Missing

In case you're wondering, yes, I am indeed getting beaten up.

I was slammed into a nearby building. by the strong gravitational pull. Space appeared in front of me and pushed my face, smashing it against the wall behind me. The wall sizzled and melted, and so did Space's hand. I swiped at Space's face, but I only got a fingertip on her glasses. I reformed and got up, cracking my neck. Space pointed at me, but before she could do anything else, I said to her, "Hold on."

She actually held on.

"Can't believe that actually worked," I joked.

As expected, she was unimpressed. The ground beneath me bent and stabbed through me. It melted away when it came in contact with my body. I said to Space, "Those Reality powers don't make much sense to me, you know that?"

"You talk too much," Space insisted.

I pointed at my own face. "Just gotta say. I like that shade of red for your glasses."

Her eyes widened just for the glasses on her face to explode. Space staggered back, holding her face. She growled, her face already reformed. She looked around in confusion as she tried to locate me. I commented, "You're as blind as a bat without those, huh?"

She snapped, another pair appearing on her face.

But by the time she did so, I was already gone.

As I said, there was no point in trying to fight the other Elementals. The goal should always be the humans. You know, I've seen all the Elementals except for Earth and Nature, but I've only seen the human under Light. Where could the other humans even be hiding?

Also, that girl I was supposed to protect might be in danger. Space mentioned stalling for time. Was she working with other Elementals to get rid of me early?

When I got back, the building was in shambles.

I just stood there, staring at it.

"What the hell?" I muttered to myself.

I tried sensing the basement, but it had completely collapsed in on itself. Dark stepped out of the shadows, looking mighty pissed. I pointed at the collapsed building, asking, "Did you do this?"

She grabbed my trenchcoat with both hands. "What were you thinking?"

"Huh?" I asked. "Are you concerned about how I most likely just lost?"

"You're human is still alive," Dark stated. "Earth collapsed that building. But you know who saved your human?"

She gave me a moment to think about it.

Oh no.

"Oh no," I muttered to myself.

She shoved me back, walking back into the shadows. I looked around at how slashed up the walls and ground were. Dark said to me, "She shouldn't be participating. It won't be much of a competition if she is around."

I smacked my head. I told Mevis to scream as loud as she could if she was in danger, but that was under the assumption that I was hanging around the area at the time. I didn't think that Air would actually get herself involved with a human I only briefly mentioned.

Now how am I going to find Mevis?

I can't detect Air, and Mevis could be anyone in the crowd. I could ask around, but Air is extremely capable of blending in with humans. I scratched my head more before I punched a nearby wall—no point in worrying. If Air is with Mevis, I at least know she's safe. I scratched my head more before whispering to myself, "Dammit Earth, you just had to do it."

With nothing else to do, I turned myself into flames and tried to search for any other humans.

While just going around the place, I noticed one of the humans acting strangely. I reformed nearby, just observing the human. She was constantly looking over her shoulder and checking her phone. I managed to hide from her line of sight, but I caught the attention of a different type of threat.

A boy in a costume appeared in front of me, floating in the air.

"Fire," Earth called out with a cheerful smile on his face.

I smacked him in the head, scolding, "What did you do to make Air take action? Are you an idiot?"

Earth rubbed his head before replying, "Hey, I wasn't even going to hurt the human. The human just screamed really loudly and Air just... appeared!"

I smacked him again.

"Hey! Stop," Earth whined, covering his head.

"I'm gonna get you for doing that," I said.

"Air hurt me too, why aren't you concerned?" Earth whined.

"'Cause you're almost impossible to hurt," I stated. "Besides, Air shouldn't be participating. Now, you're gonna tell me where Air is so I can fix your mistake, okay?"

Earth floated away from me.

I glanced over at the human who had been walking around nervously. Earth turned to look at the human as well. He flicked his wrist, a picture appearing in his hand. He whispered to me, "I think that's Nature's human."

"Yeah, I don't care about that right now."

"I'm scared to offer her a wish though," Earth grumbled, holding his hat. "What if Nature gets angry at me again?"

I put a hand on the floating boy's shoulder. I told him, "Hey, look at me."

Earth looked up at me despite the piece of paper covering the middle of his face. I looked him dead in the eyes. "I don't care."

Earth sighed. "Can't you find Air yourself?"

"Elementals don't have heat signatures, stupid," I sighed. "And there's no way I can scan the entire city that quickly. You see everything, just tell me where Air is."

"Air and your human are currently in the big shopping mall," Earth told me.

"Which one?"

"The biggest one."

I let him continue, but Earth was clearly done with telling me the information. Just when I thought my day couldn't get worse, the human I had been keeping an eye on approached us. She was rather nervous as she held onto a map. She asked us, "Uh... I-I was looking for the t-train station?"

She slowly registered the black trenchcoat I was wearing. Her line of sight then drifted over to Earth, who was weirdly dressed. Earth's slip of paper changed to have the word 'HELLO' on it. She was comically slow to notice how Earth was floating off the ground.

She snapped her fingers, her eyes lighting up. She pointed at Earth, asking, "Are you a magician?"