3. Dark Sides: Tournament of Elements

Chapter 7 - Pier Pressure

Casting a few final dirty looks at each other, the two teams separated, fitting into a line with all the other masters to board the ship.

"I can't believe this," Seliel growled from where their team stood at the back of the line. She glowered at the ninja's backs as they neared the boat. "They must be after the staff."

"But how could they know about it?" asked Pixal, who Seliel realized had stayed quiet during the argument.

"Who knows? But they're all just like their master, a bunch of power-hungry monsters."

Skylor hummed in thought. "But they sure are cute."

Seliel whirled around, aghast. "Skylor! No!"

"What? We're all thinking it. Right . . . ?" She looked around at her friends' appalled faces and shrugged.

Nya face-palmed. "You've got to be kidding me. You remember they're our mortal enemies, right?"

"Well, yeah . . . but I guess with all the action last time, I never really got a good look at any of them. We were all wearing our hoods just about every time we met."

"Except when that Earth Ninja lost my first helmet in the Caves of Despair," Seliel grumbled. "He still owes me for that."

Skylor waved a hand, as if to brush aside their worries. "It's not like I'm gonna ask any of them out, I know they can't be trusted."

Seliel crossed her arms. "You've got that right." Cute or not, evil ninja were still evil ninja. And those guys were totally evil.

She turned back to the front of the line. The strange man was standing at the plank that served as a bridge between the dock and the boat, welcoming the elemental masters and checking for the weapons that they weren't supposed to bring. To her dismay, he let the boys on the boat with hardly any resistance. It looked like they were right. Mater Chen would let them keep the golden weapons if it was their only means of fighting.

The girls were quiet as the line continued to move forward, and soon it was their turn to board.

"Skylor," the man said as the girls approached. "Master Chen will be charmed to know that you have accepted his offer."

"Did I have a choice?" she asked dryly.

"Of course, Master Chen would never force you to do anything you didn't want to do. There are, however, consequences." And with that comment and a pleasant smile, he gestured for her to board.

"He's kind of creepy," Nya commented once they were out of earshot.

Skylor still threw a cautious glance at him, making sure that he really was out of range. "Clouse is bad news. He's my dad's second-in-command, and a master of dark magic. We'll want to stay out of his way as much as possible."

"So that's Clouse." Seliel nodded. "Duly noted. Now, how long until we reach the island?"

"Dunno, a few hours at least. We've got a lot of time to kill. What do you think, wanna scope out the competition?"

Seliel's mouth quirked into a smile. "My thoughts exactly."

. . .

Cole was not impressed by the amateurs on this ship. They all flaunted their elements in a useless game of intimidation, as if they thought they could actually frighten anyone else on a boat full of Elemental Masters. But he knew that there was more to intimidation than a show of strength.

"Whatever you do, don't show off your powers," Cole warned his teammates. "It's better if we save our best moves for later, to take our opponents by surprise."