THE MOMENT
"Solo? Are you sure?" Dread asked. The two teen girls emerged from a portal and stepped onto the sandy, sunny beach for the second day in a row.
"I'm not solo," she reached into the pocket of her red and black bomber jacket and pulled a red node out. As soon as she held it up it popped out of her hand. The card changed shape and became a red and white koi fish on its way down to the sand. It landed on the ground then sunk into the sand as if it were water and began swimming a circle around Jenny. "I've got Finn," Jenny smirked. "And, Dirge will help keep the other three from showing up," she added.
"Okay," Dread nodded. "I'll be close by; send an invite if you need help," she said as she backed up several paces. Jenny nodded as she walked toward the water's edge with Finn.
"Okay, Finn, just like we planned," she said.
[Ready. - Finn] she felt the message on her wrist.
"Here we go...," she stepped forward and into the path of the next wave. The moment the water washed over her feet the sky darkened. The water pulled back from the beach like an instant low tide.
"Who challenges the Quintessence of Water?" A deep rumble filled the air as a wave of water began building in the distance beyond the now-visible sand bars. But, Jenny had seen it all before; she was more interested in the timer that appeared in her view at the first word of his speech. It was perfect timing that she couldn't achieve on her own. She couldn't perform any actions during the dialogue; but, her assistant could.
The team held practice the day before and their challenge was to defeat the four Elemental Quintessences at the same time. They needed more than one try before eventually succeeding and Jenny learned a lot. Despite the trouble from the previous day, she had a plan this time.
"Ah, a lowly mortal come to steal my powers," A spout of water shot up from the soaked san and took on a humanoid form. He was a portly, bald man wearing what looked like a robe made of flowing water. The tsunami-sized wave kept growing behind him as he took a step forward toward Jenny. "You're wasting your breath if you think you can convince me to change my ways; we, the Elemental Quintessences are only out for ourselves. We divided the world into four parts and each rule our own kingdom...," he said. He continued to ramble his scripted introduction but Jenny was more concerned with the countdown. Her nerves were wound tight ready to act as soon as the timer reached zero.
"...now, let me show you how we really use our powers!" the water wizard laughed. "To harm others!" The tidal wave rushed forward toward Jenny and she held her ground.
"Pleaseberight! Pleaseberight!" She cringed away from the oncoming wave in a moment of doubt; but, she kept her feet firm. It was going to hurt if she was wrong. Less than half a second before the ocean washed her away the timer beeped at 0:00.
[Bubble] a deep voice filled the air. She exhaled in relief as a clear bubble materialized around her. The wave struck; but, she already working on her next step. She queued another power-up build as the water swirled around her; it began to pull away again.
[Power-up: Multi-ball] the disembodied voice announced the Ability she queued. Then, after two seconds another timer appeared in her vision next to the first one she started.
"Still alive, eh?" The Elemental Quintessence chuckled once the water lowered enough to reveal Jenny again. Dread also stood nearby; but, she hadn't engaged the boss yet. The tidal wave did nothing to her and the villain himself didn't see her. "Then, I'm afraid I shall actually have to try to rid myself of you," he added. He raised his hand with his palm out and fired short bursts of water at her like lazers. They bounced off the bubble, but it was starting to weaken.
"Good luck with that," Jenny giggled. She dashed forward suddenly. She ran toward the villain with Finn swimming in the sand, right next to her. She took several more shots head-on before the bubble burst. By then, she was ready for the next move.
[Multi-ball] The voice filled the air along with a faint 'pop' from the bubble disappearing. Jenny became five teenage girls and each one changed direction to approach the water Quintessence from a different angle.
[Power-up: Invisible] she queued another power-up.
"You're certainly an entertaining challenge...," the villain chuckled. He was using both hands now to try and fire water beams at the scattering of girls. Water continued to swell behind him for another tidal wave.
[Gravity] the voice said. Jenny grinned. So far everything had gone according to plan. Each of her clones continued to dodge attacks without actually retaliating; they were just distractions. Finn swam toward the villain discreetly while the fight carried on. He made it to the Quintessence and swam into its liquid body just as the power-up finished. He activated it around him as soon as it was ready. Finn exerted a strong pulse of gravity that collapsed the watered-down antagonist into a single drop of water, then swallowed it.
"YES!" Jenny jumped in place; then quickly dashed further inland toward Dread. The wall of water disintegrated and the tide began to rise again slowly. "IT WORKED!"
"That was pretty cool...," Dread said as she approached her friend. "You and Finn work pretty well together," she added.
"Yeah, we do," Jenny giggled as Finn returned to swim around her feet. She knelt down to scoop him out of the sand and he became a node that she slipped into her pocket again. Then, she turned to walk toward the small white chest that washed onto the sand. She knelt and touched it. "And we'll be an even better team once we get him some more mobility; hopefully starting with this drop."
