Inner-Selves, No. 20, Part B

Fidget hadn't noticed it, but when he raised his rattle up to block, he found that it was still broken, he was unable to defend himself. When Speckle swung his rattle at Fidgets' head, the bobcat ducked just in time to avoid it, then he rolled out of the way. "Your reflexes are pretty good, but why didn't you attack me?" Speckle asked, already knowing the answer. He swung at Fidget again, Fidget jumped to avoid it and moved backwards, trying to get some distance from the shopkeeper-turned-youth sprite. "It should be obvious, I can't do anything with my rattle, the head is missing" Fidget answered. "The rattle isn't all you have ya'know, that one guy you fought should've made that clear" Speckle stated. Fidget remembered that Frenzy the fox was able to turn his rattle into a bladed weapon, but Fidget hadn't a clue how he'd done it, all he remembered was him saying the words 'level two.'
He figured it was worth a shot, the rattle obviously wouldn't get him anywhere, so he held the handle out in front of him, and tried to summon a bladed weapon of some sort. "Uh...level two?" Fidget said, sounding unsure. Nothing happened, the handle of the rattle remained exactly the same. "Can't do it huh? Well that's a shame, I guess you need another demonstration, watch closely," Speckle said, he held his rattle out in front of him, "Level Two!" The rattle glowed and then turned into a dark green-bladed sword with a gray hilt. All along the blade were holes of different sizes, much like the bubble weapon that Frenzy was wielding. Fidget was a bit surprised, Speckle's weapon was diffferent from Frenzys', not just in color, but the type of weapon as well. "Every youth sprite has their own unique bubble weapon, mine happens to be a short sword, the bubble weapon can be used for both melee and ranged attacks, ideally there's an unlimited number of bubble attacks that a youth sprite can use, but most only stick to techniques that they're good at, some even develop their own personal techniques" Speckle said. "That's all well and good, but I can't even summon my weapon, I don't get it, is there something you did other than saying 'level two'?" Fidget replied.
"Well... it's kind of hard to explain, but I'm sure you'll figure it out" Speckle said. He dashed towards Fidget again, this time aiming to try to cut off Fidget's head. Fidget instinctively held up the handle of his rattle, afraid to turn his back on a guy wielding a sword by running away. A section of the handle was cut off, the end Fidget was holding was now much shorter than before. "Wow, I wouldn't be able to do that if you'd been sending energy into that thing" Speckle said. "Huh? You mean a rattle can withstand a blade?" Fidget asked, sounding confused. "Ordinarily yes, provided a youth sprite focuses his or her energy into it instead keeping it all to his or herself" Speckle replied. Speckle then cut the rest of Fidget's handle into pieces, Fidget was shocked to find himself holding nothing but the end of what used to be his rattle. "Oh my, did I do that? I'm so sorry!" Speckle said, jokingly. "Great, I'm dead!" Fidget said to himself. He started running away, it was his only option now. "Where do you think you're going? This fight isn't over, I suppose you still could knock my hat off with that, but it wouldn't do you much good in a fight in the ECC" Speckle said. Fidget kept running, Speckle was following him. "Darn it, now I've lost my weapon, I can't do anything now! Who cares if I knock his hat off, I'll still die in a real fight if this little piece is all I have!" Fidget told himself.
Then Fidget heard another voice in his head, it sounded like the adult Fidget he saw in his inner world. "Fidget, why are you running away? What do you have to be scared of? There's just one of you and one of him, the odds are in nobody's favor here" the adult Fidget said. Fidget stopped running so he could listen better. Speckle stopped pursuing him, he had an idea of what might be going on. "That's it Fidget, just stop and think" Speckle said to himself.
Baby Fidget was talking with adult Fidget in Fidget's inner world. "But how can I fight? My rattle is destroyed, this little ring at the end of the handle won't do anything" the baby said. "The rattle isn't a youth sprite's true strength Fidget, the bubble weapon is where a youth sprite shows their real power" the adult replied. "But I tried that already, I can't summon it!" the baby complained. "Your hunch from earlier was correct, there is something more that Speckle did to summon his sword, and he gave you a clue when he cut the rest of your handle into pieces" the adult responded. Baby Fidget thought about it for a bit, then it occurred to him. "So, in order to summon their weapon, a youth sprite has to focus their energy into the rattle, then say 'level two'" the baby said. "Exactly, and as long as you still have the ring piece that belongs at the end of the rattle, it doesn't matter if it's broken or whole" the adult told him. "Alright, I'll give it another try!" the baby proclaimed. "Good, and don't worry about your broken rattle, it won't be a problem anymore" the adult said.
Fidget held the ring out in front of him, and tried to focus his energy into it, when it started to glow, Fidget knew he'd get it this time. "LEVEL TWO!" Fidget shouted. A small shockwave occurred, and the ring of Fidget's rattle changed into a huge broadsword, the whole thing was nearly as long as his whole body. It had a royal blue double-edged blade, with holes in the shape of stars all along it, and it was attached to a white hilt. "Oh yeah, I can do some damage with this!" Fidget said, grinning. "I don't know what he's so happy about, it looks cool and all, but I liked that stick he was fighting with better" Scratch said sarcastically. "Hmm, now what are you gonna do?" Speckle said. "First, I'm gonna thank you for the hint you gave me, and now I'm gonna give you a fair warning: you'd better dodge this" Fidget told Speckle. "Huh?" Speckle said, confused. Fidget focused his energy into his sword some more, the holes began to fill with spirit energy. "Uh oh, this could be bad" Speckle said, pretending to be worried. Fidget raised his sword and swung it down hard, a huge wave of energy was sent hurling towards Speckle, the dalmatian was engulfed in a white light. Speckle's team couldn't see him, they didn't know what might have happened to him.
The hat Speckle was wearing went flying, it landed not far from Speckle's team, the light had vanished, the ground in front of Speckle and behind him was torn up, but Speckle was unharmed, he was standing behind a shield of spirit energy he'd made with his own sword. "Phew, talk about a close call, if I hadn't put up this bubble shield, I probably would've lost an arm" the dalmatian said. Speckle's team was relieved, their boss was ok. Speckle walked over to where the hat was, he picked it up and noticed that a piece of cloth had been cut out of it. "Aww, why did you have to be so mean Fidget? You wrecked my hat!" Speckle said jokingly. He got no answer, so he walked back to Fidget and found him sleeping on the ground, his diaper was now wet and soiled, and he was sucking on his thumb. "Hehe, poor guy, he was such a nervous wreck during the last lesson that he's exhausted, but nonetheless, he's cleared lesson three!" Speckle said, smiling. Fidget's rattle was still in its' sword form, and it would stay that way from that moment on. "Alright everyone, let's take a break, he's earned it" Speckle called out to his team. Fidget slept peacefully, he didn't even mind his wet and messy diaper at the moment, he was glad that he'd cleared this lesson, he was that much closer to saving Kats' life.