Duel in the Pit:
Officer April had driven Daisy and Warra to Pristine Bay and rented out a personal motorboat to take them to the small, independent island out in the water. The shining moon cast a reflection on the water as their boat pulled up to the island that had to have been less than a half mile in diameter, within which they would find the Water Shrine. Two tall and thick stone towers stood on both sides of the island in front of them that were connected by a long bridge near the top and encircled from the bridge to the bases by spiraling stairs. A small and quaint grove was in the center of the island, but the island itself was for the most part a grassy piece of flatland that lacked any other features. There was however a small structure that resembled a cave-like shed without a door a little ways up the coast that Officer April had just anchored the boat to.
"I'll wait here to take you back after you've finished your business in the shrine," Officer April told Daisy and Warra as the two got out. "The ladder within that shed will take you down into the Water Shrine."
"Thank you for the transport," said Warra.
Daisy and Warra walked up to the structure and went inside to discover that the ladder within extended down into a shaft twenty yards deep. The vertical entrance to the Water Shrine was wide enough for four people to go down all at once.
"No two shrines are built the same way, are they?" Daisy asked.
"No," Warra said. "And that was by design."
"So in theory, if it turns out that we have to go in water while we're down there, would you be able to breathe in it?" Daisy asked.
Warra shrugged, uncertain of how to answer. "My respiratory system can separate the hydrogen and oxygen from water so that I'm able to 'breathe' air and stay underwater longer than the average person can. It's a skill only a handful of water wielders have been able to master. Unfortunately, the extra hydrogen in my body can cause an early onset of muscular fatigue if I'm down there for too long, so I am still susceptible to drowning like the rest of you."
"Well here's hoping that we don't have to actually go under any water," said Daisy. "I suck at swimming."
"Really?"
"The worst."
They leapt down into the dark shaft and made their landing in what was the true entrance to the Water Shrine. There was a dull ambient teal glow along the walls that partially illuminated a tunnel directly ahead that led into a door. They walked to the end of the tunnel and opened the door to enter a large complex. Surprisingly, the whole Water Shrine was so well backlit with lightstones that it almost seemed like the sun was up and inside the complex itself. The interior of the shrine was vibrant and colorful with a predominately red and blue color scheme. The walls and ceilings were predominately red, and the floors and areas that were underwater were mostly blue. Hints and chunks of yellow were scattered throughout the building. Several pools of water occupied the main room they were currently in, altogether taking up half the space in the room and looking to be of great depth. The walkways were narrow, and some areas of the shrine required traveling on bridges across the pools to reach.
Daisy and Warra went through the center of the main room and then off to their left, following the water element markings along the walls near the ceiling. The two elemental wielders had to pass through several rooms that all shared characteristics with the main room. In one area, a door was bolted shut and the switch for the door was at the bottom of one of the many pools in the building. Warra had to dive down underneath and turn a switch to release the door's bolted locks and allow passage through.
Passing through a few more rooms, they came to what appeared to be the door to the gemstone room. It was a grand door with several gears connected along the frame and two vents over top of it split to the left and right. The narrow passageway that led to the door barely had walking room for two people, most likely because it was offset by deep pools of water on each side that extended almost the whole length of the room. Warra guided a portion of the pool of water on his left into the two vents, but nothing happened. Confused, he then pulled water from the right pool and shuttled it into the vents. Again, nothing happened.
"I don't get it, this door should've at least budged a bit," said Warra. "I mean, this is the Water Shrine, so I'm assuming that water is supposed to go into those vents."
"Oh, try putting water from the left pool into the left vent and water from the right pool into the right vent!" Daisy suggested.
Warra did as Daisy directed. Still, nothing happened.
"Well that's odd," said Daisy. "Maybe this place is broken."
"No..." Warra murmured. "It's not broken at all..." He pulled some water once more from the pools, only this time, he sent water from the pool on his left into the vent to the right and water from the right pool into the vent on the left. As the streams of water traveled into the vents opposite the pools, they met halfway and ran through each other, seemingly sharing individual properties that each had that Warra and Daisy were not aware of. The gears alongside the door frame finally shifted and pulled the door apart to reveal the hallway that would lead to the gemstone room.
"Wow," Daisy said, impressed. "What made you think of that?"
"Water is meant to mix," Warra replied.
The door revealed a long hallway illuminated by neon blue and cyan lightstones arranged in a perfect pattern. They walked along the hallway of which the entire left wall was made of a densely-packed, cavern-like organic and earthy material that continued down and likely lead to an exit, but opened up on the right side to the gemstone room that was about fifty yards down below. There was no railing along the edge nor was there any means of getting up and down, meaning one would have to jump down into the room and then pull off some tricks to get back out.
The gemstone room itself was the smallest room they'd encountered so far. It was a square, dark blue room that would've been more accurately described as a pit, and was only about seventy yards wide all-around. There was a central platform surrounded by a wide, square pool of water and four smaller platforms at each corner of the room. The water itself seemed to provide a large portion of the lighting in the room, as it gave off a bright blue glow that contrasted with the very dark ceiling. In an indent on the wall they were facing near the bottom of the room was the pedestal upon which the Water Gemstone rested.
A creature sensed their presence and emerged from the square pool to confront the two Moirai. The creature took up a stance at the edge of the platform in wait with its back to the Water Gemstone. It appeared as a cross between an aged man and a frog, having a mutated face resembling a lizard and long, flowing fins where his hair would be. His body was covered in black fish scales and he had webbed paws instead of hands, a fish's tail, and red-orange eyes. The creature was large; about Athelstan's size but not quite the size of Bowser. Regardless of his mass, he looked equally as menacing as he did demonic.
"That must be the guardian for this shrine that Elkon placed here," said Daisy. "The Vodyanoy that Officer April was talking about."
"More likely than not, one of us will have to drop down there while the other remains in the hallway up here," said Warra. "There's not enough room for both of us to be down there."
"I'll go down," Daisy said in a hurry. "Save your energy for the gemstone after the battle."
"If you feel the need, I think you should be able to pull some earth out from the wall behind us," Warra advised. "Although it seems limited – since the shrine is oddly enough a stone-based structure – so use it wisely."
Daisy nodded and swiftly shot down into the arena across from the creature on the same platform. She left less than twenty yards between her and the hunched over creature. Despite his decrepit posture, he was very much alive and well.
"Are you it..." Daisy sternly asked. "Are you the Vodyanoy?"
The creature responded, saying, "Yes... I am the Vodyanoy... I am Vodyanoy." His ultra-deep voice was unfitting of his form and stature, but there was a hint of a hiss akin to that of a viper lost in his tone as well. "Have you come to die?"
"No, I've come to cleanse this shrine of fiends like you," Daisy replied, deathly serious. Her eyes shone with the ambient lighting of the room.
"So you have come to die..." said Vodyanoy. "You could not have been around for much more than two decades and you're already rushing headlong into your death..." The Vodyanoy's eyes were beady and unblinking.
"That depends on what you consider to be rushing," Daisy shot back.
"You're dressed in black and silver...so I have to assume you're an earth wielder, correct?" said Vodyanoy. "The last time I dealt with an earth wielder – I literally tore him in half."
"Well, try that on me and see what happens," Daisy replied.
Vodyanoy paused, intrigued by his opponent's lack of fear. "Interesting... All the fighters and warriors I've faced throughout the years revealed their cowardice when they attempted to face me, and all those that I have come across in this area in the short time that I have been around here were petrified in terror before I hauled them down to the great pits of the ocean... Are you made of sterner stuff?"
Daisy cocked a smile and got into her stance, as heavily aggressive as ever. "I'm definitely made of something; something you can't verbalize."
"Oh," said Vodyanoy. "Maybe so...but I can verbalize your...pain." He dashed forward and jabbed a paw at Daisy's head. The earth wielder made a quick spin out of the way and thrust the rigid back of her hand square into Vodyanoy's abdomen, then chained the counter attack by raising up her elbow and forcing it down into the fiend's back. She finished by bringing both fists into the air together and slamming them down in a two-handed smash attack once again right into the Vodyanoy's back. Those three blows were enough to take out a significant chunk of Vodyanoy's vitality. He tried to quickly slip away, but the moment he jumped backwards, Daisy leapt forward to stay right up in his face. With her right arm, she then initiated her Flurry Punch into Vodyanoy's chest. The string of punches came out so fast, her arm gained a motion blur. The continuous attack lasted a couple more moments before she attempted to finish with a powerful uppercut from her left hand, but Vodyanoy's reflexes were quick and there was enough of a gap in between attacks for him to dodge and move towards the center of the platform. Daisy made a massive whiff as a result, and then whipped around to regain sight of the fiend.
Vodyanoy began preparing some sort of energy attack, but got cut off when Daisy decided to rush him with her high-speed Crystal Kick she had quickly put together with the earth minerals and sediments from the hallway above where Warra stood watching. The aquatic creature sidestepped and backpedaled, only for Daisy to whip around with her opposite foot to attack yet again. Vodyanoy tried to block the kick with his arm, but there was too much force to blunt from his disadvantageous position. He was sent flying across the pit, slamming into the wall near one of the corners and tumbling onto the corner platform.
Daisy keyed in on the demon and leapt up to try and do the same arching punch on Vodyanoy that she did to essentially cripple The Crestfallen, but again, Vodyanoy recovered and bolted out of the way. Daisy ended up punching the ground, sending vibrations throughout the room on contact. The aquatic fiend leapt back to the center of the pit, and Daisy turned around to follow him and jump back to the main platform. The Moirai of Earth had not so much as broke a sweat, but Vodyanoy's stamina was faltering.
Be careful, Daisy, Warra thought to himself. You're doing a great job pressing your strengths to your advantages, but you better be wary of Vodyanoy. He seems like the kind of opponent who'd be able to neutralize those strengths and expose those weaknesses and gaps in abilities you've done a good job in covering up so far...
"You," Vodyanoy muttered. "Elkon warned me about you..."
"Hmm, he did?" Daisy nonchalantly asked.
"Yes..." replied Vodyanoy. "He said that you could be quite the bother. But regardless, I'm pretty certain that I've won already..."
Daisy cupped her elbows in her hands. "You've yet to land a hit on me and you look like you've lost two-thirds of your stamina, and yet you're saying that you've won. Yes, you've won. You've won the loss."
Vodyanoy shifted towards Daisy in one super quick motion and slammed his elbow into Daisy's chin, flinging her head back. He then leapt backwards to create some distance and breathing room. For a moment, there was no movement from either person. Warra held his breath, only to see Daisy straighten her posture as she tilted her head to the side to spit out some blood.
"That one was free," Daisy said with a dirty smile.
"What the hell is this?" Vodyanoy grumbled. "Earth wielders are some of the most boring opponents to have to deal with, and yet here you are fighting like you're of the air instead of the earth."
"Well, that's your opinion," said Daisy. "I'm not like other earth wielders."
"Overconfident little human," the aquatic fiend growled. "You think you're so special? I've dragged plenty of your kind down, and you won't be an exception."
"You haven't shown me anything so far to make me believe that," said Daisy.
"Oh, I haven't," Vodyanoy admitted. "But perhaps if I transformed..." his eyes flashed before he finished, saying, "You'd see how hopeless your situation truly is!"
"What..." Daisy murmured. "Transforming..."
"Yes," Vodyanoy said, practically hissing. "You see, what you are dealing with now is my base form that I stay in to deal with the typical human dreck that I come across on a daily basis. But apparently, I can't afford to waste energy and health dealing with you in this state. You're in a league of your own, there's no doubting that. I will admit, you're definitely one of the more worthy of adversaries I have encountered to date, but that doesn't mean anything because as you can see, I'm still standing here alive and well."
"Then transform already!" Daisy shouted. "That's just disrespectful for me to be trying my best and be wailing on you when you're not even trying yourself."
"Daisy! Be careful down there!" Warra called from above. "Don't fall for any of his mind tricks! He might be trying to bait you!"
"Maybe you should listen to your friend," said Vodyanoy. "I personally don't like transforming because it creates quite a strain on my system, but it makes no difference to me because the power increase...is well worth it..."
"Oh, I'm so scared," Daisy said, glancing around the room.
"What?!" Vodyanoy shrieked. "You've got some nerve talking like that to me..."
Warra looked on from up at the edge of the pit, anxious and uneasy. Something doesn't feel right about this creature, he thought.
"But you seem so eager for crushing defeat," Vodyanoy continued. "I feel compelled to give you what you're asking for."
Daisy said nothing and stood with a fiercely stoic face, her arms still folded, not sensing any need to put up her guard. An eerie pause ensued for just a moment, tension rising in the undertone of the Water Gemstone room.
"So," Vodyanoy began. "Would you like to plead for mercy and beg for your life? It sometimes helps a bit but not often..."
"Just transform," Daisy said with impatience.
"Alright," said Vodyanoy. "Here goes, you helpless fool."
Vodyanoy got into a power stance and began flashing. The room itself then subtly flashed in unison with Vodyanoy's flashing. A faint yellow-green glow became visible around his body and audibly pulsated. His eyes changed from red-orange to a deep crimson and gained golden pupils. His body enlarged just a tad, and his scales changed shade from a solid black to a shiny, metallic gray. Then, in a matter of moments, the flashing ceased and Vodyanoy stood.
"Now, let's begin round two," the aquatic creature said with a hiss.