Chapter Text
He could feel the trembling arms that desperately kept him warm. The harsh winds that wouldn't stop and his fingers going numb from the cold.
"Blaze..." Ice sounded scared. His voice sounded thick and desperate, "Blaze... you have to be strong... for us... okay?"
He wanted to open his eyes, something wasn't right. Something was obviously not right.
He felt those arms pull him into a tighter hug, "It's- it's just us now. But I have to go out there, so they won't find you."
He felt his finger twitch as he tried to pull himself back to consciousness. Why was his body so heavy?! He had to stop Ice!
"'It' finally got Solar." Ice continued as he felt him bundle him up in his thick jacket, trying to keep him warm, "We can't stay here. And it's only a matter of time before they figure out where we are. You have to wake up—you have to escape!"
"I-Ice—" He gasped out, finally pulling himself into consciousness from pure will power and desperation.
He wanted to scream. Everything hurt—
"I'll give you time to recover. I-I'll try to distract them while you call for Ochobot to transport you back to the station." Ice said giving him another hug and tears were blurring Blaze's vision.
"I-Ice you can't— don't go..." He coughed as he felt the other merely tighten his hug in response, he trembled and sobbed, "We can still leave together—and we'll be able to save everyone! We still have Fang and the others-"
Ice suddenly shook his head, and Blaze flinched when he felt something heavy settle on his lap.
With great effort he tried to look down and adjust his vision against the darkness that surrounded them. His eyes widened in shock at seeing his friends' power watches.
"When... when you got knocked out—Yaya proposed we tried taking their power watches using her powers. B-but... th-they immediately caught on with the plan and they also got Fang, Gopal, Ying... and finally Yaya. She managed to retrieve their watches and immediately gave up hers when she..." Blaze looked up and saw the tears on Ice's face, "Solar did his best to hold them back and told me to get you and run."
Blaze's lower lip trembled and he crumpled further into Ice's coat as raw anger and despair consumed his core.
"I should've seen the attack coming! This is all my fault!"
"No Blaze— it's..."
A powerful tremor interrupted them and rocks fell from the roof of the cave they were currently hiding in. Blaze then remembered something as he looked out at the storm, "Ice! How long have you been trying to keep this storm up?!"
"I'm almost at my limit." He admitted as he looked out, eyes now filled with determination, "And that's why we don't have that much time anymore. You have to go Blaze. Try contacting headquarters as soon as the storm stops and once the signal is restored."
"Ice please!" Blaze grabbed him, fear now replacing his anger, "I can't—I'll come with you!"
"Someone has to go back to TAPOPs to report what happened. We have to get our brothers back." Ice stood up, and Blaze tried to do the same, but his legs wouldn't cooperate and he was left on the ground, with his friends' power watches on his lap, "You're our only hope, Blaze. I'm sorry."
"Hope?!" He scowled, rage and frustration building up, "Both you and I know we were doomed as soon as Gempa got hit by that thing! Ever since then- everything went downhill! And now they have Solar too!"
Ice merely stayed silent and tears were now rolling down Blaze's bruised cheeks as he realized that Ice was not listening to him anymore, "Ice! Please! We always did things together! You can't just leave me here!"
Ice turned around and crouched in front of him. He placed his hand on his cheek and wiped away a stray tear. He then leaned their heads together and spoke softly, "Hey, remember that time we first got our powers? And you got so excited that we got to fight bad guys together that you accidentally cancelled out both our ultimate moves? That was the time we figured out we have to find a way where we have to do things on our own. That it was time... to be independent."
"Ice..." He sobbed, "I can't do this alone!"
"I love you. And our brothers." He firmly said, "That's why I have to do this."
"Ice- no, no, NO! ICE stop-! AIR!" Blaze tried reaching out to grab him but his brother had taken out his bow and arrows, shot it between the two and a thick wall of ice formed in front of Blaze.
"Ice-!" He tried to muster up his flames, but it would only flicker and disappear. He cussed and banged at the wall with little to no success at breaking it, "YOU Are the worst brother in the world! You selfish and ignorant jerk! LET ME OUT!"
He could see Ice's jagged form at the other side, and felt a part of him die as he turned and walked away into the howling winds.
Blaze screamed and pounded at the barrier.
How could he have let this happen?! How did he let this happen?!
This was his entire fault! They had a plan and he somehow managed to mess it up too!
He should've been stronger and distracted—
Another earthquake made him freeze and suddenly... the snow storm outside stopped.
The sudden silence was ominous and Blaze remembered Ice's instruction from earlier. He scrambled to the nearest rock to hide behind as he brought the power watches with him. His hands wouldn't stop trembling as he tried to call their headquarters.
He will get his brothers back. He will get Ice back and give him a good punch in the face. No matter what!
He cursed when he realized the signal was still weak and his call was not going through at all.
His shaky breath was the loudest sound at the moment and it was unnerving as he continuously tried to reach Ochobot or the Captain or the Commander—
"B-bzzt— Bla- bzzt—is— bzzzzzzzzt—you?!"
He almost cried in joy as the pixelated face of Sai appeared on his watch, "Sai! Get Ochobot—"
BOOOOOM!
He couldn't hold back the scream as he was thrown back into a hard wall. His injuries from earlier now screaming in agony as he crumpled to the ground.
"Found him~"
Came a familiar voice.
He scowled as he forced himself on his hands. He tried summoning his flames once more, but failed.
"Awwwe~ did the little match stick run out of steam?" A pair of familiar boots appeared in front of him.
He hissed in pain when he felt the other grab him by the chin and forcibly pulled his face.
He came face to face with Thorn, his own brother, smiling maliciously at him.
But this... this wasn't truly his brother. He was the reverse of what sweet, loving, Thorn was all about. His eyes weren't the same warm forest green and had instead, turned into an intimidating red. And his hair was completely white while the strands of hair where it originally had been white turned to brown.
Everything about him had been reversed.
Red eyes glowed with sadistic glee as he scanned his bruised face, "I hope we didn't beat you up too bad~! We still need you to be one of us."
"Like hell I would!" Blaze spat as he slapped Thorn's hand away, "I'll never become like you!"
Thorn pouted and was about to respond when another voice spoke up.
"Oh good. You found him. Just as I have calculated." Solar walked in, totally unbothered by the catastrophe around them. Blaze flinched as he turned to look at him with those dead crimson eyes, "Ice had finally decided to join us."
It felt like he had been poured with a bucket of cold water as he stared at them in horror. It hadn't even been that long and they already managed to overpower Ice.
Solar... the Solar from before he had been reversed- was right. If all of them were to be Reversed. The whole galaxy will be doomed.
"What happened with Retakka is proof of why we shouldn't turn into Reverse."
Past Solar had said, face serious and grim.
"Even if one of us was left. Then there will always be a fighting chance. What's important is that we don't get caught."
He had to find a way out, but Blaze was cornered and he had run out of juice to summon flames. Then his eyes caught the power watches of his friends that had been scattered because of the blast from earlier. It was hidden behind one of the giant slabs of scattered rocks, away from the other elementals' view.
He scrambled to get up and grab at least one of them when vines broke out from the ground and grabbed his legs. He screamed at the thorns that pierced through his skin.
"Where do you think you're going?" Thorn asked with false curiosity as Solar sighed behind him.
"Thorn, don't injure him too much. He might end up becoming useless."
"Oops~"
He felt the vines tightened and he snarled at Thorn, "You—"
"Thorn." Solar said in warning and the teen clad in green sighed and flicked his hand, letting the vines loosen their hold, though the prickling pain was still present.
He had to get to the watches. He needed—
He froze as he stared at Ying's watch. His words from earlier suddenly echoed in his own mind.
"Both you and I know we were doomed as soon as Gempa got hit by that thing! Ever since then- everything went downhill!
What if... he turned back time? He knew Ying never dared to do something so... impossible, but what if-
"Blaze! I'm so glad we finally found you!" More footsteps were heard and he looked up to see Gempa, Halilintar and Taufan approach them. All with similar white hair and ruby eyes. Blaze scowled at them and tugged at his constraints.
"Let me go."
"Of course! Once you join us, you'll be free as the wind!" Taufan exclaimed gleefully, "You have no idea how great it feels to be like this Blaze! Trust me! You won't regret it~"
"I don't want it!" He screamed fists clenching against the ground, "This isn't like you! We're supposed to protect the galaxy and everyone with it!"
"Do you hear yourself? Stop with the childish heroism." Halilintar smirked, "It's about time we stop letting those idiot aliens use us like some tools and show them what we're really made of."
Blaze knew it was pointless to argue and tried to look for his friends, "What did you do to Fang and the others?"
"They're currently starting up the ship." Gempa said with a bright smile, "We get to go back to the station once you become one of us! Aren't you excited?"
"After that we're gonna blow everything up!" Thorn giggled at his side making him flinch and shift away.
This was bad indeed. He needed more time. He managed to alert TAPOPs— but what if his warning wasn't enough?! He barely managed to send any report, but he hopes Sai managed to pick up that something was wrong with that short amount of contact.
He tried clenching his fists and felt a spark of hope as he felt a bit of his flames come back.
"Alright, I think we've wasted enough time." Gempa smiled at them like they weren't just talking about blowing up the place they considered as their second home, "Ice! Would you do the honor?"
Blaze froze as he watched the others stepped aside to reveal Ice... now in his reverse form as well.
His vision blurred and he quickly blinked back the tears that threatened to fall as he glared hard at the power sphere he held instead.
RevBot.
The only power sphere whose views against all living beings had become completely corrupted that he had disregarded any form of empathy as long as he was safe against every threat.
Even if it meant bringing down everything that got in its way.
"Surrender." Those mechanical eyes stared down at him and started to glow, "And join our revolution!"
Blaze screamed as flames burst from his fists. He pulled the vines off his legs as they burnt into nothing and narrowly avoided the red beam that almost hit him.
"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE-"
He forced himself on his feet and swung his arms up, effectively creating a wall of fire between him and the surprised elements.
Forcing his powers out with little to no reserves left, was making his head pound— his vision was starting to turn dark.
But he couldn't give up now.
He stumbled towards the fallen watches and grabbed Ying's.
He still had a galaxy to save from destruction.
"Blaze..."
With no more strength left, he finds himself sitting on the ground, trembling hands trying to get the watch to work.
"...changing power watches won't change the fact that you can't beat us."
He turned, body trembling with effort and his eyes heavy, trying to fight off the need to pass out. Ice stood behind him, RevBot still in his hands as he looked back at him with an almost pitiful gaze, "Just give up."
The fire had been extinguished and his other brothers stood at the back. All their red eyes seemed to glow in the dim surroundings as they stared at him blankly, not a single hint of emotion could be seen.
They didn't bother making any more effort to contain Blaze. Knowing that he was completely cornered and had nowhere left to run.
Despite everything, this made Blaze smirk in amusement.
Their overconfidence will be their downfall.
"Make me."
Ice made no reaction and merely spoke, "RevBot. Do it."
Once again he saw the power sphere's eyes glow and Blaze hoped his idea would work as he activated Ying's watch. The time symbol appeared on the ground just as the red beam shot out from RevBot's eyes.
He thrusted the watch towards the beam and as Solar saw this- his expression morphed into surprise then... anger, "REVBOT! DON'T!"
"TIME MANIPULATION!"
.
.
.
.
Blaze needed to save his brothers to save the galaxy.
And for that to happen...
...he needed to reverse time.