"Move it!" Ræm spat at Synth as he shoved him back into his cell. Once the door was locked, Synth briefly noticed Ræm slam his fist against a cage with a crying puppy inside of it.

"Are you okay, Synth?" Bumpy asked, concerned over the distraught look on his friend's face. After a few deep breaths, Synth looked up and noticed an air duct blocked by a filter. He decided to try and focus on raising the water in his and Float's cell in an attempt to reach it.

"Ooh! Me, Synth, play now?" Float cooed eagerly.

"Sorry, Float, not now," Synth apologized as he kept trying to reach the top, to no avail. Aaliyah noticed and curiously watched as Synth kept going at it until he accidentally splashed back down. Float giggled while Synth just sighed in defeat.

Aaliyah was very worried. "Synth, what's wrong?"

"They ain't gonna set us free," he revealed.

"Yes, they are!" Bumpy insisted, still oblivious to the news. "We're going to the new world any day now!"

Synth shook his head at them as curled himself up against the wall, as close to Aaliyah's warmth as he could get.

"No, that can't be true," she said in disbelief.

"It is," Synth confessed tearfully. "They wanna kill us all in the morning, and I don't know how to stop it."

"It... It'll be okay," Aaliyah tried to reassure him, even though she was uncertain herself. "We'll figure something out. I'm... I'm sure of it."

Synth looked up and noticed Aaliyah pressing her hands against the glass. Then, it hit him.

"That's it," he gasped, and got back up on his fins. "Aaliyah, if you can melt sand into glass, then... maybe, you can melt the glass on the doors. Your fire can help get us outta here!"

"I don't know if that's wise, Synth," Bumpy protested. Float, on the other hand, was so hungry for freedom, she didn't think twice about it.

"Me, Synth, leave!" she said ecstatically. "Hooray time forever!"

"Once we're out, we can split up," Synth continued. "Aaliyah can go through the furnace, I'll go in the pipes, Bumpy the greenhouse, and Float through the air ducts. We'll all meet outside, look for the pier. There are boats. I know. And if we can get one, we can sail off the island and find a new home, the four of us, just like we always said, okay?"

Synth took another pleading glance at Aaliyah. The only one who could free them all was her.

"Okay?" he begged. Aaliyah looked down in thought, before, finally, she nodded at the Techno Troll.

"Whoo-hoo! Yippee!" Float cheered, twirling around in the air. "Aaliyah! Sky, sky, sky!"

Knowing what she had to do, the fiery Glitter Troll pressed her hands against the door, took a deep breath, and forced herself to burn hotter than before. The others took a few steps back as her flame went from orange to yellow, then white, silver, blue... Until finally, she went fully purple and fell over through a hole in the melted glass.

"Yay! Aaliyah, Aaliyah, Aaliyah!" Float chanted happily.

"Way to go, Aaliyah!" Bumpy praised. Synth smiled at her just before she did the same to the door of his and Float's cage. Once Aaliyah's heat died down and her flame was bright orange again, Synth slowly stepped out and he almost felt the urge to hug the Troll he loved, even though her touch would burn him.

Instead, he just stared at her lovingly and said, "You did great, yo."

"Thank you!" she said, excited about her new sense of freedom. "It really is good to have-"

PEW!

On cue with the sound of a weapon firing, Aaliyah's smile disappeared. Bumpy's eyes widened and Float softly gasped. Synth felt his face fall as Aaliyah clutched her belly. She looked back up him, her fire dimming, just before she fell on her back. Synth then noticed the Idealist holding a tiny smoking gun, which only meant one thing.

Aaliyah was shot.

"Yes, I imagined you'd do something like this," he confessed as Synth returned his gaze to Aaliyah. "Back in the cage, H2-Omicron."

But Synth couldn't look away from Aaliyah as her now red and gray body began to smolder, her eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"Sky..." she gasped, before finally, her fire had completely died with her. Synth loudly sobbed, grieving the loss of his closest friend and crush.

"Bumpy, Synth, Float go now! Bumpy, Synth, Float go now!" Float continuously repeated as she began to float towards the door.

"Phi-R3 and H2-Omicron escaped from their pens," the Idealist said in his comm, ignoring the crying Trolls. "Phi-R3 is neutralized, but H2-Omicron is still out, so I'll need assistance. Remember not to bruise its brain."

"Bumpy, Synth, Float go now! Bumpy, Synth, Float go now!" Float began screaming as Synth just kept crying. Annoyed, the Idealist just mocked the teenage Techno Troll's wailing.

"Alright, H2-Omicron!" he yelled as Synth began to growl. "You win the crying contest! Now, back in the cage!"

In a fit of pure rage, Synth unleashed his full power, felt the presence of water in pipes below the floor, and burst one open just below Aaliyah's old cell, making the water and hot coals hit the Idealist in the face. The Idealist's screams were muffled by the water, but he was obviously in a great deal of pain. Synth screamed, as well, but in fury.

"Bumpy, Synth, Float go now! Bumpy, Synth, Float go now!"

"Synth, let's go! Let's go! Synth, please!" Bumpy pleaded, but Synth was blinded by his own anger.

"Down here! Hurry!" he heard someone shout, and grabbed the gun as guards ran in. After they fired in his direction, he clumsily fired back, taking them all out.

Synth hated the fact that he killed three people, even out of self defense, but had no time to dwell on that. He dropped the gun, noticed the glass heart on the ground, and just as he picked it back up, he noticed Bumpy lying dead in his cage. He turned to find Float's misty body on the ground, just before it evaporated completely.

This time, Synth had no more tears to shed. His only focus now was escaping. More of the Idealist's recorders kept firing their weapons at him as he ran through the facility.

"There, it is!"

"Get it!"

"He's getting away!"

Synth ran into a bathroom, jumped into a giant toilet, pulled the lever with his hair, and flushed himself down just before the guards could snatch him back up. On his way down, he accidentally bumped his head against a pipe, and was released deep underwater. His body floated down to a rocky sea floor, and the last thing he said before losing consciousness was a pair of bright green eyes staring at him...

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Back in the neighborhood, Trollex looked down in thought as he and John Dory waited for the others to come back. How could he live with himself if Synth didn't survive this?

John Dory, on the other hand, decided to take action. He noticed a motorcycle about to drive by and made his hair into a tripwire by wrapping it around a nearby mailbox post and caught the bike, causing the rider, a mouse, to fling himself off and land on his head.

"And that, Hope Willow, is why you should always wear a helmet," he informed her. Hope nodded in understanding.

"Dude, what are you doing?!" Trollex asked.

"I got a bad feeling about this," John Dory replied as he strapped helmets on his and Hope's heads.

"Willow just told you to stay here," Trollex pointed out.

"Yeah? Well, that's her fault," he said, making sure Hope was snug in her baby carrier as he climbed onto the motorcycle. "She should know by now that I never do anything anyone ever tells me."

"We need to protect Synth."

"Yeah, we do," John Dory agreed. "So, hop on, and we'll ride back to the ship."

"Just right over there?" Trollex wondered. John Dory nodded and handed him an extra helmet. Trollex hesitantly snapped it on and climbed on the motorcycle, wrapping his arms around John Dory, who began to drive in the opposite direction.

"John! Why are you such a jerk?!"