Rattle 5.0

Chapter 5

Flame's POV
"Block! Attack! Block! Attack!" Bob shouts. We're training. He's using telekinesis to throw rocks at me, I'm blocking with shields of fire, then firing back with fireballs.

"Alright, that's enough for now. Let's take a break." He says. I nod and plop my head down on a rock, exhausted. I spot something out of the corner of my eye. I don't have time to think. In a split second, instinct takes over. Bob won't catch me off guard. A shield appears, blocking the pebble. But not the kind of shield any of us were expecting.

           A slab of rock has sprung out of the ground. Bob frowns. "I-impossible." He stutters. "H-how did you do that?"

          "I don't know." I respond. "But it's totally awesome, right?"

        "Yeah." He murmurs. "Awesome."
Emerald smiles at me. "I think it's magnificent." She says. Sometimes I feel like she's the only snake that cares, but I know that's not true. The others care, they just... I don't know. They do care.

          "It's extraordinary, really." Bob says. "My powers took weeks to develop, and much longer to master. How do you do it?" He's laughing; a wheezy chuckle, a glint in his black eyes.

This should make me feel proud, but I am a little uneasy. I don't know why. I finally have powers! I'm no longer a burden. No longer the weakling. I know Thea sometimes wishes I had died instead of the sixth.

Rascal laughs. "Bob, are you jealous?" Bob scoffs. "Of course not." I know I should believe him. And yet I'm not completely convinced.

          Thea sighs. "I'm going to intervene before you kill each other. Rascal, Bob, tails length. Tails length."

           Bob frowns while Rascal snickers. "Well." Bob says. "I suppose you'll need training with your new power. You're very powerful, you know." I beam with pride. "But it'll have to wait till tomorrow. We've stayed here for too long, the Hunters are catching up. We need to move."

         "Right." I sigh. Why do the Hunters have to ruin everything? We can never stay in the same place for more than a few days.

           Slithering through tall grass and over sharp rocks, under the moon and stars and scorching sun. For every two days of rest we have a day of running. We come to a rushing river.

        "We'll have trouble crossing this, but so will the Hunters. We'll swim across and set up camp on the beach on the other side of the river." Bob declares. Yuck, swimming. Snakes are land animals, we shouldn't have to cross rivers as we flee for our lives.

         Thea slides into the water first, then Rascal, then Bob. Now only me and Emerald are left on land. "It'll be okay. I won't let you drown." She tells me. "Okay." I whisper. The river froths angrily, calling for blood.

         I slither forward, and the current takes me. I squirm desperately, trying to push myself forwards through the water, to no avail. I stop struggling and let the fishless river take me.

       "Flame! Flame, wake up!" Somebody is shaking me. "Bob,  I knew we shouldn't try to cross the river! You know how bad Flame is at swimming!" The air is cold, but I am warm. How? I'm cold blooded.

        "Come on, Flame, don't leave me." The voice whispers. I groan and roll over off of my back, forcing my eyes open. "Emerald?" She grins. "Flame, I-"

          "How?" Bob murmurs. "How did you do it?" "What are you talking about?" I ask. "You were floating in the river-we thought you were dead. And then the river... it moved. A ball of water formed around you, and you floated out of  the river in it onto shore."

        "It was totally awesome!" Rascal exclaims. "You're, like, almost as powerful as Bob!"

        Bob flinches. We turn to face him. "Spider." He says. "There was a spider on my tail." Emerald jumps ten feet in the air. "Spider? Where? Where? I will destroy it!" She shouts. Thea chuckles. "There's no spider, Emerald. He just doesn't like the idea of not being the all-powerful fearless leader anymore."

Bob chuckles nervously. "Of course not. Really, I'm very proud of how far you've come, Flame. And in such little time! Astounding. Truly remarkable."

Thea smirks, but lets it go. I simply shine at the compliment and decide to ignore the uneasy tone in Bob's voice. I have so much power, I deserve to let myself celebrate!

A/N
Hey look, I didn't forget about this story. I wrote most of this chapter when I was eleven lol. Has my writing changed at all?

I think I might start publishing on this story again, but no promises. I thought I lost motivation, that this story was and always will be a joke, and that I should give up on these characters, but I'm at the mountain right now with nothing better to do, so...

Sorry for the run on sentence. It isn't part of the actual story, so I'm allowed to break the rules of grammar. I guess Flame's story hasn't been lost after all.