The Pot Boiling Over

Once, there was a pot of about 340 million drops and droplets. Most of them would like to think they lived together peacefully for decades, but that wasn’t true. Different regions struggled, sometimes fought, with each other. And the mainstreams still often pursued and attacked the minorities. Law enforcers sometimes pushed minority drops out of the pot, never to be seen again.

The Drenchers were supposed to be for everyone, protecting all drops from the scourge of the Rilers. However, as the years went on, they dropped the ball. They let the Rilers have more and more of what they want, eventually starting a fire burning under the pot.

While the Rilers listened to every drop of their own, getting more and more aggressive, the Drenchers became complacent. Not only did they not listen to their drops, but a lot of the leadership began insulting the best ideas to come forward. They dismissed a lot of their drops, and especially droplets, and expected everyone to come out to choose a new leader anyway. Most of the millions chose to believe that better things weren’t possible.

Thus a lot of choices for Drencher leaders would lose. Planet lost to Blaze Jr, who then defeated Kondensation next time around. And the fire grew hotter.

Finally, Coolton, the great female hope, suffered the unthinkable. She was defeated by Tinderbox. He was a Riler like no other, hated by all except one third of the pot, who would stop at nothing for him.

Under Tinderbox, The fire grew twice as hot. He barely hid the fact that he planned to bring the fire all the way up to the boiling point. The Drenchers has no hope of stopping his efforts until they won more regions two years later. And a year or tow after that, The great evaporation crisis began.

It was time for the Drenchers to choose a new leader to stand against him. One that could hopefully replace him. There were so many choices, including several females like Heatris, and the beloved Wetflame.

But really, there were two main-stays: Burnen and Waters. The former had been in leadership a very long time, and had gone along with almost all of the Rilers’ worst ideas. He even went so far as to say that we should make sure the Rilers are protected, and not win too much territory against them. Burnen helped the fire grow hotter for years. The only reason more drops didn’t know this was because he had been co-leader with Osmosis, the most popular Drencher of all time. They were willing to overlook a lot from Burnen, including the disastrous day he considered naming a Riler as co-leader.

And then there was Waters. He have been in leadership just as long, but spent his time looking for the most effective ideas and implementing them. He warned about the fire decades before drops would listen. He detailed exactly how it was possible to not just stop the fire, but bring all drops into new prosperity. All supporters said that his ideas would have prevented the great evaporation crisis. He inspired droplets across the pot, some of which even went into regional leadership for the first time. The most notable was the incomparable Alleviate O’Calm.

She gave her good word to Waters, and sent him racing on Burnen. He won droplets and most minorities in every region. He won the first 3 contests, and Burnen, who had came in 5th once, was almost counted out completely. But Drencher leadership couldn’t let the drops and droplets speak for themselves.

Some unseen officials put pressure on Blazinggag and Kombustuchar to drop out, even though they had no intention to before. Once the did, however, they gave their good word to Burnen. This propelled him to win the fourth contest, and many more after that. Waters still one some regions, including the biggest one of all. End it was surprisingly narrow in the second biggest as well.

Wetflame, who had also had great ideas and said she was with Waters, didn’t do the same on his behalf. They did slightly disagree, like her ideas would have left the fire at a simmer, but they would’ve made an unstoppable team. They could’ve been coleaders, and that would’ve been her most powerful choice. Unfortunately, though she stayed out and didn’t give her word to anyone. She soon even backed off of her best ideas, trying to get Burnen to pick her as co-leader. Most of the droplets were truly disappointed.

As the evaporation began to take over the daily stories, taking away from the leader-choosing, supporters of Waters urged him to stay in. Not only that, but to show how his ideas would’ve prevented, and could still fix the evaporation. To point out that Burnen seemed to be making his plan up as he went. And also wasn’t speaking to the pot very much.

Waters did his best, changing his stance toward a relief effort around the evaporation. He thought that would drive his point home, while still allowing him to speak to the entire pot. But the Drencher officials weren’t going to be happy until he was no longer up for a leader.

Despite almost winning another region, he did step down. His supporters demanded he make sure that Burnen would implement some of his ideas. But all he insisted upon was bringing together groups to discuss these things. No guarantees, and it gave drops everywhere the illusion that he would take the threat of the fire and evaporation seriously.

Despite his supporters wanting everyone to move on, and focus on defeating Tinderbox, the droplets and minorities that brought Waters so far were not going to give up on these ideas without a fight. They knew that this was the only way to defeat Tinderbox, and save the pot in the process. they knew the best Burnen was offering was to bring the flame down halfway. But that wouldn’t be enough. The pot didn’t have time for business as usual.

Waters name was still available for choosing, and maybe more people choosing it would make the discussion groups actually mean something. And maybe the droplets could push Burnen to do the right thing. But he would not do so easily.

The future of the pot was very uncertain. No one could know where things would end up, but at least they’d keep pushing. At least they’d demand a better like than they knew before, no matter what. At least there would be no more naïveté.