SharpShot:
"Ms. Justice," I scream. "No! Noo! Nnnooo!"
My blood boils. My vision turns red. My teeth grind against each other. I stare at the giant sand monster as it raises its arm.
"Arghhh!"
Raising both my blasters, I slam the trigger and fire non-stop. My rounds hit the monster's head, but they fly right through it, leaving holes that quickly refill.
"Arghhh! This isn't working! My blasters aren't doing anything. I need something else. I need an idea. I need a--"
"Gggrrr," someone growls.
"Electric?" I repeat. "Wait, who said that?"
I look up and see the bat-man looking down at me while still flapping his massive wings. As he carries me, he grumbles away.
"Electric," I say again. "Wait, I can understand you? You can talk? How?"
The bat-man grumbles again.
"Wha-How--How does that even work? That makes no sense."
The bat-man grumbles again.
"Okay, okay, explanation later. Right now, you're right. I saw earlier Ms. Justice using JumpStart's stun baton to destroy some of the black sand. It worked for a few seconds, but in order for it to work some more, we're going to need a lot more juice."
The bat-man grumbles again. I look up and see him nudging his head toward the side. Looking where he's pointing, I see electric wires running pole to pole.
"You're a freaking genius," I yell. "Take me there!"
The bat-man nods and flies us toward the wires. However, as we head toward them, the sand monster swings its arm.
"Watch out!
The bat-man turns and sees the falling arm. Pulling his wings in, the bat-man flies as fast as he can, but the arm still gets closer. Raising my blasters, I prepare to shoot, hoping to break off part of its arm and give us an opening, but something begins happening.
"What in the world?"
The black sand man stops in mid-air. It freezes only a few feet from us.
The bat-man grumbles.
"I have no idea what just happened."
Looking closely at the massive arm, I notice a strange red glow surrounding it. The sand monster roars and shakes its body. It spins its head, wiggles its body, and jerks its other arm around. Its body is still moving, everything except for the left arm. Now, looking around, I see QuickShot slowly walking toward the sand monster.
I can't be sure from this distance, but from the looks of it, QuickShot is covered in the same red glow as the sand monster's arm. She's not holding her bow. Instead, it looks like her hands are open and at her sides.
"What's going on? Is QuickShot somehow doing this? But how?"
Hearing growling, I shake my head and look up.
"Right, right! The wires!"
The bat-man snaps me out of my trance and flies us toward the electric wires.
QuickShot:
My teeth grind against each other. My vision turns red. My heart is beating like never before. I split and scream as I shoot out both my glowing red hands.
"Aahhh!"
With my telekinesis power, I grab the sand monster's entire arm. The monster tries to shake my grip off, but I am not letting go! With a pull of my arms, I rip the monster's arm right off!
Despite the arm falling toward me like a meteorite, something is telling me not to run. Something is telling me to focus my thinking and move my hands.
Shooting out my hands, I wiggle my fingers and summon a large red barrier. The monster's other arm hits the barrier and shatters, black sand erupting everywhere.
The monster roars again and pulls away. Half of its arm, the half that doesn't shatter, drops into the water, making a huge splash. Stretching my fingers out, the barrier disappears.
"Knight QuickShot!"
"What?"
Turning and following the voice, I see SpeedBlade running toward me at super speed. Skidding against the dock, he stops in front of me.
"Knight QuickShot? Are you unharmed?"
"SpeedBlade," I say, fighting the urge not to cry. "I'm fine. But Ms. Justice. She--She's---and JumpStart, too. Ahh! I can't believe I forgot about JumpStart! What is wrong with me!"
I hit myself in the head over and over for forgetting about one of my friends, for forgetting about JumpStart, for my last words to Ms. Justice.
"Ms. Justice. As leader of the OutCasts, I am ordering you to. I can't believe those were my last words to her! What is wrong with me! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"
As I keep screaming at myself, SpeedBlade grabs and shakes me.
"QuickShot! You must calm yourself. Open your eyes."
"What?"
Opening my eyes, I look around and see dozens of things: stuffed toys, leftover food, empty trays and soda cups, all floating around. They're hovering in mid-air, surrounded by a red energy. The same red energy that surrounds me.
"Wha--What--am--am I doing this?"
I turn to the nearest thing floating in the air. Slowly raising my hand, I tap the oily hot dog wrapper and watch it float away.
"I did not know you could do that," SpeedBlade says, watching the hot dog wrapper hover past him.
"Neither did I."
As I keep looking around, trying to understand what is going on or how I was doing this, I hear a familiar roar. SpeedBlade and I turn and see the giant sand monster regrowing both its arms.
The scattered black sand runs across the dock and back into the sand monster. It climbs up the body and reaches the shoulders. Once there, the sand reshapes into two more arms with hands and fingers.
Pushing himself up, SpeedBlade helps me to my feet before pulling out his sword.
"Get back," I say.
"Aye?"
"Get back," I repeat.
I slowly push SpeedBlade back.
"I can do this."
"But--"
"I don't know how I'm doing this right now," I say, raising my hands. They're glowing red. A bright red I have only seen once when we defeated the Iron Fist Armor. "But I know I can do this. With my power, I can beat the sand monster. Just stay back. Please."
"Please? In my entire time as the mighty SpeedBlade, I have never heard utter the word please."
I look at SpeedBlade. SpeedBlade looks back at me. A second later, he nods, sheathes his sword, and steps back.
"I wish you the very best of luck," SpeedBlade says.
"Thank you."
I smile and nod back. Turning around, facing the giant sand monster head-on, I breathe in and out while wiggling my fingers. The sand monster sees me, roars, and pulls both its arms back. It throws them forward, but I shoot my hands up.
The red energy surrounding me forms another barrier. The sand monster hits the barrier, and the red energy shoots up its arms. Its two arms explode again, and much of the black sand falls into the ocean. The monster roars and pulls back.
Shooting my hands forward again, I grab the sand monster. Somehow, despite using my power, I can still feel every single grain of black sand running through my fingers and over my palms
"Ahhh!"
Pulling my hands, I pull the sand monster apart, ripping it down the middle. The two halves struggle to link together. As I hold them apart, I hear a familiar voice.
"QuickShot! Keep it like that!"
"What?"
Looking up, I see SharpShot in the air, being carried by the giant bat monster. For some reason, SharpShot holds electric wires in both hands, the ends sparking. While I hold down the sand monster, he and the bat monster fly closer.
"Here," SharpShot yells, "Catch!"
Throwing the live wires at the sand monster, both sides roar as electric currents run throughout them.
"Get us out of here," SharpShot yells. The bat monster nods. It turns around and flies away. "Now! Now! Now!"
Letting go, I turn to run, but SpeedBlade grabs me first. He picks me up, my legs dangling over his arm, and runs down the dock and onto the street at super speed. Skidding to a stop, we turn around and see the sand monster's head and arms snapping in various directions. Even after pulling itself together, the electricity still makes the sand monster twist and turn.
"Head-up!"
Looking to the side, we see the bat-man drop SharpShot beside us. Landing on the ground, SpeedBlade lowers his arms, letting me stand again. Once I'm back on my feet, SharpShot pulls out his dual blasters.
"Get ready," he says, "That thing's getting ready to blow, and who knows how big the explosion will be—"
Before SharpShot can finish, the whole dock breaks apart, and the sand monster sinks into the ocean below. The entire ocean screams as the sand monster splashes around.
"Did you do that?" I turn to SharpShot.
"No," he answers. "I was busy getting the wires."
"Did you?" I turn to SpeedBlade.
"Nah," SpeedBlade answers. "I was with you for the whole battle."
As the four of us watch the sand monster sink deeper into the ocean, the black sand breaking apart, I see something else, or someone, walking out of the water.
"It is the sea monster," SpeedBlade shouts, pulling out his sword. The sea monster walks out from the ocean, dragging two people behind it.
"Ms. Justice! JumpStart!"
Dragging them onto the beach, the sea monster drops them.
"Let's go," I say, pulling out my bow. "SpeedBlade. Get me to the beach."
SpeedBlade nods and carries me again.
"Uhh, bat-man," SharpShot says, "After them. Fly me to the beach. Please?"
Reaching the beach in seconds, I can see the sea monster more closely now that it's out of the water. The sea monster does have green skin, with shining scales overlapping on its arm, but the orange before isn't scales. The orange is part of its clothing. It looks like a vest or a jacket. The sea monster also has long, red hair. The closer I look, the more the sea monster looks like a woman. Seeing us, the sea monster runs back into the ocean. Diving, I see her silhouette for a few seconds before it vanishes into the ocean.
"Fast swimmer," I say.
"Aye."
Hearing panting, SpeedBlade and I turn to see SharpShot running up to us.
"Wha—what did I miss?" He asks. Taking a few seconds to catch his breath, he pushes himself up. "Where's the sea monster?"
"Where's the giant bat?" I ask.
"He left," SharpShot answers. "I asked for a ride, and he just left me. I even said please."
Looking up, SharpShot points at the sky. Following him, I see the silhouette of the giant bat flapping its wings as it flies away. Forgetting about the sea monster and giant bat, I nudge my head.
"Come on," I say, "Ms. Justice and JumpStart need our help."