Since all of them had passed the qualifying tests, all of them will move on to the TAPOPS Toughness Test. Admiral Tarung, who was now at his normal mode seeing that it was currently past 7 in the evening, told them that the test will start 12 hours from now. He then proceeded to ask Dark to tour Atalanta in the ship, which he gladly accepted.

Half an hour later, Dark showed Atalanta her room, which was their last stop. It was only a few paces away from the siblings' room (they had opted to share a room despite what the others had suggested). Looking inside, it looked more like a dormitory for a military camp.

"You won't be sharing a room with anyone as of now since you aren't officially part of the team yet," Dark said.

"It's okay. Great, actually. It's nice to have privacy even just for a short moment."

Dark looked at his watch. "Lights out is at 10 pm, lights on at 4 am. I think that's all. I'll leave you here. I have to go back to my brothers."

Atalanta nodded and watched Dark walk towards their room before going inside hers.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later that night, Atalanta found herself playing 'Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime' using Lover Mu and Doppler, her chosen space pet. But after a few tries of trying to defeat Orion, she gave up and put down her newly-made laptop.

Walking to the bathroom, she faced the mirror and took off her glasses. What she saw on the reflection was something that haunted her since the first time she saw it.

Gray hair, looking like it was dyed thoroughly.

Abnormally pale skin, as if there was no blood rushing through her veins.

Purple lips, like she hadn't drunk water in so long.

But what haunted her most were her eyes. They were glowing solid orbs of silver and gold, one color for each eye. There were no pupils. A result of the experiment.

All in all, she looked like a freak.

Freak. Just that one word brought back so many memories that she had tried to suppress. At the end of the flashback, one dialogue kept echoing in her head.

"Even if you do manage to escape, no one will accept you. You'll just be a freak in everyone's eyes."

Atalanta shook herself out of her thoughts and prepared herself to sleep. After her usual tosses and turns, she finally fell asleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Atalanta woke up a few hours later to a gut feeling. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was only midnight. She was confused, but she had long learned to trust her gut. She wore her eyeglasses and a long silver cloak over her pajamas before going out of her room.

She didn't know if there's a punishment for being caught after lights out, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She stealthily made her way to the balcony, which was where her gut was leading her. Upon arriving, she was greeted by an unusual sight.

Let's just say that the rest of her night passed by strangely.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You will again be divided into three, which will be the same division as before. Each of the group will be facing different challenges in order to retrieve the power sphere assigned to you. The data on the power sphere assigned to you are now sent to your respective tablets."

It was like a mission and a test combined together. They are all going to retrieve three power sphere that may help them prepare for the fight against Void. Thunderstorm, Solar, and Ice are to retrieve SinarBot from Planet Sol (SinarBot is canon). Ice looked scared out of his wits, and Fire noticed this.

"You'll be fine. Just stay near Solar and it will null the effect of the heat on you." The ice elemental smiled at his brother and Fire blushed.

Fire, Leaf, and Wind are tasked to get V-Bot, a power sphere that can suck anything in it when activated.

"Maybe it's the power sphere where BoRaRa got his powers," Solar mused.

Dark, Earth, and Atalanta, on the other hand, are supposed to find and bring ShadowBot to TAPOPS.

"This is going to be hard," Earth muttered as he scrolled through the data in their mission tablet.

"We will be watching your progress and only provide help as we see fit. Now go, all of you."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I wish we have the same technology as Atalanta's glasses, Solar mused as they walked through the hot weather of Planet Sol. "It could make searching for SinarBot much easier."

"Yeah, but we can't just go to her and ask her to make things for us. It's just rude," Ice said coolly as he walked near Solar.

While Ice and Solar are talking about the usefulness of Atalanta's powers, Thunderstorm had stayed alert (and irritated from the conversation) in his surroundings.

"I mean if she could make something that-"

"Quiet!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"This place is eerily quiet," Wind whispered. "It's so creepy."

The three are walking through the bare grounds of Planet Triassus, a planet with almost absolutely nothing in it. No plants, no animals, no species living in it. Just land and a few big rocks then and there. There's even no day or night in the planet. It was just stuck in an eternity of either dawn or dusk.

"It says here that V-Bot is a medium sided power sphere that is dirt in color," Leaf said, looking up from the data tablet. "So how are we going to find it?"

Fire shrugged, looking at his surroundings. "I have no idea."

Then suddenly, Wind tensed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Why does it have to be so... dark? No pun intended," Earth said when the portal closed behind them. (He swore he heard someone snort though he didn't know who is it.)

Atalanta looked beyond her and knew that the earth elemental was right. There was literally nothing to be seen from their bare eyes. Although, she could deduce that it was just like any other ordinary planets just by walking around and feeling the ground.

Dark sighed. "I guess I'll be the navigator then." Due to his powers, Dark has the ability to see in the, well, dark, and to places with absolutely no light such as the Planet that they are into, Planet Quasar.

"There will be no need for that," Atalanta said as she activated the night mode of her glasses.

"But what about-"

"Give me your watch."

Having an idea on what she will do, Earth handed her his watch hesitantly. He was reluctant because he didn't want her to feel like she was only being used. Atalanta smiled genuinely at his reaction (though he didn't see it, Dark did and told him afterward). He saw a soft silver glow emit from where he deduced Atalanta's hands are then he felt his watch being handed back to him.

"I've installed night mode and a GPS tracker on your watch. Dark, give me yours as well so that I can install a GPS tracker since the night mode will be no use due to your powers," Atalanta said, panting slightly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The rest of the team, since they were still free for the week, were watching the test with Commander KoKoCi and Admiral Tarung.

"It seems like they are progressing quickly," Kaizo observed as he watched the events unfold in the screen of the control room of the ship.

"It's amazing that the cameras are equipped with night mode," Yaya said, amazed.

KoKoCi nodded. "After everything that happened, we found it necessary."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Woah. This is getting longer and longer.

So uhm, cliffys? 😂 Don't kill meh.

Don't worry, I already have the next chapter ready.

Peace bitches!

Final word count (including the notes): 1313 words.

(Sorry for the rant in the nextchapter. I just need to let go of steam.)

Atalanta, out.