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"Fang, behind you!"
Without pause, Fang throws himself to the side, rolling to a crouch before parrying the wooden staff aiming for his face with a soft grunt. He slips into his opponent's space and grabs hold of the staff, putting all of his weight into it and throwing the training bot clean off the floor and over his shoulder.
Two other bots replace him immediately. Fang goes for the nearer one with his new weapon while the other is gunned down by a familiar blaster shot.
"Still hidden?" he pants, squaring off with the - eight? ninth? Fang isn't sure how many droids he's fought at this point, but the answer is probably way too many. Rescue simulations are always the hardest and frankly, he's surprised they've managed to last this long, much less make it to the third stage together.
"Not anymore," Gopal mutters back with more than a little resignation. "Night missions suck."
There's the sound of shuffling gear at the other end of the comm, and Fang stomps down on the instinctive urge to look because exposing his sniper is the dumbest thing he could ever do on this kind of mission. He focuses on his fight instead, downing the bot with a solid thwack against the head, loud and satisfying.
Fang allows himself a moment of pride before going back and continuing to aid their rescued 'hostage.'
"Wakey-wakey, Mister Popular. It's time for the interrogation..."
Fang groans and pointedly does not open his eyes. "I hate you."
Somewhere above him, Gopal snickers like the traitor he is, mostly unharmed and completely unapologetic about it. Fang would hit him if he could, except the last training bot had gotten him with a vicious kick that knocked him out for a good few minutes.
They were so close to finishing the simulation, too.
Still on the floor, Fang says, "You surrendered."
There's a hum as Gopal moves to sit beside him.
"You surrendered again–"
"Yes, Fang, I heard you the first time, and yes, I surrendered. Again."
"Why?"
"Uh, because you told me to?"
"Not for this mission."
Gopal is frowning at his hands when Fang finally looks at him. There's a look in his eyes Fang is starting to recognize, the one he gets when he's trying to decide if he should fight or run.
"I don't…" he stops, and then huffs at himself. "I guess I thought I shouldn't leave you."
"You could have gotten away," Fang points out, and the unimpressed look he gets for it is almost offensive. "I'm not joking!"
"If you say so," Gopal says with a disbelief that makes Fang want to hit him again. It probably shows on his face because Gopal starts to laugh, so Fang grabs the nearest projectile - a half-filled water bottle, thankfully not his - and chucks it at the other with a vengeance.
The resulting yelp makes him smile.
Training with Gopal has taught Fang two very important things:
One, is that Gopal is better at listening to mission specs than reading them. Fang isn't sure if it's the presentation that bores him or the details itself, but when they lay it out the way a squad leader normally would, Gopal responds like the rest of them do and actually pays attention.
And two, is that if you want to make Gopal do something and really commit to doing it…
"This is a terrible plan."
"It's the only one we have. Unless you have a better idea?"
"...argh, fine! But if this– if we fail, I want the right to say I told you so."
"Deal."
You have to make sure it's an order.
Fang gathers up the flash bombs and shoves them to a gumbling Gopal's arms, eyebrow raised in an obvious challenge. Gopal manages to glare at him for three seconds before sighing in defeat.
"We could always surrender..?"
"Gopal." Fang grabs him by the shoulders and tries to channel as much grimness as a sleep-deprived Koko Ci is capable of. "Do you want to be a war criminal?"
Gopal actually stops to consider that. Fang rolls his eyes and gives him a violent shake.
"Gopal."
"Okay, okay! No surrendering."
"Good," he nods, then turns back to grab his own blaster. He's not as good with it as Gopal is, but that's alright; this simulation is against the terrain more than it is against a person, and a little skill is better than none at all.
Theoretically, at least, Fang thinks, and then promptly curses himself for jinxing them.
This really is a terrible plan.
The fourth time Gopal freezes, Fang ends the simulation.
"Damn it," Gopal mutters as he collapses between the two training bots standing listlessly on his sides. Fang lets him have his moment, walking over to the edge of the room to fetch their water.
He doesn't have to ask to know that the other is frustrated. Fang knows what it's like to have that kind of fear, the kind that takes over your entire being and roots you to the spot like a tree waiting to be toppled over. It's hard to overcome, doubly so for someone who's never had much of a reason to overcome it, but Fang understands; Gopal will learn to control it, just as Fang once did.
It's kind of funny, really. He never imagined himself being a good teacher for his friends, much less someone who reminded him of who he was, but maybe that's why he and Gopal can get along like this.
There's a certain levity that Gopal always seems to carry with him. Where Yaya is steady and Boboiboy determined, with Ying's initiative and the twins' reliability, Gopal stands out as the one that mellows them over into something less serious and more… hopeful.
Something free.
"Here." He props the water bottle on top the other's head, ignoring the prickly look he gets in return. Dropping to his own free spot, Fang takes a few, long gulps before sighing and closing his eyes.
It's quiet for a few moments, and then Gopal says, "How do you do it?"
"Hm?"
"You know." There's a soft thump, and Fang turns to see Gopal rolling his bottle along the floor like some poor, dejected student. Not so far from the truth, actually. "How do you not stop? How do you not get scared and give up - how do you keep going?"
"It's not easy," Fang admits, lips twitching at the other's scoff. "No, really. I was bad at this before."
"Doesn't look like it."
"I mean, I have been fighting for my life since I was eight, so..."
"Huh," Gopal frowns at that. He looks up, and Fang can see the question he wants to ask before he eves asks it, but then–
"Well that sucks."
The suddenness - and relief - of the comment startles a laugh from Fang.
"No wonder you're always brooding, that's a terrible–"
"Hey! I don't brood, what the hell!"
"You do! You even have the whole angsty, teenage vampire vibe with the dark clothes and the mysterious past–"
"That doesn't even make sense!"
Something shifts in their dynamic.
It's not quite a change, more a... subtle turn, a growing comfort with every week that passes of their joint training. Fang doesn't remember the last time he's been this relaxed. Even when the two of them are pinned and doomed to another failed simulation, it doesn't bother him as much as it used to, which is both a surprise and not.
The thing is, Fang adores his friends. He cares for them a lot, loves them in a way that makes them family and because of that, there are lines drawn in the sand. He isn't sure who put them there anymore; maybe it was him, or maybe it was no one at all, but the fact of the matter is that it makes things... complicated.
Fang grew up a soldier. It's not as bad as it sounds, more a simple truth that he lives with day after day, but sometimes–
Sometimes, it's all he can remember to be.
Spending time with the others... it helps. Except when it doesn't, because Sai and Shielda are just like him, bound to their duties and more than willing to uphold them. Yaya and Ying are a softer echo of that, but an echo still, and sometimes Fang can see the future of themselves they're growing into, strong and capable and just the slightest bit terrifying.
And Boboiboy...
Fang still can't put into words what they are.
(They're rivals, yes, and they're also best friends, but sometimes Fang looks at Boboiboy and he can feel something going cold in his chest, the remnants of an old fear he used to have back when he was ten and hopping from one system to another, when all he had for company was a captain and a lieutenant and his thoughts, a litany of doubts and fears and what if I'm not good enough—)
Compared to all that, being with Gopal is easy.
It's still trying, of course, especially with the need to succeed under threat of their admiral's wrath, but—
"We did it!"
Crushed in one of Gopal's hugs, Fang does his best not to pass out. He awkwardly pats the other's shoulder, still trapped as he is, and manages to wheeze out a proud, "Good job, buddy."
Three weeks and they finally cleared their last rescue simulation, with no casualties and barely and injuries. It was a nightmare but they did it, just the two of them with Fang's plans and Gopal's crazy improvisations and they did it.
Gopal squeezes him one more time before letting go, still beaming like a sun.
"We should celebrate."
"If this is anything like Point Neela–"
"You agreed to that!" Gopal argues, then quickly adds as Fang rolls his eyes, "But no, this isn't illegal or whatever you guys say about anything that's actually fun. I was just thinking of raiding the kitchen."
Ah, Fang thinks, and he can already feel his grin as he asks, "Na'arangi Special?"
"For us?" Gopal grins back, "The best Na'arangi."
Fang learns that there are different kinds of strengths.
He remembers his mother, with her fearless smiles and steady hands, the grace of a predator lying in wait in every step she takes, beautiful and deadly and a force to be reckoned with. Kaizo takes after her, and for a certain measure, so does Fang. The blood of a warrior runs in their veins, hearts beating to the rhythm of a battle from a legend so long ago, but–
But he also remembers his father, calm and composed in the face of every terrible thing the world has to offer, immovable like the ocean that lies beneath his home.
It takes a lot of courage for that kind of strength. The kind that stems from compassion more than any other thought, the kind that looks your fear in the eye and does not bow to it, simply because there is something much stronger than your fear, something infinitely more precious.
Fang sees a sliver of it in Gopal. It's faint and flickering but it's there, and Fang finds himself wanting to see it grow, to see where it will take his friend when it finally blooms in its own glory.
(His colors fit him perfectly now.
Fang knows that he's probably projecting, that people on earth don't have family colors but even so, he eyes the yellow Gopal is fond of and thinks that it suits him. Yellow has always meant courage for them, just as red means strength, and his green is lighter than Sai and Shielda's, the color of duty softened to one of promise.
A promise for what, Fang isn't sure, but sometimes he looks at all of them and feels the slightest twist of fate and—
Whatever it is, it hums with the gentle undercurrent of hope.)
For now, though, they have a mission. Fang partners up with Gopal because after so many months, it feels natural to trust the other with his back. They gear up, set out for the coordinates and find a quiet spot to settle in, trading ideas as Fang runs through the important parts of the data packet.
No matter what the future holds, he thinks they - all of them, could conquer it.
His friends are strong.
And they make Fang believe that he is, too.