nice to meet you here," he said in a deep, silky voice.

"Why are you here, Damon? Just curious," Fire said, relaxing along with Leaf.

"Guarding the power sphere. There are too many people who want V-Bot for themselves. However, none were worthy. Let's see if the three of you deserve to get the power sphere." With that, Damon attacked them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"The night vision mode is really helpful, Atalanta. They're incredibly vivid," Earth said while they were all walking through the grassy path of Planet Quasar.

Let me tell you what really the night vision goggles really do. It's like giving a blind person a chance to see the world on what it really is. From what Earth could see, Planet Quasar looks a lot like their home planet, barring the darkness. The plants are green and healthy despite the lack of sunlight. The planet was also oddly warm like the summer season.

"What do you think of this planet?" Atalanta asked Earth.

He looked at their female companion who was walking calmly, unfazed by her surroundings. "It's a lot like our home planet."

"I agree. I half-expected to see Tok Aba's KoKoTiam in our journey," Dark said.

Atalanta kept looking ahead. "Planet Quasar is considered as planet Earth's twin planet, only devoid of light and fire. Instead," she stopped, pointing ahead of her. "They use darkness and shadow fire."

Shadow fire, opposite to an actual fire, provides coldness and darkness around. Atalanta said that it helps the creatures in the planet see.

"The creatures are called Nichts. They are like humans, but the only difference is that they cannot see in the light."

"How did you know all of this?" Dark asked her.

Atalanta smiled thinly. "Spending five years in captive by the aliens can get you to learn many things about them."

Dark could sense the fear and pain emitting from her though she tried to hide them. He had opted to talk to her later in private.

Earth stopped, making the other two stop as well. "Are we there yet?" Dark asked him.

"Not exactly, but this was the last recorded data of ShadowBot's whereabouts. We can try our luck in finding it here," Earth said, looking up from the data tablet.

Atalanta frowned. "Let's be fast. This place is giving me creeps. Dark, can you sense something?"

Dark closed his eyes and concentrated. Earth found it interesting that Dark looked exactly like Solar when he concentrates. They both close their eyes softly and scrunch their eyebrows a bit while frowning. A few moments later, Dark snapped his eyes open.

"This way," he said, pointing to the south.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Fire, Leaf and Wind, surprisingly,  seemed to be progressing the fastest," Yaya commented as they watched all of them from the control room.

Captain Kaizo agreed. "They should have a week to complete the mission, yet they have encountered their challenge already. You really have to give them more credit for their teamwork and cooperation. After all, Damon will not be an easy enemy."

Fang blinked at his brother. "You know Atalanta's brother?"

"He's Atalanta's brother? Then I should expect more from her then. Damon is the captain of the assassin team of TEMPUR-A, and I have worked with him so many times to deduce his fighting strategy," Kaizo replied.

On the other hand, Gopal was complaining. "Dey, who knew Solar and Thunderstorm have such loud voices?"

Ying sighed. "It seems like they're at it again. Let's just be thankful that Fire's not with them.

Yaya turned to KoKoCi. "Commander, does Claire really know something?"

The green alien nodded. "Her family had the power sphere before someone had attempted to steal it, so they hid it somewhere safe."

Fang pinched the bridge of his nose. "If only Thunderstorm and Solar had waited."

Ying nodded. "Yeah. Ice seemed to know what he's doing."

Kaizo turned to Admiral Tarung. "The three groups will face three different challenges, am I correct, Admiral?"

"Yes. Thunderstorm, Solar and Ice had already started to face theirs: the challenge of unity and cooperation. They will not pass the test until they learn to cooperate with each other."

"Wind, Fire, and Leaf are about to face theirs: the challenge of wisdom and battle strategy. Damon may be powerful, but he is predictable and it is his weakness. Unless they had seen that weakness and take advantage of it, they will not be able to defeat him and pass the test."

"As for the last three, Dark, Earth and Atalanta, they have yet to face theirs: the challenge of memories and emotions. They will need to face and overcome their pasts and fears."

"And so starts the hardest challenges of their lives," Admiral Tarung concluded.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I feel like the story's getting nowhere. Do you?

As for Void, well, he'll appear again after the test, don't you worry.

I, uhm, hope you enjoy this part. Please don't read the rant after this sentence.

(I've been feeling... dark lately. I mean, it started last Saturday, during our Educational Trip/Field Trip/Out of School Trip. I really had fun on our first two destinations, which is the Mind Museum and the Presidential Car Museum. What really upset me is the last destination, which was a big and famous amusement park called the Enchanted Kingdom. I mean, it started out great. There's five of us and we went to the bumper cars. Then, we went to a paid entertainment: Laser Mission. You need to avoid the lasers just like in spy movies. However, my mood started to drop at the Swan Lake. You need to pedal the swan in order to move. However, it needs two people for each swan. They all partnered up. I felt like the fifth wheel. I left them there, saying that the ride was tiring. I went to ride on my own. In the Anchor's Away, I met a few Grade 7 students (I am Grade 10) whom I knew, and they asked me to join them. There were the three of them, and I was still the fourth wheel. I still joined them in that ride and in the Roller Skaters (roller coaster) then I left them when they went to find their friends. I had another go on the Laser Mission but my mood was already down so I stopped riding anything and just stayed in a food stall, not eating though it was dinner time. I told my friends (the ones I left) where I am. They replied to me almost 15 minutes later and arrived after another 15-20 minutes. Then they left again, saying that they're going to buy something in the nearest food stall (which was behind me) but they didn't go that way. They went farther. After another 10-15 minutes, I left, texting them. I went out of the amusement park (after the fireworks display) and into the bus. They found me walking alone, but when they saw me, I quickened my pace. I don't want to deal with them. When they asked me if I was angry at them, I smiled and told them that I'm not. I'm really not angry at them. I'm angry at myself for even believing that they'll stick 'till the end. That's why I was so apathetic in a lot of things. I don't want to feel like this.)

If you read the rant, then thank you for your patience. I'm sorry again for this.