"Sparks? Sparks? Sparks! It's your turn!"

Sparks snapped out of it and took a second to remember where he was. It was a quiet morning in Shuggazoom City. While the others were out on patrol, Sparks and Gibson were in the middle of an intensive, suspenseful, all or nothing…chess match.

"Oh, uh, sorry Gibson," Sparks said casually. He quickly moved one of his pieces and sat back. As Gibson planned his next move, Sparks drifted back into his daydream…

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"Freeze, Mandarin!"

"You'll never stop me, my brother!"

As the citizens of Shuggazoom and the rest of the Hyperforce looked on from the ground, Sparks increased his speed and piloted the Fist Rocket 3 toward a fleeing Mandarin, who had captured Nova.

"Hurry, Sparks! Stop him!" Nova cried.

"You got it, babe!" Sparks declared, as he charged up his plasma cannon. Mandarin let out a maniacal monkey laugh.

"Your silly cannon blasts have done nothing to me in the past. Don't you learn anything?"

"Yeah," Sparks said mischievously, "I learned that you spend too much time talking…"

At that moment, Sparks fired his plasma cannon and it hit Mandarin's ship perfectly.

"…and not enough time paying attention!"

As Mandarin's ship fell to the ground, everyone cheered and jumped for joy. But then they looked up in horror again as a cry for help sounded from above.

"Sparks!" Nova cried as she was free-falling toward the ground with Mandarin's ship. Her rocket pack had been destroyed by Mandarin as well.

"Hold on, Nova!" Sparks quickly landed the Fist Rocket, jumped out, and prepared to catch her. Everyone surrounding him watched on in hopeful horror as Nova drew closer to the ground. But Sparks remained calm and caught Nova in his arms. The city cheered and hollered while Mandarin landed in the water with the remains of his ship.

"Oh, Sparks!" Nova said happily, "You saved my life!"

"No problem, baby," Sparks said smoothly. "Now how are you going to thank me?"

Nova smiled at that and leaned in to kiss him…

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"GREAT SCOTT! SPARKS! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"Huh?!" Sparks jumped and noticed Gibson looking very irritated with him. It was kinda funny.

"Sorry, Brainstrain, but not everyone can keep a game of chess grueling and exciting."

"This has been happening consistently!" Gibson said, frustrated.

Can't you just say 'a lot' like everyone else? Sparks thought, rolling his eyes.

"I don't understand," Gibson mumbled as he got up to pace. "He's constantly distracted, not just during a game, but during training, and patrol, sometimes even in battle."

"You know, I'm right here!" Sparks exclaimed. Once Gibson started pacing, he was in his own gigantic thought bubble.

"What could he possibly be fantasizing about-" Gibson then got a suspicious grin on his face and turned back to Sparks.

"Don't go there, Gibson!" Sparks warned his teammate.

"Nova! Of course!"

"I warned you!" Sparks then activated his magnets and pointed them toward a still grinning Gibson.

"Sparks! Calm down!" Gibson pleaded to his brother calmly. "I understand."

"Yeah, right," Sparks snapped.

"Well, maybe not exactly," Gibson admitted, "But…I think it's…somewhat beautiful."

Sparks lowered his magnets. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You're…serious?"

"Of course," Gibson reassured him, "I may not have experienced romantic feelings, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy seeing my brother happy."

"Uh…" Sparks was simply speechless. "Thanks."

"So why don't you tell Nova how you feel?"

"C'mon, Gibson, you know how it is," Sparks started to explain, but then lost his nerve. "I…just can't."

"Oh, I see," Gibson teased, "Timorous, are we?"

"Plain monkey speak, Gibson."

"Scared. Nervous. Afraid of rejection."

"No!" Sparks defended. "I just…don't wanna ruin our friendship. I'm on shaky ground with Nova as it is."

"I understand Sparks," Gibson replied caringly. "But I do believe it would make you feel better. If you told her."

"Yeah, just don't tell anybody!"

"Of course not." Everyone already knows anyway, Gibson thought.

Just then, the rest of the Hyperforce entered from outside. Sparks immediately laid eyes on Nova and smiled. It was always good to see her golden fur and beautiful pink eyes. Chiro deactivated his hero mode and turned to Antauri.

"I don't get why we had to go out on patrol, Antauri. There's nothing out there."

"Nothing visible to the human eye, Chiro," Antauri said wisely, "But I sense a threat that is invisible and yet right in front of us."

"Hey!" Otto said happily. "Chess game! I call winner!"

"Uh…game over!" Sparks said as he knocked his pieces off the board and onto the floor. "Gibson wins." Gibson, not always willing to put up with a slightly dimwitted Otto, gave Sparks an annoyed look, as if to say "If I hadn't promised to keep your bloody secret, I would undoubtedly get you back right now." Sparks flashed his mischievous smile proudly.

"Well," Nova said suddenly, heading back into her tube, "I better get ready to leave."

Her teammates all turned to Nova in shock.

"Uh…pardon?" Gibson said.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you guys," Nova said innocently, turning to her teammates, "I'm going to visit Master Offay for a week."

Once again, the team was speechless.

"Nova, I fail to see why you kept this from us." Antauri said.

"I didn't mean to," Nova reassured them, "I just forgot."

"Ok…" Chiro replied uneasily. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning…" Nova replied shyly.

"Nova, honestly, we could've used a prior notification about this!" Gibson said, clearly taken back. "What if something attacks the city while you're-"

"Don't get your tail in a knot, Gibson," Nova told him. "You guys can handle anything that comes the city's way. Besides, it's not like I'm the only decent warrior on this team. I could use a break."

The team remained speechless. It wasn't like Nova to stray away from battle. But before anyone could protest…

"Go ahead, Nova," Chiro told her. "We'll handle everything here. Have fun."

"Oh," Nova replied, a little surprised by Chiro's support. "Thanks, Chiro." Nova smiled at her teammates, stepped into her tube, and disappeared to the upper level of the robot.

"Are you positive about your decision, Chiro?" Antauri questioned.

"Yeah," Chiro assured him. "Nova's right. We do depend on her a lot. She deserves some time off. We'll be okay."

"If you say so, kid," Sparks said, looking toward Nova's tube. Somehow, I don't think she's going for a vacation…

"So, Gibson," Otto said after gathering the chess pieces from the ground, "Are we gonna play or what?"