Gibson had always known he wasn’t the best when it came to anything physical. Not for a lack of trying though, he just wasn’t a super strong fighter. He’s a scientist, not a warrior. Even though he’s always known and accepted this fact...there were still many times where he felt insecure about it. This was especially true today as the team was fighting off against a 10 ft tall formless monster that looked very similar to a crab. The armored crab slammed it’s claw down as Gibson and Nova jumped away from it.

“Smack-Slam-Kazam!” Nova slammed her fists against the top of the crab’s head, making it grimace in pain.

“Jeez this thing is stronger than we thought! How are we gonna stop it?” Sprx asked before dodging one of the crab’s flying projectile spikes.

Oh yes it has spikes on its back.

“I don’t know, but we gotta find it’s weakness soon or it’ll just keep wrecking everything!” Chiro huffed.

Sprx looked over at Gibson, who was looking for an opening before dodging the crab’s claw trying to smack him. Sprx frowned in worry.

Gibson, while attacking and dodging the crab, tried to think of a strategy to stop it or find what it’s weakspot was. Gibson quickly dodged a spike but felt it graze his tail. He fired at it, but it only brushed off the attack like it was nothing. Gibson felt his stomach clench as sweat began to trickle down the side of his face. Jeez how was he going to get past this thing’s hard shell?!

“Gibson, you got any ideas on how to stop this thing?” Sprx asked.

Gibson, quickly thinking said, “We have to get past the creature’s shell, it’s the only thing protecting it!”

“Well gee Gibson don’t you think we’ve been tryingt?!” Sprx asked in frustration, knowing they’ve been trying to do that but have no idea how to break it.

“Well if you give me a second to think-!”

“Guys watch out!” Otto suddenly called out.

The crab then swiped at the two, attempting to grab them. Sprx quickly got out of the way and tumbled onto his knees. He looked up and saw Gibson was caught right in the creature’s claw. Gibson struggled to get out of it’s grasp, but his arms were trapped. He then felt the crab start to crush him. Gibson let out a painful yell.

“Gibson!” Nova yelled before Sprx quickly got into gear.

“Let him go you overcooked moss eater!” He snapped before blasting the crab in the eyes with one of his magnetic attacks.

The creature screeched and dropped Gibson to the ground. The crab’s armor vibrated violently at Sprx’s attack. Gibson clutched at his ribs in pain before slowly getting up. He watched as he saw the others go at it, trying to distract it. The creature was clearly affected by everybody else’s attacks...so why weren’t his? Was he really that weak?

Gibson felt himself tremble before he felt his arm being elbowed gently. He turned to Sprx, who was smiling a bit.

“Hey you’re not the only one frustrated about this thing, Antauri can’t even get a hit on it.” Sprx said to him.

“It’s not that…” Gibson looked off to the side, not wanting to look at Sprx in the face

He really didn’t want to get into this right now, he didn’t want to talk about how weak he felt.

Sprx frowned and placed his hand on his hip.

“Really? Thought I was hitting the nail on the head with your whole ‘not a strong fighter’ insecurities thing.” He said.

Gibson’s eyed widened as he whipped his head back up.

“How-?!”

“Gibson please we’ve lived in the same robot together for years, you don’t think I see how down you look when we compare training scores? Trust me brainstrain, even I get that way every now and then.” Sprx said.

Gibson had a hard time believing someone as confident as Sprx would be insecure about himself but maybe that was a possibility. Maybe he wasn’t alone on feeling like this. Sprx gently elbowed him again.

“You’ve even get pretty high training scores sometimes, even higher than mine. So don’t worry too much about your strength or whatever. Just keep your spirits up and you’ll be fine.” Sprx said before scratching his chin, kinda embaressed he had to be all mushy and stuff.

Gibson straightned up as he was touched by Sprx’s words. He felt a smile grow on his face as his chest warmed.

“Thank you Sprx.” He said, quickly feeling better.

Sprx scoffed and patted Gibson’s shoulder.

“C’mon they’ve got that thing distracted, let’s take it down.”

Gibson paused for a moment before nodding.

“Magno ball beam splitter!” Sprx launched another attack at the creature and it screeched in pain.

A lightbulb then went off in Gibson’s head. Gibson turned to Sprx.

“Sprx! Keep hitting  it with your electrical attacks! It’s weak against it!” He called out to him.

Sprx eyed Gibson before nodding. The others got out of the way as Sprx darted at the crab.

“Magno ball blazer!” He yelled before launching his attack at the crab.

This time the crab’s armor fell apart as it let out a yell of pain. Gibson took this chance by quickly jumping into the air and aiming at the crab.

“Spin Shocker!”

The crab exploded at Gibson’s attack, causing a few of the others to get covered in the formless gunk. Gibson quickly washed everyone down with warm water from his drills before washing down Sprx.

Sprx sputtered and crossed his arms.

“Thanks.” He huffed before smiling.

Gibson smiled back before Otto bear hugged him.

“You did it!” He squealed.

“Otto...ribs still in pain!” Gibson wheezed before Otto let him go.

“Heh sorry.”

“Well done Gibson, now let’s go home and check on your ribcage. In case it was damaged during the attack.” Antauri advised.

Gibson nodded as the others went back to the robot, while on the way there however…

“Oh and Sprx?” Gibson said to the red monkey.

Sprx turned to him.

“Crabs eat algae, not moss.” Gibson pointed out.

Sprx frowned.

“What’s the difference?” He asked before instantly regretting it.