The Slowpoke Square

Quinci burst out of the door, just as the bell rang. Shelly and Bell followed close behind. Quinci smashed open the door to the orchestra room to get her violin. She pulled out her violin and charged out. She was just about to get to the end when her water bottle fell out of her bag. Quinci groaned and picked up her bottle just as Bell and Shell charged ahead of her. Quinci finally reached the end.

"I got first!" Bell dabbed.

Shelly leaped onto the concrete square tile, and yelled, "Second!"

"If it wasn't for my water bottle, then I would've gotten first!" Quinci stomped to the tile, getting third. She glared angrily at her water bottle. The water grew warm at her touch, and bubbles grew inside of it.

Ravisu past the gate and made her way to the tile as well. She glanced at Quinci, who was making more threats at her water bottle. Ravisu didn't even ask what had happened.

"Hey, at least you're not slowpoke," Shelly said, shrugging.

"I will get revenge on you, water bottle," Quinci threatened, pointing at her water bottle with malice. "REVENGE!"

And with that, the water bottle exploded, sending scalding hot water flying everywhere.

"Ah!" Ravisu screamed, ducking down. Water splashed onto her backpack, and then slid down in droplets. "What was that for?"

"Sorry," Quinci apologized. "I didn't mean to..."

"Quinci," Shelly said, shaking water out of her hair, "Please try not to get TRIGGERED at a water bottle again! Because when you do, you make everyone else triggered at YOU!"

Rudia and Cheese walked in. "So, what did we mis-" Cheese stopped, noticing the drenched friends.

"Quinci blew up her water bottle," Bell sighed. "Again."

"Hey, at least it wasn't the tenth water bottle," Shelly said, sighing. She sat down onto the pavement.

"Actually," Ravisu corrected. "It was her tenth water bottle."

"Oh," Shelly realized. "Well at least it wasn't her eleventh!"

Ravisu stared at her and shook her head.


"Mooom!" Quinci pushed open her door. Her sister, Ollie, looked over at her from the kitchen table. "I exploded my water bottle, again!" Candela walked down the stairs, and rolled her eyes. "Again? What is this, the bazillionth?"

"No, it was the tenth," Quinci answered, and showed her the broken plastic.

"You know what?" Candela decided. "No more water bottles for you. You have to drink school water from now on."

"NoooOOOOooOOOoOOOOOOooOOO!" Quinci crumpled to the floor, "WHYYyyYYYYyyy?" She screamed at the sky. "WhyyyyYY?!"

Everyone at school knew that the fountain water tasted horrible. Plus, the fountains were covered with 8th grader graffiti, and old gum.

"Quinci! Please stop," Candela said. "It's nothing to cry about."

"But, it's not my fault! It just keeps on happening!"

"Uh, yes it IS your fault." Candela shook her head. "You have to have more control over your powers!" At the end of the war, Moltres and Articuno, in order to revive Quinci and Shelly from Raichu's attack, gave each one of them part of their spirit. Therefore, even though the entirety of Moltres' spirit was not in Quinci, Quinci was still able to produce fire. However, she had lost the ability to fly.

"But I never had a teacher or something!" Quinci said, "And you never let me watch Avatar the Last Airbender!"

"Hmm," Candela asked, "Who has?"

"Shelly, Bell... oh, and Ravisu." Quinci replied.

"Since I won't let you, then just have them tell you how!" Candela said.


"Uh," Bell leaned on her umbrella, and looked around. She was in an open field of grass. To her right was a sidewalk, and past that, a lake filled with geese and duck. In front was a distant park, and Quinci with a stack of plastic water bottles. Behind her was more grass, while to the left, there was more grass, but also Ravisu and Shelly at her side. Overhead, the sky was pastel blue.

"You want us to teach you how to control your fire?" Bell asked Quinci.

"Yeah!" Quinci said, "I don't want to watch Avatar, so you guys tell me!"

"Well," Shelly said, "Bending, at first, was an ability given to humans by the lion turtles, as a way to protect themselves when they hunted food in the wild. The humans lived on the lion turtles in towns, and-"

"BORING," Quinci rolled her eyes. "Tell me how to bend."

"Fire is drawn from the energy within. Emotions are linked to the energy, but the energy is mostly your spirit. The energy travels through your body, the breath, and then, when the breath is released, it becomes fire and energy." Shelly explained.

"Umm," Ravisu said, "Simplified version: Strong feelings equals more fire. Less feelings equals less fire."

"Oh," Quinci said. "Why didn't you just say that?"

"I did-" Shelly said, but Bell cut her off.

"Give it a try Quinci," Bell interrupted. She picked up one of the water bottles, and handed it to Quinci. Quinci closed her eyes, and thought about the stupid water bottle that had caused her to be third. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, she thought with malice, I hate you, I hate you, I HATE you!

The water bottle grew hot, and then burst open like before. Water flew everywhere, like someone had smashed a pot of hot tea on the ground. Bell pulled out her umbrella and shielded herself and Ravisu. Shelly froze the water into snowflakes, which she let fall to the ground.

"We already know that you CAN EXPLODE THINGS. Try something calmer," Ravisu suggested, as Bell closed up the umbrella. "Like, try to produce a flame in midair or something that will NOT explode?"

"Fine," Quinci relented. She closed her eyes again and concentrated. She held her right hand in front of her, and breathed out. A flame appeared, and Quinci opened her eyes.

"Yay!" Quinci said, "Now what?"

"Ooh!" Bell said. "Juggle it!" So Quinci created two more flames in her hand, and threw the first one in the air. Then the second. The third stayed in her palm.

The first flame sailed too high, and Quinci reached to catch it again. But just as she was about to grab it, it turned to ashes. The second she quickly caught, but it slipped through her fingers and also turned to ash.

"Sorry, I failed at juggling at PE," Quinci explained.

"Um," Ravisu suggested. "Try again?"

"No," Shelly said. "The problem here is not that Quinci is unable to summon fire, but the fact that she is unable to control it."

"So what," Quinci rolled her eyes. "I get super mad, and we see how it turns out?"

"Sort of," Shelly said, and she raised her hands. "We'll duel."