by Ali House
Sighing, she moved away from the mirror. This morning was not off to a good start.
She walked out of her room and into the hallway. The pain in her head had almost vanished, although she was now becoming more aware of the pain in her cheek.
“Heading to the cafeteria?” a voice behind her said.
Kit turned around. For some reason, she couldn’t remember the name of the woman with the bright red hair and green eyes. She definitely knew this person, but what was her name? Kit tried to remember, finally coming up with the proper name – Akola. What was wrong with her?
“Wow, that looks like it hurts,” Akola said as she moved closer to Kit. “You’re going to have to get Eston back for that one.”
“Eston?”
“He’s the one who tried to knock your head in.”
“That would explain the blinding headache I woke up with.”
“I wouldn’t be too mad with him because the hit was a total fluke, but you should still consider revenge.”
“I’ll remember that the next time we spar.” Kit smiled and instantly regretted it. Putting her hand to her cheek, she made a note to avoid smiling for a while.
Akola nodded approvingly. “So, breakfast?”
“Yeah, I’m starving.”
After breakfast was training. The fact that they had been moved to Stanton did not mean that they could sit around getting soft. The group of soldiers gathered in the training room, listening as Kennedy explained what she was expecting them to do. There would be the usual warm-ups, then sparring.
Kit watched as Kennedy walked in front of the group. Their fight trainer always wore blue cargo pants and a black shirt, even when she wasn’t training. Her light green hair was cut short, making her orange eyes seem wider. She was shorter than her trainees, but she was broad and she was strong. She could take down someone who was a foot taller than her in record time.
The eleven soldiers were standing against the back wall of the training room, listening. They had long ago learned the lesson that when Kennedy spoke you shut up and listened.
Kennedy asked them to spread out so that they could start the warm up, but before they could begin, she was interrupted by the door opening. A woman in a black suit entered and walked over to Kennedy.
“What is it, Wes?” Kennedy asked, not bothering to hide her irritation at the interruption.
“I’m just checking on one of your soldiers,” she said, smiling. She walked over to Kit. “How are you feeling this morning?”
Kit was embarrassed at being singled out. “I’m fine.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to take you to medical to make sure.”
“I said I’m fine.”
She smiled again. “Would you mind humoring me?”
“Just go,” Kennedy said. “And come straight back when you’re done.”
Kit obediently followed Wes out of the room. They walked down the hallway and to the medical room.
“You were quite disoriented yesterday,” Wes explained, her voice soft and concerned. “I want to make sure that you’re feeling okay.”
“I’m fine. I mean, I felt a little off this morning, but I’m feeling better now.”
“Any confusion?”
“Not really.” Kit paused. “Well, I couldn’t remember what happened when I woke up this morning, but now I do.”
“That’s good. That was quite the hit you took. I wouldn’t be surprised if you continued to experience some memory loss over the next few days. It’s nothing serious, but I’d like you to stay away from training for a day or two. I don’t want to risk worsening your injury.”
“But –”
“If you want to train on your own or work with your elements, I’m okay with it, but I don’t want you pushing yourself. We can’t risk you injuring yourself worse. I’ll let Kennedy know that you’re exempt.”
Kit finally agreed. She didn’t want any special treatment because of her injury, but she’d never win against Wes. She had a way of explaining things that made sense and made it easier for her to give in.
Being excused from training would make the others think that she was weak, which was why she didn’t want to give in. Maybe her head still hurt, but it wasn’t like she was going to run head-first into a wall any time soon.
Ever since she’d Accepted and discovered that she was the Six-Elemental, everyone had been treating her with kid gloves. They were so worried that something bad would happen to her that they overcompensated on everything. Every time she was hurt, no matter how minor the hit was, they acted as if it was the end of the world.
Instead of going back to Kennedy, she walked to the second training room. This room was very different from the other. There were no mats on the floor or punching bags or weights. There was no floor, only dirt. Large chunks of wood were piled in one corner, with a separate pile of charred wood in another.
Kit took off her boots when she entered the room, feeling the earth against the soles of her feet. She was still angry at Wes for keeping her from training, but she couldn’t be angry about having extra time to work on her elements. Some days it felt like she was years behind the others, but she had six elements to learn simultaneously while everyone else only had one.
Taking a deep breath, she channeled her anger into her training. Anger was the best emotion for her to have when she was working with fire. The angrier she was, the larger her fires were. She’d reduced half the wood in the room to cinders before finally calming down. Next she called up earth. She wanted the floor to roll in waves, but she could only manage a small tremor. This was the most frustrating thing about her elements – she knew that she could do better than this, but it wasn’t happening. She wanted waves of earth to burst out of the floor, falling one over the other, but it didn’t happen. She tried again and again, but it only made her head hurt.
Kit stopped and sat down on the floor. She didn’t want to admit that Wes had been right about her health. Sometimes it was creepy, the things that Wes knew, but she was always experimenting in the medical labs. Anyone who spent that much time studying had to be pretty darn smart.
As she sat on the dirt, she wished again that she was more powerful. The Six-Elemental was supposed to be this amazing person, but she was just average. There had to be something that she wasn’t doing right, something that she was missing.
Absentmindedly, she picked up a handful of dirt and let it run through her fingers. Why couldn’t she do this? What was she doing wrong? She picked up another handful and watched it fall through her fingers. The dirt was breaking apart into small grains of sand, falling to the ground. She wondered how many grains of sand made up this floor. Kit put her hand to the ground and tried to see if she could feel how far down the dirt went. Did it go down a foot or two? Did it go down all the way to the bottom of the earth?
Suddenly she was aware of not only the dirt, but also the moisture in the ground. Maybe this was what she was missing, the connection to the elements. Whenever she used an element, she just tried to make it happen. It was like trying to pick something up – she thought about doing it and it happened. Elements were like muscles; the more a person used it, the stronger it became.
Kit leaned back, not caring that she was getting dirt in her hair or on her clothes. She was different from all other Elementals, so maybe her elements worked differently. Maybe she had to stop doing what everyone else was doing and try something else.
Putting her hands out to each side, she buried them in the dirt. She closed her eyes and thought about the earth underneath her, and all the individual grains of sand. She tried again to make the earth roll, and this time she felt it move underneath her.
Kit smiled and sat up. She tried this technique to make holes in the earth and then to push the earth up into a low pillar. The results were much better than she’d been able to do before. It was a step in the right direction, but it still wasn’t enough. The stories of the Six-Elemental said that he had been more powerful than six Elementals combine
d. With this new technique, she might be more powerful than a regular Elemental, but something was still lacking.
Shaking the earth from her hair, Kit decided that she’d had enough practice for today. Her head was starting to ache again, and she didn’t want to overdo it.
Eston screamed in pain as Akola twisted his left arm. Her right foot was pressed into his back, shoving him into the dirt floor of the Elemental training room.
“Give up,” Akola said. “You’re never going to win.”
“Did I ever tell you that you’re an asshole?” he muttered through clenched teeth.
“Many times. Now give up.”
Eston tried to push himself up from the floor, but she had him pinned. He tried to use his element to freeze her, but Akola twisted his arm harder and he lost concentration.
“Fine! I give up!” he said. “You win.”
Akola smiled triumphantly before letting go of his arm and taking her foot off his back. The rest of the soldiers had been amused by the fight, and a few chuckled as Eston stood up and brushed the dirt off himself.
Kit couldn’t help smiling at the sight of Akola beating Eston. Her bruise was fading, so the smile didn’t hurt much. Akola had told her earlier that if she had to fight Eston, she’d give no mercy, and she had done just that. Of course, Akola very rarely took mercy on the person she was fighting.
“Do you know where you went wrong?” Kennedy asked Eston.
“I agreed to fight her,” he said, pointing at Akola, who blew him a kiss.
Kennedy ignored the comment and instead told him where things had gone badly and how to avoid the same thing happening again, as well as ways to recover. Kit knew where Eston had gone wrong and, yes, the first point was in thinking that he could beat Akola. It was when Akola shook the floor, causing him to fall down, that things started heading south for him. Kit had to admit that some elements were better than others in combat situations.
Today’s training was about Elemental combat. Nathan, Saburo and Tanner were excluded since none of them had an element, so they were training in the weapons room instead. Nathan had his gun, Saburo had a set of two short staffs, and Tanner had a thin, long sword. Kit didn’t have a weapon, but she didn’t feel bad about it. She had enough to concentrate on.
“How was that?” Akola asked her, smiling.
“Well done,” Kit replied. It had been four days since Eston had hit her. Truthfully she didn’t care about getting back at Eston, especially since he was her friend, but a little part of her was happy about his defeat.
“Next up are Kit and Calypso,” Kennedy said loudly.
Kit took a deep breath and stepped forward. She hated that she’d missed three training sessions. If she was going to be stronger, she needed all the training she could get, and she couldn’t risk falling behind the other soldiers. Akola gave her a pat on the back as she moved to the centre of the room.
Calypso walked to the centre of the room as well, standing opposite Kit. The look on Calypso’s face told Kit that she wasn’t going to take it easy on her.
“Are you going to play fair and only use one element?” Calypso sneered. She had hair so dark blue that it was almost black. Sometimes Kit thought of Calypso as her polar opposite.
“Would you rather I use nothing and make it really fair?” Kit taunted. She’d tried being nice to Calypso, but it never worked.
Calypso glared at her. “Shut up and fight.”
Kennedy signaled for the fight to start and Calypso rushed forward. She grabbed Kit by the shoulder, throwing her to the ground. Maintaining her hold, she went down with Kit, sending a charge of electricity as they both fell. Kit landed on her back roughly, her shoulders stinging from the shock. She ignored the pain and grabbed Calypso’s hands, pushing them off of her while also summoning Fire.
Calypso yelled out as her hands started to burn. She pulled away and stood up, putting distance between the two of them. Kit tried to stand, but as soon as she was on her feet Calypso lunged for her, tackling her around the waist. Kit crashed to the floor once again, the wind knocked out of her.
Sitting on her stomach, Calypso grabbed Kit by the wrists and sent another charge through her body. Kit gasped for air. The charge was more than they should be using while sparring, and Calypso knew it.
“Fair?” she gasped.
“Give up?” Calypso said, smirking.
Kit brought up her right knee, landing it in Calypso’s back. Then she concentrated on Calypso’s shoulder, causing her shirt to burst into flames.
Calypso let go of Kit’s hands as she tried to smother the flames.
“It could have been your hair,” Kit countered, grabbing the throat of Calypso’s shirt and shoving her to the side. Calypso used her right hand to catch herself, stopping her from falling over. She grabbed Kit’s arm and sent another strong jolt through her.
Kit could barely move.
Calypso smiled down at her. “Give up?”
Kit slowly raised her right hand in the air. Calypso wondered if she was signaling her surrender, but then Kit’s hand shot out and grabbed her face. A split-second later, Calypso’s face began to heat up.
“Bitch!” she yelled, shoving Kit’s arm away. She raised her fist and slammed it into Kit’s face.
“Calypso!” Kennedy yelled out. “Stop!”
Kit tasted blood in her mouth where her teeth had cut the inside of her cheek, but it didn’t hurt half as much as her bruise. Calypso had aimed right for it.
“Who’s not playing fair now?” Kit said.
Calypso pulled back for another hit.
Kit didn’t care about fair fights any more. This fight was going to end no matter what she had to do. She sent a cold blast into Calypso’s face before grabbing her shirt and pushing her over. Kit rolled with her, landing on top of her. She pulled back her fist.
“Stop it!” Kennedy yelled. “Stop it right now!”
Kit paused with her fist still raised. Obediently, she stood up and moved back from Calypso, who rose to her feet, scowling. There was a bright red mark on the side of her face where Kit’s hand had burned her.
“Sorry about your face,” Kit said, not sounding very sorry. It was Calypso’s fault that this fight had gotten out of hand. If she hadn’t been using too much power, things would have been different.
Calypso suddenly turned on Kit. Her punch snapped Kit’s head to the side, sending her to the ground.
“Calypso!” Kennedy yelled. “Go see Erikson right now! Starr, go with her and tell him exactly what happened!” She turned to Akola. “You, take Kit to medical right now and make sure she’s okay. And if any of you do anything like that again, I’ll skin the lot of you!”
Akola walked over to Kit and helped her to her feet.
“Are you okay?” Akola asked.
“I’m fine,” Kit said, trying not to gasp. She took one step towards the door and faltered. Stopping, she put a hand on Akola’s shoulder to steady herself. “Okay, maybe I’m not so fine.”
Christian laughed to himself as Akola helped Kit out of the room. He wished that Nathan had been here to see that.
Calypso should have been smiling at her victory, but she was angry at having been sent to Erikson’s office. Kit should be the one in trouble for burning her face or setting her shirt on fire, Calypso had only been defending herself.
She hated that Kit got away with everything just because she was the Six-Elemental. That girl could burn the base to the ground and Erikson would still think the sun shone out of her behind. Kit wasn’t even a real Tecken soldier, yet she was the one getting all the glory. It wasn’t fair.
She turned to Starr who was walking beside her. The petite girl with bright yellow hair and yellow eyes looked completely neutral.
“Are you going to take her side?” Calypso sneered.
Star didn’t react. “I’m not taking sides. I’m going to tell Erikson what happened and that’s it. Considering your face and shirt, you’ve got a good defense. You didn’t have to slug h
er at the end, though. That was a stupid idea.”
“It might have been stupid, but it felt really good.”
When they reached Erikson’s office, Starr knocked on the door. The office had been Jermaine’s, but Erikson had taken it over when he arrived. The office was too small for a man of Erikson’s stature but it was the best in the base, and Jermaine had to settle for moving into a smaller room down the hall. It would have been much safer for Erikson to stay on Tecken, but he had wanted to see the Six-Elemental and observe her progress.
“Who is it?” Erikson’s voice called out.
“Starr and Calypso. Kennedy sent us.”
“Come in.”
Starr opened the door and the two of them walked into the office. Erikson was seated behind the desk and Jermaine was sitting in the chair across from him. The two girls moved to the side of the room and remained standing.
“Now why would Kennedy send you two to see me?” Erikson asked, clasping his hands together and resting them on the desk.
Calypso shut her mouth. She wasn’t planning on talking any time soon.
Starr sighed. She was used to Calypso’s stubbornness. “Calypso and Kit had an altercation in training just now.”
He looked at Calypso’s current state. “What kind of an altercation?”
“They were supposed to be fighting with elements, but the fight became too heated.”
“And why are you two standing before me?”
“I’m here to tell you what happened. Calypso’s here because she sucker-punched Kit after the fight was over.”
Erikson looked at Calypso, who had dirt on her clothes, a burn mark on the shoulder of her shirt, and a red mark on her face. “I take it that there was more to this fight than just training.”
Starr nodded. “They’d gotten each other pretty good before the end, though.”
“She asked for it,” Calypso muttered.
Erikson raised an eyebrow. “So she said, ‘please hit me, Calypso’?”
