Goldfish Can Be Powerful - Chapter 1

The noise of the gym echoed around me as I bounced on my feet, trying to get rid of my pent-up energy. The bonding ceremony was in a week and the anticipation was killing me. I swung out my leg in frustration, desperately wishing I could kill time itself for not moving faster. My leg connected with the punching bag, sending it swinging. 

I let out a sigh of frustration. It was my first bonding ceremony-the ceremony where I would bond with my spirit animal and find my soulmate. I sighed, hoping I would be one of the few that didn't find their soulmate yet. I wasn't ready to settle down, get married, and have children. I knew that's what some people wanted, and I respected them for it, but I was only 18 and I had the rest of my life ahead of me. Still trying to get rid of the extra energy, I beat up the punching bag until a light sheen of sweat covered me from head to toe.

"Slow down Elara," a gentle male voice said with a chuckle. "I think it's learned its lesson!" 

I whirled around as I recognized the voice of my best friend since 1st grade, Fabian Maravalle.

He was half a foot taller than me (and I'm pretty tall already) and had a dusting of light brown hair with blond streaks running through the soft wavy strands. He had soft facial features, making him look friendly and inviting. His smile was bright and shone like a beacon of hope in my dark, hazy sea of uncertainty.

I beamed and threw my arms around him, catching him off guard and transferring some of my sweat onto his dry t-shirt.

"Hey!" he protested with a smile as I continued to hug him mercilessly.

"It's so good to see a friendly face!" I exclaimed. I let go of him and stepped back as I started spewing my frustrations as I tried to catch my breath.

Fabian listened, used to being my confidant in all matters. Except the heart. I have never even considered romance or love. I wanted to be a strong powerful warrior like my parents and I didn't want to deal with a clingy partner. I would have to face the facts soon though. Everyone found their soulmate during their first bonding ceremony. If their soulmate wasn't human, they would travel the galaxies, their spirit animal leading them onward until their soulmate was found. Once they found their soulmate they would find a job matching their skill set or train in the army preparing to defend Traea, our home planet. Some people didn't get their soul mates during their first bonding ceremony, which meant their soulmate was younger than them or it wasn't the right time for them to get a soulmate. That mean they would have to wait till the next year to get one.

When I finally finished my rant I stepped back, out of breath and sucking air into my lungs. An older gentlemen looked at me condescendingly, his ostrich spirit animal looking at me with disgust.

"Are you done?" Fabian asked, his blue eyes sparkling.

"Shut up!" I smiled as I playfully punched him in the arm. 

I grabbed my gym bag and headed to the women's shower cubes, Fabian following right behind me. At the door to the girl's bathroom, I turned around and shoved him back.

"You're not allowed in here!" I said, knowing he only did it to get a rise out of me. I stepped into the second shower cube on the right and turned it on, placing my sweat filled cloths and my bag in a compartment created especially for them. The water poured over me. I waited expectantly, knowing it should only take a few seconds before the foam arrived. I looked up with a frown. Maybe there was a malfunction? I grabbed the robe and put it on, heading to the door when foam exploded from every crevice , filling the whole cube and spilling out into the hallway, carrying me with it. I screamed in fury knowing exactly who had done this.

"I'm gonna kill that mangy scrawny impish little..." I continued muttering threats as I stomped out of the bathroom, covered head to toe in foam. I focused on the skinny figure of my archenemy, Fox Harrington, who was standing in the middle of the room. 

A few inches taller than me, he was one of the hottest, smartest, and most annoying people I had ever met. I growled low in my throat, glaring at him as he collapsed in laughter. I stalked towards him, ready to throttle him for daring to interfere with my shower. These pranks had been going on since 5th grade, ever since he stole my favorite book and I stole his 'prized' baseball card. This time though, this time I was going to beat him into the ground instead of just pranking him in return. I finally reached him and grabbed his arm.  He let me drag him into the teleporter and called out our destination, a park perfect for what I had planned for him. I was about to push the button that would bring us there when a firm hand yanked me out of the phone booth shaped box and spun me around.

"Watch it!" I snarled as saw Fabian chuckling.

"What are you laughing at?" I growled as he looked me up and down. A few people and their spirit animals were gaping, obviously not used to people running around in robes.

"Do you really want to go out in public looking like that?" my best friend and life-saver asked me, still smiling. I glanced down, noticing I was still covered in foam and only wearing a bathrobe, about to make a spectacle of myself. I rushed to a different shower cube, took another, more successful, shower and rushed back out. I marched over to where I had left Fox, frustrated with myself that I had let my guard down enough to be pranked. I reached the teleporter, seeing Fox slipping out of Fabian's hold and bolt to the teleporter.

"Stop right there!" I screeched, livid that he had managed to escape again. Fox had a way of finding a way out of even the toughest situations. Fabian grasped his arm, but the slimy little cretin pushed the button on the teleporter and was whisked away. Everyone else was crowded on the sides of the room, avoiding my gaze. I cursed, racking my mind to try and figure out where he might have gone. He wouldn't go to an obvious place like the park or the library, and he wouldn't go... Wait a minute, he might be desperate enough ... A smile crept onto my face as I walked towards the teleporter. Fox didn't know what he had coming for him.

Continue reading to find out where Fox has gone and what Elara is going to do when she finds him. Also, in a few parts will be the bonding ceremony and the adventure that follows! Stay tuned!!