High Horses

The twins were bored.
This was nothing new; they were bored quite regularly, and so had to find ways to quell this regularly. The school day was done, and they didn't have rehearsal for the play this evening, so they prowled the halls, their hard soled shoes clicking loudly, looking for someone to entertain them. It didn't take long for them to find someone.
Sitting alone at the cafeteria was one of their classmates, a boy by the name of Alex. The twins shared their statistics class with him, and his scores were almost as high as theirs, a fact he was quietly proud of, and they were not. As was common for Alex, he was sitting alone in the cafeteria, studying diligently. The twins found it funny how he always spent so much time reading through textbooks, practicing worksheets, trying so hard. Learning came easily to them, and they were baffled at how someone who needed to waste so much time practicing to gain knowledge could get scores as high as his. They looked at each other and grinned, thinking exactly the same thought. Perhaps we can help him, in our own special way.
Yin and Yang clicked over to Alex, who was too absorbed in his studies to notice them arriving. With a single swift movement, Yin slammed his textbook shut, the sound echoing in the empty cafeteria, and Yang slid it to their side of the table.
"What have we here, beloved brother?" Yin asked, a hand resting possessively on the textbook; chemistry, a dull subject, one that shouldn't need hours dedicated to it to learn.
"It seems to me that the 'boy genius' is struggling with his studies, sweet sister." Yang answered; the two grinned at Alex as they spoke.
"Uh... D-do you two mind? I need to study. I have a test tomorrow." Alex explained, confused and somewhat irritated by their interruption.
The twins' faces lit up as they heard this, and swiftly sat down across from him. "Then shouldn't you be comfortable enough with the subject by now, genius Alex?" Yang asked sarcastically.
"Surely someone as smart as you is comfortable enough with the material to get a sufficiently high test score, aren't you?" Yin added.
The two smiled coldly at Alex, then turned to each other as they had the same idea. "Why, if you need help studying, we can help you!" They chimed in unison, the tone of their voices cruel despite their friendly words.
"As you know..." Yang tapped the textbook under his sister's hand. "You won't be allowed this when you're taking the test..."
"So it would be best if you learned to walk without this crutch." Yin slide the text book off the table, hugging it against her chest. "We will, of course return it after your test tomorrow, we know that you'll need it in the future."
"We're not cruel." They said in unison, standing up to leave.
"HEY!" Alex shouted, standing as well. "You can't just STEAL that from me! I need to study! You-- HEY!" The twins were beginning to walk away, taking the textbook with them, Alex shouting after them.
Perhaps a lower test score will knock proud Alex off his high horse. Yin thought.
Exactly, intelligent sister. Thinking he's as smart as us when he's simply diligent is a mistake. Yang answered to her.
And mistakes are meant to be corrected. They thought together.

Jeremy glanced up from his food to watch two kids, who looked very similar and were calling themselves brother and sister, pick on some other kid studying. He watched as they took his book and clearly the kid wasn't giving it to them with the way he was shouting. Welp, time to pull out the trust water jug and kick so- wait... Where is the jug? Jeremy let out a sigh and slapped himself on the forehead. Okay... Gonna have to wing it, at least they were in a cafeteria, a place with a lot of water in cups and bottles.

He went up to a kid with a full water bottle and pulled out a few coins, "Mind if I buy that water from you?"

The kid looked at Jeremy a little crazy, then shrugged, "Alright, here."

Jeremy thanked the kid, then took the bottle of water and went towards the twins as they walked away. Okay, he didn't want to mess up that kid's book, their backs were turned... He just had to get their attention. He took out some water and make two decent sized balls. Within a moment, he launched one to each of the twins' backs, fairly sure water would get their attention.

Once they were hopefully hit, he stared towards them and said, "Give him his book back."

The twins tensed up and yelped in unison as the water hit them, surprised and very uncomfortable. They turned around, eyes burning angrily as they simultaneously locked their gazes on Jeremy. There was a tense silence as they glared at him before recomposing themselves. "The brat ruined my shirt, good sister." Yang announced, his dark eyes not wavering from Jeremy.
"Mine as well, dear brother." Yin replied.
"Quite rude of him to interfere with business that doesn't involve him."
"Very rude indeed."
A cold smirk grew on both of their faces. Yin held up the book and waved it. "If you want it, little prankster, by all means you're welcome to it." She cooed.
"If you can earn it, of course." Her brother added. They grinned at him; it was obvious they were planning something, but their faces weren't giving anything away.

Jeremy met their gaze with one of his own. He wasn't about to just back down at the sight of two people looking threatening at him. He wish he had more water, but he could make due with what he had. They were kinda creepy, talking about him right in front of him and never directed towards him. They were calling him rude, though it was somewhat hypocritical of them, but he wasn't gonna falter yet.

They then raised the book in a taunting fashion, he couldn't just attack, because of the book. Wow, this was like a hostage situation... The first hostage he ever had to save was a book... Wow... As they told him he needed to "earn" it, he crossed his arms, and kept staring them down. "Okay. I'm down. What's your game?"

The twins laughed cruelly, a cold, sadistic laugh that echoed through the cafeteria. "Our game? No, no, little prankster. This is your game; it became that way when you accosted us." Yang explained.
"But this game does still involve us, doesn't it, dear brother?"
"Of course, sweet sister. We can't very well let this assault go unanswered, now can we?"
Yin slid the book into her satchel and loosely linked fingers with her brother. The two raised their outside hands and opened their palms, in which a ball of energy about the size of a golf ball materialized; Yin's was white, Yang's was black. "Surely someone like you has learned that if you throw things at people--" Yin started.
"--People will eventually start throwing things back." Yang finished.
"So if you wish to earn this book of his, you need to prove you have a spine. You wanted to pick a fight with the two of us? Congratulations, you got it. Unless you wish to return to minding your own business, like a good boy." They concluded in unison. The two smirked at him; they were well confident that someone chucking water around was sure to be intimidated by being outnumbered, even more so when the greater numbers had power. Considering they only felt the water on their backs, they were completely unaware that Jeremy was super himself.
The twins giggled and closed their hands, the balls of energy evaporating as they did. "We'll be heading out to the parking lot. Feel free to come out and contest us out there, where no third parties need to get harmed."
"Assuming you truly want the textbook of a boy who really doesn't need it."
With that the twins turned on their heels and strode outside to the parking lot. They turned back around and patiently waited for the boy; it was after school anyways, so they wanted to see either his foolish bravado as he came to face them, or his attempts to avoid their gaze as he slunk away past them to go home.

Jeremy was pretty much ready to throw down at that very moment. He stared them down, having an almost completely straight face. They outnumbered him, and were clearly being cocky, showing off their power like that. Welp, now's as good a time as ever to analyze what they can do. While he much rather preferred fighting non-super bullies, the super powered ones were where it was at when it came to difficulty. So they clearly had some sort of identical power, or something that has vastly different effects from one another. He'd rather not find out either way. Clearly though, they could probably throw it. Good news is that they seem really cocky about it, as if he was gonna shy away from challenging them.

He stared them down as they were walking out, speaking loudly enough for them to hear, "Looks like I'm screwed... Alright." Once they were gone, hopefully a fair bit cockier, he took a moment to think... "I probably am screwed if I don't have enough water... Or if it's raining I'll have an advantage..." He made his way to a venting machine just to be safe though and checking the weather before buying anything.

The twins audibly laughed as they heard the meddler say he was screwed; perhaps he wouldn't have the stomach for this. That would be a disappointment, they both thought. But they still casually stood in the parking lot, fingers lightly laced together as they patiently waited in the sunny afternoon for the boy to come out; it was a lovely day to be outside; sunny, warm, but not muggy. No, it had rained a the night before last, as evidenced by a small amount of water still in one of the potholes on the lot. Luckily for Jeremy, despite the lack of water outside, there was still the drinking fountain right next to the exit of the building, so regardless of the lack of rain, he wouldn't be going out empty handed, so long as he still had the water bottle.
Outside, the twins quietly conversed with each other as they waited for their entertainment to come out, occasionally laughing loudly at some inaudible joke their sibling had made.

Jeremy frowned as it was bright and sunny out. He pulled out some spare change and got a second bottle of water. He needed to get an advantage on them somehow. He did already have water on them, so if push comes to shove, he can toast or freeze them, though he was against doing that. They seemed even more cocky than ever as he publicly declared himself screwed back there, so they definitely don't know about his own powers, which was both surprising, and good. He had the element of surprise in more ways than one. He already knows they have some sort of ball thing, but they know nothing on him. He slipped the bottles into his cargo shorts and walked over to Alex on his way out. He stared up at the older kid, saying, "Don't worry sir, your book will be back soon." After that, he cracked his knuckles and headed out, stopping at the water fountain and filling up his other bottle to full capacity, then filling up his mouth.

He walked out to the twins with the most determined look on his face, not a single hint of fear. As he looked around, he saw that there were small puddles of water as well, so he wasn't completely screwed either way. He stopped ten feet away from them and spat the water he was holding in his mouth in their direction as a taunt, then taking a breath. "Sorry, drank too much. Anyways, give me the book back and I won't have to pound you both into submission." As he said this, he put his fists together and stared them dead in the eyes, swapping between them after about half a second.

The twins each raised an eyebrow as they saw him come out, seeming much more confident than he did a minute ago. As he spat the water at them, they instinctively took a half step back, more disgusted at the gesture than feeling threatened. They glanced at each other, then back to him, looking confused, but slightly amused.
"Quite the bold threat from someone whose weapon of choice seems to be water." Yin exclaimed.
"Soaking two people when their backs are turned and spitting at them when they're looking, we're sure you have the strength to pound both of us to a pulp." Yang added sarcastically.
The twins raised their palms, their orbs of energy returning. "Face it, little prankster." They said in unison. "You're outnumbered and out classed. If you wish to get hurt for someone else's issues, we will gladly oblige. But we're giving you one last chance to leave."
With that, their cocky smirks returned; the boy was somewhat gross, and very foolish, but foolishness amused them. And it would be nice for them to get some practice with their powers in anyways; they'd try not to hurt him too much, obviously. They took no pleasure from making people scream, only squirm.

Jeremy listened to their taunts, and acted as if he was actually scared for a moment, before simply shrugging and saying, "Look guys, yall seemed to find the water uncomfortable, and your types generally a willing to back down after getting too wet. I wonder what happens if you both come out of this drenched, or if this random individual somehow survives the fight and maybe even wins. I wonder what you'll look when everyone sees you all humiliated."

He then got into a fighting stance and still has yet to actually show his power, but he open the water bottles and started letting it spill all along the cement. He was now waiting for them to make the first move.

The twins glanced at each other, an amused grin on each of their faces. They rolled their eyes, and extended their hands towards Jeremy. They fired their orbs simultaneously, not aiming for him, but the puddles of water he was pouring out. The orbs would both hit the stationary puddles and burst with a loud POP, heating and splashing up the water, likely splashing onto Jeremy's ankles; the water wasn't scalding, but it was certainly heated enough to hurt a bit. The twins laughed and produced another pair of orbs, aiming at Jeremy properly now.
"Last chance, little prankster." Yin cooed.
"Run along now, or get very hurt." Yang finished.

Jeremy rose his arms in defense as he stopped dropping water, he saw where the blasts were headed and smirked, opening up his hands and letting the water "splash" around him. A few drops touched him, they burned a little, but nothing serious. He then threw the water back towards Yin, at the exact same heat. Hopefully the surprise of him having powers would give him the edge. Right after that, he shot out the rest of the water in the bottles and let it litter their battlefield. "Last chance to return the book, pricks. Unless you want to get very very hurt." He even took the time to cross his arms and stare them down. He actually looked slightly heroic instead of just like a teenager with too much time on his hands and going full vigilante.

The two took a half step back in surprise as Jeremy manipulated the water back towards him. The water only hit Yin, but both twins cried out in pain as the water burned her, their hold on each other breaking as they both went to grab their forearms; only Yin was injured, but Yang was obviously feeling the same pain. The second the twins stopped holding hands, their energy orbs evaporated.
There was a tense moment of silence as they stood there, staring at each other and Jeremy.
The prankster was bluffing, good sister.
So it seems, loving brother.
Perhaps we should reconsider our position.
Perhaps. But do you really think we should let him get away with this?
Of course not. They silently concluded in unison.
They took a deep breath and laced their fingers back together. They raised their unheld hands and recreated their orbs, pointing them directly at Jeremy this time. They were done playing with him; they had been simply trying to scare him, and here he was hurting them. Yang was not going to let this assault on his precious sister go unpunished, and Yin was not about to let her beloved brother fight alone. Without so much as a clever quip, the twins each unleashed their orbs at him, both moving slightly faster than the water Jeremy had thrown at them.

Hah, they never even saw him coming. Though that did bring something to light for Jeremy... These twins were pain-linked or something. They felt each other's pain. That mean't that he just had to do sufficient damage to either one or the other. The one without the injuries would likely fall down to enough pain as well. It'd probably be best to swap his targets over and over again to keep actual injuries and pain spread arou- OH GOD THEY'RE BLASTING HIM!

Jeremy didn't have all the time he needed to think through this. He was already on the defensive, moving a quick burst of water up to soften the blow with a collision in front of him rather than on him. It worked about as well as one would expect. He was pushed back by an explosion an got covered in his water. Unluckily for him, that water was now really hot and was hurting him quite a bit. He sent it all off of him and knew he had to go aggressive. With a flick of his wrists, two splashes of water came towards the twins, as they flew, their temperatures dropped to just above freezing, they'd probably heat back up quickly, but he could get some heavy damage in if he chose to hurt them both at the same time, double the pain maybe?

After that attack finished, he maintained his stance, holding a bold stare, "No more taunts? I thought that was kinda your thing? You just surprised that some 'powerless' kid is fighting you all? Or is it that you're scared that you were wrong about his capabilities, and already revealed tons of your tricks to him?" He held his stance and finished his thoughts, so if he kept the hits spread around, he could probably take them down quicker. He just had to play his cards right and remember that he was outnumbered.

The twins ducked together, but didn't manage to fully dodge the attack, and Yang's forehead just above his eyebrow got splashed quite heavily with the heated water, causing both to cry out in pain and break their grip on each other for a moment, causing their orbs to evaporate. Quickly they rejoined and began charging them again.
"We thought this would simply be a fun little game for us, little cheat." Yang seethed through clenched teeth, enduring his sister's pain.
"But you're taking this quite seriously it seems. So we have to as well."
With that, the twins fired back again, aiming more towards his legs this time. At the very least, this would force him to move more, making attacks less accurate.

Welp, that confirmed it, they were both feeling it. Okay, now that he had a good read of his opponents, he could begin to really fight. Though first he'd have to survive their next attack. They threw their next orbs. He had to move this time, but he didn't necessarily have to move far. Luckily, they haven't seemed to start trying to cut off his escapes and catching him as he moved.

He couldn't exactly send a precise strike her. However, he could send a small wave with the water lying around. He had to win this quick, he wasn't exactly built to take on two people in an extended battle. As he grew more tired, they'd probably start to overwhelm him. Hopefully they wouldn't get that opportunity.

He sent his wave of water out towards them, this time it was incredibly cold, so hopefully when it hit, it was be such a change from their mildly heated bodies now that they'd hopefully seriously feel it. Once he did that, he held his stance. He needed to move as little as possible, it was wasted energy that could be use to hit them again and again. "I didn't cheat, I just took advantage of your cockiness and douchebaggery. Wasn't that hard either." Hopefully the taunt would piss them off some more, they might make more mistakes than usual if he can get under their skin.

The twins saw the wave coming, and Yang managed to pull his sister back out of the way of it, only a small portion of it splashing against her shin. The extreme cold didn't agree with the twins, and they noticeably staggered back as it connected. Immediately they responded by sending two more orbs apiece in his direction. Less aimed now, but he was already mobile, so they were more focused on filling the air with attacks than precision. They had been in some scraps before, and their father had paid for lessons on self defense, so they were certainly no slouches. It was clear they were more focused on the fight than what Jeremy was saying, their eyes narrowed and fixed on him, not bothering to respond to his quip. They raised their arms for a third quick attack, but Yin's sleeve rubbed against the burn on her forearm, causing them both to recoil and cancel the attack.
Hot and cold.
Clever and quick.
And he's already landed several hits. We've yet to properly retort.
Are you suggesting we give up, brother kind?
Not yet, sister sweet. But things certainly look more in his favor.

Jeremy watched as they fired at him, but didn't really aim well at him. He was easily able to dodge the first few attacks by staying mobile. They then accidentally touched each other, harming both of them quite a bit. He really wasn't interested on finding out what a direct hit from one of those felt like. He wished he got Dolores here. She would've loved to help out and would have been a dangerous trump card if things went south. Oh well, he needed to keep pressing his advantage. He was starting to slow down a little, but he needed to keep going to win this out. He stopped himself and grabbed the water around him, form four blades and going in for four quick slashes at the twins at thirty-five mph. Each strike that hit would hopefully just graze the skin enough to form some cuts and add to that pain. He was going to wear himself out quickly doing things like this, but he had to try and end this fight and get the kid his book.

The twins' eyes went wide as they saw the attack coming for them. They knew it was just water, but this was a kid with powers; it was entirely possible that these blades would do a whole helluva lot more than just splash them. They immediately released each other and dodged in opposite directions, completely avoiding the attack. Now, however, they were seperated.
I think he means to truly hurt us.
So it would seem.
So much for a bit of fun. Frustrating when they take these things so seriously.
I couldn't agree more.
"Fine." Yin called out; the twins knew that they couldn't win this fight, not with them separated and him being so absurdly hostile. "It's just a textbook, and we were going to give it back tomorrow."
"If it means so much to you that you'd turn so aggressively violent, then you can have it." Yang finished. With that, Yin pulled the book out of her bag and set it on the ground; she wasn't going to risk going over to him. The twins then rejoined each other and laced hands again, just in case this interloper tried anything else.
"Congratulations, you won." They said in unison, a slight tone of disgust in their voice. "But don't try anything like that again. Next time we'll take the fight more seriously." With that, they sneered at him, turned on their heels, and started to leave.

Okay, so the battle has been going well so far, he just needs to keep this pressure up and he can win it. He was about to lift the water up and throw it at both of them once more, until they started speaking, in which he completely froze and the water dropped to the ground. So they gave up just like that? Alright then. He watched them set the book down, then watched as they started to depart, seeming to be disgusted with him. He hadn't said a word, still perplexed by their sudden surrender.

It was only until they had departed that he got a hold of himself and stared straight at them again, "If you were gonna give it back the next day, then what was the point of even taking it? Clearly he was working hard for his own success."

The twins turned back to him and narrowed their eyes, more out of confusion than hostility. "What does it matter to you? You got what you wanted." Yin asked bitterly.
"He felt compelled to interject himself into our business once. Another time is unsurprising." Yang answered his sister, keeping his dark eyes on Jeremy.
"To answer your question, it was to put him in his place."
"Alex thinks highly of himself for his high grades, but they seem... undeserved."
"Anyone can achieve good grades if they do nothing but sit staring at the textbook all day. But that's memorization, not knowledge."
"If you need to memorize information, it is simply because you are incapable of learning it." They concluded in unison.

So they took his textbook because he was proud of his grades? That seems a little extreme... He studied a bit, not endlessly, because he'd rather relax and mess with his pet turtle than do any more than the bare minimum to get an A. Maybe they were right there? He didn't really know at this point. "I mean, if I was shoving my head in textbooks all the time, I'd expect to be making uber high grades as well. Anyways, your reasoning for taking his book is because he used it too much? Maybe he actually needs it to keep up because he struggles learning. I use my textbook to study. Why shouldn't he?" This was now legitimately confusing him, isn't a textbook meant to be used to study and thus, he was using it properly?

The twins rolled their eyes at him. "The purpose of a textbook is to help you learn. There is nothing wrong with that, of course." Yang began.
"It's how we learn ourselves. Using a textbook to study is the intended purpose." Yin added.
"But overuse means that it's a crutch. That's when it shifts from learning to memorization."
"We're simply trying to help him walk without the crutch. And if he can't walk, then he should be content to simply stand."
"Taking pride in an unearned victory is wrong. This is something that even someone as basic as you can agree with, no?" They asked together.
The boy was frustrating. It was a simple concept; overuse defeats the purpose of any tool. It turns it into reliance, and knowledge should be internal, not external. Plain and simple. Was the interloper really so daft that he couldn't grasp such a basic concept?

"I guess, but wouldn't it be better to just... Help him improve in a way that doesn't involve... Taking his stuff? Like, what if you just explained how he could get better and actually tried to help him." Now he was just lost, they had an oddly good point, but they also seemed so wrong at the same time. Wait, why was he listening to these kids in the first place? He was just trying to beat them up for being jerks literally two minutes ago. He walked over to the book and picked it up. "Your ideals seem weirdly off."

The twins stared at him like he had just sprouted a second head at his suggestion. "Help him?" They asked in unison.
"What, you want us to hold his hand, be another set of training wheels for someone still struggling on a tricycle?" Yin asked, dumbfounded and disgusted at the idea.
"How ridiculous. We're helping him to be self-reliant and independent. Your interference may be a nice gesture now, yes--"
"--But in the long run, you're hurting him much more than we are. The worst that happened from our deeds would be he got a poor grade on one test."
"Whereas what you're doing is not only helping lean harder on that crutch of a book, but also teaching him that he doesn't even need to stand up for himself."
They twins sighed after a moment; the boy was naive, more focused on making the world a better place by making people immediately comfortable, but comfort made people soft. Adversity made people stronger and better; they didn't need to be well liked, they didn't need other people's approval. What they were doing was helping people, even if they didn't want their help, even if they didn't notice right away, even if it hurt them today.