1 Carpe Diem Baby

It was in the afternoon, school had just ended, Jay and I were making our way to the park. It was a nice day out — a few clouds and a cool breeze, but it didn't feel like one. The air that day was restless, and heavy. To ease my mind from my slight fear derived from this paranormal atmosphere, I texted Jade to make sure she made her way to the park safely. She didn't respond, though. She's the kind to respond to messages pretty quickly, within a few minutes, and we waited for six or seven minutes. That was when we realized something was definitely wrong, we ran as fast as we could to the park, we didn't see anybody the park was completely empty. Jay had noticed a note taped to a nearby bench and pointed it out to me. The note read "Come down to the river, I've got something to show you guys -Jade." I thought that was odd. Why would she be at the river? More importantly, why wouldn't she answer our texts? She never doesn't text back!

I looked over to Jay and asked, "What do you think?" He thought to himself for a moment and then spoke up "I think we should go, she hasn't answered her phone, which she always does." He continued his genius, well thought out, I mean super smart reasoning, " I also think that that's not like her handwriting. I mean, the note's a clearly a stupid, inefficient way of telling us something"

"So the note's fake?"

"The notes fake."

"And she's in danger?"

"She's in danger."

The note was fake and Jade was in danger, so we sprinted off fast to the river. About a third the way there Jay decided we should take a detour to his house. "If Jade's in trouble at the river, we will be too if we go unprepared," He explained.

We made the detour so that we could grab some particular gear, [Steel Balls]. They were a unique weapon used with [rotation]. I had an idea how they worked but never actually used or even saw one.

We arrived at the bank on the far end of the river. As we were walking along the edge of the water I noticed something strange about the water. It looked as though it wasn't flowing, frozen but still a liquid. I looked over to Jay and asked him if he noticed something odd about the water, he shrugged and told me, "The water look fine, but the air feels wrong." I agreed—it was abnormally humid and stagnant. It felt as if we were walking through a thick cloud of moisture. It was almost suffocating.

At that moment we found her. Jade laid unconscious just a few meters in front of us. I eagerly sprinted over as fast as I could, but Jay noticed something and yelled, "Josh! Wait something's off!" It was too late as I was already trapped. I was drowning! When did I fall in the the river? No, I still saw the ground below me, but I wasn't touching it. Though in my now fading vision I realized I was drowning in a floating ball a water several feet off the earth. Before I completely blacked out I calmed myself, slowing my heart beat and using up less oxygen. Now to figure out how to get out. I glanced around and saw that Jay was trapped as well, he wasn't struggling as much as I had. He looked over and I follow his eyes to find another figure. The strange figure was a classmate. Though I couldn't quite tell who with the water blurring my vision. He was walking towards us with a weird humanoid creature made entirely of water hovering behind him. I knew I had to act quick. It was finally time to put to use the secret practice I've been training, so I reached to my waist to grab a [Steel Ball] and... it wasn't there. Jay still had them both in his bag.

Not good, despite looking so calm earlier Jay has passed out already. I needed to do something fast or else we would die. I haven't fully mastered [Rotation], but if I just had something I might escape! At this point my thinking was sped up by the pressure of the situation, but it was also too scattered. Something! Something! A few more seconds may have passed by, death grew much more imminent. I just needed to slow down just as a moment ago. Slow down, open my eyes, look. Slowing down actually sped up — so fast that things even seemed to stop. That's it! I'm trapped in a sphere of water. If I can make it spin around me fast enough the bubble will pop and I can get free. What do I do after that though. I'm about thirty feet above the ground now, so I could get seriously hurt if I fell from this high. I can't see it now but there was tree behind me if I remember right. I was sure I could grab on to it and drop to the ground unharmed. Time to act! I infused [rotation] into the bubble from not just my hands but my whole body. I began to make the water move faster and faster then with a loud splash sound the bubble bursted open. Just as I planned I grabbed the branch. Well it sort of worked. Unexpectedly the sturdy looking branch snapped and I fell to the ground. Luckily, the fall from the branch wasn't too bad. I only got a couple of scratches and I was slightly dazed, but I snapped out of it quickly and grabbed a small rock off the ground. It wasn't a perfect sphere but it was enough to do some damage with [rotation]. After what happened with the bubble, I felt better about being able to hold my ground. Thankful Jay hovered over the river, so I popped his bubble with the rock. Right as he landed he woke up (almost like he was feigning his unconsciousness) and threw me a [steel ball], yelling, "Don't lose to that loser!" He fell back over on a rock that kept him out of the water. I looked over to the mystery classmate and the strange creature that was behind him. Now I could see who it was. It was Alan Miller from my math class, not entirely an outstanding guy. I asked him, "What the hell is that monster?!"

Intrigued he responded, "Oh you can see this? Interesting..." he laughed and continued his maniacal monologue, "This is my [Stand]! Carpe Diem!, and it gives me complete control over water."

"A [Stand]? What's a [Stand]? And why are you after..." he interrupts me "Enough! Stop asking questions, if you don't Jade dies."

I gotta focus and think. We're by a river, so he has plenty of water to use against me. That kind of put me at a major disadvantage. Water allows [rotation] to move freely, so that might help. And I only had one [steel ball] so I had to be careful about when and how I attacked. For now, though, I have to keep the situation calm and find out what he's doing and why. I took a deep breath and asked him calmly, "Why are you doing this? What's your motive, holding Jade hostage and nearly killing Jay and I?" He shouted at me becoming a little angrier, "I thought I said stop asking questions!" Suddenly a giant blade made of water appeared and flew toward me. Using the [steel ball] I was able to deflect it, thank goodness.

"Woah! Calm down I don't want to fight." I said quickly but still calm, "Be reasonable please I just want to know why you're doing this?"

He hesitated and then mumbled something, "I... want ...tion."

"Sorry but could you speak up a little?"

He replied a little louder this time, "I want to learn this [rotation] thing too!", he actually yelled.

"Why would I teach you! Somebody who does these awful things to get what they want," I stated "doesn't deserve it. I couldn't possibly teach it to someone like you!"

I didn't think he could get angrier, but he got pissed, "Why you little... I'm gonna kill you." He was trying to scare me. Good! He had already fallen into my trap, perfectly. My dad once told me, "Son, if anybody ever picks a fight with you, you make them angry. And I don't just mean they're calling you names and making fun of you from a far angry. I'm talkin' they're foaming at the mouth, wanting you dead angry. Once you do that, the ball's not just in your court, but you've won the game." I asked him why it would be over for them and he responded "Because you can use that anger against them." It never really made sense to me before, because no one wanted to fight me. Actually, everyone around me was nice, quite, and peaceful, but now it makes sense. I'm calm and can see clearly, but he's gone completely blind with rage. That's why it was already over for Alan.

He rushed towards me throwing water spears, but he wasn't aiming to well. I easily dodged them, if I had to dodge. I readied myself, setting my stance and prepared the [steel ball]. I threw it with all my might, and the rock zoomed past Alan skipping on the river a total of 6 times. Holy CRAP, that's a new personal record! Next, I took the [steel ball], while he was still stunned by the feint, flooded it with [rotation], and hurled. It hit his diaphragm knocking the wind right out of him and he passed out cold in a matter of seconds.

It wasn't but a few hours later when Alan woke up strapped to a chair. "Finally awake?" I said.

"How did you do that?" He was curious how I'd bested him in a single hit.

"[Rotation], but that's not important. What is important are these three questions I have for you. First, what is a [stand]. Second, why do you want to learn [rotation]? And third, what made you think you could dare to hurt my friends?"

«To Be Continued»