The upcoming tournament was a squad competition and Jack needed to find one more teammate. He had told Sable and Chad about his interaction with Salem, and that he had joined the squad. They were happy with the idea. Chad and Sable had also approached some people they knew but everyone was already grouped up. who could possibly be willing to join our team?

It was still a week away from the tournament so while they looked for the remaining squad member the others started practicing. Sable had the earth element. Chad had the motion element. Salem had metal and Jack had electricity. On the surface, they didn’t have a super-compatible combination, but they did what they could. Their basic strategy was formed around Sable. Sable was big and strong and was going to be at the front of the squad. He would stand in front and protect the rest of the team behind him by making big shields. Chad would set up behind him and would use his motion element in an unusual way. Every time Jack had heard of the motion element it was only referenced for increased athletics with melee weapons. Chad used it in a different way. Chad carried an extreme variety of guns and would quickly fire different models in rapid succession. It amounted to a never-ending line of bullets flying out in front of him. Jack like always was the issue. He still wasn’t able to perform basic elemental blasts.

They were in Jack’s favorite practice area. He would use it because few people used that area. Each boy was practicing their basic element control. Sable was practicing his stone manipulation by creating large shields. Chad was shooting at targets, and Salem was practicing some simple hand-to-hand combat.

Jack was trying to learn how to shoot his element forward. It was supposed to be the next step after maintaining an aura, but it seemed impossible. It was much more difficult and made the challenge of creating an aura seem mundane. Jack stood still, held his hand out, and focused. He stared at the wooden target in front of him. He slowly built up a large charge, working with the electricity just like Helfig had shown him. But once he tried to shoot the electricity forward it would fly straight for a few meters and then veer off sharply. Maintaining control as the electricity flew was extremely difficult. As it left the body the feeling would change completely. Talking to the other guys didn’t help at all. They didn’t have any issues sending blasts of their elements. Jack was able to learn something interesting about the metal element he hadn’t noticed. The metal element unlike others cannot create metal. It can only manipulate metal. Thinking back Jack realized he had never actually seen someone create metal. And Chad with his motion element also couldn’t create blasts. The motion element gave him the ability to greatly increase the speed of all his muscles while maintaining high dexterity. It was seen as a simple element to master because it was all-natural, but due to the impressive abilities it can grant it is still a highly sought-after element.

“Damnit, this is gonna really suck if we can’t compete just because we don’t have a fifth person,” Sable said. The boys were taking a break from practicing. They were sitting around drinking from their water bottles.

“I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but overhear you talking.” It was Ariel. She had somehow snuck up on all three of the boys and they quickly jumped as they turned to her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, were we too loud?” Jack asked. He had seen her a couple of times using the training rooms around, but he hadn’t spoken to her in a while.

“No that’s not it. Uh. Actually.” She was looking extremely uncomfortable and finally blurted out. “I’m looking for a team.”

“Oh, wow, really. And you want to join us? I would have thought lots of people wanted you on their team.”

“Well, I haven’t been approached by anyone I know or trust. And I’m running out of time.”

“Uh, Jack looked over at the other three who shrugged.

“Sure. I guess. Welcome to the team.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

So does anyone here know much about squad tactics. It was quiet.

“I know a little.” It was Ariel speaking up. Everyone looked at her.

“All in favor of Ariel being squad leader say I.” that was quickly followed by the four boys saying. “I”

Ariel blushed slightly. Then she righted herself, took on a leader-like composure and started to speak. “We have earth, motion, electricity, metal, and air. We have most of the bases covered with that combination and our fighting styles. This does give us a good ability to shift our tactics if required while fighting. In the case of a fighting arena, the strongest defense is a strong offense. There is nowhere to hide in the arena so it best to hit first. Chad should be the centerpiece for our basic strategy. He is able to instantly put damage down range with accuracy and consistency. Sable with his earth element will be our foundation and support. So, defense is the general idea, but we may need you to help us attack. Salem and I have highly offensive-minded elements that enable us to attack at the most vulnerable weaknesses we see at a moment’s notice. Then that just leaves Jack. Everyone turned to look at Jack. I don’t know what to do with your electricity element.”

“yeah.” Jack said solemnly. “no one seems to know what to do with it.”

“we can figure that out later, we have a good idea of the direction we want to go.” Sable said, filling in the awkward silence. Everyone mumbled their agreement. Then they got to talking about some more special ideas and tricks. Eventually, they came up with a few. By the end of the night they never actually came up with a good use for Jack and his electricity.

Jack grumbled to himself as he walked back to his dorm. “The damn monster hasn’t been found, and I am still absolutely useless. I am literally just holding my team back.” In that moment Jack made a decision. He turned off from heading toward his dorm and went to find someone. It took him a couple of hours but eventually, he found him hiding and reading a comic book like always.

“How do you control your element when you separate it from your body?”

“You don’t,” Helfig said.

“What?” Jack asked extremely confused. He was out of breath from running around looking for him.

“You don’t,” he said again, in exactly the same tone.

“Yeah, I mean, can you please explain,” Jack said exasperated.

“No, why are you bothering me, this isn’t our anointed time.”

“I don’t want to hold my team back. This isn’t just about me anymore. If I mess up they will also lose.” Helfig looked over at Jack. It was one of the few times he had looked away from his book. He looked at Jack, he stared at him up and down.

“Ok. Let’s see what you got.” After fifteen minutes he said. “This is hopeless. You’re useless with your electricity. When you send out a blast how exactly do you imagine it? I feel the electricity build-up then I try and push it towards my target.

“You can’t just push your element. You need to almost give it a will of its own. That’s the beginning of more advanced techniques that allow you to control it in mid-flight. But the beginning is basically you need to imagine it doing what you want as you create it. The more you imagine and focus on what you want it to do and then let it do that on its own. You can’t control it. Just give it a story to follow and it will happily follow.

The idea was weird to Jack, but he was willing to try anything. Helfig stepped back to the side and Jack focused on the target in front of himself. He stared at the chest of the wooden droid and then started to imagine the electricity flowing slowly into his palm. He focused and envisioned the electricity building up and then blasting toward the target. It was slow, but that was the only way he could do it. After a couple of minutes, the electricity had built up to a reasonably large-sized ball and suddenly blasted toward the target. The electricity shot off in a long bolt that screamed through the air and absolutely destroyed the target. The hairs on his arms stood up as the static electricity in the air increased. Jack’s eyes were wide as he slowly turned towards Helfig. Even Helfig was looking at him a little surprised.

“Damn, that was a lot of damage.”

“I. I can’t believe I finally did it.” It felt incredible. He had finally sent a blast toward a target, and it hit where he intended. “YES!” Jack literally hopped around the room whooping with glee. Even Helfig had a small smile on his face.

“That was fairly impressive.” Coming from Helfig that meant a lot. “How is your aura coming along?” He seemed genuinely interested for once.

“It’s ok. I can hold it for a couple of seconds and even almost focus on something else. I am working on a project that will hopefully help me control the electricity more easily.

“A project to help you control your electricity? Interesting…” He looked at Jack with interest. “Maybe you are not a complete waste of time like I thought.”

For the rest of the evening, Jack worked with Helfig. Helfig, it seemed was actually a really hard worker and by the time he was back in his room Jack was completely exhausted. He collapsed into bed and quickly fell asleep.