Fusion

7. A Friendly Beatdown

I teleport behind Elemental and tap him on the shoulder. "Some fight, huh?" I say awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess." He replies.

"So uh, Elemental huh?" I say even more awkwardly while leaning against a tree. Get to the point, Jack.

"Yep, I didn't choose it. The citizens did." He smiles. "I guess when you have powers you don't always get to choose your name."

"Yeah about those powers..." I rub the back of my neck. "Could you pass the gifts?"

"What?" He looks at me puzzled.

"Ya know, can I have some of the good stuff?" Stupid.

"What are you talking about???" He gets more confused.

"Can I absorb your powers?" I say finally.

"Oh, that's what you mean..." He puts his hand on his chin, considering it. "Yeah, sure."

"Yes!" I yell. "New powers are-" He interrupts me.

"On one condition." Oh, great. "You have to obtain them in a friendly skirmish." Guess that won't be hard...

"Ready to start?" He raises his arms and plants his feet.

"Here?" I say. "Right now? In Central Park?"

"Yeah." He raises his fists and lights them on fire.

"But we might hurt someone."

"Guess you're right."

"Well, where do you suggest we duke it out?" I say contemplating what might be the best place to fight.

"I know the perfect place." With that, he flies over to me and grabs my arm. "Don't get whiplash."

"I feel like I've heard that in a movie before..." Then we run. Well, he runs. We're going so fast I can't even see where we are. Then after a few minutes, we stop and I feel the blazing heat.

The sun is beating down on me and I look around and see endless sands. Dunes are rolling over and over for miles. There's about a twenty-foot distance between me and Elemental.

"Sahara desert!" He grins. "Alright. Hit me with your best shot."

"If that's what you want," I say as I blast him with a cyan bolt of electricity. It strikes him in the chest, but he barely moves back. Smoke rises from the spot where the electricity struck.

"Electricity?" He looks at me. "You got a lot of powers kid."

"Yep." With that, I blast a fireball at him, but he speeds out the way and it explodes, sending scorched sand flying up in the air.

He rushes over to me and goes to punch me in the stomach. I slow time, but it barely helps. He's so fast that it barely affects him. It only gives me enough time to blast him with a gravity wave.

He flies back and rolls down the side of a dune. He stands up and spits some sand out his mouth.

"Nice moves." He says as a pillar of concrete comes up from underneath me and I fly into the air. I'm about to fall down and hit the sand when he shoots a white energy blast at me.

What the- Before I can think the blast sends me into a dune. I'm covered in sand, but I stand up. "Didn't tell me you could do that!"

I yell because there's a good amount of distance between us now. Then he flies towards me and I hear a sonic boom. Oh, crap. I start sprinting but I'm not fast enough and he tackles me from behind. He pins my arms to the ground.