As Monisha opened her eyes, she didn't know which detail alarmed her more: the rough, dirt-like ground she'd landed on, or the fact that her hair suddenly felt wet.

As she lifted her head up, her worries were only slightly assuaged as she took in her surroundings: she was lying on some sand, and she had dipped her hair in the water.

Well, Joanna did promise us an island, she thought. Can't say she didn't deliver!

Wringing out her hair as she got to her feet, she shouted for her friends.

“Mon?!” She heard Haden’s voice. He pulled himself out of the water and onto the sand.

Monisha ran to him. "Hades! You alright?"

"Yeah, just a bit of a wonky landing," he said, as mission control began to connect. He stood up and called them. “Volcanic Ash to mission control. Do you copy? Over.”

“This is mission control. We read you loud and clear,” said Shelly. “We are now connected to all of you live from Anthony’s tablet, so feel free to enter the cave whenever you’re ready.”

“Okay! We just have to find the others. We'd be well in it if we split off now."

As if on cue, a figure suddenly popped out of the water.

“Did we mention that while transformed, you’re immune to your power?” Brent asked with a smirk.

“That must be Autumn, then.” Monisha ran as far into the water as she could and yelled her name.

Autumn quickly swam over, looking very annoyed. "Why did I have to land in the water?!"

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Monisha replied. "Apparently, we're immune to our powers, so you can't drown."

"Wait, that also means I can't get electrocuted! Ja!" Nettuno shouted as he, Kenta, and Roxie-Caitlyn made their way over, seemingly having overheard the whole commotion.

"I'm excited, too," Kenta admitted, “but, remember, we have a cave to enter and a warrior to fight. As soon as everyone's ready, of course.”

“I know I am!” Autumn said as she finally stepped onto the sand and shook off the water as best as she could. “Let’s do this!”

“We’ll call you if we need anything,” Haden said to mission control.

“Got it. Over and out.” Shelly clicked off.

He gave a nervous sigh. "Alright, here we go!"

Kenta must have taken note of Haden's shaking voice, because, as the six of them made their way towards the cave, he hung back and laid an arm on his shoulder that instantly comforted him.

"This is gonna be a fight," he admitted, "but I know we've been given these powers for a reason. Plus, we've been training for this practically non-stop! We're ready! We've got this!"

Haden smiled. "Cheers, mate. I needed to hear that." As he said this, he wondered if Kenta could see him blushing behind his firey appearance. Stone Armor smiled back, and they joined their friends in the cave.

And all six of them stopped in their tracks, jaws square on the floor.

The cave had been immensely decorated. There was an arcade machine, lights on the ceiling, metal doors with strangely-shaped holes on them, and a plate with colorful emblems on it.

Haden walked over to the plate. There was a red emblem shaped like a fireball. There was a blue emblem shaped like a raindrop. There was white wind, a brown rock, light blue ice, and a yellow lightning bolt.

"There's an emblem for each of us!" Haden realized with alarm. He took the fire one and put it in his pocket. "But what are they for?"

“I think this should tell us!” Roxie-Caitlyn shouted.

Haden whipped his head around and saw that his friends were crowded around the arcade machine. The buttons said “PLAY”  and “PAUSE.”

“This is no arcade game,” he remarked.

“Sans déconner,” Roxie-Caitlyn replied half-to-herself, pressing the play button.

Oceanillus blinked onto the screen. “So, it’s the young, wannabe Elemental Jewels,” he said. “If you’re watching this, that means that you’ve decided to come and face me. It means that you are the champions Earth has selected to try and stop me from giving your people the Duressish citizenship they deserve. And I have to say, I thought that, after 70 plus years of growth, you would never be so pathetic as to pick children as your heroes, but…” Oceanillus began to laugh. "I severely overestimated you."

"Canalla," Autumn muttered to herself. Roxie-Caitlyn put a finger to her mouth, as if asking her to stay quiet.

“I hope you enjoy the arcade I set up for you," the psychic continued. "Thought you would need something more... juvenile to even have a chance at me. Except that you won’t even make it to me. See, I knew you were coming. I mean, making plans on a Google Meet that anyone could hack into? Really? So, I did as best as I could to turn the path to me into a series of challenges that are basically impossible for an amateurish group such as yourselves. You see, it may not be a school night, but I'm still here to teach you all a lesson: that, try as you might, you cannot hope to control the tides of destiny!"

"Hold on, can we go back to 'he hacked our Google Meet'?!" said Monisha.

"Alternatively, can we go back to 'impossible challenges'?" Haden replied.

"You may have noticed the collection of emblems I've laid out for you," Oceanillus concluded. "Each of you must put your matching emblem into a door and keep the emblem until you get to the opposite door that I will be waiting on the other side of. No emblem, no entry. That’s the game. Those are the rules. Take the deal or run away. See you over there. Or maybe not…” Then, he began to laugh again as the video ended.

“I guess we’re splitting up,” Autumn said with an annoyed sigh as the group noticed that the doors had walls in between them. Haden took his emblem out of his pocket while his friends grabbed theirs from the plate.

“I was not prepared for puzzles,” Haden remarked. “Or getting split up from my friends.”

"Me, neither," admitted Roxie-Caitlyn. "But it at least looks like there's only three doors, so we'll be going in pairs."

"By the looks of the shapes, it seems like it's you and me, Mon!" Nettuno shouted, pointing towards the lightning bolt- and wind-shaped holes in the middle door.

"On the right, it looks like fire and water," Kenta pointed out. "Which means Rox and I must be on the left!"

Upon realizing this, the Elemental Jewels all went over to their respective emblem spaces and placed theirs inside. All three doors opened up soon after.

“Well, here we go,” sighed Kenta. “See you guys when we win.”

The others all smiled at him before everyone walked through their respective doors.