A/N: thanks to all those that have read, reviewed and/or added me to their various alert lists. Please read, enjoy and if you like, review.
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Chapter 5: The Challenge
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The day was winding down; Emma hadn't seen Cleo or Rikki since she left to go to work; and Cleo hadn't seen Rikki since Lewis had gotten her wet. Though they tried they were unable to work out a time to meet for an evening swim together and settled on just meeting at the moon pool. Rikki had been the first to arrive and had propped herself up along the edge of the pool. Emma was the next to arrive and as she surfaced Rikki was quick to greet her.
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"Looks like I beat you."
"With the head start you had even Cleo could beat me."
"I'm not that slow." Cleo had just surfaced and was swimming in as Emma batted back at Rikki."
"Actually Cleo you are; even with a full hour head start I could beat you."
"I'm starting to regret blowing Lewis in to the water a few more times after you left. He's not talking to me right now because of that."
"Wait what happened?" Emma asked.
"Lewis deiced to try and sneak up on me at work today. I spotted him a long way off and blew him into the dolphin tank. Then when he got out he came over to me shook off some of the water on him right onto Rikki. She took off into the tank and disappeared. Oh and Rikki, just in case you decided you want them back I've got your school books at my house."
"So Lewis got you, why am I not surprised?"
"What do you mean by that?" Rikki snapped at Emma.
"Well you are the worst at keeping our secret."
"The hell I am, you're fucking nuts if you think I'm the worst one at keeping our secret."
"Uh Rikki… I'm gonna have to agree with Emma on this one; you are the worst at keeping it."
"No Cleo that would be you, not me."
"I AM NOT!"
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The fighting, yelling and bickering continued on for a while. Emma and Cleo both claiming that Rikki was the worst, while she continued to say Cleo was the worst. The one element that they had in common was that each girl claimed that she was the best at keeping their secret.
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"Ok, we'll just have to see firsthand who the best is and who the worst is." Emma began as the argument finally ended, "Starting tomorrow we each keep track of how many times we get wet in public. We'll keep track for a week and then at the end we'll compare counts and settle this once and for all."
Rikki had her own idea on how to prove who the best was."Sounds good and all, but let's take it up a notch shall we?"
"We have to avoid getting wet in public everyday so trying to avoid it for a week is nothing special, if we're gonna prove who the best is we need to create an actual challenge for all three of us."
"What do you propose then?"
"We borrow a page form the boys and go after each other."
Emma and Cleo looked at Rikki with puzzled looks on their faces.
"We try and get each other wet.
"We already have to avoid getting wet already and we know most of the hazards around us every day; but the unknown is what poses us the most danger, and since we know when we're vulnerable it forces us to keep our guard up at times when we would be unsuspecting."
"That's actually not a bad idea Rikki." Emma was truly impressed with Rikki's idea.
"Plus it sounds like it should be fun." Cleo added.
"Ok then, we each keep a tally of each time we accidentally get wet and each time we get each other wet. Even if we get dried off in time it counts. Anything we can think of to prevent getting wet or get one of us wet is fair game; that includes using our powers and the using the guys help. Sound good?"
"Sounds good to me, Rikki?"
"Well then I guess starting tomorrow morning you two better be prepared to lose. Just like Emma's gonna lose to me at getting back to shore."
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Rikki quickly dove under the water and started to swim out as fast as she could, followed quickly by Emma. Cleo just watched them and rolled her eyes in disgust before diving down and swimming out after Emma and Rikki.
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The Challenge was on.