Mystic Grove Academy

5: Fandom and the Electric Flame

Two Days Later (Friday, October 19th):

Manchester, England - Darren P.O.V.

"J.J.," I yell out to him fighting off a bunch of elemental criminals at this mall he dragged all us Fire Elementals to, "what the hell did you get us into?!" Yeah, I'm pissed that he dragged myself and four other of our Fire Elemental Studies classmates halfway around the world to get some fire crystals he heard about only for us to be ambushed in front of a mall of all places. I swing my sword killing two of these attackers in front of me. A scream causes me to turn to my right.

"Help!" yells fellow second-year Amaya Whitt who has this fiery crimson hair with blue tips that makes her stand out from the rest of the girls in our class. I see this one girl standing over her with the tip of her axe pointed at her throat. Out of instinct, I release my Fire Shiriken right at this girl knocking her off my friend. I help Amaya to her feet. "Thanks, Darren," she hugs me before turning to the growing carnage in front of us. "I can't believe J.J. dragged us into this mess."

"I know, right? He is the third strongest in our class but this was just careless to drag us into a battle in a public place like this."

Amaya holds up her twin swords flinging one of them in J.J.'s direction. "We better get these goons out of here before someone else gets hurt."

"Agreed." I charge in knocking two guys off J.J. letting him to get to his feet. "This is the last time we follow any of your leads since we always end up fighting for our lives."

J.J. brushes me off walking over to another of our classmates struggling to stand. "Relax, Darren. So I got it wrong with those fire crystals - sorry about that."

"What a dumbass," Amaya confirms what I'm thinking. She flings her blue hair behind her left ear with this low scowl that I hear. "When you dragged all of us out here, we were under the assumption that we would find some fire crystals for our weapons; not almost get us killed in another country."

"Not only didn't we find any crystals, we barely got away with our lives, our weapons are trashed," I look over at one of our classmates with a serious leg injury, "but poor Dex over there hurt his leg pretty bad. This trip was a total waste." We watch the remains of the group who attacked us bail out the mall parking lot. I look at J.J. with this scowl that's growing by the second. "What now?" I hold up my sword seeing chips in the edges, a hairline fracture near my element core, and blood stains that are quickly drying. "Our weapons are toast and there's no way we can get through another fight."

J.J. scoffs at the situation rolling his eyes. "We'll be fine. So, I got it wrong about the crystals. I'm still going to find them - you can count on that."

"Whatever," I walk in the direction of a weaponsmith I know is in this town, "we'll talk later but right now, I need to get my sword repaired before I start a job I'm here for anyway."

"Oh, come on," J.J. runs patting me on the back, "you have to admit we did have fun fighting those goons. This trip was meant to bond us Fire Elementals together."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, man. Thanks to this little spat, my sword has seen better days. Later." I exit the mall and walk down the main road toward this weaponsmith who specializes in magical weapons and I know him well. Walking inside, the smell of heated metal and burning crystals, which I compare best to eating chili peppers (I hate spicy foods with a passion), hits my nose full force making me cringe. "Yo, Carlos," I yell to the blacksmith Carlos Moran, the best when it comes to Fire Elemental weaponry. "Where you at, man?"

It's quite rare to see a black weaponsmith like Carlos but he's cool to me although no one else at Mystic Grove trust him worth a damn. Opening the door to a back room, smoke bellows out as Carlos (he only stands at 5'4" but he's good on the forge) walks up to the counter covered in smoke, soot, and metal shavings. I like coming to him because he's the only one I can trust with working with my blade - that and he owes me a favor for getting him out of a jam with the school last year. He wipes his hand before extending it to me. "What up, Darren? Long time, no see."