Elemental

Always a catch

Hey everyone! I guess that last chapter was a little cliffy so sorry not sorry. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I've decided to do at least 2000 words per chapter becasuse it's better when it's not so short. Enjoy!

We still went to the Mele after the visit from Xander. I didn't want to contemplate what had happened. Yeah, I had about a million questions, but to be honest I was afraid of the answer. We picked out decorations and bedspreads, and lots of clothes thanks to Sparrow. She arrived a few minutes after the surprise. We decided not to tell her. According to all of the girls, she was really into gossip. I rolled over onto my side and looked at the field of flowers, now with a moon hanging over them. I sighed, wishing I could fall asleep but knowing I couldn't. My eyes stayed open as my mind took time to contemplate the past few days. I could control the elements. Most recently, I was selected for some kind of mission thing, which would determine whether I lived and went on to war, or instantly died. The second option included death, my death, which I was hoping to delay for a little longer. I watched as night turned into day over the colorful flowers. The sun pushed the moon out of the sky, and it glowed with beauty. I heard noise in the living room, so I went in. I saw Chantal working on a new piece of art. It was girl wrapped in earthy tendrils, clawing at the air to get out. It wasn't done yet, but I could tell it was based on last night. "That's amazing." I said. Chantal whipped around. She put her brush down. "It's not done yet." I nodded. Things were really tense and awkward. "Hey, are you ok?" She asked me. I sat down on the couch. "I mean, last night, it really must be hard. You're new, you've had no training, and you didn't understand what was really going on. Do you have any questions?" I nodded. "What happens to people who aren't selected?" Chantal sat down next to me. "They recive normal training, than go to the war at 16, like they're supposed to, unless of course they're not ready yet. Than they get more training." I nodded. "Do you know anything else about Xander and his missions?" She bit her lip. "Well, it's really confidential. No one is allowed to share anything. If you know someone who's survived the missions, they're brainwashed, so that they can't tell you anything. He doesn't want anyone to have an advantage. Is that all?" I had a hundered other questions, but I didn't want to bother her. "Yeah, thanks Chantal." She smiled a soft smile. "No problem." We both sat there awkwardly again. "Are you excited for your first day of training?" I gasped. "That's today?" She nodded. "Just wear something comfortable. It's not that hard. I can bring you to the sprout's section if you like. Then you'd be sorted into age group." I nodded. "Ok, thank you." She got off the couch and continued working on her painting. I went back into my room to get dressed.
I liked the way my room looked. It had a string of tiny flowers going across the top, with a green and pink bedspread. The theme was pink and green. I wanted to ask Chantal to paint something to fill the empty spaces on the walls. I had a dark wood wardrobe in the corner. I opened it. After looking around, and finding things the way Sparrow organized it, a settled on a neon green tank top and black capri leggings. I put on my converse, cause the sneaker store closed by the time we were done with the room décor. I brushed my hair out the best I could, but its unruly waves were hard to straighten out. I just ended up with it in a ponytail. I walked out to see Chantal in training clothes. A pale green t-shirt and short sport shorts. Her hair was twisted into braids. Harley had on a white and green striped shirt with a sweatshirt on over it. She had on gray capri leggings. The girls had explained to me that earth controllers always wore green. It had started out as a joke, but sprouts started doing it too, so it became a thing. Soon, fire controllers wore red or orange, air controllers wore white or gray, and water controllers wore blue.
Together we walked down to breakfast. I asked Chantal about possibly painting some things for me. I didn't really have any requests, so she said she'd take it into her own hands. Her and Harley talked about Harley's crush while I thought about training. I wanted to get in as much as I could because of Xander. Instincts wouldn't get me so far on his mission. Soon, we reached the dining hall. We all filled our plates and sat down with our friends. They all didn't talk about Xander, and I was glad about it. I just wanted to forget about it and train. Sparrow was ranting with Terra about makeup, the rest of the girls told me about training. A loud horn sounded and all of the elecontrollers left their plates on the tables and filed out. I walked over to Chantal. "Follow me." She said. She led me out of the door and to the the left. It was a pretty straight path besides two right turns. I locked it in my mind and remembered it. She brought me to a small outdoor field with some dirt in the middle, surrounded by a thick wooden fence. There was a group of about 15 kids standing there, all different ages. A tall, muscular man stood there. "Hey! Chantal!" He said and ran over. He gave her a hug. "Hi Adym." She said. "Who's this? Are you the sprout who got rid of the technocontroller?" I blushed. "Uh, yeah that's me." Chantal smiled. "This is Larabelle. She's rooming with me." Adym nodded. "Well welcome to the Earthen Larabelle. I'm your trainer. You've got yourself an awesome roommate." He winked at Chantal. She blushed and waved good bye. "So, Larabelle. Follow me this way. These kids have been training for about a month or two, so they have a slight advantage. I'll introduce you to them." He got the kids attention. "Listen up sprouts! This is Larabelle, shes new, so go rough on her. Don't kill her though, lots of paperwork." He laughed, and so did I. "Everyone introduce themselves." A tall, skinny girl with frizzy hair stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Hertha. I'm 17 and I've been here for almost two months." A slightly shorter girl with the same hair and skinny body stepped forward. "I'm Habaeba, and I'm Hertha's twin sister so same info." A cute boy with light brown hair stepped forward. "Detro, 14, got here 2 weeks ago." People went around introducing themselves. When everyone was done, he told everyone to go into their assigned groups. The 16-17 group, 14-15, 12-13, and Young. I went with the 12-13. Adym smiled. There were three boys, and one other girl. I recognized the short, Hispanic boy as Tem and the two other African American boys as Namben and Jexall. The other girl had very dark hair and really pale skin, she was Deanlia. "Ok, now I'm going to be spending most of the time with the 12-13 group. The rest of you, no duels until later tonight when I'm supervising. Try shape wielding. Young ones, try levitating, if you need help let me know. Go! No death please." He winked and walked over. "Ok guys," He said. "We're gonna start off with vines." He pulled up a string of dirt and with a twisting motion of his hand, it twirled into a long, snakey vine. "Let's have Jexall try it first." The boy stepped forward and gave the dirt a glare. He took a breath and the dirt lifted up in a straight line. It began to form a vine, then with a pop it dropped back onto the ground. "Damn." Jexall said. "It's ok." Adym said. Jexall gave me a glare. "Have Larabelle do it. Everyone talks about her so much. Let's she what she's got." I was surprised. I didn't know that people talked about me. "Um, Larabelle, you wanna try?" I was nervous, but I smiled. "Sure. I guess I can try." Jexall stepped back and crossed his arms. I concentrated on the earth and allowed it to rise. It flew up in a lump. "Nice vine." Jexall sneered. Adym glared it him. "Jexall, shut up. Larabelle, mold it." I nodded. It immediately turned into a perfect vine. Jexall's jaw dropped. I felt smug. Suddenly, a ball of earth flew into my head. My vine collapsed and a whirled around. "Jexall!" Adym yelled. He sent out two earthen sticks into me, knocking me over. "Come on, what've you got? Afraid to get in trouble? Fight back, town hero!" He smacked my face again. I sent a vine that wrapped around his ankles and judo-flipped him. "Guys stop! Now." Adym said. I straightened my vine and sent it at him. It smacked him in the stomach. "Larabelle! STOP!" I was suddenly pummeled by tiny rocks, scratching up my face. It took all of my concentration to stop them and send them into the ground. I stood up and touched my face. It came back covered in blood. "Some hero." Jexall scoffed. "JEXALL!" A voice yelled. Adym grabbed him and slapped on a brown wrist watch. "No, Adym please!" I didn't know what the watch was, but it was obviously hated. All of the kids gasped and gave him sympathetic looks. "Go back to your room. And don't you dare come back for duels tonight." Jexall slinked off. "Now Larabelle." Adym turned to me. "That wristwatch is the amount of time he has before he is allowed to take it off and use his powers again. Come here, let me fix your face." I got up and walked over to him. He scooped up a ball of earth and pressed it to my face. It stung and I let out a small whimper. "I know it stings, just hold on a sec." I nodded. When he removed the ball from my face, it was totally fine. My face was healed. Adym smiled. "Better?" I nodded. "Yeah, thanks." He made an announcement that he wanted us to try mini quakes in the secured pits. I wasn't sure what that was, but the groups all ran to another area. I followed them, but Adym called me back. "Larabelle, you stay here." I walked over to him. "You have skills. You're really naturally talented. That's why I figured you need less training time than my other favorites." Adym smiled in an in Adym like way. His form then began tto morph into a face I'd hoped I wouldn't have to see for a little while longer. A dark coat replaced his green shirt and jeans. His eyes lost all warmth and were replaced with the cold, ever changing eyes of Xander. His cruel smile crept onto his tanned features. "Hello again, Larabelle." He said. "Hi Xander, what do you want?" He laughed. "So hostile! I just want to help you reach your destiny a little quicker. You're too good for this training. You're full potential needs to be unleashed. This government won't allow for people like you." I glared. "What do you mean people like me?" He laughed. "Oblivious! Elecontrollers with your special talents. You control everything, because of your parents, or your grandparents." He knew something about my family. I needed to know what he knew. "What do you mean, what do you know about my parents?" He sat down on an earthen chair that appeared with a wave of his hand. "Well, I know that they're Brooke and Jon Rextin, illegal mixed elecontrollers." I cut him off. "Mixed elecontrollers? Illegal?" He made a chair for me to sit down on. I did. "Yes Larabelle, your mother Brooke was illegal. Her mother was an earth controller and her father was a fire controller. You're father's father was a water controller and his mother was an air controller. Each of your parents was able to control two elements. The government didn't like this. They tried to keep it hidden, but it failed. One of my interests, a boy named Rale let the truth slip. Silly me, my mission went too far. The government forced them into exile, and then they had you. They wanted you to live a normal life, so they sent you to the Nore world, hoping you wouldn't get found out by anyone. Idiotic, you were too powerful to keep hidden. You're illegal Larabelle. If somebody finds out what you are, most likely you'll get killed." I felt the temperature in the room drop a couple degrees, it immediatley flared up again after I realized my hands were ablaze. I quickly shut them down, although I nearly welcomed the tingling fire. Xander smiled and laughed. But I knew that he must be here for another reason, he didn't come here to give me my backstory. "What was the purpose of this visit, Xander? What do you want?" He stood up, so I did too. The chairs disappeared. "Why Larabelle, I'm here to give you you're mission! I've decided what I want you to do." A crossed my arms and looked him in the eye, hoping for an act of confidence. "Yeah? And what's that?" My voice wavered. So much for confidence. "What I want you to do, is find the technocontroller General Hireff." It sounded too easy, find a General. "I wasn't done yet. You have to kill General Hireff." My stomach dropped. I had to kill a man, like, end his life. "There's a catch." I glared at him. "A catch? I already have to end a life!" He shook his head. "There is always a catch. Larabelle, you have to kill him on elecontroller soil."

The end! Sorry it took a while! I hope you enjoyed! Please vote, comment, and follow! Thanks