Mateo led Ashley along the route to Edwin’s home, but she merely performed the movements he requested. Her thoughts were preoccupied, equally embarrassed and excited to be in public in her halfway form. She reassured herself that no one would recognize her, and found giddiness in the freedom. Chances were any passerby would assume she was a boy, and the idea made her stomach churn. She couldn’t tell if it was excitement or disgust, and she didn’t want to know. She tried to push all of these terrible thoughts from her head, but every time she caught her reflection in a window they resurged with a vengeance.

Before she knew it, Ashley had arrived at an apartment complex a few blocks from her home. The buildings were three stories tall, with an apartment on each floor. Six apartments shared the same stairwell, with its own doorway on the ground floor. Mateo led her to one of the doors and up to the second floor. Ashley rang the doorbell to the apartment on the left, wondering why Edwin had never mentioned he lived in an apartment. She hadn’t asked, but it must have naturally come up at some point. She really knew nothing about the boy she now called a friend.

Edwin answered the door, but Ashley didn’t recognize him for a moment. He too was in his halfway form, wearing one of the pink sweaters Ashley hated with a pair of jeans. His hair was also out of its usual ponytail, confusing Ashley the most. Before she could stop herself and Edwin could even say hello, she asked, “Why are you a girl?”

Edwin was taken a back by her rude greeting. “Why are you a boy?” he replied, harshly.

Ashley was overwhelmed with embarrassment, her face turning as red as her hair. She coughed twice before trying to restart the conversation. “Mateo wants us to go train, so…”

“Oh, that’s fine. Let me grab my keys and a jacket, and we can head out. It’s just me at home, so I’ll have to lock up.” Edwin went back inside, and Ashley let the door close in front of her. She made a fool of herself once again.

Edwin quickly reappeared, and the trio set off to the park. They walked in silence, as Ashley was afraid to say anything more and Edwin was seemingly mad at her. Mateo was oddly silent, but he jumped between Ashley and Edwin’s shoulders, reminding them that he was there with the pressure of his paws.

They reached the front parking lot of the Oak Ridge Park when Edwin spoke up. “Did you tell Tabitha we were coming here?”

Ashley gasped, realizing that while she lad forgotten about her best friend while lost in her own thoughts. She pulled her cellphone from her pocket, answering Edwin’s question. Quickly, she typed out a text to Tabitha.

“Oh no…” Mateo muttered to himself. “It looks like training is off for today. Instead, we’ll be having battle practice.” Ashley and Edwin quickly scanned the area, trying to find what Mateo was talking about.

Twenty feet away, the air had become hazy, like a mirage on a hot day. The shimmering light became increasingly brighter and larger, until a terrifying mass had taken shape. A flash blinded the pair, and they heard a trumpeting snarl come from the same direction. As their eyes regained focus, the hazy spot had been replaced with another beast. It seemed like an elephant, but it’s trunk ended in a mass of feelers, like a star-nosed mole. The creature’s feet each ended long claws, which it began using to dig into the parking lot, ripping up chunks of asphalt.

“Good luck!” Mateo cheerfully said before teleporting away.

Ashley and Edwin checked the surrounding area, happy to find there were no civilians for once. They quickly transformed, wasting no time as the monster began its rampage. Its nose tentacles gripped onto a piece of asphalt that had cracked free after the monster began digging. The duo waited for a moment, wanting to see what it would do. The monster swung its trunk back before throwing the chunk at Ruby and Sapphire, who jumped in opposite direction out of harm’s way.

“Why does it have to make a mess?” Sapphire whined, summoning his guns. Ruby did likewise, and the pair ran behind the monster while it returned to digging. They looked to each other, nodding to confirm their plans were the same. From behind, they charged at the monster from out of sight. Before they made contact with the beast, it quickly moved underground, hitting Ruby and Sapphire with a face full of dirt. They crashed into each other, falling into the hole created by the monster.

The pair fell twelve feet before smacking into even more dirt. Ruby pushed herself up and spat a mouthful of soil onto the ground. There had been an intense pain when she hit the ground, but now it was only a dull soreness. It was probably another effect of her magic, and she was grateful it had kept her alive. Her sword was missing, so she assumed it must have unsummoned itself during the fall. She looked around, noticing a long tunnel to her left, where the echoes of claws on dirt could be heard. The monster must had gone horizontal once below the surface. Ruby stood up and offered a hand to Sapphire, who was kneeling alongside her.

“Think we can get back up?” Ruby asked.

“Worth a shot.” Sapphire replied. They realized from previous fights that they could launch themselves at targets, but they’d never tried a purely vertical leap. Ruby jumped first, making it more than halfway up the wall but still unable to reach the edge. Sapphire tried likewise, and was also unable to make the edge or grab hold of the wall. They tried a few more times, but whenever they grabbed the dirt walls their handholds would fall apart. With the monster still on the loose, they had no more time to continue their attempts.

Ruby and Sapphire looked to one another, not wanting to enter the monster’s tunnel. The noise of digging continued to echo eerily, and they would be confined with the monster. Taking a deep breath, Ruby produced an orb of fire in her hand, lighting up the edge of the tunnel. The pair moved into the oversized burrow, and broke into a run when they realized how far ahead the monster could be located.

After a few twists and turns, the scraping had become much louder, and the duo slowed in response. Ruby threw a fireball out ahead of them to try and light the way, but it quickly faded because the soil wouldn’t burn. She grumbled, wanting to carefully approach the darkness, but stealth was no longer an option. She sent out a stream of fire into the unknown, reaching out for ten feet. Just beyond the flamethrower, the digging stopped, and the darkness seemed to move. Then, the monster’s tentacle’d trunk tip was illuminated in all of its pink glory, with little nostrils peering like eyes upon the pair. Ruby was caught off guard, letting the fire disappear and the tunnel to return to darkness.

“The light! Bring back the light!” Sapphire yelled, panicking. Ruby complied, fumbling while recalling her how magic worked. When the fire orb returned, the monster was almost on top of them, and the pair scrambled back. Sapphire threw out two strands of water that engulfed the creature’s front legs, trying to hold it in place. Realizing it was caught, the monster trumpeted and began thrashing about.

“What do we do now?” Ruby was still overwhelmed by fear, not liking how confined the tunnel was.

“I don’t know, do something!” Sapphire strained to hold the monster at a distance. Ruby summoned her sword, trying to get closer to the creature. It whipped its trunk around the tunnel, not letting her pass behind to its body. She tried to slice at the trunk, but its movements were chaotic, and Ruby was hindered by her fear.

“Do you think you can stop its trunk?” Ruby yelled back to Sapphire, trying to be heard over the monster’s cries.

“I only have two hands!” Sapphire replied, losing the battle with the monster. His water restraints broke, and the monster quickly turned away from the pair. It returned to high-speed digging, but moved upwards, creating a slope up to the surface.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t hit it.” Ruby said.

“Its fine! Let’s just get moving.” Sapphire started running towards the slope, but his boots became stuck in a section of mud. “Damn it, my water must have made the ground muddy here. Watch your step.”

“That’s it!” Ruby exclaimed, coming to Sapphire’s aid.

“What is?”

“Mud! We can trap the monster!”

Ruby pulled Sapphire from the mud as he realized her plan. “Oh my god, you’re right.”

The two clambered up the slope to the surface of the parking lot, where the monster had returned to destroying the asphalt. Sapphire ran towards it and was met with a chunk of asphalt thrown his direction. He successfully dodged, making it close enough to the beast. It stood over a patch of dirt, having pulled up the asphalt coating. With both of his hands, he motioned towards the dirt, launching two jets towards the revealed patch.

Once more, the monster began trumpeting after realizing it had become trapped. The dirt had become sticky mud and the monster sank into the earth. Sapphire smiled to Ruby, who ran behind the monster once more, avoiding the thrashing trunk. Sapphire met with her, and the two charged the creature once more, attacking the back of the monster.

The combination of cuts, hot flames, and high-speed water quickly took the beast down, resulting in one final bellow. Ruby and Sapphire jumped back to the ground as the monster deflated like a balloon, making the accompanying whining noise. The two sighed, relieved that they had made it above ground once more.

“Good work! Though I’d recommend not falling in a hole next time.” Mateo ran up behind the Soul Warriors, reappearing as usual.

“Oh my god, the hole! What are we going to do about the parking lot?” Sapphire grabbed the back of his neck, freaking out once he realized how much property damage had occurred.

“What if a kid falls into the hole?” Ruby added.

“Settle down, settle down. It will all be fixed in time. You two should just head home.” Mateo smiled, his cute little face begging to be trusted.

“We can’t leave a hazard like that unreported!” Sapphire replied.

“I said. Go. Home.” Mateo hissed, smiling with his teeth this time. Ruby and Sapphire remembered who they were messing with, and decided to leave the area as quickly as possible. As they walked away, Mateo called sweetly, “That wasn’t so hard was it?”

The pair hadn’t remembered to untransform until they had already walked a block.

-----

That night, Ashley, Edwin, and Tabitha sent a flurry of text messages back and forth, discussing the fight and Mateo’s final comment. Tabitha remained hopeful, but worried about how rude Mateo was becoming. Hopefully, Sarah would have some life-changing information tomorrow that would clean up the whole issue.

Ashley yawned, closing her math textbook despite having a few problems left of the homework. I’ll finish them in the morning, she told herself, even though she knew it wasn’t the truth. Standing up at her desk, she stretched, deciding it was time for a shower and bed (or another hour on the internet). Walking by her bed, she noticed a pile of clothing sitting on the side, and suddenly realized she had never changed back from her halfway form.