The Cataclysm of Lava and Ice

Chapter -16: The Cataclysm of Lava and Ice

Dnaleci (won't bother spelling the city backwards :P)

Even though the land was "Ice" spelled backwards, it was anything but. Well, I guess it's why it's backwards. The sky was filled with black smog like usual, except this originated from volcano ash. For their town was built around the base of volcanoes, but although they never erupt, lava was still a problem. Especially now, when the students were unable to go into school because of the pits of lava surrounding it. "Sigh, okay, class, Ikus is throwing one of her tantrums again, so we'll proceed learning out here." The teacher said. "Stay a reasonable distance away so you don't get squirted by magma drips, we'll be fine."

"Hya ha ha ha!" laughed Ikuyim Latsyrc, running to the river's edge, a vibrant smile on her face. "Hey, Ikus! Quit being a sourhead and come learn with us!"

Sitting lonely on an isle on the lava, Ikus Latsyrc glared at her sister with a grumpy face. "GO AWAY, Sister-chan." She folded her arms and turned away.

"But whyyy! Why don't you ever come here and PLAY with uuuus!"

"Because I HATE you! And I hate EVERYTHING! I wish you'd all just BURN!" Her rage made some lava geysers burst.

"Why did Ikuyim's sister have to be born a lavabender of all things?" AlyakAm Gnik said with an emotionless face.

"To represent her utter annoyance. And how no one wants to play with her." Her brother, Egroeg replied with a just-as-emotionless tone.

"Well, class, since we're already on the subject, who can tell me how magma forms?" the teacher asked.

"Ooo-ooo-ooo." Alol Krots, a girl with colorful clothing, raised her hand. "It's formed when rocks melt in the Earth's lithosphere, which is the outermost shell of the earth, made of the crust and upper part of the mantle, and the asthenosphere, which is the layer below the lithosphere."

"Very good. I also would've accepted 'little girls who can't control their selves'. You'd get a sticker, if you can brave the magma rivers to the classroom to get one."

"I'LL get one!" Ikuyim joyously skipped her way across the magma platforms, stopping for brief seconds to wait out sudden magma geysers, until she made it inside the dark, flaming school and found the box of stickers. She took one, skipped her way back out, and planted it on Alol's pink shirt.

"Very good." The teacher said, not caring. "Now who can tell me what 'igneous' is?"

After that boring, hot school day…

Negative Sector IC left the boiling pit behind them, Ikuyim happily skipping ahead of her group. "You know, someone should do something about her." AlyakAm suggested.

"Yes. But who could possibly be interested enough?" Egroeg asked.

"I wish we knew why she was so upset." Yrret said with a sad face. "I'd like to help her."

"Ahhhh that's just Ikus!" Ikuyim said bubbly. "She's always so frumpy! I learn to just deal with it."

"You learn to deal with living on a boiling magma pit that threatens to sink your house?" Alol asked.

"Yep! It's just her way of venting. So who's up for ice cream??" She grinned widely.

"Ice… hold on!" Alol perked. "I have a pen pal in like, Dnalevelc that says the Fourth Grade President's an icebender, so maybe we can like, bring her over and do something 'bout this crazy hothead."

"Perhaps all Ikus needs is to cool down, being surrounded by so much heat all the time." Yrret agreed.

"I don't mind all this heat." AlyakAm said. "It feels like… death. Our life force steadily melting away…"

"Hehe, I'm up for it!" Ikuyim perked. "Come on! Let's go on an adventure!"

"It's not much of an adventure, just flying to Dnalevelc to grab someone and bring them here to do something for us." Yrret replied.

"Life's an adventure! So come on, let's go!" Ikuyim joyously ran to the treehouse first.

"Gee, climb many trees, much?" Egroeg remarked as they followed her.

"Gotta love the healthy spirit." Yrret said.

Dnalevelc; Onion River

"The biggest mystery in life, Aliehs, is why the heck a bunch of onions flow down this river on a daily basis." Nosam inquired as he moved onions out of the river with his bending. "I guess it'd be the ideal paradise if you liked that sort of thing. But I prefer to keep my liquids healthy."

Aliehs held a pickup stick in one hand and stood soaking her feet in the water, droopy face and not looking the least bit interested in picking up trash. But it didn't really matter as Nosam got the job done twice as effectively, the purified river flowing beautifully. "Perfect! This river's clean enough for my lovely Lorac to bathe in. Then I shall clean it again of the filth she acquired in her daily selfless struggles! Let us celebrate our victory with bananas, Aliehs!" He marched off proudly.

Aliehs waited a few seconds after he was gone, still uninterested. She hated bananas. Eventually, she found the strength in her legs to walk forward. But after stepping out of the river, she turned to look at its quiet ripples and gentle flow. It seemed to flow a lot faster with the trash all cleared out. A very rare instance happened when the sun poked through the clouds, making its ripples sparkle. Aliehs walked closer, and her mopey, gray, droopy self reflected in the pool. She never once saw a reflection… let alone one in water. It looked so weird… almost like a parallel world she could dive into.

Aliehs knelt down and reached her hand into the ripples. She reached in closer, not seeming to feel a bottom. "…WHOA!" She splashed in fast as dust into a vacuum.

Her body spun and spun as she plummeted down a watery vortex. Unable to get her bearings, unable to swim, just a sea of bubbles and ripples spinning in her vision. "HUUU!" She was suddenly standing straight on her feet, back above the river. But something looked drastically out of place: the sky was blue, with few fluffy white clouds, and a big, bright, shiny thing in the sky that made the whole land light. Aliehs couldn't look at it without keeping a hand by her face. How could anyone live under a thing like that. And where was she, anyway…

She heard light splashes in the river and looked right, seeing someone approach, her footsteps trudging across the ripples. It was a girl that looked just like her, raccoon ears, tail and all, but her T-shirt and sandals were green, and her tan skin looked much brighter and colorful. A merry smile was on her face as she picked nuggets out of the river. "Blimey. One of life's biggest mysteries is where these nuggets come from. None may ever find out the answer, and hopefully none ever will. Because constantly wonderin' a crazy thing like this is an adventure! And if ya don't wonder, ya can't adventure! Er, or was it 'wander'. Over yonder?" She pointed that way, baffled. "Eh, EITHER WAY!" Her excited face returned. "Why, even marchin' to the end of this thing will lead me to a whole new-" Not watching her path, she bumped into someone.

Sheila shook back to her senses and wore a look more quizzical. There stood a girl with grayish-tan skin, droopy blue eyes, a gray T-shirt and sandals, black hair and shorts, and brown raccoon ears and a tail.

Sheila studied the girl closely. She looked awfully familiar… but couldn't put her tail on it. She loomed her eyes toward hers, then moved back, beginning to walk around the girl sideways. Sheila raised a strand of hair on Aliehs's head, then lifted her tail to feel it. She got back in front and stretched Aliehs's mouth, seeing those pale teeth, then pulled her nose up to peep inside. … … It took a lot more observing, but slowly but surely, the conclusion would reach Sheila. …She cried to the heavens-

"OH, BLIMEY!! IT'S MY LONG-LOST IDENTICAL TWIN SISTER!" She embraced the grayer raccoon in a hug and cried. "OH-HO-HO, my baaaabyyyy! I thought I'd never see you again, where 'ave you BEEN all this time?!" D,:

Aliehs shoved her away. "You idiot, I'm your Negative, not your sister…"

Her look became quizzical. "Moy NEGATIVE?? But that's bloomin' crazy! You don't look a thing like me! I mean, you LOOK like me, but you're all GLOOMY and WITHERY and, EAUCH!"

"Duh, I'm not supposed to be like you…"

"WELL, WHY NOT? You look like you've NEVER seen the SUN! And do ya ever go on any adVENTURES??"

"None that I enjoy…"

"Well, THAT'S just rubbish! SURELY you musta been on SOME adventah. Like ME, for instance, goin' through all that shrinking rubbish. You ever been shrunk? 'Cause I have, and that was a wild ride."

"Yeah. I have once. Wasn't very fun. It was so boring."

"Wait." Sheila looked angered. "You mean you've been shrunkified… and ya DIDN'T ENJOY IT?!"

"It wasn't even written that well."

"Well, that's understandable. But YOU 'ave a severe case of 'lack of adventure', and I intend to CURE IT!! Come on, Bloke, we're goin' to the ocean!" She grabbed the dimmer girl's arm and ran off hurriedly.

Rehgallag Elementary

To everyone's happiness, the salad oil and prune juice mining grounds were shut down thanks to an inexplicably early Winter, the outside covered with snow and machines frozen. Even gym was a joy, as children skated around on the new, remodeled floor that was now an ice rink. "Oh, Yllehs. What you did for these children knows no amount of gratitude." Eissej smiled, sat beside his coated friend on a bench.

"Well, it was no trouble." She smiled. "I like to help people. I know I can't help everyone, but I wanna do the best I can."

"Well, I think you're wonderful for doing so." He leaned his head on her side. "For someone with so much ice, your center is warm."

"Hee hee hee. I don't know why, but I always feel like my ice is a symbol of insecurity. That's why I like to, well, let it go, then I feel less insecure."

"Let it go…" Eissej looked up thoughtfully, "Somebody should write a song about that. I bet it'd sell for nega-millions."

"Heehee, maybe. I still can't believe how big a hit Venus Needs Dads was. Came out in -2011 and people still can't stop talking about it."

"Ho, I know. If only there was some… backwards universe where movies like that weren't so overrated."

"Hee hee hee! Only in our dreams."

But the gym room erupted in screams when a R.E.P.M.A.C.S. (please don't make me come up with backwards acronyms X() crashed through the ceiling. Sector -IC tumbled out, dizzy. "Uhhhh… should've let Ikuyim drive, since I ain't know how to pilot." Alol said.

"Ha ha ha! That was FUN, though! Good work, Alol!" Ikuyim barely looked fazed as she jumped up and skipped in the room- "WHOA!" and slipped on the ice. "Ha ha ha! Live and learn, get surprised by things like that!"

Eissej and Yllehs looked with worry as the five approached them. "So, um, what's with all the ice?" AlyakAm asked. "Is there um, an icebender around?"

They exchanged nervous glances. "U-Um… I-I…I am…" Yllehs very carefully rose her hand.

"Sweet, dude! You can like, help us out with a PROBLEM or something!" Alol beamed.

"P-Problem?"

"The truth is, we heard there was an icebender here, and well, this friend of ours is a lavabender who's turning the school into a lava pit, so we thought maybe you could, um reason with her?" Yrret spoke sheepishly.

Yllehs looked down. "Reason with a-, lavabender? I dunno… it sounds kinda scary."

"Well, um, we just thought, if you were an icebender, your personality would be opposite of hers, so you could talk to her, and maybe cool her down, b-both literally and, …"

"It would be awfully nice of you to try." Eissej told her comfortingly. "You just said you love to help people."

"I-I'd love to, but… w-what if I get burned-?"

"Oh JUST SHUT THE *** up and let's just so FREEZE this chick already!" Ydnas stated impatiently as she stomped toward the wrecked ship. "HURRY UP!"

The duo grinned blushingly. "Hehe… I guess we're a-go." Eissej said.

"We'll fix it up quickly." Egroeg mentioned.

Posiverse

"YAAAAAAAH!" The song "A New Venture" was playing loudly as Sheila did a series of fast-paced, exciting activities with Aliehs along for the ride. Sheila's face was very bright and wide, but Aliehs's half-awake droopy look didn't change one bit. Sheila stood high on her waterbike and rode the waves off the shore, zooming around and around in circles and catching the wind in her hair. Aliehs sat along the side and let her feet skip across the water, looking as though she'd fall asleep any minute. Sheila changed course toward the beach and wore a smirk of excitement, her foot pressing the gas pedal with full force. The beach goers scurried away when the bike smashed along the shore, and Sheila and Aliehs ended up with their heads in the sand.

"WOOHOOOO!" Sheila popped out first. "That was TIGHT, eh? Come on, let's go do MORE!" She grabbed her opposite's foot and dragged her off.

She was soon strapping rollerblades and protective padding on hers and her Negative's body. "Now a sport that REALLY keeps you on yer toes is old-fashioned roller-skating! And when I say old-fashioned, I mean RIDING DOWN THE GRIM RAMP AT A JILLION MILES PER HOUR BEFORE WE ZOOM INTO SPACE!!!" Her voice echoed from her perch as high as the clouds, at the very top of this colossal thousand-meter ramp. "Here weeeeeee GO!"

Pulling Aliehs along, the two raccoons shot down like flaming comets. Their bodies were truly on fire as their speed was unparalleled by any other force. Sheila's skin was steadily pulling away from her body, distinctly noticeable from her eyes and teeth. And for Aliehs, this was pretty noticeable since her flesh was already so droopy. "WoooooooooooooOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!" They finally launched off the bottom ramp, scorched with their trail of fire, and flew straight into the stars above.

A Moonbase operative was doing patrol along the moon's surface when he saw two raccoons on rollerblades gliding overhead, upside-down with one's arms up in excitement. He said in his communicator, "Houston, we have a problem."

"Albert, I swear to God, just because I was named that, you make that joke one more time and I'm blowing your brains out."

Sheila and Aliehs were at the top of a mountain next as both slid down on separate skis and equal speed. Sheila swiftly avoided rocks and trees coming her way while Aliehs didn't use her sticks at all, but her limp feet shifted weight on their own so the skis maneuvered away from the obstacles. When Sheila launched off a ramp and landed perfectly, Aliehs tripped so now her right ski was keeping along, and her left leg stuck straight in the air. "That's a good idea!" Sheila mimicked this pose, and both top legs ended up catching branches and swirling them around before they went flying onto a higher route.

Sheila wrapped her legs around Aliehs's head and rode her like a skiing horsie, her wide grin unchanging as she maneuvered Aliehs's body and avoided hazards (she was still wearing her skis as well, so they formed an 'X' in front of Aliehs). She shifted Aliehs's weight to the left to go along a sideways slope, then rightward when the slope shifted that way. They ended up going straight up a loop-di-loop and shooting down the long vertical slope that followed. As they shot down like a rocket, Sheila flipped Aliehs onto her shoulders so she could be the one skiing. Aliehs, not hanging on tight at all, flew away from Sheila's grasp like that, and as the Positive looked back in confusion, she plopped into the snow and left a perfect shape of herself. Aliehs drifted down upside-down like a measly feather and softly buried her head in the softness.

Sheila was dashing through a thick, vast jungle as swarms of angry apes chased with the desire to tear their limbs to pieces. Her speed proved far superior even with Aliehs along, but they had to zip directions several times to avoid surprising snakes, dart traps, and the usual skeleton-filled pitfall. They eventually dashed into an ancient temple and easily ran across the traps with Sheila's speed, finally making it to the center where the Crystal Skull rested. But the moment Sheila took it, a giant ***king boulder came rolling out, chasing the two all the way back to the exit. Aliehs slipped from her grasp as Sheila slid out of the closing door, but reached back and pulled her opposite out just in time. The boulder crashed, and bore the logo of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Sheila and Aliehs were now seated on something like a horsie, with the former sparing a look back at her grayer self and giving an assuring nod. The wind brushed past their hair as they were thousands of meters in the sky again, under some flying metal craft. The craft released the missile they were sitting on, and fell faster and faster to the fortress below. The speed was even greater than on the Grim Ramp, and the heat would surely burn the flesh and bone off their bodies. It would only be a matter of time before the missile made impact. That time… was right now, actually. (End song.)

The building was swallowed in a storm of fire and ash, steadily collapsing it in a million pieces of roaring rubble. The cloud of ash grew wider and wider, for no remnants of this doomed fortress would remain. "… … THIS WAS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LOIIIIIIIFFFFFE!"

Dnaleci; Rutsua Elementary

Negative Sector IC returned to Dnaleci with Team Yllehs in tow and cautiously approached the boiling pit around the school. Ikus Latsyrc kept her perch on the lone island with her back facing them. "There she is! Heeeey, Ikus!" Ikuyim waved.

"GO away, Sister-chan." She turned for that brief moment, then faced forward.

"Wellll, like, guess it's up to you now." Alol told Yllehs.

With a very nervous gulp, Yllehs threw her ice into the magma and froze it solid. She climbed down and very carefully stepped across to approach Ikus. She stopped before her tall island and spoke to her. "H-Hey… Ikus?"

"WHAAAT." She turned with her mouth wide open as she yelled that.

"H-Hey…" She was grinning nervously, "I was wondering… why are you so mad?"

"Because I AM! THAT'S why!" Turned away.

"W-Well there must be a reason." Yllehs walked a bit closer. "You can't just be… angry. Is it insecurity? 'Cause uh, I kinda feel the same way, and I also-"

"Aren't you listening? I said GO AWAY!" She forced a lava geyser up from below, Yllehs jumping back.

She froze it quickly. "P-Please, just listen first. I only want you to-"

"NO!" 'nother geyser.

She froze, "W-Would you just-"

"Nuh-uh." Geyser.

Froze. "Please-"

Geyser.

Froze, "J-"

Geyser.

Froze.

Geyser.

Froze.

Geyser.

"WILL YOU JUST STOP IIIIIT?!?" Yllehs unleashed a mighty beam of ice that made Ikus's platform frosty. The 7-year-old already jumped off and sent a magma quake along the ground that made Yllehs dodge. Ikus stomped a series of magma rocks from the ground and hurled at Yllehs, but the icebender was quick to dodge and zip a road of ice along the ground, causing Ikus to slip.

Yllehs blasted a storm of ice beams, but Ikus regained her ground and burned parallel paths of magma that curved and connected at Yllehs, who jumped back, but the magma continued and burned a row of 8's, with little islands in the 'holes'. Yllehs carefully jumped the islands as Ikus came for her, tossing ice blasts that Ikus ducked before grabbing magma from the side and chucking it at her. Yllehs flipped back and froze a road of ice along the islands, skiing over to Ikus and jumping to kick, but Ikus ducked and started flinging a round of magma streams.

Yllehs hurriedly tossed an ice beam at each stream, alternating left and right, left and right, before Ikus finally thrusted herself toward Yllehs on a magma wave, the latter dodging right to throw a quick beam that froze Ikus's wave and caused her to fly forward and crash. She recovered and burned a magma pool around her before making her platform rise with a lava geyser, which she then spun like a tornado toward Yllehs. The fourth-grade leader ran away and tried to throw ice back, but the cyclone stayed burning as a trail of lava was left in its wake.

Tired of running, Yllehs created a trail of ice through the air and surfed away, skiing around and at level with Ikus as the angry child threw more lava rocks. Yllehs kept the ice road going with her right hand and sent a steady beam of ice with her left at the top of the cyclone, but before it could freeze completely, a magma rock hit the ice path and caused Yllehs to fall. The cyclone was still drilling toward her, but Yllehs spun back to her feet and released a double ray of ice that froze the cyclone and flew Ikus off.

"RRRRRAAAAAAH!" Ikus threw both arms down and burned a wide pit of magma around her perch. Yllehs slid back and froze a great deal of ground into ice, hurriedly waving her arms as a bunch of snow spiraled and bunched above her. Ikus also whirled her arms in a fluid motion to gather and bunch several streams of lava, a massive ball of ice or lava forming on either side. Yllehs's side was blue and freezing, Ikus's was red and molting, and both elemental spheres grew brighter and larger. Once both were at maximum height, Yllehs spun and twirled, and Ikus spun and twirled, before both girls thrusted arms forward and launched the powerful beams of clashing temperatures. Heat met cold, fire met ice, lava met snow, both elements clashed and mixed into a force greater than they ever saw. It was almost like a mini sun was created, for the clash grew bright enough to force the viewers to cover their eyes.

A gentle snow fell over the school grounds. A great statue, depicting Yllehs and Ikus's fight, stood over the playground. "Huff, huu, huff, huu…" After Ikus caught her breath, she viewed the statue in its wonder.

"Siiigh, huff, siiigh, huff…" Yllehs tried to stand straight. "Are you… better, yet?"

"…Y…Yeah… I think I am!" Ikus stood straight and smiled wide. "Now I know why I was so angry! I've always loved getting into fights at school… but because of my lavabending, nobody wanted to fight! You were the first one brave enough to fight me in ages. Now that all my steam is let out, I feel AAAAALL better! Thank you, Ice-chan! I hope we get to FIGHT again!"

Now more joyous than ever, Ikus skipped away.

Cleveland; Nugget River

"Blimey, I can't believe we came outta that missile launch with only minor nosebleeds." Sheila said as she and Aliehs walked across the river, arms and heads in bandages. "But then we tripped on that banana peel and got in THIS mess. All in all though, I had a really fun day with you, Backwards Me! I hope I can say the same for you?"

"Mmm…"

"Well, it's a start. Say, how'd you get in this world, anyway?" She turned to Aliehs.

"Well, a Positive or Negative can mainly enter the other's world if both are standing in front of the same reflective source, otherwise you need a spell or something. It probably happened when you were walking in the river the same time we cleaned it and the sun started shining. That's how Nerehc got to Cheren, when he was looking in his dresser mirror."

"Ahh, well that's a handy explanation! So I guess you'll be going back then?"

"Guess so. I won't fit in in this world, much too bright."

"Well, that's crikey. But just make me a promise then, will ya, Me?"

"Hmm?"

Sheila held her unwrapped arm out. "Promise me that… you'll live your life full of excitement and thrills. Have tons of adventures and make every event exciting! Like if ya ever get shrunk again, run around on the floor and try not to get stepped on! That's what REALLY gets yer blood pumpin'. Matter of fact, ol' Anthony's goin' through the bizzo right now, I oughta tell him that!"

Aliehs never curved her frown or opened her eyes more than they were. She looked at Sheila's colorful smirk with the same gray, gloomy form. But she reached her free hand and lightly smacked Sheila's. With that, Sheila saluted, and Aliehs insipidly mimicked the motion. Aliehs then turned around and jumped in the river, splashing back to her dimension.

Aliehs resurfaced in the Negaverse just in time for the patch of sun to fade away. She heard footsteps in the river and saw Nosam and Lorac walking over. "Isn't this water most refreshing for your lovely tootsies?" Nosam asked her.

"Hm hm hm. Well, at least it's clean enough to walk in." She smiled. "…! ALIEHS!" Lorac saw the sight of the bandaged girl and ran over. "What happened to you?! You look like you've spent the day with some MASOCHIST!"

"I'm fine… Hey, um… you blokes wanna find a giant ice cube and slide down a volcano?"

They exchanged the most baffled, utterly confused expressions. "'BLOKES'??"

"Eh… never mind."

"Why don't we just go get ice cream, Aliehs?" Lorac suggested as both took her hand and led her away.

"Can we walk around in a giant freezer and get lost?"

"You've been out in the sun too long, dearest…" Nosam thought as the tiniest bit of sun shone in the clouds.

Dnaleci

The teams of -IC and Team Yllehs casually walked away from the school grounds with the chaos long behind them. "So like, to keep Ikus from melting the school, we basically gotta FIGHT 'er now?" Alol questioned.

"Goodness, I almost prefer it if she just stay angry." Yrret moaned.

"He ha ha! Ikus is such a silly face!" Ikuyim laughed, skipping along.

"Regardless, we appreciate you coming to help us, Yllehs."

"Yah, thanks…" AlyakAm said uncaringly.

"Hehe… I don't usually get so violent… but I'm glad to help." Yllehs blushed.

"It is truly a blessing Ikus doesn't go to our school." Eissej commented.

"Would really make things ***kin' exciting." Ydnas snapped.

"Well, I guess we'll just take you home now." Egroeg figured.

"Better leave Ikuyim here to walk Ikus home." AlyakAm said.

"He he ha! Kus-Kus just never changes!" Ikuyim laughed.

And so, the school stood happily ever after for the rest of that day. The sun poked through the clouds, illuminating the statue of Ikus and Yllehs that would stand for eons.