Diamond and Emerald: Hero

Three years.

Three years since the green-tag's adoption into the dissolved ranks.

Kumiho gazed upon the cupcake in which she and her visiting friend had spotted on the table when they walked into her dorm.

"Wellllllllll...." The friend began, "That is... what kind is it?"

"I think it's supposed to be chocolate." Kumiho said while examining the treat in her hand, "but I don't recall ever seeing a chocolate cupcake with... grapes?... in it before." 

"They dont look like grapes to me... Looks like your little green protege isn't much of a baker." Kumihos friend pointed out.

Kumiho laughed sweetly, catching her friend off guard. "No, But it's the thought that counts." She took a small bite of the cupcake just to be polite for Blaster's sake despite his absence.

And to be honest?

The cupcake actually wasn't that bad.

~~~~

BLAM!

One down.

BLAM! BLAM!

Two more down.

Three to go.

Blaster skid beneath a training drone's arm as it attacked him. He sprang back onto his feet and produced a backflip. While upside down in the air, he shot the drone dead centre in the eye.

The drone buzzed before flailing about in a glitchy manner then collapsing in a heap of sparks and metal.

Two more drones left to add to the scrap heap. 

Piece of cake.

Blaster barely managed to dodge a drones stun beam before sprinting off in a direction to gain some distance.

In his three years as a dissolved, his skills had sky rocketed beyond comprehension...

... but no one but Kumiho and himself knew this.

As he ran from the chasing training drone, jumping off walls and sliding under holo-bars, he recalled a conversation he and his master shared two weeks prior...

"You cancelled your combat presentation?" Kumiho said, surprised, "Blaster, I don't understand... You worked so hard."

"And I know that the hard work has paid off." Blaster explained, "But I'm still at a disadvantage... Everyone still considers me that unwanted grey who is fresh meat for the picking. With my past identity still strapped to their mind, my new self won't make any difference in the presentation." His head twitched a little and he shook it, "I wanna do some good deeds first! Slowly draw a new picture of myself!"

Blaster's subtle, but strange movement caught Kumihos attention, but she brushed it aside for now. "You want everyone to see you as Blaster... Not the green-tag grey."

Blaster looked at her and winked. "Exactly... I'm glad we're on the same page, Kumiho."

The sudden squealing of metal caught Blaster off guard and he skidded to a stop.

Like many times and time before, he became violently sandwiched in between the training drones, rendering him defeated once again.

With the air knocked out of his lungs, he lay on the ground, shivering and wheezing. He shakily rose to his feet and shook it off. "That fucking stopping problem of mine.... I have to keep moving, but why don't I?..."

He sighed and walked to the side bench, grabbing his towel and wiping the sweat from his face and neck.

The towel dripped, making him freeze.

Was that sweat? Had he been sweating THAT much?

Having a severe thing against germs, blaster immediately dropped the towel. That's when he spotted the lid-less, empty water bottle lying on its side.

"Phew... It's just water..." He said, retrieving the towel once more and flinging it over his shoulder, "We... I'm done for today... I wonder if Kumiho got my gift yet." After switching off the lights in the training den, he exited the room, the door shutting behind him.

Whistling an unknown yet chipper tune, Blaster walked down the hall with the towel over his shoulder. His thoughts were focused on other things and he almost didn't hear the strange commotion at the left turn.

"C'mon, playboy! Fight back!"

Pifth!

Pifth!

Thud!

Blaster stopped and back stepped a little, peering down the corridor.

Pifth!

Bam!

Thud!

The crowd was loud, yelling and cheering or booing. They were surrounding a smaller group of people, who were moving in an odd fashion.

Blaster knew this all too well... A fight.

He wanted no part in it, but something tugged at him inside and he soon found himself walking toward the commotion. He pushed past people, getting a few glares or snide remarks. Once he was able to see the fighters, he nearly jumped out of his skin as a fellow dissolved was thrown violently onto the floor in front of him.

"Get up you cheapskate! You may have cheated your way into the dissolved rank, but there's no way you can cheat your way outta this!"

The dissolved gagged, almost puking. He shakily pushed himself onto his knees. Past the dirt and bruises, the dissolved was light green in color with the occasional light blue and grey detailing. Unlike Blaster, this dissolved had a blue visor instead of yellow.

The dissolved grunted and collapsed forward again, unable to stand.

The opponents chuckled and walked toward him.

Blaster had been in this dissolved shoes plenty of times and knew what it felt like to have no one help him out of a fight that he didn't even want.

Without a second thought, Blaster pushed roughly through the crowd and walked in between the battered dissolved and the attackers. "Hey! What's the deal?"

There were three bullies.

One was a black man in a blue and green army attire, not a dissolved, but a tough looking soldier nonetheless.

The second bully was a little guy. A dark blue and gold dissolved with a hood. He seemed friendly and innocent, but Blaster knew better...

The last bully was a brown dissolved with a green visor and large robot arms. And a voice all too familiar to Blaster's ears...

"Well well well..." The brown dissolved spoke with Drake's voice, "Lookie here, fellas! Green-tag is trying to play hero!"

"Aww... Ain't that cutie cute..." The little dissolved chimed.

"Fuck off, greenie. Jenkins deserves what he's getting." The black man stated.

Jenkins?

Blaster looked down at the injured dissolved with surprise.

That was Drakes friend who was the only one who didn't bully blaster all those years ago! Why were they beating up such a nice guy?

"You deaf? Get outta the way!" Drake growled.

Blaster wanted to cave in their faces. He wanted to break every bone in their body. 

But...

He followed kumiho's training and replaced his real emotions with a genuine smile.

This caught the bullies off guard.

"Alright, I'll get out of your way." He said before bending down and slinging Jenkins' arm over his shoulders, "Right after I help my pal here."

Drake scowled. "That title-stealer hacker stays!" He took a few steps forward, only to stop abruptly as Blaster's wet towel was tossed onto his face.

The crowd began to chatter excitedly.

"Oh Drake... You need to cool off a little... Keep that towel as long as you like. I hope it helps."

Drake was so angry, Blaster swore he could feel steam on his back as he walked away.

"GET BACK HERE!" Drake boomed, "If its a fight you want, then here ya go, greenie! One against one!"

The crowd went a little quieter, waiting for Blaster's reply.

Blaster gently helped Jenkins sit down on the bench. 

Y'know, Man... Ya don't hafta help me..." Jenkins said with a raspy voice.

"I know. But I want to." Blaster said with a wink before turning and facing Drake, "You're going about this all wrong, Drake." He said, "I don't want to fight anyone. I just want you to leave my friend alone and go back to whatever it was you were doing."

Drake snorted. "You're a coward... Words don't make a hero." He balled up Blaster's wet towel and chucked it at him.

The towel splatted flat against Blaster's face, causing an uproar of laughter to erupt from the crowd.

Blaster just stood there quietly. Not moving. Not speaking...

Drake was so busy laughing, that he nearly didn't hear Blaster's eerily calm voice say: "You're wrong, Drake."

Without warning, Drake howled in pain as Blaster used his wet towel to whip lash Drake right in the groin.

"It takes a hero to end a fight with words of peace and/or apologies." Blaster began.

With Drake now bent over in pain, Blaster moved behind him and kicked him in the butt.

Drake stumbled forward and crashed right into a garbage can, getting his head stuck. His yells and curses were muffled by the garbage.

"It takes a hero to talk to the enemy instead of attacking them on sight. Both sides are listened to, problems are solved without pain." Blaster continued.

Drake was nearly yanking his skull right off his neck in attempts to free himself from the stinky trap.

Everyone expected Blaster to beat the snot out of Drake now that he was trapped...

... but the entire area became dead quiet as Blaster, instead, broke the lid and freed Drake.

"It takes a hero to forgive their enemy and help them in their time of need." Blaster finished as he used his towel to remove the gross gunk from Drake's face.

Drake stood there, shocked. He then shook his head with a growl and shoved Blaster away. "This isn't over, green tag..." Drake scrubbed at his face with the towel and walked away, "Jonzey, Spider, let's go."

His two buddies followed, but not without casting a few backward glances at Blaster.

"It should be over." Blaster said, his head held high, "And the name's Blaster. Blaster Chief."

With that, he helped Jenkins to his feet and walked away from the astonished crowd.

~~~~

Jenkins winced as a bag of peas was put onto his black eye.

"Let me get this straight..." Kumiho asked as she wrapped gauze bandage around Jenkins' bicep, "My partner... Blaster... Did all that?"

"Totally. I ain't lying." Jenkins responded, "He didn't even care when I told him that I hacked into the mainframe and forged fake documents to make myself a dissolved. He said: "If my master had died and left me stranded as an apprentice for the rest of my life, I would have done the same thing. Besides! The high-ups don't seem to have a problem, so nor should I.""

Kumiho thought quietly and glanced over at Blaster, who was snoozing on the couch while the TV displayed a children's show.

"You taught him very well, if I don't say so myself." Jenkins said, wincing as Kumiho clipped the gauze in place.

Kumiho was quiet for a moment longer. "Thank you... but..." She said quietly, "I Never taught him to do that..."