//------------------------------//
// A Matter of Family - Of Fire and Water 
// Story: Kamen Rider Alchemy 
// by Layton13 
//------------------------------//

Ocean was frantically walking up and down her apartment, picking up different stuff she had thrown all over the place to make herself ready, shoving it all into a small black purse as fast as he could, all while almost shouting into her phone. She wore a short black dress with matching shoes a golden necklace and of course her trusty belt buckle, she would be stupid to leave the house without it. Her apartment, however, was all other than neat and representable, it was an unholy mess. Bottles of makeup, a can of hairspray, a brush and all sorts of stuff randomly thrown around the place like a hurricane had gone through it.

“Don’t worry Ocean; everything is going to be fine. You had four days to prepare for this, you’ll do just fine. And in all honesty, Phoenix isn’t the guy to be picky. You know him, just be yourself and it’ll all work out in the end,” Ivory was trying to calm her down over the phone for the last half hour already, and he was starting to get to his breaking point. 

“Yeah, I know, still, what if everything just turns to shit, or we have a Corrupted attack, or reality starts to tear itself apart again and hundreds of monsters start to pour into our world from goodness knows where.”

“Ok, now you are getting ridiculous. Relax Ocean; worrying about what might go wrong will just make everything worse. Just do it like Phoenix does it, go with the flow, don’t think about the consequences and concentrate what is right in front of you,” he tried again, his voice now a mixture of desperation and annoyance.

“Easier said than done, I’m just not like him. I think, he does not, ok maybe not so much, but the point still stands. I can’t stop thinking about what might go wrong, that is my job,” she returned, wrinkles forming on her forehead.

From the other end of the line, she suddenly could hear loud grunts, silent curses and the sound of a struggle. Before Ocean could even ask what was going on over there, she received an answer through the deep voice of Onyx. “Ok, I have watched this long enough. You! You will stop worrying about this right now, you are not on duty, you don’t have to babysit Phoenix, as much as he sometimes seems like he needs a babysitter. He asked you out, he wanted this, he knows you, and it’s all up to you. It only matters if you like him, so you’ll go out there and get him. Don’t let him slip through your fingers if you really want him. That is an order!” 

Ocean just stared blankly at her phone, not entirely sure how to respond to this for a few seconds. That was until she finally started to laugh, receiving a sigh of reliving from the other side. “Got it, sir, operation ‘Get-a-boyfriend’ is now in session,” she chuckled back.

Onyx merely sighed in return: “How often did I tell you to not call me… ah, this once I’ll allow it. Oh, and if anyone is going to you get in your way, make sure you deal with them, especially Corrupted. You deserve that, and no low life scum will take this day away from you, got it?” He chuckled back at her.

“Got it,” she grunted back, her worries having been washed away, at least for now. “Thanks, Onyx; what would I do without you, all of you.”

“Probably going insane because the thought of a date scares you,” Ivory jokingly added from the background. 

Ocean rolled her eyes and continued: “So, I think I should be going then, I don’t want let him wait after all. Seeya!” The two men on the other end of the line repeated her goodbye and hung up on her. She was almost through the door as she noticed one last thing on the counter of her kitchen she wanted to take with her. A small battery like device mixed in with purple. She quickly sprinted over there, grabbed it, took a deep breath one last time and headed out the door to her first date with Phoenix.


>-------<A>-------<


Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a quite similar picture could be observed. Phoenix was rummaging through an even greater mess than Ocean had. A random assessment of clothes, deodorant, and Tartarus-knows-what else was thrown around the living room without any rhyme or reason to it. Meanwhile, Thunder and Summer were sitting on one of the chairs next to the table and were either laughing or shaking their head with a look of utter defeat on the faces. 

“Thunder, did you see my shirt? The one I had on when I went with Rarity to that fashion show?” He shouted over to his brother, who took a few moments to understand what his brother had said. 

“Well, you wouldn’t really need my help if you would have just asked me to get you something representable, but no, Mr. ‘I can do this on my own’ didn’t do that. Seriously, what do you even know about the art of design and cloth? Nothing!” Thunder started to complain, much to the amusement of Summer and the annoyance of Phoenix.

“Yeah, yeah. I have committed crimes against fashion, countless times. I get it; you don’t have to rub it in man. But right now I just want to know where the stupid shirt is, can you just tell me where it is? Please?” His annoyance quickly shifted to desperate pleading as he threw away the next piece of clothing that was not what he was looking for.

With a loud sigh, he stood up from his comfortable chair and walked over to his brother. “Ok, I’m helping you search.”

“And I thought you would know where every bit of clothing is in this apartment, I’m kinda disappointed,” Phoenix jokingly replied, nudging his brother in the shoulder.

“Oh, I do, but after you made such a mess, I have no idea. That was why I said you should have asked me, you would be done already, but Oceans advice with making your own decision has apparently worked too well,” he sighed again, nudging back his brother.

“Oh, oh, my bad, sorry. I’ll remember that next time,” he sheepishly returned, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What makes you so sure that you will get the next time?” Summer devilishly smirked.

“What do you mean?”

“Summer,” Thunder added, giving her a stare that could probably even scare a Corrupted.

That quickly got her to stutter back: “Ahm, I mean… you know… there could be…”

“Summer, I managed to get him so far without him losing his mind over bad stuff that could happen, and you just bring that back? Teasing? Fine and good, but you need to know where to draw the line. Otherwise, you are just making things worse;” he returned with an exhausted undertone.

“Hehehe, sorry Phoenix. I’m sure everything is going to be fine, you are a funny guy after all,” she sheepishly returned, her eyes trying to search for the spot farthest away from Thunders look.

“Yeah, funny guy,” he muttered. “Oh, she is going to think I’m a joke. That is probably all just an attempt to laugh about me, right? Oh, how could I have ever expected that to work out? I’m an idiot!” He screamed out, letting his face sink into one of the pillows of the couch after the last word.

“Great Summer, great. Now I have to fix that,” he sighed as he witnessed what was happening right before his eyes.

“Hehe, sorry.”

“Yeah, sorry, that’ll help,” he muttered to himself as he placed one of his hands on Phoenix back. “Hey, don’t worry; everything is going to be just fine. Just be yourself and improvise, that’s what you are good at. And I’m sure Ocean would never toy with your feelings like that, so don’t worry about it. I’m sure everything is going to work out just fine, trust me. I know Ocean and you enough that you two go together like one of her weird toppings,” he smirked at him.

Phoenix raised his head again, smiling back at his brother. “Yeah, like the pepperoni-salami-strawberry-apple-grape-pineapple-pizza. Goodness was that one good,” he drifted off for a moment with a blissful expression on his face. “Anyway, you’re right. She wouldn’t have said yes if she didn’t want it, now would she?”

“That’s the spirit Phoenix,” he returned, clapping his brother a few times on the back.

“Oh, and Summer, I’m sure you are just joking. I would do the same if the person I like would not be picking up on my own personal advances,” he smirked back with a smile that was even eviler than the one Summer had sported just a minute ago.

“I… I don’t know what you mean,” she desperately stuttered back to him, the color swiftly disappearing from her face and was replaced with burning red cheeks.

“Uhm, Phoenix…” Thunder tried to interrupt him, but he was already too far to give up now.

“Oh, you know exactly what I mean, don’t you? You like Thunder, but he just won’t pick up on your advances.”

“That… That is not true at all. He is just a good friend, that is all. He helped me a lot in the past, but… but…” her voice shivered trying to not turn into a squee.

“Phoenix!” Thunder said again, this time louder.

“Just ask him out already. Just look at how he treats you, you are obviously more than friends, neither of you just wants to admit it.” 

He was about to continue as a loud: “Phoenix!” Interrupted him and brought him back to reality. “I have your shirt,” he tossed it over to him, Phoenix quickly grabbing it before it could sail towards the floor. “I think you are done. You don’t want to be late, right?” He shot him a quick glance that told him enough. 

In haste, he pulled on the shirt, garbed his jacket with the Driver inside and rushed towards the stairs, but not without stopping on the edge of them. “Uhm, and sorry Summer, that was uncalled for.  You do you.” And with that, he rushed down the stairs, and they could hear a door slamming close in the distance.

“Don’t take everything he said too seriously. He just wanted to get back at you and me for all the teasing. Kinda wanting to be on the other side of it for once. He didn’t intend to go so personally,” thunder said after a minute of silence and a furry embarrassed Summer sitting on her chair and staring towards the floor.

“Yeah, I get it,” she weakly replied. “Hey?”

“Yeah, what?” He returned with a bit of concern in his voice.

“Did… Did he tell the truth?” She looked at him with tow eyes that were filled with fear, concern, and hope.

“Well… Yeah, kinda. But you don’t have to act on them I would feel kinda like I would be taking advantage of you in all honesty,” he solemnly returned.

“Oh, yeah, I can see that,” she returned in the same tone.

“So, was what he said about you true as well?”

She again looked down towards the floor before returning. “Ahm… you know… yeah, kinda.”

“Oh… So… what should we do then?” He looked over to her, his expression as clueless as his.

“I… I don’t know. Maybe wait a bit or something like this? Only if you feel uncomfortable with this that is.”

“Yeah, that sounds actually lovely. We talk about this when we both feel comfortable with it, right?” She nodded in return. “Good, so, pizza?”

“How could I ever say no to one of your pizzas? I would have to be insane,” she returned, her mood quickly rising again.

“The usual?”

“The usual!” She returned with a smile on her face.

“So, how do you think is this date going to go? Think they are going to be together after it?” He looked over to her with a devious smile.

“Oh, please. These two were goggly eyeing themselves for so long, of course, they are going to be a pair. What is the really interesting question is if they are going to kiss?” She returned seemingly back to her usual self.

“Oh, now that is an interesting question. I don’t think so. Phoenix is a way too big of a pansy for that. But if Ocean gets him to do it who knows.”

“Wanna bet?” She smirked at her boss with a smile some criminals would have second thoughts of making a deal with. 

“Oh please, I know my bother better than anyone. I can’t lose that. I’m in. They aren’t going to kiss. So what are we going to bet over?” He looked back with an equally evil smile.

“How about if I win we are going to watch the track competition that is coming to the city in a few weeks? How does that sound?” She returned, pulling out a small pamphlet which described the upcoming competition.

“Oh, that sounds interesting. So how about that if I win? You are going to me to the ‘Cocking-Con’ that is going to come here at the same time? How is that? Scared?” He smirked back with a slight cancel.

“Oh, you drive a hard bargain here. But as if I would be afraid of you. That would be ridiculous. I’m in. They are going to kiss,” she held out her hand which Thunder quickly grabbed, and both of them started to seal the deal with a handshake. 

“Prepare to lose cock.”

“Oh, the waitress is so sure of herself? Let’s see if she has bet on the right horse.” Summer started to snicker after his last word, much to Thunder confusion, well until it finally clicked. “Oh, oh!” He quickly joined his employee. “Ok, that was not on purpose. You are never gonna let that one down, are you?” 

“Oh no, that would just be a waste,” she laughed back.

“Fair enough”, he sighed back, in between his own and her laughter.


>-------<A>-------<


Outside Phoneix was meanwhile had mounted his bike and was riding through the busy streets, trying to think of anything that would actually calm him down right now. Save to say it wasn’t really working. At least the traffic kept his mind somewhat busy. Still, he couldn’t stop thinking on how this was going to go. He wasn’t someone that planed stuff like this through, but right now every possibility just rushed through his mind. Good or bad didn’t matter, it just kept on going, not relating, filling his mind. That was until he was snapped out of it by a loud beep from behind. Apparently, he had missed that the traffic light had switched from red to green again, Phoenix quickly letting the engine roar and made way for the rest behind him, furiously embarrassed by the whole ordeal.

The rest of the trip went off without any other major incident, and his mind was at least somewhat clearer now, that was until he finally arrived at his destination where he almost managed to crash his bike. But really could someone blame him, the moment he saw Ocean waiting for him there in that beautiful dress all those silly thoughts like ‘keeping the bike steady’ and ‘oh shit, wall’ were quickly pushed aside. Thankfully he did snap out of it just before he firmly planted his face on the ground.

“Eyes on the road Phoenix, you’ll see enough of this today anyway,” she joking said, smiling at him with a smug grin. 

“Well, I hope so. And I also hope that this little stunt didn’t turn you away from driving with me,” he sheepishly replied.

“Nah, I know you can ride a bike. Just keep your eyes on the road, shouldn’t be so hard if you can’t see me,” she returned, playfully nudging him in the side. “By the way, you look good too.”

“Thanks,” he returned, turning bright red under his helmet what got a quiet laugh from Ocean. The way to the restaurant was pretty eventless, minus the fact that Phoenix was quite nervous with Ocean clinging onto him during the ride. But there weren’t any further embarrassing mistakes on Phoenix part, and everything went well, almost so well that Phoenix expected something to go wrong, but this time luck seemed to be on his side.

The restaurant they had chosen was one on the outskirts of Canterlot. Nice and quiet, not too expensive, thank goodness, and had a beautiful little garden for them to eat in, complete with a pond even. Nice, quiet and no monster in sight, perfect. They had taken a seat under a large oak with small little lanterns hanging from it, around them were other couples joking, laughing and generally having a good time. 

They had been rummaging through the possible foods when a waitress approached them and asked: “What can I bring you two today?”

Ocean was the first to look up and returned: “I’ll take a steak, medium please and could I have some spicy souse to that?”

“I’ll take the same,” Phoenix added. After the waitress had left he turned to Ocean and said with a somewhat perplexed look on his face: “A steak? Kinda expected something more, you know…”

“Weird? Yeah, restaurants don’t always have interesting food. A shame really, that’s why I like pizzerias, they actually have interesting stuff, especially Thunders one. Can’t wait till it opens again, I have waited long enough for one of his creations that I almost forgot how they taste like,” she returned, looking absentmindedly into the distance.

“You know, you could have just ordered one. That was the entire point of Thunder starting the delivery service, so his regulars could still eat his pizza while everything is being repaired. That and to get money,” he added.

“Yeah, I know, but it just isn’t the same. I miss the atmosphere. It has its own charm to it, even if it is cramped.”

“Yeah, you are definitely on to something, but that can’t be it, right?”

“Ok, fine, I don’t want my car to smell like cheese, and Tartarus knows what for the rest of the day. You know what I put on these things, that just would smell weird, and after a while, I’m sure I couldn’t stand it,” she sighed, while Phoenix snickered a little.

“Ah, I knew it. A good reason though. Same with your apartment?” She nodded. “Figures, even you do have your limits.”

“Yeah, even I do,” she started to dig through her purse much to Phoenix confusion.

“What are you doing there?”

“Oh, that, I’m looking for a bit of mustard, horseradish, and wasabi,” she nonchalantly returned.

“Why?” He just looked at her confused, trying to figure out whatever she had planned.

“Well, I said that restaurants just have boring stuff, right? So I brought my own stuff,” she calmly returned, not even looking up from her purse to see Phoenix flabbergasted expression.

“You know, I shouldn’t even be surprised. Just make sure that they don’t see you do that, ok?”

“Oh, you are just jealous that you don’t have some with you as well,” she snarked back “And besides, I actually asked them if that would be ok, they said they had no problem with it.”

“Oh, of course, you did,” he eyed the different bottles Ocean had just pulled out. 

“Want some as well?” She raised an eyebrow, with a knowing look.

“Yeah, that would be really nice actually,” he sheepishly grinned back. “Thanks.”

“You know, you are cute when you are embarrassed, you know that?” 

“Oh, and you aren’t?” Phoenix returned with a smirk, Ocean returning it as well. 

She blushed a little. “Charmer, but fair point.”

“Well, people always said I was the one with the gifted mouth in our family,” he returned, with just enough pretentiousness that it was dragged right down to being funny.

Ocean just started to laugh, a few of the other guest shortly looking towards them but that didn’t really last all that long. “Oh yeah, you and the one that can play with words? That would be a damn good joke; even if I didn’t know Thunder I would know that this would have been a big fat lie. You might have managed to get me here, but a master of the words you are not.”

“Wow, way to rub it in Ocean. Any other things you want to say?”

“Well, shoot, I forgot the list back home, I knew I was missing something,” she chuckled back.

“You are evil, you know that, right?” He deadpanned in return.

“Oh, I know. If I weren’t I wouldn’t work for the MRG,” she paused for a moment. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s not always so easy as here, right?” She nodded quietly, looking towards the floor with a solemn expression. “I don’t know if I could do something like that. Besides the sneaky covert stuff obviously. I mean the killing part, really. It just feels so wrong. Did you ever…” He stopped mid-sentence and started towards his date until he quickly added. “Ahm, sorry. That is not something you should ask on the first date.”

“Oh, it’s ok. It’s part of who I am, I won’t hide it. And if you really want to be with me then I can’t really hide it, now can I?” She returned rather calmly, maybe with a hint of sadness in her voice. “Well, to answer your question, yes. Yes, I killed people. It’s nothing I’m proud of, how could I ever be, but at that moment I just didn’t see any other way. I always strive to save as many people as possible, not just the ones on my side. But sometimes that means that I have to take another life just to save the ones in front of me.” 

“I see. I just hope I at one point don’t have to make a decision like this. How do you know when it was the right call?” He looked at her, his eyes seeming so desperate.

“You don’t. You are left with the question if it was the right thing to do or if you just killed a man without trying to save every life you can. It never leaves. The only way you can live with it is to accept it and move forward, and if you fucked up, you just have to accept that. You will never know, and that is the worst part, the little voice in the back of your head that tells you-you could have done more,” she finished, taking a sip from her water before staying quiet for a while.

“I see. I just hope I don’t have to fall back on it. I… I don’t know if I could,” he stuttered back, his eyes lowered to the ground.

“You will never be prepared when the moment hits you. I sure wasn’t. But if it ever comes, I know you will manage it. You have the heart of a hero, that was what I saw from the first time we meet in the forest. You didn’t run away in fear or anything really, I could see and hear that you were more concerned about your screw up and everything around it than the fact that you could have died. You got what it takes to be a hero, I know that. That is why I trusted you and why I trust you to make the right decision when the time comes, as hard as it might be,” she smiled back at him, Phoenix returning her smile.

“Oh, there comes the stake. Have we really been talking for so long?”

“Seems so, to be honest, I didn’t even notice, was too much into our little talk,” Phoenix snickered. 

“Yeah, I didn’t either. Ah, here it is, let me just prepare it properly and then I give you the rest,” Ocean said while rubbing her hands together in glee. 

“Sure thing.”


>-------<A>-------<


The food tasted just as good as Phoenix had thought; well only because Ocean had put it together. Otherwise, he would have thought this would taste horrible. But the date went by like nothing; they had fun, were laughing, joking and generally having a great time. After a good dessert, primarily consisting of chocolate, banana, and strawberry ice cream, as well as Ocean’s little ingredients it was time to return home. The ride back to Ocean’s apartment was pleasant; her hands around his hips were giving him comfort. In the end, everything had gone just wonderfully, no horrible accidents or disasters and damn was he happy about that.

The bike had stopped right in front of the door to her apartment and Phoenix as well as Ocean had jumped off it. “Well, that went better than expected really,” she said with a loud sigh.

“And that is supposed to mean what exactly?” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, to be honest, I was expecting something to go horribly wrong, like a Corrupted attacking the restaurant or me doing something incredibly stupid. This was just perfect, it kinda feels weird,” she mumbled looking somewhat confused.

“The good kind of weird or the bad kind,” he carefully asked some drops of sweat forming on his forehead.

“The good kind. Don’t worry you didn’t do anything bad and neither did I, so I would call this date a success,” she giggled somewhat absentmindedly.

“Yeah, neither of us did anything stupid, that is good; well if anything I would have been the one to screw that one up anyway and not you. That you thought you would screw anything up actually surprises me.”

“Oh, don’t play dumb, you know I was just as nervous as you. I’m not good at this dating stuff. If anyone had screwed this up, it would have been me, not you. You actually are charming and can turn even a dumb comment into something pleasant. See it as your charming little quirk,” she jokingly returned.

“Uhm, thanks. But in all honesty, you couldn’t possibly screw this up. You are kind, understanding and always prepared. You screwing something like this up just sounds ludicrous.”

That was when both of them started to laugh. “I think we are just arguing who can screw thing more up. Is that what bickering under couples is like?” Phoenix smirked, in an instant, the laughter disappeared, replaced by silane as both of them looked at the other with worried faces.

“Cou… Couples? So are we a couple now?” Ocean stuttered back at him in an almost silent whisper.

“Well, the date was good wasn’t it? Isn’t that how it works? If the date is good, you become a couple or something like this? The date was good, right?” He returned, sounding completely unsure of how to respond to this.

“Oh, I loved the date. So… I guess we are a couple now,” she returned just as confused, completely lacking her usual confident tone. 

“Yeah, we are… To be honest, I didn’t really think that far ahead, did you?” She shook her head, and slowly walked over towards him. “So, what are we going to do now? Just saying that we are a coup…” He didn’t get any further when all of a sudden Ocean’s lips pressed against his. In the first moment, he was in some sort of shock, time seemed to slow down to a crawl, and he felt like this lasted for an eternity. This sweety soft feeling on his lips, the light taste of wasabi and mustard. It didn’t take long till he returned her kiss, both were lost in the moment.

After what felt like a lifetime Ocean finally let loose and said with a mischievous smile on her lips: “I think this is how it goes.” Phoenix just nodded with wide open eyes, still unable to truly comprehend what had just happened. “So, see ya tomorrow.” Phoenix eagerly nodded and rushed over to his bike waved a goodbye and drove off, still in somewhat of a daze.

Ocean just giggled: “Boys.” She was about to step into her apartment as she heard her phone ringing. In a hurry, she pulled it out and opened it. “Yeah, Ocean here.”

“Hey Ocean, I hope I’m not interrupting your date, but I just got something. An informant said there would be delivery to someone connected to Tartarus not even two blocks away from your current position. I think it might be connected to our traitor,” Onyx said on the other end of the line, and he sounded surprisingly serious for someone like him. “I’m on the other half of the city and just got the information, could you please help me out here, please?”

“Just tell me where to go,” she returned with a determination in her eyes that probably would have scared Phoenix if he still would have been here.


>-------<A>-------<


The way back was almost completely lost to Phoenix, or at least when he later tried to recall it at least, so strong was the bliss he had found himself in. The only thing he could recall afterward was a few cars, but nothing beyond that. Oh and of course what happened when he was back home again. He wasn’t even halfway through the door as he heard two familiar ‘hi’s’. He almost fell backward through the entrance out of sheer shock. “Never do that again,” he gasped at Thunder and Summer who were both smiling as innocently as possible.

“Oh, don’t be so mean Phoenix, how was your date anyway?” Summer returned with a sweet innocent smile, something was definitely off.

“Ok, what are you two planning? There is something fishy about the way you two act,” he returned, eyeing them both carefully. 

“What, no! Why is it strange when a brother wants to know how the date of his brother was?” Thunder replied, still keeping up the whole innocent stick. 

“Oh, it wouldn’t be, well besides the fact that you are you. Even if you were so interested in this you wouldn’t be clinging to the door like a new batch of ingredients would be arriving,” he snarked in return. 

“Ok, fine, you got me. We bet on your date,” he grumbled in return.

“You did what now? You bet on the success of my love life. Ok, who of you bet on this going horribly, it was you, Summer, right?” He sounded less than amused, actually rather pissy all things considered.

“No, no, no, no, no, we didn’t bet on the date going south, we both assumed that would go smoothly. By the way, how did it go?” Summer asked, trying to steer the conversation back into more friendly terms.

“Oh, it went well. If you ignore Ocean bringing her own stuff to the restaurant, but she made sure that it was ok, so I guess that wasn’t a problem. We talked, we laughed, all in all, a great evening,” he said in return, almost forgetting what the conversation had been about beforehand. “Wait, so what were you betting on exactly if it wasn’t if the date was good?”

“Uhm, well you see we kinda bet on if you two… kissed,” Thunder whispered, hoping Phoenix hadn’t heard it.

“Oh, if it wasn’t anything worse… What?! You bet on me kissing Ocean? How do you even come up with something like this?” He shoots back with a mixture of anger and utter confusion.

“I don’t know, it just felt natural,” Thunder muttered, trying to avoid the look of his brother.

“Natural, oh yeah sure, betting on kissing, what could be more natural?” He sighed while letting his head sink into his hand.

“And, did you?”

“Yes, I did, or more precise, she did,” he finally sighed, but not with a little smile on his lips. “So, who won?” The answer came quickly with a loud cheer from Summer and a respective sigh from Thunder. “Really Thunder? You bet against me?”

“In my defense, you were completely out of it as you left, I just thought you took it a bit slower,” he sighed again.

“Aha, I see. So, what was the wager anyway? I at least deserve to know that much.”

“Well, if Thunder won we would go to a fashion show that would be in a few weeks if I won we would go to a sports competition,” she returned with a bright smile.

“Ah, I see. So you bet on a date. Kinda cute actually,” Phoenix snickered, the colored form Summers and Thunderers face quickly vanishing and replaced with a bright blush.

“No, we didn’t!” Both of them yelled in unison while also trying to not burn to death out of sheer embarrassment. 

Before Phoenix could, however, say anything more, he heard his phone ringing. “Yeah, Phoenix here, what is it?”

“Uhm Phoenix, I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I have to ask you something, is Ocean with you?” Onyx voice came from the other side of the line, sounding surprisingly worried. 

“No, I left her at her apartment about thirty minutes ago, why?” 

“Shit, of course, you did. Then I need your help, Ocean might have done something really, really stupid;” he sighed in return.

“What has she done? What? What!? I’ll be right on that.” Without even saying something to either Thunder or Summer he rushed out the door, put his helmet back and raced away into the night, leaving the two very behind.

“Oh, this cannot be good,” Thunder whispered as he stared through the still open door.