The Elemental Warriors: Chapter 13

## Chapter 13- Sky

It was maybe
November or December when we got our next quest.  But this time, it was a *lot* different.

When we arrived at training one
evening, Luna and Intu weren’t there, but Sola was.  She told us, “Luna and Intu are unavailable
tonight.  However, there is a monster on
the loose today, and I want one of you to stop it.”  We glanced at each other.  Weren’t we only supposed to go in partners…?

“The monster goes by Figuranado,
and its true form is unknown.  It can shapeshift
into anything it wants to, but some forms can leave him powerless and unable to
transform back once he uses it.  He is
not very critical, and will do anything to defeat you.  The person I have chosen for this quest’s job
is to outsmart Figuranado into changing into said forms so that he is forever
powerless,” Sola continued.  So we
weren’t killing him.  Well, were we?
I think we could.  If we were told
otherwise, I really hoped Ember wasn’t picked for the quest.  Man, this was confusing.

Sola
caught me off my train of thought, saying, “Sky will go on the quest by
herself.”  Hearing my name, I glanced
back at her, surprised when the sentence was completed.

“She must head north from here,”
Sola continued.  “Once she is done, she
will use the elevator to come back and head south.”

“But how do I know which way is-“A
broken-looking compass appeared in my hand.
Okay… “See you later,” I told everyone as I headed north, according to
the old compass.

I kept heading north, maneuvering
around the occasional tree blocking my path.
At some point I ran straight into a piece of metal when I wasn’t
looking.

I pressed a hand to my
forehead.  There was going to be a goose
egg there.  I backed up and looked at
what I had bumped into.  It was a set of
elevator doors, not unlike the one Coral described when recounting her quest.  Where had the buttons been…?  I glanced around and saw the arrows floating
a few inches from said doors.

I muttered some things in
Spanish that the elevator door’s mom would not appreciate and pressed the UP
button.

After a little playing around
(and meeting a very confused five-year-old who mentioned having a level ate), I
came to a level that looked like the 20th level of an 18th
century apartment building.  I knew it
must be the evil lair of Figuranado.  I
knocked on the door hastily, just in case someone besides Figuranado was living
here.  No answer.

I wiggled the doorknob, but it
was locked tight, surprisingly.  Finally,
I sighed and slammed my shoulder into the center of the door, which splintered
into bits.  I crashed to the ground from
the force.

I may have blacked out.  It wasn’t very wise of me to do that.

When I woke up, there was a really
ugly man hovering (well, not really) above me, looking expectantly at me.  I sat up groggily.  I was in a small room, the walls and floor
splattered with blood and covered in bits of wood, the latter probably from the
door.  I didn’t want to know what the
blood was from.  Then I noticed two girls
sitting in a corner, tied to chairs that were tied together.  When I saw their faces, my stomach tightened.

Ava and Addison.  What were *they*
doing here?!  I wouldn’t put it past them
to side with this monster.

Those two had cost us two years
of misery; all of fourth and fifth grade.  Bullying, excluding us, taking Coral and
trying to make her hate us in exchange for popularity, the whole package.

Well, actually, Ava had done
most of the dirty work.  Addison was just
her minion.

Ava whimpered.  I noticed she had a gag on.  Maybe she was worried that I was going to
destroy her (I was glaring at her).  Or
she was upset that she couldn’t bring her phone here.  Probably the latter.

I stood up and started a small
whirlwind circling around me.  It drained
a considerable amount of energy from me, but it seemed to intimidate the man.  “You’re going to regret this,” he growled as
he backed away.

I forced a bout of wind at him
like a softball pitcher.  The man’s head
blew back and hit the wooden wall.  He
had a concussion at least, but there was no time to waste.  I was about to dash out of the room, but
suddenly I felt the twin lasers of eyes baring into my back.

I turned around, and there they
were, staring at me with helpless eyes.
Ava and Addison seemed to be silently pleading with me, and eventually I
had enough heart to roll my eyes and say, “Fine.  You’re coming with me.  Don’t expect this to be a limo ride, though.”

And
a limo ride it was not.  It took at least
five minutes for me to drag them ten feet to the elevator.  I untied their ropes while waiting for the
elevator to get to level 4, and by the time it *ding*ed, they were standing next to me and ungagged.

Addison
brushed herself off and cursed.  “What
was that guy doing?!  He was supposed to
help us!” she mumbled.  Ava was tapping
away at her phone, then she frowned and threw it to the floor. “No wi-fi?!” She
shouted.  I sent an unimpressed look at
her.
Duh.

  Addison
frowned at me.  “What are *you* doing here?” she asked me.

“I’m
saving you,” I snapped. “I have to kill that craphead that kidnapped you, or
else he’s going to do more damage than kidnap and kill a couple of kids that don’t
even want to help this world.”

Ava
and Addison were taken aback.  “What
the-“ Ava murmured.

I
made a little tornado in the palm of my hand. “Look, I can do this, and-“

I
couldn’t finish my retort.  Addison
thumped to the floor, knocked out.  By
what, I couldn’t tell.

But
something was definitely wrong.