Yellow Sun Academy

Chapter 10: Team Building

Alodia Darreth:

"Are we there yet?"

"No," I answer, fighting the urge to pull my ears off.

"Are we there yet?"

"No," I repeat, now fighting the urge to pull my ears and Hothead's head off.

"Are we there yet?"

"Do you see a crossing? Do you see something like a bridge? If not, then we are not there yet! Now, will you please shut up!"

"Alodia," Hothead yells.

"What," I yell, turning around. "What is it now? What do you want?"

"Incoming!"

Hothead tackles me and the two of us fall to the sand. Before I can ask why, the sand beneath where I was standing explodes, and something looking like a large, black line comes up. It approaches it, opening its mouth and showing off its sharp teeth.

"Yeah," Hothead says, reaching for his sword. "We're not there yet."

Holding his sword up, I watch as Hothead's sword catches on fire.

"Your gift," I ask, pushing myself up.

"Yeah," Hothead says. "There's a reason why I prefer to go Hothead."

Chadd Owen:

Jumping and flipping through the air, I curl into a ball, making it harder for the crustacle to grab me. Landing on the other side of the beast, the crustacle roars as it rotates. It shoots out its dozen of tentacles but I counter with my own wires. With the swing of my arm, metal wires shoot out from sheathes tied to my waist. Using my gift, I make my wire cut right through the crustacle's tentacles. The beast cries as it loses its arms. It steps back while I step forward.

Without the tentacles, the crustacle charges toward it. It jumps and tries to crush me. Seeing this, I swing my hands again, wires shooting out and hitting the ground. Flying back, the crustacle misses me. Before it can try anything else, I shoot out one of my wires. The wire moves fast, flying through the air and going through a tree.

"Hey," Honey says. "Watch it!"

As the wire pulls me in, I flip through the air and shoot out the second wire. The second wire swings through the air like a sword. It comes down on the crustacle, slicing the beast in half. The two halves fall separately while I fall back on the ground, near Honey and the other student.

"I'm sorry about that," I say, pulling back both my arm and the wire that was in the tree. I nod my head and Honey shrugs her shoulder. I turn when I see someone pulling himself up.

The student we rescued is coughing and hitting his chest. Once he's done, he gives Honey and me a thumbs-up.

"Are you okay," I ask.

The student nods his head.

"Hi," Honey says, pushing me aside. She smiles wider and waves at the student. "I'm Honey. This is Chadd. What's your name?"

The student doesn't talk. Instead, he drops to a knee and writes something in the sand.

"Shocker," I read. "Wait, Shocker? That's your name?"

Shocker nods his head.

"Shocker," Honey repeats. "That's a strange name. Oh wait, is that a nickname?"

Again, Shocker nods his head.

"Oh, but you rather go by your nickname than your actual name. That's okay. Well, Shocker, it's a real pleasure to meet you!"