Chapter 10: Practice Makes Perfect

"So, what do you make of Fern?" asked Erika.
"Well, I'd like to believe her...and part of me does, but we both know that eventually, it will happen. The only way to prevent that is for her to give up the crystal or for it to be taken from her." said Drake.
"There's an idea..." she said
"Well, I have the feeling that it's not quite that easy to remove a crystal from its bearer. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some condition like it can't be passed on while the previous bearer is alive, or something like that." said Drake
"Wow, you might have a point there... and we don't want her dead...just not to be evil. What should we do?" she asked
"Well, Beschermer said to just keep an eye on her...he must know the exact conditions that need to be for that to happen, and he decided ti would be best for her to keep it, for now at least. I say we keep to the plan."

Erika cursed herself for not having the courage to ask what she really wanted to, but she reasoned with herself that it might be too early to ask something like that...after all, they had only known each other since yesterday. She was an idiot for even considering it, right?
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The rest of the day progressed as usual, no interruptions or attacks on them during classes. Fern seemed to behave normal, only she clearly showed contempt for Drake now, as opposed to her blatant flirting in class the day before. She was now flirting with the guy in front of her in an obvious attempt to make Drake jealous.

"She's making an idiot out of herself now," Drake thought "That guy's a creep anyways. And what is she getting at trying to make me jealous? Whatever feelings I might have had for her have clearly passed on...and she knows how close Erika and I are getting, she's an idiot."

Drake and Erika had arranged to meet on the bus after school, as it was easier for them both. Both of their lockers were about the same distance from the bus stop, but on opposite ends of the school, and since they were going there anyways...why not?

Drake leaned against the pole with the "Bus Stop" sign attached and waited for Erika to show up. A couple minutes passed and he saw her face appear among the throng of kids making their ways from school to their various means of transportation. "Hey, what kept you?" he asked as she arrived by him and they started to walk on to the bus.

"Well, I was good to go and had just closed my locker and started to walk away...then I saw Fern walking in my direction." Erika answered. "She had a twisted look on her face, like she had just had the greatest idea in the history of the planet. Then when she got close to me, she bumped into me and knocked everything out of my hands and then walked off, laughing all the way down the hall."
"That's terrible!" Drake exclaimed "Good thing for her I wasn't there...did you say anything to her?"
"Well, i started to, but she walked off, and I kinda got surrounded by people. It seems like she's turned a lot of people against me too...she had her little minions surrounding me, keeping me from chasing after her." she said
"That's just plain wrong..." Drake sighed "But you're okay, right?"
"Well, I got this bruise on my arm from my book slamming into me, but other than that I'm fine, thanks." she smiled at Drake, showing him her arm.
"We both need to avoid her as much as possible...and try and make out who her 'friends' are...I know a few people that will be safe to be around, but they're not exactly your type of friend." he laughed. "As much as you claim not to be in the popular crowd, you're still used to hanging with popular kids and living the privileged life at school...most of my friends, if you can call them friends, are nerds, geeks, and losers... but they're almost 100% guaranteed not to turn to the dark side." Drake mentally slapped himself for making a Star Wars reference in such a serious conversation.
"No, really...that's fine. I'd like to meet your friends." she smiled

They got off at the stop by Drake's house again. They pretty much decided to do their training by Drake's house, then make their way to Erika's later and hang out if there wasn't anyone there. They made their way to the secluded park area and sat down under a shady tree.

"Okay, I think we should start out with that thing he told us to start...about controlling our powers outside of our immediate area." said Drake
"But...I don't have any water. I'm like useless right now." said Erika
"Here, I thought you might not have one." Drake smiled, pulling a water bottle out of his pack. "If you can, try and keep a bottle of water or something on you at all times. That way you can train anywhere, and if you're in a tight spot, you've got something to work with."
"Thanks." she smiled "I'll make sure to do that..."

Drake made a small ball of electricity in his palm, then slowly tried to move it away from him. It moved a little, then began to fizzle out.

"This is harder than it sounds...the farther it is from you, the more you have to concentrate, and the more energy I have to put out." said Drake
"But it's a little different for me." said Erika, balancing a sphere of water on a finger. "I'm not actually creating mine, it's already here...so I only have to concentrate on keeping it in the form I want and all that."
"Yeah, you got the easy power." said Drake, laughing. He lost concentration and the ball fizzled out and vanished. "Crap!"

As the hours flew by, they both progressed quite a bit and could maintain a distance of two feet.

"I wonder if shooting a small bolt out is any different than maintaining it here...it should be easier, right? I mean, I'm just shooting it out, and not controlling it after I release it." said Drake
"Sounds right to me...give it a shot." said Erika "And ignore my bad jokes." she blushed.

Drake laughed. he focused a second, and a ball of energy appeared in his hand. he looked around and found a large rock about 10 feet away. "Good a target as any, right?" he asked himself. He took careful aim and willed the energy in the direction of the rock. It shot out of his hand and hit the ground right in front of the rock. "Well, it's a miss, but it's a good start. It was a lot easier than focusing on maintaining it that whole time. A little practice and I should get pretty good at aiming that."

Erika wasn't as confident in her ability to control the water, and didn't want to waste any of it, so she kept practicing with her water orb...adding a little water every so often.

Drake noticed it was 6 o'clock and stood up. "We should probably get going to your place...it's gonna get dark in a half hour or so." he said.

Erika put the water back in the bottle and got up, brushing her pants off and walking over to Drake, grabbing his arm. "You wanna stay for dinner? My sister's out at a party tonight, so I have to fend for myself...I could use the company." she smiled at Drake.
"I'd love to." he smiled, starting out towards Erika's house with her in tow. She seemed reluctant to let go of him for some reason...

END Ch. 10