Episode 2: Em'bracing The Element
As Brace splashed the lake's water on her face, she giggled as she felt how cool it was, being able to feel the tickle of the wind that touched her skin after. As she continued to wash herself, rubbing the water on her skin, Zack looked around in the strange place he was at. He knew a number of things as of now. One, he was in a completely diffrent world. As his mind came to the second thing he knew about this world, he looked at his bracelet. The second thing he knew was that these strange bracelets control elements, and at least to him, there were an endless amount of possible bracelets that could be around the world. He looked back as he saw Brace sigh in delight, drying herself off with the brown colored tunic she had on. Zack found it strange how a woman that looks like she lives a normal life, wore something that seemed like a hobo's clothing. But it didn't really matter to him, seeing how they had bracelets that control things, they could even have trees that talk to people. Zack laughed at the idea of this, which Brace looked curiously at.
"What's go funny?" She asked. Zack just shook his head as he tried to keep himself from laughing.
"Oh nothing, heh heh." He replied, walking clsoer to her.
"So, who are you anyway?" Brace asked.
"I already told you, the name's Zack." He replied.
"I mean like "who" who? Where did you come from?" Brace asked.
"I'm from Utah." The girl looked at him strangely, as if having no idea what he was talking about.
"What's a Utah? Is that some type of food?" Brace asked. Now it was Zack who was shooting strange looks.
"No...I'm from Utah, it's from the planet I'm from." Zack added. Brace just shook her head at this.
"I will never understand Earth's people." Brace replied, getting to her feet and brushing off the tunic she was wearing.
"So why was that guy after you?" Zack asked, causing Brace's eyes to go wide. Now Zack was even more curious than before.
"Uh...I don't know. Probably ransom or something." Brace replied, hesitantly. Zack raised an eyebrow at this.
"Uh huh...well I better get going." Zack said, walking away. Brace looked at him a bit shocked, not wanting to be left alone.
"W-Wait!" She shouted, running up to him. Zack looked back, a bit curiously.
"What's up?" Zack asked, who had his hand over his head as he walked.
"Where are you going?" Brace asked, as they kept walking.
"Well I mainly plan on finding some way to get out of this crazy world. And if anything else, I also plan on getting this stupid bracelet off." Zack added, glaring at the bracelet around his wrist.
"Don't ever call it a stupid bracelet!" Brace shouted, jumping right in front of him. Zack grew a surprised look at what she jut said, and the fact that she didn't seem like the type to get angry that much.
"Uhh...sorry? And why should I be sorry?" Zack asked, giving her a bit of an angrier look.
"Because that so called "stupid bracelet" saved your ass back there!" She shouted, causing Zack to go back to a surprised look. Even though he could never admit it, he knew she had a point. HE started remembering back to the first use of the bracelet, like how he used it to scorch the vines that tried to rip him apart, or when he used it to blast through the rock, and creating a big enough distraction they could both use to escape from the place. Either way though, he was mad at the fact the stupid bracelet is exactly what got him into the trouble to begin with. Actually, now that he really thought of it, it was Brace's screaming that got his attention. He snapped back into reality though at the sound of fingers clicking right in front of him.
"Hey, are you even listening to me?!" Brace stammered, seeing how she was being ignored. Zack grew an angrier expression as he grabbed Brace's hand, startling her.
"Would you knock it off?"
"I just said, I need your help!" She yelled, pulling her hand away.
"Look, I don't know about you, but I want off this damn planet. If you were smart you'd get running too before that giant orge or whoever comes back to kills us!" Zack shouted, pushing her away and cuasing her to fall on the ground. When she lifted her head, looking back at him, he could see she was a bit saddened at what he said. It's not that he didn't like her or anything, but it was the fact that she got him into this place to begin with, and the fact if anything, that giant could be coming back for him instead, seeing how he messed up his plans earliar.
Zack scuffed to himself as he started leaving. Brace raised her hand, wanting to say something. But her brain clicked as she started to get an idea. As Zack walked, he stopped as he heard sniffling behind him. When he turned around, he grew a nervous expression as he heard the girl crying, covering her face with her hands. He couldn't tell if it was really good acting, or if he really hurt her, seeing how tears were rolling down her hands from her face. As he got closer to see if it was for real, sure enough, the crying got louder as more tears ran down her eyes.
"Look, I'm sorry. Ok?" Zack said, not wanting to see a girl cry. Her crying just continued. Unknown to him, as Brace cried, she moved one of her fingers, trying to see if he was buying it.
"Just go away! I can find someone else to help me." She said, pushing him away as she started walking away, crying. Zack moaned at the fact she wouldn't wait to listen.
"Look, I'm sorry, ok? What else do you want from me?" Zack asked, getting irritated. Brace just continued to cry as she kept walking. Zack could see the tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping off the sides of her face. He started to get a fricken headache. He couldn't believe how much yelling at her hurt her feelings so much, but what angered him more was the fact she wouldn't tell him what the problem was. He sighed, irratably, knowing that the only way to get her to stop crying would be to help her. "Fine, I'll help you!" He complained. Brace looked back at him curiously.
"You...will?" She said, sniffling.
"Ye..." Zack started, before Brace ran up to hug him.
"Oh thank you thank you, I gaurenteed you won't regret this!" She said happily. Heh heh, sucker. She said in her mind, growing a mischevious look. Her face went back to curious as Zack grabbed her shoulders, pushing her off him a bit.
"What is it I need to do?" Zack asked, wanting to get straight down to buisness.
"I need you to help return me to my father." Brace said, causing Zack to look at her curiously.
"Really?"
"Really." Brace replied, with a smile. Zack was relieved deep down. He thought she was going to make him to some impossible thing, like slay a dragon or soemthing. Even though dragons don't exist, he didn't know what to expect in a world like this. He looked down at her hand as she held out her pinkey. "Promise me you'll do it?" Brace said, sweetly. Zack sighed as he grabbed her pinkey with his.
"I swear." Zack said, smiling a bit. "Besides, it'll give me a chance to explore this world."
"Good!" Brace said, with a cheerful smile. "Cause my hometown is all the way on the other side of this world." She said, as she started walking through the forest. Zack just froze at what she had just said, still with his pinkey finger sitcking out. D-Did she just say the other side of the world? He asked himself. He was moving so still, all that could be seen moving was his hair being blown from the soft wind. He was screaming on the inside of his head, saying how much of a dumbass he felt right now. He blinked though as he snapped back into consious, hearing Brace whistling back to him, waving.
"Hey, hurry up slow poke! If we get going we'll make it to the first town by nightfall." Brace said, with the same smile she had on earliar. Zack just hit himself in the face, thinking how stupid it was that he fell for such a trick, now that he realized it was all an act. He suddenly looked up though as he heard Brace screaming. When he looked, he saw her being tangled up by roots and vines that wrapped around her arms and legs, before pulling her deep into the forest.
"Brace!" He shouted, running after her. Zack shrugged off the branchs and bushes that scratched against his skin, not even caring what was happening. All he was focusing on was getting back to Brace, not able to think of what horrible thing the guy he met earliar could be doing to her. It took him awhile before he came into the same clearing they were in earliar.
When Zack looked, he grew a confused look, seeing how Brace was tied up, with the vines wrapped around here arms, legs, and mouth, keeping her from talking. He ran towards her, seeing even if it was a trap, he was going to make sure that he was ready for it, expecting anything. He grabbed on the vines, pulling them off of her mouth, then untieing her from the vines. Brace breathed heavily, finally able to breath again.
"Thanks..." She said, rubbing her neck from the lack of oxygen. "But's its a trap!" She yelled, worried.
"Don't worry, whatever type of trap it is, I'm ready for it." Zack said, sounding confident. He looked closely though as he saw Brace's eyes widen, knowing that something was behind him. He quickly turned around, trying to counter, but he was too slow, as the giant guy had his hand wrapped around Zack's head already. He squeezed tightly, as he brought Zack's face closer to his.
"Ha! Found you you little bastard! Any words before I kill you?" The giant guy shouted. Zack pulled for a few more seconds, even though it was no use, before replying.
"Yeah, get a breath mint!" He yelled. The giant man started to glare at Zack, as he threw to the side, sending him flying by five feet above the air. The guy then punched his fist into the ground as a stream of stalagmites started growing in a line, heading towards Zack. Brace looked in fear at what she was seeing.
"Zack!" She shouted, worried. She them screamed a bit as she saw the giant grab her by the neck.
"Shut up!" He yelld. Zack looked at each of the stalagmites carefully, seeing how they kept getting closer with increasing speed. To make matters worse, since he was being flung through the air, he couldn't touch the ground with his feet to dodge out of the way in time. He then remembered the bracelet her had on earliar, looking at it angry that it didn't do anything this time around.
"C'mon you stupid piece of metal, do something!" He shouted, flinging his arm. He looked at it, gasping a bit , as he saw flames bursting out of his hand, hitting the ground. The impact was so strong, it caused Zack to rise a bit, narrowly avoid the stalagmite that scratched agianst the back of his leg, cutting it a bit. He grunted to himself, as he held the pain in, not wanting to make a deal over it, or the blood that seemed to continuously drip out. Knowing he had a pretty good chance of hitting the tree, he flipped backwards in the air, with is feet landing on the tree. As soon as his feet were on the tree, he grabbed a near by branch to stay on. When he looked back, he glared at the guy who was holding Brace by her neck.
"Let go of her!" He shouted. The guy just smirked as he squeezed his hand a little, causing Brace to breath heavier.
"It would be so easy to snap her like a twig. Unfortunately, I need her alive, not dead...for the time being." The guy said, chuckling. As he squeezed a bit harder on Brace's neck, only slightly, Zack looked back at the bracelet around his wrist. He turned his wrist a bit, noticing how it shinned as he did, showing his own reflection. Zack knew that he was in a tough spot. If he attacked from the ground, he would get a stalagmite through his chest. If he tried to, even if he did dodge out of the way in time, he couldn't blast the guy, seeing how he was holding Brace near him. It was at that time he noticed that the reflection revealed the clouds in the sky. Zack grinned as he got an idea, looking back at the guy, who got a confused yet angry look on his face.
"What the hell's so funny?" The guy shouted. Brace turned her head only slightly, wondering what Zack was doing.
"I'm smiling cause I figured out how I'm gonna beat you." Zack said, hopping to the ground. Brace's eyes went wide at what she saw.
"Zack don't! He's an earth elemental. Did you just forget what almost happened last time?" Brace said, sounding worried. Zack just smirked as he ran straight towards the giant guy, who also grinned.
"Idiot!" He shouted, punching the ground again. As before, the bracelet on his wrist shinned as a row of stalagmite started appearing from the ground, each heading for Zack.
"Now I just got to time this right." Zack said to himself, runnin straight towards the barrage of incomnig stalagmites. His eyes widened as he found the moment he was looking for. He jumped as high as he could, then blasted the ground just as a stalagmite had appeared. With the added advantage of the stalagmite, the blast shot Zack straight into the air, at least twenty feet. Brace and the giant guy looked at him, stunned, at his sudden plan. The guy's expression changed to panic as he saw flames enveloping around Zack's fist. Using his other hand, Zack blasted to the sky, shooting him back down towards the giant who was still holding onto Brace. Zack screamed as he attempted to smash his fist into the giants face. Added with the fire that was enveloped on his hand, it could've proven fatal. But Zack's eyes went wide as he felt the giant grab his hand, even with the flame burning on it. As the giant grinned, Zack saw that the giant's hand looked like a stone hand, protecting him from the flame. The giant threw the girl a few feet as he looked back at Zack, grinning.
"Ha, not so smart are we?" The guy said, smirking. Zack glared at him as he attempted to kick him in the head, which was easily blocked by the giant's other arm. Grinning, he threw Zack a few feet away. Zack's eyes went wide with terror as he still saw parts of the old stalagmite still there. He screamed in agony as the stalagmite pirced his back, going through his chest. Luckly for him, it was ony a few inches wide and only bout two inches long, thanks to the blast earliar. Zack could feel the blood trickling down his mouth as he saw the stalagmite that went through his chest.
"Zack!" Brace shotued, worried. As Zack slowly turned his head, he could see tears rolling down her face. He glared back in anger, looking at the giant guy who threw him.
"Ha ha ha! You think that you had a chance against me? The great Matsu?" He shouted, sounding victorious. But to his surprise and Brace's surprise, he saw Zack chuckling to himself, as if not even caring about the fact he was stabbed. "What's so funny?!" Matsu stammered, startin to glare at him. Zack looked back with a mischevious yet victorious look, knowing that his plan had worked.
"You really don't get it do you?" Zack asked, slowly and painfully pulling the stalagmite out of his chest. yelped a tiny bit to himself as he slowly leaned up, using one hand to support him, while sitting with one knee up and the other arm over his knee.
"What are you talking about? You lost, and I'm going to win!" Matsu shouted. Zack just shook his head as he still looked at Matsu.
"Correction, I already won by the time you ambushed me!" Zack shouted, causing Matsu to look at him a bit shocked. As he looked, he saw Zack's hand turning on fire. He smirked at the thought.
"You think you can get me with that blast? You'll just be stalling for your life!" Matsu yelled. But as he looked more carefully, he saw Zack setting the blood next to him on fire. Matsu's eyes widened as he saw a trail of blood all leading back to him. He panicked as attempted to get out of the way of the oncoming blood trail. But he gasped as he saw his feet were melted to the ground he was standing on. "What the? But how?!" Matsu stammered, seeing the blood get closer. Zack smirked, as he slowly got to his feet, standing a little crooked from his injuries.
"It was from the blood on my leg." Zack said, turning around and revealing the bleeding leg on his back. At that time, Zack was looking back as to how he came up with his idea. "I knew I couldn't simply blast you, seeing how you were holding onto Brace, and I knew an upward approach agaisnt someone with your size would be complete stupidity. Esspecially seeing how you can control rock, I somewhat expected you to cover yourself with it. So that's why I purposely got caught by you. I scratched the back of my leg a bit more when I ended up in the tree back there. Seeing how it kept on dripping, I figured what better way to attack you than hitting you from right under your nose. Of course, even with the amount of blood I had, I knew it wouldn't be enough if it was near you." Zack said, causing Matsu to stare wided eyed at his palm. When he looked, he saw the blood that got on his hand when he blocked Zack's bleeding leg. As he looked more closely, his entire right side was caught in blood from when the blood dripped on him. "And lastly..." Zack started. "I knew the blood would move a bit too slow to catch up on you, so I partially melted the ground below your feet, making just hot enough for you to sink into." Zack said. At that moment, Matsu screamed as the blood finally reached him, exploding on impact.
Brace just covered herself, not wanting to get any dust in her eyes, as Zack just stood there and watched, not even caring about the wind he could feel blowing agaisnt his hair. As the smoke scattered, Brace and Zack saw Matsu, on the ground, but not dead. Brace was truely impressed. She was surprised that someone who never used a bracelet before managed to take down a normal bracelet user, not to mention against an earth type. Brace looked back at Zack worriedly though as she heard him moaning again, falling to one of his knees.
"Zack!" She yelled, worried, as she ran up to him. "Are you ok?" She asked.
"Yeah...I'm fine...Go check on the big guy for me." Zack replied, causing Brace to go wide eyed.
"Are you nuts?! He tried to kill us! Why would you..." Brace stammered, before Zack shot her a glare.
"Check on him now!" He shouted. Brace looked at him a little scared. She's never seen him angry like that before, but then again being a teenager she supposed he couldn't live with killing another person. She wwanted to say something, but seeing how he was already injured, she simply nodded as she went back to check on Matsu, following Zack's orders. She was feeling really nervous, not knowing what to expect, but since the other guy was injued as well she sighed, guessing she didn't have to worry. As she looked, she saw alot of scrapes and bruises on his body, but nothing fatal.
"Hey, are you ok?" She asked, poking his head. She flinched a bit as she saw him jump straight up. But there were a few things unsual about him. For one thing he seemed to have shrunken down to their average size. Two, he had a strange look on his face, rubbing his head as he looked around.
"Oh, hello. Um...where am I?" Matsu asked, looking all around him. Brace was so confused, she didn't even notice Zack walking up behind him.
"Don't you remember anything?" Zack asked, confused as well.
"Um...last I remember, was..." Matsu started, before starting to scream as he squeezed his head. Zack and Brace looked at him confused for a moment. To Zack, he figured either he hit him too hard, or thinking too much gave the guy a head ache. Either way though, he knew that something wasn't right about it, and when he looked more closely, what he saw made him realize he was right. As Matsu screamed, Brace and Zack could see some strange shadowy figure resonating around Matsu, as if it was an aura. Brace stood in fear though as he saw the strange figure starting to float in the air. As they looked, the both gasped as they could see two round ovals on it's head, indicating where it's eyes were. It quickly rushed towards Brace, who couldn't move due to being frozen in fear.
"Look out!" Zack shouted, pushing her out of the way in time just as the spirit was being absorbed into his body.
"Zack!" Brace shouted, seeing the strange figure going into his body. Everything around Zack went dark as he blacked out, and the only thing he could feel before blacking out was his head hitting the ground.
Zack slowly winced as he started to open his eyes. As he opened his eyes more, he saw Brace right above him, starring down on him with a worried look. When he fully opened his eyes, her worried look changed to a smile, seeing how he was awake.
"Zack!" She shouted, throwing her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly. "Are you ok?" She asked, still hugging him. She heard some strange hacking noise coming from him as she looked at him curiously. She threw a strange look as she saw his head was changing colors.
"C-Can't...breath..." He said, breathing deeply. She blushed as she realized she was suffocating him, as she let go. He heaved heavily, seeing how he could finally breath.
"Sorry." She replied. She looked at Zack curiously, surprised he hadn't changed at all after what happened.
"About time you woke up, lazy ass." A mysterious voice said. Zack's eyes widened, realizing they weren't the only two there. He looked around, expectin to see someone next to him, but all he could see was the lake they were at earliar, the fact it was night, and Matsu sleeping.
"Who said t..." Zack stopped as he realized what he just thought of. When he looked back, he threw a strange look. "What the hell is Matsu doing here?" Zack yelled. Brace sighed, knowing this is one of the things he would yell when he woke up.
"Well I needed someone to help carry you." Brace said. Zack grew an irritated look, seeing how she was either too lazy to carry him, or that she said that he was too heavy.
"Don't play dumb, you've been eating too much fat ass." The voice said again. Zack's eyes widened as he realized it was the sound of his own voice. The problem was that he didn't even say anything.
"Where are you?" Zack demanded, looking around.
"Down here." The voice replied. Zack looked as he saw the lake, figuring whoever it was might actually live in the lake. As he looked at it, seeing nothing but his own reflection, he fell back from fright seeing his own reflection moving on it's own.
"Ahh!" Zack screamed. Brace felt a sweat drop behind her head, even though she knew this was coming, she wasn't expecting it to be that surprising. It was his own reflection that was talking to him. The only diffrence is that was noticable between the two was the fact his reflection had glowing yellow eyes, the same as the appiration that tried to attack Brace earliar.
"I told you he was goin to do that." His reflection said to Brace.
"I was hoping you'd be wrong..." She murmured. Zack jumped up again, looking back into the water.
"W-What the? What the hell are you? Or me? Or...whatever the heck you are!" Zack stammered, completely shocked at the fact his own reflection was alive.
"I'm you dingus." The reflection replied.
"How can you be me? I'm myself...or me... This is so confusing!" Zack said, rubbing his head from the immense headache he was starting to get. But as he did, he noticed his reflection doing the exact same thing, yelling from the pain he was feeling.
"Ow, take it easy you idiot! It hurts me too!" Zack just looked at his reflection, completely confused.
"Ok, one of you two start talking!" Zack commanded, switching looks back and forth between his reflection and Brace.
"Long story short dingus." His reflection started, before Zack glared back again.
"Stop calling me dingus!"
"You know that pretty girl? Well apparently you messed up my plan and now I'm stuck in your body because of it. Although I will admit, after being in your head, you got a fucked up life." The reflection said, looking like he was leaning back in the water.
"Stay out of my head!" Zack shouted, splashing the water harshly. Brace looked at him a little worried, not knowing anything about Zack's life since he came here, nor did she know what the reflection meant about his life. Then again, she'd rather not ask, seeing how angry it was making him that the reflection simply mentioned it.
"Well either way, apparenlt until we get the wish stone, I'm stuck like this and you are too, whether or not we hate the other. And trust me, I can easily tell we both do." His reflection added. Zack looked at him confused a bit though. He had no idea what the heck a wish stone was. He didn't really believe in wishes at his age. When he looked back on the week of the incident, he remembered how he wished his mother would come back alive, even though it obviously never happened. The reflection looked back at Brace, who was shooting a nervous look, as the reflection raised an eye brow.
"Uh...what?" Brace asked, nervously, trying to figure out why the reflection was starring at him.
"You never told him, did you?" The reflection said, causing her to give a blank stare. Zack looked at him confused. What didn't she tell him? Was she keeping something secret from him, like who she really was or wanted?
"What's he talking about?" Zack asked, throwing a stern look at Brace, who gulped nervously seeing how there was no way out of this.