Call of the Undine

Near a grove of trees that would serve as a good field with cover, Indiana hauled two trunks containing water balloons. He had gone to the Room of Requirements and managed to acquire the two trunks that were charmed to refill automatically once their cargo was spent. The youth may not have been authorized to use much spells but he thanked the RoR for doing that for him.

'Now to wait.' Indiana thought to himself. It had taken a few days for his right leg to heal naturally on its own, though the slight burning tension lingered along with the marks left by a certain underwater creature. But he was confident that his right leg wouldn't cause a problem.

Shelby walked down to the area by the lake where Indiana said they would be practicing. She felt confident that this practice would be just what she needed to perfect her shield charm.

When she spotted Indiana and the trunks he had with him, she felt glad that she'd chosen to wear some of her oldest, most comfortable clothes. "So how are we going to do this?" she asked when she reached his side.

Indiana smiled before opening both trunks to show the water balloons. "There are two ways of going about this: We could have a water balloon battle or we could take turns in switching between offense and defense. I don't mind either choice."

For some reason, Indiana had a feeling that this was going to be really intimidating and slightly intense should Shelby chose the first choice. The youth waited for the decision.

Shelby considered the options. She was sorely tempted by the first one, which sounded far more fun, but she didn't feel confident enough with the shield charm yet. "Can we start with the second option? Then when I'm a little better with the shield charm we can do the first one," she decided.

'Great. The agonizing delay before the inevitable.' Indiana thought to himself before replying. "Okay. I'll just take ten meters before beginning. I'll throw and you cast the Shield Charm."

With that, he took one of the trunks before walking ten meters from Shelby. Indiana then turned and picked up a water balloon. "Okay, Shelby. Here's the first one!"

With that, he threw the water balloon at her.

The water ballon was travelling towards her far faster than she had expected. She raised her wand but her mind froze. "Protego," she said, although it sounded more like a question. Not surprisingly, nothing happened.

The balloon was travelling too fast and before she could make another attempt, it hit her. "Drat," she said. "I'd rather hoped to stay dry at least for a little while." She pulled her hair back and secured it with a hair tie. "Throw another one," she called to Indiana, determined to stop it this time.

'Maybe I threw a little too fast.' Indiana thought as he picked up a water balloon. The youth hoped she was ready for this one before making an underhand throw. The water balloon sailed upwards into the air before descending towards Shelby.

Indiana picked up another water balloon while watching the trajectory of the second projectile, whose velocity was lower than the first.

Shelby felt more relaxed now that the anticipation of the first balloon had passed. She watched as the second water balloon came towards her, much slower than the first. "Protego," she said with more confidence than the first time. A shield came out of her wand but promptly disappeard. "Protego!" she said forcefully.

Another shield came out of her wand but it fizzled out, just like the first one. Again, the ballon hit her. She sighed. "I will stop the next one," she said to herself, hoping that the power of positive thinking might be able to help her.

"Intent. Focus on the intent to shape your magic to react in the very manner you wish for it to trigger." Indiana spoke before reaching for another water balloon. Slowly, the youth sent launched another water balloon with the same velocity as the first. Hopefully this time, Shelby could block it.

"Come on, Shelby." Indiana called out with encouragement in his voice. "You can do it!"

Shelby glared at the water balloon as it soared towards her. She smiled when she heard Indiana's encouragement. "Protego!" she said, focusing on the image of a shield coming out of her wand to protect her.

She was astonished when the charm worked. Just in time, a shield sprung forth from her wand and the the balloon hit it instead. "I did it!" she said in amazement.

"Well done, Shelby! Well done!" Indiana replied, clapping and nodding at her success in casting the Shield Charm. The youth then reached for another water balloon.

"Keep it up and just tell me when you want to speed this up a notch." Indiana spoke before throwing the water balloon at Shelby with the same velocity as before, watching the projectile's trajectory.

"Protego," Shelby said, again stopping the balloon from hitting her. She smiled as the balloon crashed against her shield. She found that it was much easier to produce the effect she wanted now that she had done it successfully in something other than the classroom environment.

"Okay, you can 'speed this up a notch' or whatever you said. When do I get to start throwing them back at you?" she called cheekily.

"Just tell me when you want to take a turn and we'll switch." Indiana replied to the question asked.

Taking another water balloon from the trunk, Indiana threw it with a faster velocity behind it and the projectile's trajectory was directed in a straight line towards Shelby.

'I'll have to alternate between the firing angles of the water balloons.' Indiana thought as the projectile soared towards Shelby.

The balloon was faster than the last one and it threw Shelby off for a moment. 'He wasn't kidding about speeding up,' she thought. "Protego," she cast the spell just a second too late. In the very short amount of time that it took for a sheild to emerge from her wand, the balloon soared past the place where it should have met the barrier and hit her.

"Ouch, that one hurt a little," she said quietly. She raised the volume of her voice so Indiana could hear and asked, "Can we switch for a little while?"

'That was probably a bit too fast. But at least Shelby can cast the Shield Charm.' Indiana thought while thinking about some way to help lower her reaction time so that she could respond faster. He was about to reach for another balloon when he heard Shelby's request.

"Alright then! Go ahead and open the other trunk but be sure to go fast and furious at me!" Indiana replied while taking his wand out. Not it was his turn to be in the line of fire.

Shelby opened the second trunk delightfully. "Oh, I intend to," she taunted. She selected her first weapon and stood up straight to assess her target, quickly thinking of a way to try to catch him off guard.

She flashed Indiana the sweetest smile she could and launched the first balloon at him, angling it slightly down so that it went towards his knees. The second it left her hand, she grabbed two more balloons, one in each hand. With her left hand, she threw the second balloon at his shoulder at the same speed of the first. With her right hand, she threw the third balloon harder than the first two, aiming for his chest.

The moment he saw Shelby's smile, Indiana immediately went on the defense while his eyes calculated and computed the trajectory of the first balloon.

"Protego!" the youth called out and a translucent barrier erupted, deflecting the first balloon aside. From the corners of his eyes, Indiana immediately brought his wand up, yelling "Protego!" where he barely managed to deflect the second water balloon with a second shield before seeing the third water balloon soaring past the tip of his wand that he instinctively leaned back sideways to avoid it. The projectile sailed cleanly past his front before slamming into his left arm that he had foolishly left outstretched and in the trajectory of the third water balloon, which exploded in a burst of water that soaked his left side.

'Should've dodged that one.' he thought to himself, lamenting a bit on his failure to do so.

Shelby giggled as the third balloon hit Indiana. She was glad that she had been right when she predicted that he would fail to block at least one of them.

She thought it would be unwise to give him much time to rest, so she began her assault again. She threw a succession of five balloons at him, aiming at different places on his body with varying speed, while she discreetly took out her wand. Keeping it as hidden as possible, she gave her wand a swish and flick in the direction of the open trunk by his side, whispering "Wingardium Leviosa," hoping that he was distracted enough not to notice the balloon that rose out of the trunk.

She threw another balloon at him as she levitated one from his own trunk over his head. When it was directly centered, she broke the spell and let the balloon fall.

Five balloons sailed through the air at him from different directions and Indiana quickly cast the Shield Charm on the fastest of the projectiles, deflecting two water balloons while side-flipping gracefully to evade the other three before landing on his right leg and feeling the slight tension build-up in the calf that was kept down by the adrenaline running in his system.

"Protego!" the youth called out, deflecting the sixth water balloon with ease. At the same time from the peripheral corner of his eye, the youth saw his shadow on the grass along with the shadow of some object that was seemingly above his head before jumping back in time to avoid a water balloon falling on top of him.

"Well played. But you still have far to go!" Indiana remarked, his evasive maneuvers saving him entirely that time.

"Cheater!" Shelby stuck her tongue out at him childishly, hiding her disappointment that her sneak attack had failed. "You're supposed to shield yourself, not dodge them!"

'This isn't going to work,' she thought, deciding that a change in tactics was required. Instead of throwing multiple balloons, she grabbed just one and tossed it towards him far more gently than any of her previous weapons.

"The instinctive temptation to test myself against that barrage got the better of me." Indiana replied while grinning a bit before bringing his wand out.

"Protego!" the youth chanted before an energy shield erupted to deflect the water balloon.

"Deflect what you can and evade the rest. But I won't evade this time." Indiana declared before adding. "Alright Shelby, keep it going!"

He had a feeling that Shelby was eager to throw some hellfire.

Shelby yawned, trying to look as bored as possible in an attempt to lull Indiana into a false sense of security. She looked around at the other students by the lake and observed them, wondering if they would be amused or annoyed if she chose to throw balloons at them instead.

When she felt that she had wasted enough time, she selected a yellow balloon and tossed it at him gently before grabbing a pink balloon and throwing it far harder than any of her previous attacks, watching with a grin as it soared towards him.

'As expected.' Indiana thought, standing sideways towards Shelby amid seeing her attempt a blitz by starting soft before going hard and fast.

"Protego!" the youth yelled as a barrier appeared to deflect the yellow balloon. Just as the Shield Charm dispersed, Indiana quickly tossed his wand to his left hand before yelling. "Protego!"

Since his left hand was further back, Indiana had barely managed to bring up a shield to deflect the pink balloon.

"Ready for return fire, Shelby?" Indiana asked with a leering grin that was filled with mischief.

Shelby narrowed her eyes and glared at Indiana. There was no way that she was going to let him win, though she wasn't sure when she decided that their practice had become a competition.

"Bring it on!" she challenged, lobbing another balloon at his arm and one at his stomach, determined to hit him at least as many times as he got her.

"Protego!" Indiana chanted, casting a barrier that blocked the first balloon before delivering a kick to the second balloon that blew up in a shower of water.

Placing his wand on his right wristband, he immediately grabbed two green water balloons before throwing one at Shelby while immediately dashed to one side before throwing the second from a slightly different direction.

"Very well, milady!"