The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#100 All for One

For some reason, Sophia decided not to bring up the encounter with the shadow creature and its warnings. She didn't understand why and as she lie somewhat awake in her bed, she kept thinking to herself over and over that she had to tell everyone about what might be coming. They could be in more danger than ever and the only reason that could cause their deaths was because she couldn't face her friends and spread the warning. The scenarios that played through her mind about what could happen the next day if she continued to stay silent kept her awake longer than she wanted to be. She questioned as to why she kept thinking about it instead of just getting up and telling Apollo just next door. The sound of the beasts voice echoed through her, making head feel heavy until she eventually drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The next day was none other than another day to practice and train. Apollo and Teri were practicing near the waterfall. Apollo setting things ablaze and seeing how fast Teri could react to put it out. The Twins going back and forth, looking for things that were combustible for Apollo, while Sophia sat in the shade, composition book in resting on her knees as she scribbled away on an empty page. Drawing a large shadow until it filled up the page. It looked like nothing more than a large mass of inky scribbles and two red shapes just below the top of the page for its eyes. It looked... kinda messy. But in a way, it looked pretty accurate. The pen in Sophia's hand was beginning to falter and struggled to keep its ink flowing as she constantly repeated that she should just get up and tell everyone what happened.
They had to know.
So what was stopping her from saying anything?
Why was she still sitting here thinking about it instead of actually doing it?
"Hey, you know were were thinking... why don't we go find a different training spot? Like the open field where all those strawberries are?" the Twins wondered as they set down a large pile of sticks on the ground.
"What do you mean?" Teri asked.
"It's just that the strawberry field has way more open space. Wouldn't it be better to go there instead of coming here all the time? We probably wouldn't get attacked so much either because it's so clear."
"You make a good point, but there's no water nearby. I can't keep coming back here just to re-supply and come all the way back." Teri answered.
"Yeah, that and actually we'd be way more prone to ambushes because we're out in the open. There's nowhere for us to hide or run to. Sure, it does have lots of space but I think this place just works out better for us." Apollo explained.
Yeah, that and because sometimes there's planes and helicopters that fly over this area sometimes and we can't risk having other people seeing us if we're out in the open. Even if we're not doing anything, we can't risk humans investigating this place. It doesn't matter how high up they are, we just can't risk that, Sophia thought to herself. She sighed and looked at her pen, shaking it vigorously hoping that it would make the ink come out. It didn't seem to work and she decided to pack everything away and watch Apollo set things on fire and Teri making it rain and extinguish it as a light cloud of smoke puffed into the air. She continued to stay alert and her eyes darted back and forth between the distance and the treeline around her, making sure there wasn't anything hiding in the shadows, waiting to strike. All seemed clear... but you could never be too sure.
"Hey Sophie! Come over here, come practice with us!" Teri beckoned to her. Sophia shook her head and smiled nervously.
"Nah, it's okay. I'm-I'm good!"
"Oh come on, we all have to be practicing something. Just come over here, you can train with me. It doesn't look like you're doing anything anyway." Teri encouraged.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just... making sure there isn't anything out here watching us. You know, just making sure we don't get ambushed again." Sophia declined again.
"All the more reason to train, right? If we want to be strong, we should all practice. Come on, I could actually use your help with something."
Sophia couldn't find a better reason to refuse and finally stood up.
"Okay... what?"
"I just want to try something with the water. You don't really have to do anything, you can just be like a... test dummy of some sorts."
"Okay... umm..." Sophia walked towards her, not sure what she had to do. Teri gestured her to stay still.
"Just stay right there and try not to move. I just want to see if I can do this..." Teri began to focus a steady stream of water from out of the waterfall and towards the ground where Sophia stood. A large square formed underneath her and Teri pulled her other arm upwards, directing the water to rise up and pushed Sophia along with it. A platform made out of solid water grew and Sophia was surprised to see herself still standing. Teri breathed steadily and waved her arm twice. Two thick blocks of water slid out from underneath and floated upwards next to the original platform. Sophia still standing, not sure what she had to do next.
"Okay, try jumping to those other platforms I made! It's strong enough to hold you, I promise!"
"Okay!" Sophia replied as she nervously walked over to the edge and looked at the other transport blocks. The gap between them wasn't big at all. She took a deep breath before casually jumping to the other side and finding herself surprised once again when she didn't fall through it. Teri shifting her gaze to the center and focusing intensely. Sophia giggled to herself and began jumping and leaping to all the platforms. Teri herself feeling confident and decided to try something different. Moving the shapes around for Sophia to jump to. She soon made the suggestion to make the platforms a little more flexible and Teri tried her best to understand how to do that. Merging all three objects together into a liquid trampoline. She took steady breaths and tried to relax as Sophia bounced up and down happily into the air, gaining slightly more altitude each time. The Twins joined in prematurely and started bouncing around with her. Teri almost couldn't hold all three of them, but found herself stunned to see her test had worked. Manipulating a liquid form into a flexible solid and able to withstand three people jumping up and down wildly. Until they began to jump in sync and the Twins accidentally launched Sophia high into the air, satchel at her side thrown completely off her shoulder and tossed somewhere into the trees. Teri and Sophia watched it fall and Teri set everyone down gently as the water lost form and dripped back into the falls.
"Hey, what happened?" the Twins wondered.
"Ah! My bag! It fell off! I gotta go get it. Hold on- I'll be right back!" Sophia quickly explained as she dashed off into the trees towards the direction she thought she saw her bag fall to. She gazed upwards, thinking maybe got snagged on a branch. Only occasionally looking back down at the ground just to be sure it didn't land anywhere nearby.
Losing her bag was one thing Sophia hated to think about. She kept practically everything inside of it, not just her drawing tools and such, but also her weapon! She tried not to panic as she continued to search the area. She looked up one more time to see an odd shape somewhere in the air, finally making her way around to see her bag hanging gently off a high tree branch. Sophia sighed in frustration and approached the large tree, searching for an easy branch to jump to and eventually climbed up to grab it. She struggled to pull herself up on the thickest branch, stopping to take a breath before continuing upwards.
Tree climbing is one of Sophia's favorite things. But not every tree is easily climbable. Pine trees being the most difficult around here because the branches closest to the ground were way above her reach. Thus, being another reason why she hates being short. (Also pine trees have rougher bark and occasionally some of the branches can be a little... sticky.)
Climbing up to the other branches wasn't so difficult, until she had to pull herself around to the other side where her bag was hanging from. Then she ran into another problem. The branch her bag was hanging on... was too high for her to reach. She tried to back-track, hoping she could climb up to it another way, but that didn't seem to work either. None of the branches she climbed on were close enough for her to reach. And she didn't want to risk herself falling if she tried to reach further. She eventually made it all the way around the tree and found herself unsuccessful. She tried shaking the branch she could reach up to, hoping it was enough to at least move it. But that wasn't enough to budge it an inch. And she already knew trying to fly up to it was out of the question. But there was one thought that crossed her mind just for a moment. Though she knew it was quite stupid and could probably cause injury. But if she couldn't get it down from where she was, maybe it wouldn't hurt to try. From where she stood, she could possibly try jumping up to the branch and pulling the bag down. It didn't seem that far.
Sophia positioned herself carefully, adjusting every muscle in her feet and fingers. She crouched suddenly and leaped forward, arms outstretched towards the satchel.