Elin ran through the streets, dodging people who yelled at her. She had a pretty blue crop-top, with a thick strap on her right arm and short sleeve on her left. A black star was positioned in the centre, and her blue pants went to her ankles. She had an arm-band covering her right fore-arm, and her shoulder-length brown hair flapped behind her. Blue dragon-like wings were mounted atop her head for all to see.
"Hey, you! The girl in blue!" A voice hollered above the racket, "Stop! Stop in the name of Bonta!"
"Fat chance!" she hollered back and slipped between a bewildered looking Osamodas woman and Enutrough man. With a flip, she landed on a railing, slipping down on her bare feet. A pair of Bontarian guards dashed sown the stairs full pelt, just as Elin had vanished from sight.
"Damn it!" one cursed under his breath.
Elin slipped down a dark alley, clutching her haven bag tight to her. That had been too close.
"Where've you been, exactly?" a voice asked from the shadows.
"Getting the stuff we and others need to survive, dimwit!" Elin snapped back.
A familiar Iop stepped from the shadows, with a grin on her face, "Chill, girl,"
She had a shock of blond hair tied up in a high pony-tail, a red bandana, grey shirt with a red cross on it, and grey short shorts that went to halfway above her mid-thigh. She had red and grey boots that went to her knees, and grey socks that went to her mid-thigh.
Elin sighed and slumped against the wall of the alleyway. "It's been too long, Thea. How long will we go on like this? How long can we go on like this?"
Thea plopped down next to Elin. "I don't know, Elin, I don't know. Do you have any idea how to get home?"
Elin shook her head. "No, but even if I did, would we be accepted if we looked like… This," she gestured to herself and Thea, "I'm a freak even here, you're so lucky. You can blend in, but I stick out like a sore thumb,"
Thea placed her arm around Elin's shoulder. "We'll find a way home, I'm sure of it. Besides," her gaze flickered up, "Right now WE GOTTA RUN!"
She leapt to her feet as did Elin, bolting away from the figure that blocked any light entering the alley.
"You're not getting away this time!" the Bontarian guard from earlier howled, pursuing them.
Thea and Elin reached the end of the alley, and Elin banged on the wall hopelessly.
"Seriously, Thea?!" she demanded angrily, "Why did you choose here as our meeting place?!"
"I don't know!" Thea replied, sounding panicked, "It seemed good when I found it!"
"How are we meant to get out?!"
"Um! Um! Use your portals or something!"
"I've only known about them for two weeks, and you expect me to carry you through them?!"
"YES!"
"Fine. Get on,"
Elin hoisted the taller girl onto her back, arms out, eyes closed, concentrating.
"Elin!" Thea whispered, "Hurry up!"
"I'll hurry up if you shut up," Elin hissed back. She held her hands out, palms glowing blue, and launched herself into the air, which was hard considering the fact that Thea was on her back. She landed in a portal, emerging out of another, and so on, slowing climbing into the sky. She landed on a roof, falling forward and landing on her hands and knees.
"So… Tiring…," she murmured before passing out. Thea picked her up, pulled her onto her back, and ran, leaping across rooftops until they were a safe distance away. Placing her friend on the ground, Thea plonked down on her bottom.
Lying down on her back, she murmured to herself, "Yep. I am officially an adrenaline junkie,"
"Sir!" the same soldier that had chased Thea and Elin stood before a throne, saluting to his king, "The Elementals escaped again," 'The Elementals' was the name the people of Bonta had given the trouble makers, "I myself chased them, but the winged one can use portals, and used them to escape,"
"Portals…," the Bontarian king mused, tapping his chin, "Send a messenger to Emelka, to inform the Eliatrope king of this,"
"Of course, sir," the soldier bowed deeply before backing out of the room.
Yugo sat at a table in his house, twiddling his thumbs. 6 weeks since Ogrest. 6 weeks since Adamai vanished. Sighing, he slumped forward, only to jump up when there was a knock at the door. Pulling it open, he gave the usual reply: "Sorry, the Inn is closed,"
"I have been sent to fetch you," the man spoke, and when Yugo looked closer he could see it was a Bontarian messenger.
"And…?" Yugo trailed off, leaning against the doorframe.
"A couple of girls, nicknamed The Elementals, have been causing trouble around Bonta recently,"
"What does this have to do with me?"
"We believe one of them to be an Eliatrope,"
"What?!"
"One is an Iop, and the other has dragon wings on her head and uses portals,"
Yugo nodded slowly. "I'll head over,"
The messenger closed the door, and Yugo walked into the kitchen where his dad was getting ready to open the inn.
"Dad!" he called, "I've been asked to go to Bonta. Rogue Eliatrope running 'round, apparently,"
"Okay, I can manage the inn without you for a while. I'll keep an eye out for Adamai for you," Alibert replied.
Yugo shook his head. "He's not coming back, dad. It's been six weeks,"
"You might be right, Yugo," Alibert smiled gently, "But that doesn't mean you should give up hope,"
"Maybe," Yugo mulled, "Anyway, I'd better get going,"
"Be safe, son,"
"I will. Bye!"
Yugo ran out the door, flinging a portal in front of himself, launching himself forward. Soon he was just a blue streak of light, rapidly leaving Amakna for Bonta.
Elin blinked her eyes open. She was greeted by open blue skies with a few wisps of cloud rolling across.
"Hi, sloth," Elin heard a voice to her side, and turned to see Thea sitting next to her, knees pulled to her chest.
"Good, I was trying to act like you," Elin struggled into a sitting position, and looked around. They were atop a roof, people walking below them in the streets. A Pandawa was arguing with an Enutrough over something, probably prices.
"You missed a bit," Thea commented, staring at the creatures passing below them.
"I can only imagine. Oh, and was also an insult to sloths earlier,"
"Whatever,"
A streak of blue moved in the corner of Elin's eye and she grabbed Thea's wrist, pulling her off to the side. Good thing she did, as the next moment an explosion of blue light echoed where the girls had just been sitting. When the smoke cleared, they could see a boy in blue and yellow standing on the roof, hands on his hips. Thea was oblivious, but to Elin he was scarily familiar.
"Shit!" She hissed, "Thea, run!"
"No way!" Thea hissed back, "We'll say together 'till the end, you know that!"
"You have quick reflexes, I'll give you that," Yugo stated, dropping into a fighting crouch.
The red girl swung an axe off her shoulder. The handle went was the length of her forearm, with a blade on each side. With a snap, it opened to double in length and show two more blades on the other end. She held it with both hands in front of her.
The girl in blue slipped into her own position, knees slightly bent, and pulled out a long katana from behind her back. She held the handle in her right hand, left hand sliding along the blunt side of the blade. An odd position, but he had to admit, Yugo could not see any openings.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"I want to know why you're causing so much trouble around Bonta,"
"You have no right to ask that!" the other girl snarled, "Besides, you have the luxury of people knowing who you are wherever you go, you don't need to search for a place to shelter every night, or worry about whether you make it to the morning!"
With that, she lunged, axe raised above her head. Yugo rolled into a portal, just dodging the blow that cracked the roof from its impact force. He leaped out another, summoning his sword and shield. He noted with mild concern that he couldn't see Blue anywhere.
Red growled like a feral animal, swinging her axe with no regrets, delivering a flurry of blows that Yugo either blocked with his shield or dodged. He vanished into another portal, reappearing behind Red, sword raised. Out of nowhere, a blue energy charge knocked him to the side.
From where he lay, Yugo could see Blue vanish again. Eliatrope, help me now! he thought, These two make a deadly combination!
Red was upon him again, hollering something about death as she slashed at Yugo. He dodged, rolling away, only to leap away again when another blast hurtled towards him.
I can't keep this up! I try to escape Red, but Blue just keeps me hemmed in! Yugo was quickly becoming desperate. He'd fought Nox, Qilby and even Ogrest, but he was being defeated by a couple of girls that seemed his age! They had such good tactic and strategy.
Right, fight fire with fire, so why not strategy with strategy?
Yugo vanished into another portal, reappearing in the centre of the now battle-torn roof. He looked around, but this time something was different. Red was nowhere in sight, but Blue stood not too far away facing him, her head bowed.
"Do not say I did not warn you," she uttered before raising her katana with both hands, blade glinting in the sun. She leapt into the air, a silhouette against the sun, and brought the blade down on where Yugo was. He dived out of the way just in time, he was doing far more dodging then he was comfortable with.
An impressive clang sounded from the point of contact, and a massive shockwave resonated from the blade, casting Yugo back.
A flash of orange caught Yugo's eye, but this was a far more welcome sight.
Percedal leapt onto the roof, wielding Rubilax, who was attached to a chain which then wrapped around his good arm. He swung the chain, Rubilax flying out in lava form. Blue looked up, slight panic flashing in her eyes as the demon flew towards her.
"Hello, missy," Rubi cackled as he neared, "This is gonna be fun,"
Red flashed in front of Blue, blocking Rubi with her axe.
"It isn't worth it anymore, Thea," Blue hissed.
"Aww, Elin, just a little longer, please?"
"No!" Elin snapped back, "We gotta go, and right now!"
"Fine," Thea sighed dramatically, "We'll go, but you owe me!"
Without another word, Elin opened a portal beneath their feet and they were gone, leaving Yugo, Percedal and Rubilax staring at where they'd been.