Phony [DISCONTINUED FOR A REBOOT]

CH 5 : Falsity

"Yeah! We did it!" Gopal is back to his cheery demeanor—a little bit too quick, Yaya thought.

A few days after the breach, TAPOPS-U station is back to it's schedule. Boboiboy is also back on his feet, though with less smiles as expected. The boy avoided using Taufan, Gempa, and Halilintar as much as he can, often opting for either Blaze for offense or Ais for defense.

Today, the Kokotaim gang is just back from another smooth successful mission. Gopal pulls Boboiboy into a half-hug, his toothy grin almost outmatches Papa Zola's, "Highfive!" Gopal raises a hand, but Boboiboy only gives a dismissing glance, looking annoyed. Gopal laughs nervously as he lowers his hand, "What about some ice cream then?" Boboiboy perks up at the mention of the dessert, "Popsicles." He says shortly, before dragging Gopal towards the canteen.

Yaya chuckles at the sight, not without concern still nesting in her mind. She hopes Ying could quickly figure out how to better the device latching on Boboiboy's watch. And, their friendship may start to heal again with another smile present.

"Lance Corporal Yaya Yah." A stern voice calls from behind, Koko Ci stands there with his signature sunglasses. Yaya promptly does a proper greeting, "Yes, Commander?" Koko Ci's frown doesn't budge, he turns around, "Follow me to my office." The girl nods and does so.

When they arrive, Ying was already there. The girl in yellow waves awkwardly, Yaya returns it with the same energy. Koko Ci moves behind his desk, sitting on his swivel chair, arms crossed.

Yaya had expected this would happen eventually. She said that Boboiboy was sick and is send home to Earth, but, how could he possibly be on the station a few days ago? Sooner or later, The Captain will question her honesty.

But why is Ying here too? Why is ONLY Ying here with Yaya? If Koko Ci were on to them, then why didn't he summon Fang and Gopal too?

"I pardoned your lies regarding Boboiboy's absence a few days ago." Koko Ci said non-chalantly behind his desk.

"Eh?", "Huh?", both girls' confusion audible. That was... relieving?

"Yes," Koko Ci puts off his sunglasses, revealing another one he wore underneath, "I summoned you two, the brightest brains amongst my soldiers, to discuss about Boboiboy's recent performances."

Ying and Yaya glance at each other, the nostalgic feeling of friendly rivalry since their elementary school school resurfaces. They shoot a knowing smile, one to the other.

"I noticed that Boboiboy had only been using two of his elementals, Blaze and Ais. Given the history of their appearances, i can not help but worry about the safety of further mission dispatches.

Could both of you fix him?"

"Pardon?" the question flew out of Yaya's mouth with no thought.

Koko Ci leans back to his chair, "Fix him," he repeats.

Yaya stumbles around her words, "No—yeah—i mean, yeah we could uh..." she looks at Ying's face whose brows already furrowed in a mix of surprise and disbelief, "...we ARE trying to help him get better, he just needs more time to—"

"But can you speed up the process?" The Commander cuts her sentence, "i do not really understand how human psychology work, but in my planet, we have devices to fix those kind of problems in an instant. But i fear those wouldn't work on the boy.

Could you two make something akin to that?

Ying, I have received reports from one of our engineers that you often construct gadgets in his workshop. So this would be a little to no challenge for you, right? You could help each other on this, i am counting on you, this organization is counting on you.