Oka, Kalei, and I hid behind a rock. There was a scorched looking substance past the rock, which shielded us from a group of void mohat were messing up the ground of a little ravine creek.

  “You scouted this out earlier, right?” I asked.

  “Yup, with Aira and Laenie,” Oka said. “We were right at this rock, actually.”

  “ you expin this spot then?” Kalei asked, pointing to a spot o her that had marks in it like someone ran their fiips through the somehow simultaneously burned and glittery looking void residue.

  “Aira tasted it,” Oka said.

  “Ew,” I said. “What did it taste like?”

  “She said sad dressing.” Oka said. “But enough of that, are you two ready?”

  I nodded.

  “Yup,” Kalei yawned.

  “This is a low gravity spot, so we have a bit of extra time if they jump at us,” Oka said, showing off the gravity by pig up a brand watg it float away from the momentum. “So we also might move a bit faster than normal too.”

  “ we get this over with already?” Kalei asked.

  “Yeah, fine whatever. I was just trying to be the strategist or...whatever,” Oka said. “Alright, say the word, Zeta!”

  “Uh, go, I guess?” I said. “Go get em?”

  With my rousing words of battle, we charged down into the ravihere weren’t a lot of trees around us, so it was a small arena divided by a creek basically as we squared off against some low-level void monsters. It looked like a bunch of little crawling bug things, and one flying bug thing.

  Part of me felt bad for having to fight em, but as we were told they weren’t even really animals, just amalgamations of void junk that had to be smushed to be sent into the void clouds to bee void rain or something. I tried to think of a metaphor that tied into my weather gift, but I drew a bnk. I probably should have started fighting already, but I really thought I was onto something with this void densation to storm powers thing, so I stood behind Oka and Kalei as they started.

  “Zeta...you wanna help out or anything?” Kalei asked.

  “Oh!” I said. “My bad!”

  I got to dig and dodging. Progress, actual progress on the Benta Schorship! The feeling of finally stopping procrastination washed over me like the goop of the void monster I sshed at that exploded and spshed all over me. I was very thankful there was a ing station in the void entrance headquarters back at sy bloodsaber was w well too, even if it had a bit of a ark in the veins, but Caya told me that was normal for a o the void i. I was eveing a little better at managing the clipping the finger part of it without g too much.

  We hit a bit of a standstill with the flyer still remaining, h over the creek. Oka and I were on one side, and Kalei was oher.

  “Let’s try the jump!” Oka said.

  “Are you sure this spot’s low gravity enough?” I asked.

  “If it’s not, I’m small you chuck me!” Oka said. “I really wanna try the jump!”

  “I...don’t think I’m strong enough,” I said.

  Oka was already running my way so I just had to hope the gravity thing was gonna work. I held my hands out and Oka stepped and I flung her up as hard as I could, falling backwards onto the ground as she flew up over me.

  Oka sliced the flyer in half in one perfect swing of her bloodsaber. Now all that was left was for Kalei to catch her.

  “Alright Kalei you’re uuuuppAAAUUUGHHH—” Oka screamed as she nded hard, tumbled on the ground and rolled a ways away.

  “Oka!” I yelled, running to her.

  “I’m...eugh...alright…” Oka said, getting up from a pretty mangled looking position, but she was double jointed, so it looked a lot worse than it was. “Kalei, where were…?”

  Kalei wasn’t in position, she wasn’t even close. In the few seds I’d turned around to catd throw Oka, Kalei had fallen over.

  “She’s...asleep?” I asked.

  “Wake her up,” Oka said, squinting. “I wao see what she did…”

  “Cause light scrapes?” I asked.

  “Yeah…” Oka said, squinting her eyes even more.

  I tried to wake Kalei up, but she wouldn’t budge. She was a stiff as a board sleeper, but we could usually wake her up pretty easily with noise so we both started yelling until she snapped awake screaming with us.

  “Oh,” Kalei said. “Sorry. Did we win?”

  “We won but suffered light scrapes,” Oka said softly but with venom.