The Elemental Jewels: Psychic Energy

Chapter IX: "Showtime"

After school the next afternoon, all six Jewels got on a video call with Shelly to iron out the exact plans for the ambush.

"This Saturday should give us plenty of time to prepare," Monisha suggested. "Get more used to our powers, you know?"

"Fair point, but we should still be early, though. Can't afford to be slow when Earth is on the line," Kenta said.

"How long will it take to get us to the Lake Ontario island?" Autumn asked.

"Shouldn't be too long," Shelly said with a playfully mischievous grin on her face.

"They didn't!" Nettuno gasped once he realized what she was saying.

"They did!" Shelly replied, holding up a silver remote control with a black digital screen and a bag of small, colorful spheres. "Tele-candies, a Yoast original! Input the co-ordinates, hit enter, and then everyone who chews on one of these candies will be instantly sent there!"

"Ace!" said Haden. "So, Saturday morning, 10-ish?"

"Emoco opens at 9, so 10 works great!" Shelly confirmed. "In the meantime, we're gonna get comms up and running for you."

"Good idea!" Autumn agreed. "Since we have everything set, though, I should probably get going. I've got warm-ups to do." Once again, she left out the detail about doing so in a pocket realm with a ghost.

"Same here. Can't be too careful," Kenta agreed.

"In that case, I'll call an end to the meeting here," Shelly agreed. "I'll see you all on Saturday! And don't be late - we can't afford to wait on you!" With that, Shelly left the call.

"¡Adiós, amigos!" Autumn left the call, too.

"Real quick, before I take off," said Kenta. "Haden..."

"Yes?!" Haden replied, maybe a little too excitedly. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, mate?"

Kenta giggled a bit, then continued. "You wanna walk to Emoco together? Uncle Shiro needs the car for work, and I could use some company. I could pick you up around 9?"

Haden nodded his head in acceptance, trying to control his breathing.

"Great! See you then!" Kenta replied with a smile. "Ogenki de, tomos!" With that, he clicked off.

"Tiān na!" Monisha exclaimed. "Kenta has a crush on Haden!"

"What?!" Haden was stunned that his friend would say this.

"Think about it!" Monisha exclaimed. "His uncle is a writer! What does he need their car for? This is 100% an excuse for Kenta to spend time with Haden!"

"Wait, you're right!" Nettuno replied. "Oh, mein Gott, this is amazing for you!"

"Okay, one, Kenta doesn't fancy me. Two, shush!" Haden said, playing as coy as possible so Monisha and Roxie-Caitlyn couldn't tell what he was thinking.

He failed.

"Wait..." Monisha started. Haden immediately put his head in his hands. "Do you...? You do, don't you?!"

"Goodbye." Haden logged out.

"He's not denying it," Monisha pointed out.

"Hey, I'm excited for Haden and Kenta, too," said Roxie-Caitlyn, "but don't you think we have bigger issues to focus on?"

Both Monisha and Nettuno agreed. Saturday needed to be top priority. They all said goodbye and logged off, and then went to begin preparing for the fight of their lives.

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When Saturday arrived, Autumn was the last to arrive. Training with Mary-Anne had gone into overtime. Everyone else was already there.

"Ah, Sea-X, there you are!" Florence greeted her. "Here's your comms unit."

He passed her a dark blue flip phone-like device that reminded Autumn of a Power Rangers morpher.

"It's called a Jewel Monitor," Florence said, seemingly reading the look of confusion on her face. "We got one for each of you from the Yoasts, but it took us til now to get them all on and working. Apparently, yours used to be Mary-Anne's."

Autumn couldn't help but smile. Sure, Mary-Anne was technically alive in the pocket realm, but it was still surreal to hold something that used to belong to her great-grandparent.

When Autumn flipped the Monitor open, she saw six colored buttons and one with a mic inscribed on it on the bottom and a screen that read, “WELCOME, WATER JEWEL” on the top.

“The mic button is your contact button,” Florence explained. “If you press it, the touch screen will prompt you to select either one of the other Monitors or Mission Control, which we've set up in the training room.

"The colored buttons are alerts for you to communicate quickly to your team. The screen will also tell you which alert got pressed and by who. A green alert means progress on a mission has been made or something helpful has been found. Orange means the opposite, that you've hit a dead end and are changing course. A red alert means a potentially fatal injury or otherwise the potential for imminent death. Yellow means you can't leave a situation for whatever reason and need assistance. Blue is the opposite of that. Use that if assistance is unneeded or detrimental. And, finally, pink means someone's been possessed or mind-controlled."

"¡Guau! They've put a lot of thought into this!" Autumn remarked as she pocketed her Monitor.

"According to Richard, they started with just green, yellow, and red," Florence explained, "but added more as they needed them."

On that, Autumn finally transformed and joined the others in the gift shop. Everyone else, all transformed, was waiting.

“Hey,” said Nettuno. “You get the Monitor?”

“Yep,” she replied.

“Alright, everyone!” Florence yelled. “When you put the candies in your mouth, you will be transported to a cave where you will have to deal with a trained, alien, psychic warrior. It will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”

Tell me something I don’t know, Autumn thought.

“After you have transported, we will be sure to connect to your Monitors. Make sure you are connected to us before you go in the cave. Otherwise, you may lose our signal. After that, it’s all up to you.”

Florence stepped back and let Shelly take the stage. “When I say go, drop it in your mouth. Do not chew until I say, or it will not work. Light Rod, go.”

Nettuno dropped it in.

“Cold Shoulder, go.”

Roxie-Caitlyn copied Nettuno.

“Stone Armor, go.”

And then she called Windmill and Volcanic Ash. And finally...

“Sea-X, go.”

Realizing it was her cue, Autumn popped the candy into her mouth and swirled it between her cheeks.

“Alright, Jewels! On Brent's mark, you may chew! Good luck!”

Brent imputed something into a remote, before giving a thumbs-up. Only then did the Jewels finally chew their candies. As they did so, they all suddenly felt as though they were being dragged backwards at sixty miles an hour.

It was showtime!