The Four Elements
 

About 200 years from now, in the city of Dainsville, one 11-year-old boy finds his power within.

“Wake up,” Tyler heard his dad yell to him, “You have to start you chores!” Tyler sat up and looked at his hologram clock. It was 2 o’clock A.M. on a Saturday morning. “Hurry up!” his dad yelled.
“I’m coming!” Tyler yelled back. He got up, got dressed, and went downstairs to eat breakfast. “Bagel and orange juice please.” he said to the Breakfasttron 2000.
Suddenly, the machine spit out a bagel and poured out some orange juice. Tyler took them and quickly devoured it all. Once he was done eating he started doing his chores which included washing dishes, doing the laundry, taking out the trash, vacuuming, dusting, and making the beds.
When he was done, he yelled to his dad, “I’m going over to Shawn’s house for awhile, okay dad?”
“Sure, but only for half an hour,” his dad answered.
So Tyler went outside and walked to the hover-bus stop. When the bus arrived, he stepped on. When he got to the stop two blocks away from Shawn’s house, he jumped off the crowded bus and started at a jog towards his friend’s house.
Once he arrived and knocked on the door, his friend answered and said, “Oh, hi Tyler. I wasn’t expecting you here.”
“Should I leave?” Tyler asked.
“No,” Shawn replied, “I’m glad you came. It’s been really boring here.”
“Not much fun at my place either,” Tyler said as Shawn stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
“Is your old man giving you trouble again?” Shawn asked.
“Yep.” Tyler replied.
“You should call the Child Harassment Center,” Shawn said, “They’d teach him a lesson on how to treat his son.”
“No,” Tyler said, “The bruises are healing much faster now and even if I told the people at the CHC, he’d only beat even more and harder too. Anyway, I think he’s still upset about Mom’s death.”
“Okay,” Shawn said, “It’s your life. You can do whatever you want to with it.”
“Let’s switch the subject and go fishing in the creek.” Tyler said. So they went behind Shawn’s house and started walking towards the creek in the woods.
“Oops, we forgot the fishing rods!” Tyler said once they got to the creek.
“Don’t worry I’ll run back to the house to get them.” Shawn said. So he started running back to his house.
Tyler stood over the creek and slipped on some wet mud, but when he fell in he didn’t make a huge splash but landed on his hands and knees on the bottom of the creek. When he looked up he saw that he had somehow sent the water into a swirling cyclone around him. Once he stood up, the water parted on one side just enough for him to walk through. When he walked through the opening, the water fell right back into the creek bed just as if nothing happened.
“How did I do that?” Tyler asked himself. Right then Shawn appeared with the fishing rods.
“Are you okay,” Shawn asked, “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
“Yah, I’m okay.” Tyler replied.
“Did something happen to you,” Shawn asked, “Your pants are muddy.”
“No,” Tyler said, “I just slipped and fell on the wet mud.”
“Oh well,” Shawn said, “Let’s start fishing.
Once it was time for Tyler to go home he decided to take the subway. When he got on the train, he saw someone trying to light a cigarette. He stared at the cigarette seeing if he could put it out by trying to control water again to put the fire out. Instead of putting it out, he accidentally set the end of the cigarette ablaze.
“Holy crap!” the man with the cigarette yelled.
“Oops.” Tyler whispered to himself. Again he tried to put it out with water but instead of water putting it out, a strong gust of wind blew it out. “Good,” Tyler thought, “Nothing got set on fire.”
When it was his stop, which was about five blocks away from his house, he jumped out the door and started running to his house. On his way he decided to take a shortcut pass a small park with a pond.
On the pond there was a small toy sailboat. Tyler tried to send a gust of wind at the sails to make it go faster, but instead he sent a peak of rock out of the bottom of the pond to stab the sailboat right in the middle.
“Mommy,” said the kid who owned the toy sail boat, “That sharp rock sank my boat!” Then the kid started crying.
“Oops.” Tyler whispered to himself.

So now Tyler knows he has a power to use the four elements. Although he can’t control them yet, he starts to practice.

The next day Tyler set up a pile of straw. First he tried staring at it like he did to the cigarette to set it on fire. The first time he tried, he made a cyclone of water and got it soaking wet. The second time he set it on fire but it spread.
He tried to conjure up a strong gust of wind to put it out and got it right the first time he tried.
“Did something happen,” Tyler’s dad ask, “I thought I smelled smoke.” Then he saw the burnt grass. “What did you do,” he asked frustrated, “You burned up our yard!” Then he slapped Tyler across the face. “You’re grounded for one month. That means no Shawn’s house and no doing whatever you’re doing to our home!” Then he went inside cursing quietly to himself.
Although he couldn’t practice at home, Tyler still tested his powers at school. When he saw a bully chasing a little kid around a hill, he made a small peak of earth come out of the side of the hill to trip the older kid.
“Oomph!” the bully said when he hit the ground.
“Yes,” Tyler said to himself, “Direct hit!”
Later in the day, when the power went out at his school, he lit the homemade candles that they made in art class. Once the power came back on, he blew them out with a gust of wind.
When he got home and walked in the door, his dad yelled, “Upstairs to your room now. No supper for you. ”So Tyler went upstairs to do his homework. Once he was done, he climbed into bed and fell asleep instantly.

So now Tyler can control his power freely. But the question is, how will use this interesting talent of his, for good or for evil?

In the morning, when Tyler woke up, his dad said, “Get ready for school, now.” So Tyler got ready and went downstairs to have breakfast.
“Cereal, please.” Tyler said to the Breakfasttron 2000 and it spit it out right after he said it. Then he went outside to catch the hover school bus.
On the way to school, a strange, powerful gust of wind blew the bus off the bridge.
Tyler quickly sent a geyser of water from the river to push it back up. Then he conjured up a gust of wind to push it back on the bridge.
“Oh man,” Tyler said, “That was a close one.”
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Tyler saw a shadowy figure run away from the scene. Tyler jumped off the bus and chased the figure.
He secretly chased the runaway for a couple of blocks until he saw him enter a passageway to a cellar. Tyler stopped for a moment to catch his breath, when he noticed the house the person entered was Shawn’s.
“Why did he come here?” Tyler thought.
Tyler entered the passageway quietly. In front of him he saw the same person that he was chasing.
“I knew you would come eventually,” the strange person said in a voice that sounded familiar, “You’ve discovered your powers, haven’t you?”
“How do you know about that?” Tyler asked stepping out of the passageway.
“Because,” the person said, “The same thing happened to me.” The person turned around to reveal a familiar face.
“Shawn,” Tyler asked surprised, “But how?”
“A couple of weeks ago I was going to work with my dad. As you know my dad is a scientist who works with chemicals. Well there was a problem with some of the machines and one exploded. Some of the chemicals landed on me and soaked right into my skin. A couple days later, I discovered that I could control the four elements as you can.” Shawn replied.
“But then how did I get it?” Tyler asked.
“Remember a couple days ago when you came over and we had lemonade?” Shawn asked.
“Yes,” Tyler said, “But that still doesn’t explain how I got my powers.”
“Let me finish,” Shawn said angrily, “Well, I sneaked some of the chemical from my dad’s office and put it into your lemonade so you to would get the powers of the four elements and join me to rob banks so we could be rich.”
“What would you do with all that money.” Tyler asked.
“Enough questions,” Shawn yelled, “Will you help me or not?”
“No,” Tyler said, “I will not use my powers for breaking the law!”
“Then you shall pay for your decision!” Shawn said infuriated. He threw a ball of fire at Tyler but he quickly blocked it with a wall of water. Tyler then tried to escape but Shawn brought up a wall of earth to cover the exit.
“If it’s a fight you want,” Tyler said, “It’s a fight you’ll get.”
He then threw a ball of fire at Shawn reflected it with a gust of wind. Shawn then sent a peak of rock out of the wall behind Tyler. The peak hit him in the back and he fell forward. Shawn threw a fireball at Tyler but a small mountain of earth made by Tyler blocked it.
“Not bad,” Shawn said, “For an amateur.”
Tyler slowly got up with a grunt and conjured up a ball of rock. He then covered it in a layer of fire. He threw it at Shawn and propelled it with a powerful gust of wind. The flaming ball of rock struck Shawn right in the chest. Shawn staggered a little then passed out and fell to the floor. Tyler quickly tied him up to a metal chair with chains and waited for him to wake up.
But he never did.