Riptide Academy

A New Rival

The ground shook again as I bolted to the house. I didn't even bother to open the door and chuck my stuff inside; I just chucked it over the backyard fence and dug in my jacket for my key. Not wasting any time, I ran towards the source of the earthquakes and with my left palm I tapped my new accessory on my right wrist; with a little golden flash it turned into my morpher and outstretched my left arm.

With a flick of my left wrist upwards I l pushed in the cross guard on my key, and the blade extended.

Shoving it into its silt in my morpher I shouted," Galaxy Linked!"

A flash of gold light around me told me I had morphed. My lungs were about to exploded from the vigorous pace I set so I decided to stop for a quick breather and assess where I was.

"So, one of you guardian freaks are here!" Who even is this dude, "Why font I just leave my monster to deal with you."

"So, your just going to run away?" I teased.

His eyes widened in ludicrousness, "You? Ylot are a bunch of kids. You can barely take on one monster before being completely exhausted. Weak."

He even had the audacity to laugh.

His purple irises filling with excitement and his unruly black hair bobbing about as he gawked.

"Uh......-Creating a distraction!" I answered, grinning.

A shout sounded and fire ball shot towards him. His head snapped to Charli who had aimed a fire ball at him and then he jumped from his perch just before the tree brsnch was scorched.

"Hah. You'll need to better than that to beat me!" he chuckled.

Elijah put his key into his morpher and shouted something. A tidal ring of water shot from his hands at the guy.

Who's name I really need to get.

Ember rammed her key into her morpher and with a flash of purple light he was thrown by a thrust of her hands into a tree trunk.

"Ouch! That's gota hurt." Jaimie commented after she used her heightened abilities to jump from our friends- who were meters away might I add- to land next to me.

"What are you going to do? Give him a cage to run around in?" I joked.

Jaimie chuckled, "No. But I have another idea. Thanks for the inspiration though." she pulled out another key from off her belt and placed it in her morpher.

This key was a fully forest green Alexandra palm leaf and when she flipped the key, the palm fond base folded up revealing its blade and bitting.

Another flash of green and Jaimie called out, "Forrest linked! Vine entrapment!".

Vines from out of nowhere wrapped around the guy and bound him immobile as they rooted into the ground. Jaimie's hand melded into a mess of chaos and blur as she guided the plants to their exact locations.

"That is all you have? Such guardians you are!" he mused "Monster! Do your thing!" he shouted, and this shadow-like creature appeared.

It ripped the vines away from the guy and he started to hover in he air pike some animae character while his minion on the ground -demon thing- attacked us.

"Who even are you? AND WHAT IS THAT!" Charli shouted as she dove away from the monsters sweeping tail.

I just resisted the urge to sing the Jurasic Park theme song.

It looked like a giant shadow T-Rex.

"Looks like Jurasic Park has come to play!" Elijah grunted as he jumped over t he shadow monsters tail and narrowly missed its jaws, sumasluting to his feet snd blasting it's jaws with water.

"I'm insulted. I am Fejda! The destroyer of worlds!" a sly smirk formed in his lips, his dark purple eyes glistened, "Only the emperor of evil would have me conquer a new planet."

"Okay 'Conquer of worlds' guy! I don't know where you came from but this earth is not going to fall to you. Especially if you act like a weird. Like exactly that." Jaimie retorted.

She even waved her hand at him in a gusteure. Fejda obviously did not like it, he bare his teeth at her as he scowled.

"My Monster will destroy you before you even make it out of this forrest." Fejda scowled and disappeared into this air, his form flickering seconds before, leaving his demon puppy dog behind to finish the job.

"Did he just-"

"COWARD!" Charli screamed at the canopy.

"When did she get so......- fiesty?" Jaimie flinched.

"Maybe the fire element has an affect on her? You know, they tend to have quite a temper." Ember mused and Jaimie chuckled.

"He doesn't matter anymore! We need to stop this -thing- before it makes it's way to the academy!" I called out to my friends.

"On it!" Jaime shouted and dug out another key, this time mud coloured and placed it in her morpher.

The ground below it became a muddy quagmire and the earth opened up, swallowing it.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side." Elijah commented after the elongated silence.

Jamie chuckled.

"Come on let's go back. Lunch is bound to be over and we're late." Charli sighed.

As our disguises disappeared in a flash of light in our cordinated colours, I felt my body give in to exhaustion. I was so tired I could take a nap right then and there after collapsing.

Dinner time came around way to quickly and Kyia was eyeing us any chance she got from the teachers tables.

She seemed to be singling out Charli, who paid her glances no mind. And then me. Charli would always keep commenting, telling us to tell her if she was being watched. Our strength had come back slowly but we were still exhausted- just not to the point of collapse anymore.

"Night guys! I'm still exhausted after that battle." I said and shut the door to my room before taking a few steps to my bed and passing out.

I awoke the next day fully energized to one of my alarms.

"Anyone else finding it weird that it zaps our energy, both mental and physical, to where we're almost depleted but we're fine the next day?" Ember mentioned as she sat down at the table with a cup of coffee.

"That is weird." I yawned, setting the kettle to a boil.

"Welcome sleepy head." Ember chuckled.

"Well, we saw what happened to me on the beach, so I'm surprised we didn't see it coming. But actual fights must deplete more of our energy. So we need to work out how to stop that if we're going to beat that idiot." Jaimie called, standing up and making her way to the table from the lounge room.

"So, what do you suppose we do?" Elijah questioned.

He had just come from the kitchen and sat down with a bowl brimmed with cereal and milk. I couldn't help but shake my head while he scrunched his face at me, poking out his tongue, trying to playfully anoy me.

"I say...... We train." Charli answerd.

"Then let's use the map Charli got to find a secret space in the forest." I suggested, walking to the table.

Charli unlocked her phone and zoomed in on the forest on the photo she had taken of Howdys' map of the school.

"Hey? Did anyone see Principle Howdy on their way back?" I asked after I saw her in casual clothes stalk past our home in casual clothes.

"What?" Charli cried and I pointed to the window you could still see her out of, "Oh, she's in casual clothes I get it's a Sunday but Dam is it weird to see her not in her Principal outifts."

Charli uttered a quick, "I'll be back."

She opened the front door and we all skirted out of the line of sight into the house from the doorway.

Best not to let the Principle see you listening in.