Elementalism 101<p>Groff stretched and blinked himself awake under the afternoon sky. Strawberry had gotten off of him- most likely having rolled over in his sleep- and was currently snoozing right by without a care in the world.</p><p>Groff chuckled, peaceful, before remembering <em>what</em> exactly happened to cause Strawberry to come running to his aid.</p><p>Floating… <em>Chip</em> was the one with air magic, not him! Unless their powers swapped for some reason…</p><p>… Waringly, he let magic flow from his paws. A flame lit, and quickly <em>un</em>lit as soon as Groff willed it.</p><p>So it’s not that, unless it was resolved sometime before he woke up…</p><p>Could he still float?</p><p>Groff took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused on flying. He felt his paws leaving the ground, but nobody holding him up…</p><p>Carefully, he opened his eyes.</p><p>The ground sat a few inches below his paws, and yet his body felt as tense as if he were soaring the skies. His newfound air magic was definitely… <em>weaker </em>than Chip’s, yet still…</p><p>He needed to talk to Martus.</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p>“Martus!” Groff yelled.</p><p>“Ah, Groff!” Martus waved. “Need something?”</p><p>“I have air magic now and I don’t know why!” Groff floated a bit to demonstrate. “But I still have my fire magic so it isn’t some sort of power swap with Chip or anything!”</p><p>“Ah.” Martus sweatdropped. “You see, recently, people have been awakening to these things known as Classes… Right now, there’s only two classes we know of- Bards and Elementalists. You’re an Elementalist- you have, or <em>will</em> have, all four of the elemental magics.”</p><p>Groff’s ears perked. “All… four!?” He remembered how he felt the water helping him get himself and Reese back to shore- was that due to magic, too?</p><p>“Correct. Now, we’re not used to multi-element wielders yet, so I don’t know what training to give Elementalists outside of regular magic training, but there may be people willing to help in other worlds… but first, the 101s...”</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p><em>Knock, knock!</em></p><p>The owner of the house opened the door and immediately sweatdropped at the sight of Groff. “Oh <em>jeez</em>, are you a normal cat I’ll have to take to the shelter or are you Barkley 2?” She said.</p><p>“I guess Barkley 2?” Groff cocked his head. “But anyways, I came here because of this map.” He held up a map Snowsparkle had drawn him when he asked her for advice. “According to Snowsparkle, you should be a good teacher.”</p><p>“... You <em>talk…” </em>Although Groff could not see her eyes under her long hair, he could tell this brown-haired poncho-wearing stranger was clearly shaken. “... The Mer-line doesn’t… there’s no way… How?”</p><p>“The Mer-line?” Groff cocked his head again. “I came here by myself- I can travel universes! Besides, I didn’t see any mermaid themed train station lines on my way here.”</p><p>The stranger sat in silence. “...I need a moment. Come on in, but I need a moment. If you see a clown, that’s Gwen- don’t let her eat my stuff. You like dogs, right? I live with one, so…”</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p>The stranger (whose name was Cass) sat down on the floor to meet Groff’s height. “So did Snowsparkle tell you anything about who I am?”</p><p>“She didn’t know either.” Groff said. “Just felt like this map would led me to someone who’s good at helping people who recently ended up with new magic- all types of magic.”</p><p>“I’m surprised it didn’t lead you to Lenna.” Cass said. “But I’ve helped my fair share of newbies myself, so…” Cass took a breath. Her body became pure static for a moment, before reshaping into the form of a giant electric moth.</p><p>“Shouldn’t we go outside?” Groff asked.</p><p>“Hm…” Cass frowned. “Usually, we’d use New Wirral for that, but it doesn’t look like you can go there…” She detransformed. “But where could we go instead…”</p><p>“How about another universe?”</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p>“Jeez, this place is cold…” Cass shivered. They took the form of a fiery dog in goggles, most likely to keep warm, but it seemed like it wasn’t enough. “Maybe we should pick someplace else. Fire’s the element you started off with, right? It’s better if we pick a place more suited for practicing the other elements…”</p><p>“But where else are you going to find those snow fox things with ice powers?” Groff asked. “They’re fun to chase after!” <br>“Hello?” A traveller, a woman in a rabbit-eared hood, wearing a charm in the shape of a durian, paused at the sight of the duo. “... Are you two lost? I came here to fight the Wildfrost, but I’d be willing to bring you two back to Snowdwell-”</p><p>“Actually, we’re here to train my magic!” Groff said. “You see, I recently somehow got air, earth, and water magic out of the blue…”</p><p>“I’m not from this universe.” Cass said. “And I’m usually a human named Cass. Groff-” She gestured a paw at him. “Took me here so that I could train him. Do you know anything to help?”</p><p>“I have an idea.” The traveller said. “But first, since you gave us your names, I’ll give you ours. I’m Snowshine.” She pointed to herself. “And this is Pinkberry.” She pointed to a little pink and white fox creature with a plant growing from their forehead. “And for my idea…” She toyed with her charm necklace. “... I’m from a tribe of ice magic. We usually use it to slow our enemies down in battle. I could teach you.” She pulled out two snow sticks. “I have magic of my own, but it makes me a bit unsteady, so we’ll just use these… Follow my example, ok?”</p><p><img align="center" height="48" width="1080" alt="divider" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/c49e6b3a26a5f5e56ec369152def537b/81e02d8e76540f0c-a7/s1280x1920/f28a1e15cb922dfbdd5166dd6e143e7af5250f37.pnj"></p><p>“Aster! Check this out!” Groff then tackled Aster and inflicted him with 2 turns of the Snow Status. “Cass also taught me this!” He then used Water Wall.</p>the hearts of cats are neverending<p>“Hey, Groff…” Cream muttered. “Can you… hug me? It’s a weird question to ask, but…” </p><p>Groff hugged them before they even could find more words to say, knocking them down to the ground.</p><p>“T-Thanks!” They purred softly. “Saw something scary, that’s all…”</p><p>“I’m just glad to spend time with you.” Groff purred.</p><p>The stars shined above them as a moment passed.</p><p>“... I love you. You’re the best.” Cream curled up even closer, and Groff could feel the vibrations of their purring alongside the vibrations of his own.</p><p>“I love you too.” Groff pressed his paws into Cream’s back, gently kneading them like bread.</p><p>Cream relaxed into the hug, their breathing slowing as their eyes closed and they nodded off to sleep. Groff closed his eyes and joined them.</p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/6ac868bda506258afdd7e2ae7dfbbdc0/81e02d8e76540f0c-d3/s1280x1920/c354efe549f8e974a5863942f72d67ee73525677.pnj"></p><p>“The sunsets here are beautiful, aren’t they?” Groff asked, his tail curled around Reese as the duo gazed upon the vibrant oranges and reds of the sky.</p><p>“Thanks for taking me.” Reese purred and turned to nuzzle Groff.</p><p>Groff nuzzled back. “No problem.”</p><p>Reese nuzzled again.</p><p>Groff nuzzled yet again.</p><p>Soon, it devolved into the duo smashing their heads together, trying to outnuzzle the other.</p><p>“Are you two… fighting?” Someone asked, causing the duo to pause.</p><p>“No?” Groff cocked his head.</p><p>“<em>Fighting</em> looks like this.” Reese smirked, and tackled Groff, knocking him to the ground.</p><p>Groff grabbed her by the shoulders and moved to flip the two of them over without hesitation, quickly pinning Reese to the ground instead, and gave her two quick smacks to the face with his paw. Reese retaliated with a kick to the stomach, causing Groff to flinch and lose his grip, allowing her to wiggle free.</p><p>“Nice one!” Groff beamed. “But I’ll do you one better!”</p><p>He jumped to tackle Reese as she was rolling back to her feet- and accidentally knocked the two of them off of a cliff.</p><p>He yelped. She hugged him tight.</p><p>They landed in a pond.</p><p>(The way the water felt in his lungs felt… <em>familiar? </em>A dull memory…)</p><p>Groff moved to place Reese on his back, and pushed himself with all his might to swim.</p><p>(... For some reason, he felt the water… <em>helping </em>him?)</p><p>“Thought we were far enough from the cliff.” Reese said. “I’ve been playing with Strawberry too much.” He chuckled. “I’ll have to remember Cream’s not the only one who sometimes knocks their friends off of things.”</p><p>“I’m glad you’re ok.” Groff said.</p><p>Luckily, land wasn’t too far ahead, and Reese stepped down from Groff’s back as Groff let out a sigh of relief.</p><p>“Let’s take a nap here…” Groff laid down. “That battle was a bit too exciting for something involving my clowdermates…”</p><p>Reese laid down beside him, purring. “That’s true.” She closed her eyes to enter the world of sleep, and Groff followed her close behind.</p><p><img height="48" width="1080" class="fr-fic fr-dib" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/6ac868bda506258afdd7e2ae7dfbbdc0/81e02d8e76540f0c-d3/s1280x1920/c354efe549f8e974a5863942f72d67ee73525677.pnj"></p><p>Groff was currently in his home universe, doing parkour in broad daylight and thinking to himself.</p><p><em>‘Obviously trained for this for a while’? What’s that supposed to mean? </em>He thought as he hopped from Nora’s windowsill to a trashcan. <em>Why did they think I was some sort of… expert adventurer or something? </em>He hopped from the trashcan to a pile of boxes. <em>I guess I do do things that others would consider ‘practice’, but it’s just for fun! It’s not like I’m aiming to be better at fighting monsters when I play with my friends… That’s not who I am…</em></p><p>He moved to jump, but suddenly slipped, the shock snapping him out of his thoughts. He instinctively moved to right himself and land on his feet, but-</p><p>“NYAAAAAAAAAA!”</p><p>Strawberry’s ears perked, and he ran from Nora’s bed and jumped out of her window at the sound. “Groff?”</p><p>Groff was… floating? A few inches off the ground, yes, but… he was <em>floating!</em></p><p>“Nothing’s wrong, Strawberry!” He stammered. “Just… got surprised… Chip’s the one with air powers, not me, so why am I-”</p><p>“Nothing’s wrong?” Strawberry asked. “Ah, so I can go back to sleep then.” He then proceeded to fall asleep on the spot- and on Groff, causing him to fall to the ground.</p><p>Groff sighed. Maybe he needed a nap, too.</p><p>(And so, Groff followed his clowdermate into the land of sleep…)</p>