The Fourtitude: A Narrative of Naivety

Familiar Stranger, Should I Know Your Name?

It took about a half hour at full speed, but eventually they got to Gritshire. "It's the Trio! And, uh, that girl who was there too!" The mayor happily exclaimed.

"Huh? Oh, heh heh. You're finally here! It was getting kinda boring, if I'm honest." Mattgik stomped over to the four. "Finally, I can use my magic to destroy people! Especially new kids like you, August!"

"...M-Matt? Matt Ferrew?" August fell off the hoverboard in shock. He walked up to Matt, but as he did, Matt used his wand and grew thrice the size he was before!

"It's been a while, Trio! But now I can eradicate you by my own means, as well as on EI's behalf!" Matt kicked over a building, not caring what it was or if people were still in there.

"Y-you'll be disappointed if you think you can take us!" Kylah readied her snow.

"Ohoho, what do you think you're gonna do to me? The most powerful person here?" Matt pushed down another building, this time with people running out of it in a huge panic. "Were you planning on throwing dirt?"

"Not quite!" Kylah threw the snow at Matt, freezing him from head to toe. "Yes! See guys? I can help!"

"Indeed you can! And so can we!" two people said from the other side of the building. Suddenly, two beams came from the building, putting a portal under Matt and one above him. He fell through, gaining magnificent speed, but then the portal below him disappeared, and he crashed to the ground.

"Gah... ugh... I can just... reach... my wand..." Matt reached with his only limb that wasn't broken to teleport away.

"Who did that?" Jackson looked around the scene in confusion. "I thought everyone else was gone already..."

"Thankfully, they are." Someone said from the roof of a house. He jumped down and landed perfectly unharmed, something that didn't even look possible from that height. "We're Max and Valentine. We're glad you're here, Trio. And especially you, Kylah. Finally someone can test this machine for us."

"You're the Max and Valentine! Oh my God..." Kylah couldn't believe who was standing in front of her. "Thank you so much for these gloves! They're really awesome!"

"We're working on boots to, uh, well... to boot! They can turn the terrain into ice! It's crazy powerful!" Max excitedly inspected her gloves. "And if you press this button..." Max pressed the button on the top of the glove, and Kylah's hand started to heat up. "It toggles insulation. Just in case you need to, y'know, stay warm."

"Oh, thanks so much! They're so cool!" Kylah turned off the insulation, since it was Spring and all.

"You sir!" Max moved on to Jackson. "Take these glasses."

"Uh, sunglasses? Why?" Jackson was really confused, but still put them on.

"'Cause you'd look really cool." Max joked. "Nah, there's more to it than that! There's a button on the edge of your hoverboard that can make it go top speed. Plus, you still look really cool while doing it."

"I thought I could already do that." Jackson looked at his board, confused even more, and looked at the button.

"No no no, you see, this is dangerous levels of fast, right here. That's why you have those glasses to shield your eyes. They come pre-packaged with the suit you can make but aiming your shots at the ground."

"Well, I know that."

"If you become more skilled at this, maybe you can even do things we didn't know could happen. Now, aim your shot at that ledge over there." Jackson did so, and the metal latched onto the ledge. "And now, bring it back." Jackson followed the instructions, but unexpectedly got pulled off the ground and onto the ledge. "And that there is the best way to parkour, if you master it."

"August." Valentine walked up to August, trying to think of something new. "Uh, ooh! Reach into your right pocket with both hands to summon any object your Aether has touched."

"Hey, uh, I had a question?" August interrupted. "Isn't Aether a place?"

"Well, yes. But this is a new element we discovered while working with it. We're not sure exactly what state of matter it is, it's sort of plasma and solid." Valentine explained. The four's eyes widened.

"Wait, you've discovered elements?" Jackson excitedly checked out August's Aether, just as August and Kylah were.

"Oh, sure! Well, just Aether, but we work with very little-known elements as well." Valentine bragged.

Max's phone vibrated. "Whoa! A half hour ago?" Max flinched, not able to understand exactly what was going on. "Welp, back to Fromone it is for you guys."

"What?" The four couldn't understand what was happening either. "Why?"

"Look. It's not going so well down in Fromone, you guys should go check it out." Valentine read his news app, which didn't give him a notification.

"Alright. Well, maybe Jackson will actually get to do something this time." August joked as the four got onto Jackson's hoverboard.