Dudley strained as he molded a mound of earth with pebbles still floating around his arm. Two days had gone by and he was determined to get Earth down. Jeremiah was with him( like he never wasn't) and Kitty came with Iris too.
"Just be patient and still.", Dudley thought to himself, "Like when I held my ground and Snaptrap charged me."
Slowly, he stretched his arm outward and the pebbles floated into the base of the mound. Dudley didn't flinch, but sweat was running down the sides of his face. Finally, the mound slid back below the surface and out of sight. Dudley turned to Jeremiah wheezing.
"Well done.", Jeremiah stated with a nod of approval, "You're ready for your third element training."
Dudley looked at his device which had the green and purple gems glowing. Which one was next? After a brief minute, the blue one shimmered and then remained lit up. Dudley felt a little bummed though he didn't show it. He really wanted it to be lightning this time.
"So now we go to Water.", Jeremiah stated, "One of the most flexible of elements."
"Flexible?", Dudley asked confused.
"Water has three forms: solid, liquid and vapor.", Jeremiah explained, "Each one very difficult to maneuver and even harder to transmute."
The way he made Water sound, Dudley was getting a major headache. Jeremiah saw this and quickly handed him some aspirin and a glass of water. After Dudley swallowed his aspirin, he felt much better. Jeremiah set his device to Water also while Iris and Kitty hauled two large pots of water a couple feet away and stepped back.
"And now, a demonstration.", Jeremiah stated.
Dudley observed as Jeremiah slowly lifted his hand. As if like magic, a clear column of water lifted out of the pot in front of him and formed a large clear bubble in the air. Jeremiah then turned to Dudley.
"Now you try. Keep focus and don't let your mind wander."
Dudley concentrated on the water like Jeremiah did, and it seemed to go okay, but when he got the bubble in the air, it burst splashing him and soaking the ground around him.
"I think you concentrated a little too hard.", Jeremiah said, "Don't get upset. It happens to everyone."
Dudley sighed as if he just been defeated, but he tried again. This time, the water from the ground and his clothes rose into the air and swirled into the bubble again. Dudley then relaxed his mind and the bubble hung in midair. Jeremiah looked satisfied.
"Okay, next lesson."
While Jeremiah was teach Dudley how to use water, Iris and Kitty watched as usual. Iris noticed Kitty looked a little down.
"You okay?", Iris asked, "You look troubled."
Kitty didn't answer right away.
"I don't really want to talk about it."
"You'll feel better if you do.", Iris told her.
Kitty sighed.
"I guess I'm just feeling a little left out. Dudley it seems is getting more attention than I am these days."
Iris understood. She could tell that Kitty really needed a boost in confidence. And she knew just the way.
"Hey, if Dudley can learn the elements, why not you?"
Kitty looked interested.
"You mean use the elements like they are?"
Kitty pointed to Dudley and Jeremiah who were now forming their bubbles into long whips and lashing the nearby rocks.
"Sure do.", Iris answered, "Dorian always makes more than a couple copies of small gadgets anyway so I'm sure he has a couple more to spare."
Kitty felt better right away.
"I wonder what my first element will be."
"We'll know that soon enough.", Iris stated.
A couple hours later, Jeremiah and Dudley were done for now and they had now turning the mist around them back into liquid. Jeremiah of course made it look easy, but Dudley still had a little trouble cause his mist hardly condensed back into liquid as fast as Jeremiah's did, but he got there and then dropped to the ground with a thud.
"Looks like he's reached his limit.", Jeremiah thought to himself, "Might as well get him to a place to rest up."
Jeremiah had just reached for Dudley and then paused. Almost immediately, he jumped into a fighting pose. Iris and Kitty looked concerned.
"What is it?", Iris asked as she and Kitty came over.
Without a warning, a blazing fireball soared toward them. Jeremiah had just managed to activate his device to Earth and shoot up a wall of dirt before the fireball got to them. The resulting explosion shattered Jeremiah's wall and waking Dudley up for that matter. The cloud of dust dispersed a bit, only for a shot of water fire towards them. All four agents barely managed to get out of the way as the water sliced the ground and nearby buildings. They turned to see Damian with the Gemini twins on a hill nearby and Damian looking pretty amused. Each of the Gemini twins had an element with them. Byron had flames igniting his palms while Glacia had water swirling around her wrists.
"So you started elemental training as I expected you.", Damien said smiling.
"What do you want Damian?", Jeremiah asked, "You know you're outnumbered and outmatched."
"I agree.", Damian answered, "So I brought back up."
The Gemini twins both stepped forward and then they multiplied by three each. Jeremiah looked concerned, but Dudley looked unsure.
"Um, Jer are you sure we can take these goons?", Dudley asked.
Damien snapped his fingers again and all six Gemini attacked. Byron's copies used fire while Glacia's copies used water. Jeremiah and Dudley quickly set their devices to Lightning and Air before going on. Now this is where everything got chaotic. Iris and Kitty also jumped in and things were pretty whacked. Jeremiah managed to get Byron and his copies down rather soon, but Dudley was having trouble. He barely managed to get a copy down before another Glacia attacked from another angle. And Damien obviously was trying to cheat cause he was tossing dark energy spheres into the fray. Just then, Dudley stopped fighting and as all Glacia copies enclosed on him, he took a breath and set his device to water.
"You're going to use water against water?", Damien called out, "Lets see how much you learned."
The Glacia copies fired a ray of water as Dudley raised his palms. Just before the jets of water hit him, they began to swirl around him until they were forming a barrier. Dudley then flicked his fingers and the barrier fired off several tentacles of water which clobbered Byron and his copies. Jeremiah quickly caught on and fired lightning bolts which zapped all around Glacia and her copies taking them out too. Byron and Glacia hopped back to Damien's side.
"They've grown much stronger-", Byron started.
"Than anticipated.", Glacia finished.
Damien nodded.
"But you two did you're part. Now I'll do mine."
Kitty and Iris had just barely caught their breath as Damien entered the fray. Dudley and Jeremiah could take him no sweat, but the Gemini twins looked like they still wanted to rumble. They took a step forward, but Kitty and Iris blocked the way.
"So the sidekicks think they-", Glacia started.
"Can take us.", Byron finished.
Kitty then looked mad.
"We'll show you sidekicks.", she sneered.
Iris said nothing. She just got ready to rumble.
As Herbert was filing some paperwork, he noticed his window was open.
"That's odd.", he thought to himself, "Was that window closed a second ago?"
He hopped over and closed it just as he hear the sound of a paper file being slid across his desk. He turned and noticed a file on his desk like he anticipated. He opened the file which had only a piece of paper with two words.
"Above you.", Herbert read.
He looked at the ceiling just in time to see Jack Rabbit come down and sit opposite of him. Jack was a member of a secret branch of TUFF called TRIPLE( Troop Retrieving Intel Purposely Leading to Enemies). Quick as a wink, Herbert made sure the door was closed( which it was) and the binds over the window were closed as well before starting with Jack.
"What's up?", Herbert asked.
"Bad news.", Jack informed, "OMEGA is already on the move. I'm too familiar around their familiar parts so I had to get out while I could. I did manage to dig up some information, but not much to go on."
He pulled out a different file and handed it to Herbert. Herbert opened it and read the contents.
"We're not going to mention this to anyone are we?", Herbert asked.
"Best not.", Jack agreed, "Zero is already suspecting me of double crossing him. Besides Dudley and Kitty can figure this out on their own."
Just then, they heard the sound of the Tuffmobile pulling into the parking lot downstairs.
"Jack, you best get a move on.", Herbert said.
He opened a secret hatch in the floor and Jack stood at the edge.
"Best of luck.", Jack said as he gave a salute and dropped into the hatch which closed behind him.
Herbert quickly hid the folder Jack gave him in a drawer in his desk and had just made it back into the main room on his special cart when Dudley and Kitty came in.
"Agents, where have you been all day?", he asked them.
"Sorry chief.", Kitty said, "Dudley is just learning the element of water and we got interrupted when Zero's goons showed up and wanted to throw down."
Dudley clenched his fist.
"I was just about to get it too.", he grumbled, "But I'll get there."
Kitty put a hand on Dudley's shoulder.
"Calm down Dudley. We chased Damien and the Gemini off and I doubt they'll show up anytime soon."
Dudley tried to calm down. He knew Kitty was right and he had come so far in his Water training that he was sure he had it.
The next couple of days, Dudley worked very hard with Jeremiah on Water. He got the liquid part down( kind of) and he was working on the solid form.
"Do I need to move the ice?", Dudley asked as he strained to hold a block of ice the size of a minivan on the line Jeremiah drew in the dirt.
"You want to master water?", Jeremiah answered, "Then you will stop complaining and focus on what you should be doing."
Dudley and Jeremiah were in the park alone this time and that put a lot of pressure on Dudley's confidence. Still he didn't give up and slowly, the ice began to melt. When it did, Jeremiah gave a nod and Dudley then shifted to liquid bending an the block dissolved into a long clear stream that circled Dudley's entire body. When the water slithered back into Dudley's device, the red gem lit up and stayed lit.
"Let me guess. Fire?", Dudley asked Jeremiah.
Jeremiah's smile was all Dudley had to see to know that he was right.
"Now this element will be most interesting.", Jeremiah stated.
Dudley watched as Jeremiah put a torch in the middle of a circle on the ground and lit it.
"Now, what is fire?", Jeremiah asked.
"A destructive force that kills things in it's way?", Dudley guessed.
"Partly true.", Jeremiah stated, "Fire doesn't always bring death."
Jeremiah put his palm out and a flicker of flame sparked and formed a flame that covered it. Dudley followed suite and then he looked interested.
"It's almost like a little heart."
No sooner had he finished, Dudley's flame began shrinking and growing dimmer.
"Why is it getting smaller?", Dudley asked.
"Because it's dying.", Jeremiah said calmly, "Fire needs to be maintained to survive."
Dudley's flame was almost out and Jeremiah's was still flowing smoothly.
"How do you keep your flame alive?", Dudley asked.
"I feed it.", Jeremiah answered.
Dudley looked confused so Jeremiah continued.
"Fire needs to eat like you and me. But it eats the thing we can't."
Dudley was still stumped.
"What's that?", he asked.
Jeremiah raised an eyebrow.
"It's all around you."
Dudley looked around. Nothing but grass a few trees and clear skies.
"I don't see it."
Jeremiah's expression didn't fade.
"Of course you can't see it."
Then Dudley smiled.
"Wait. It's air isn't it?"
Dudley tried siphoning air and sure enough, his flame got bigger until it was covering his palm like before. Unfortunately though, Dudley got a little carried away cause that was when his flame continued growing. Jeremiah just stood there and watched with his eyebrow still raised as Dudley stopped siphoning and the flame halted.
"Alright. Next lesson."
By the end of the day, Dudley was collapsed on a bench wheezing and out of breath.
"Who...knew...that fire...was...this hard?", he gasped.
Jeremiah handed him a wet towel and he wiped his forehead.
"You almost caused a massive inferno to erupt which could burn down the park.", Jeremiah stated, "You're just lucky I was nearby to halt it."
By now Dudley caught his breath and was more focused.
"How can something so destructive be required?"
"Nature is about balance.", Jeremiah stated, "The creative and destructive forces rely on each other to keep everything stable."
Dudley was completely lost so Jeremiah continued.
"Let me explain it like this: the elements are like parts of a whole. Earth provides the physical shell, Air provides the flow to keep everything clear, Water keeps things flowing, Fire provides the warmth needed to stay hard, and Lightning is the current that keeps it all together."
"Like five parts of one body?", Dudley guessed.
"Exactly.", Jeremiah stated, "The elements depend on each other like a team. Fire helps Air by evaporating Water, Earth prevents Fire from spreading with Water's aid, and so on."
Dudley's eyes were wide with interest.
"But be warned.", Jeremiah said with a look of concern, "Even though these forces are natural, the slightest change in the balance can lead to disastrous results. Each element must be maintained to ensure that Nature doesn't fall."
Dudley got that point alright.
"Can we go to Dessert Island?", he asked.
Dessert Island was a buffet that Dudley liked going to cause they served desserts in all kinds. Jeremiah smile got bigger.
"Well you've been hard at work with Fire so I can take you."
"No sweets before dinner."
Dudley and Jeremiah turned to see Dudley's mom Peg Puppy walk out from behind a bush.
"Mrs. Puppy.", Jeremiah said quite surprised, "How long have you been over there?"
"Long enough.", Peg answered, "My baby knows that he's not allowed to eat sweets before dinner."
Dudley groaned.
"Mom.", he whined, "They close at five. I thought we talked about my "man space" already."
Now Jeremiah looked perplexed.
"Don't you mean your personal space?"
Peg knew what her son ment. Some time ago, Snaptrap lured all the moms in Petropolis to a phony shoe sale and tried to ship them off. Fortunately, Dudley and Kitty stopped him and things settled afterward. Jeremiah then turned to Peg.
So why are you out here?"
"I came to pick my baby up.", Peg stated.
Dudley didn't look too thrilled.
"Mom, I can drive home just fine. I'll head home shortly."
"No food stops on the way this time?", Peg asked with a skeptical look on her face.
Yes Mom.", Dudley answered, "I'll be home before six."
Peg walked off, but then she turned around.
"By the way, are you using elements of nature?"
Dudley looked nervous, but Jeremiah beat him to responding.
"As a matter of fact we are. Fortunately your son won't be using them without proper authorization and careful coaching so you don't need to worry about anyone getting hurt."
That calmed Peg down and she went on her way. The day was getting late and since it was four in the afternoon, Dudley and Jeremiah called it a day.