(Outdated) The King of Elements

Failure

"Again!" Katherine bellowed. She stood in front of Dre, scowling. Tiffany had separated the class into groups of two, allowing their partners to practice sword fighting with each other. Rather than having one of the many slackers for a partner, fate was "fortunate" enough to grant him a no-nonsense, trained swordswoman who deemed anything other than absolute perfection to be terrible.

"Give me a break, dude," Dre griped. He gave a frustrated grunt as he primed himself for another slash. They both have been sparring for what felt like ages without any breaks. His arms felt like gelatin. His lungs were on fire. With Halloween only a month away, he had hoped that he would be able to shop for a costume with his friends, but at this rate he wouldn't even need one. He could just say that he dressed up as the "Armless Wonder" once his arms fall off.

"Break? You've yet to show me that you even deserve a break. For the past month, you've made no progress. You haven't even been able to touch me yet. Why should I give you a break if you aren't giving me a reason to?"

"But I've never even held a blade before," Dre whined. That was a lie, but she didn't need to know about it.

She placed the sword in the sash of her training pants. "Fine then. Show me that you deserve one. If you can, I'll let you rest until class is over."

"Don't tease me dude."

"I am not a dude. I am a lady and you will address me as such."

"Okay, okay. Sorry," Dre said, hoping that he didn't ruin his chances of an actual break. "Please tell me that you're serious."

"I am," she stated, observing him with those hardened, hazel eyes. She put her arms behind her back. "Pretend like I'm my brother. I've just defeated you in front of the whole school, humiliated you in front of your family and friends. Use this memory to motivate you."

"Okay. What do I have to do?"

"Hit me. If you can do that, then I'll let you have a break."

Dre wiped the gleeful look off of his face, concentrating solely on this one last chance to show that he had truly improved these last four weeks. Focus, Dre. Fail a million times- He brought his sword up, preparing to slash at Katherine. Get humiliated a million more- He gripped the handle, making his palms burn, as if the mock sword was white hot. He ignored the pain as he visualized Katherine's brother, Kamatsu, standing in front of him, mocking him with that self-centered grin of his. As long as you succeed at least once!

He swung the wooden sword downward, as quick as his swing was, Katherine was easily able to sway away from the sword's path. She glared down at him with an unreadable face. Growling in his throat, he spun on his heel, driving the pommel of the blade towards Katherine's side. Just as the pommel was arching towards her, she caught him by his wrist and, using his momentum against him, spun and tossed Dre effortlessly onto the floor.

Before he knew it, his back had slammed against the wood-tiled ground. He was stunned, too stunned to even feel any pain. He just looked up at Katherine, his breath caught in his throat.

Katherine watched him, showing no sign of concern of him. Dre looked into her eyes, still wondering how he'd ended up on the ground. Folding her arms, she frowned at him. "Failed." Dre glowered as he worked his way up to his feet.

Tiffany had commanded the attention of the students. They all stopped their training at once to listen to her orders. "That's it for today, class. Be sure to put your swords back inside of your lockers."

"Oh, thank God," Dre croaked as he dropped his sword, taking in deep breaths. His throbbing hands pulsed with an even deeper pain.

"Be prepared Wednesday," Tiffany called over the students. "We will have a duel with each of you to see where you stand with each other."

It was as if he had ventured through Hell to get to the world's most prosperous treasures, only to find that there was no treasure, and he had to go back through Hell to return home. He gulped as Katherine began walking back towards him, staring at the sibling of a trained samurai. He had no chance to stand up to her skills, not even on her worst day.

"You do know that our duel isn't to the death, right?"

"I'll try to remember that," Katherine said, sheathing her sword inside of her cloth and tying it close.

"You're- you're kidding, right?" Dre asked in a panic as he mimicked her and walked with her towards the lockers.

Katherine shrugged before they placed their swords back in her locker. "At any rate, you'll need to fight me as if it was to the death. I'm expecting you not to hold back on me."

"Y-yeah. But just for curiosity's sake, how hard were you going?"

"If I had to break it down in percentages, I'd have to say that was about fifty percent. Maybe less."

"Oh. Wonderful."

They both bid farewell to Mrs. Gladestone before they walked out of the class. Among the multitude of students filing out of the classroom, Dre noticed Megumi sitting on one of the benches, playing her video game as she paid no mind to the Apprentices buzzing about the upcoming duels. "Waiting for me?" he asked as they approached her.

Megumi looked up just in time to catch Katherine's eye before she led herself to the stairway. "Who was that?" she asked, blushing slightly.

"That's Katherine, Kamatsu's sister. Remember? She was part of the team that threw us at the Edge Walkers."

"Oh, yeah. That's right." Megumi pocketed her Nintendo 3DS before hopping out of her seat. "Daddy wanted to remind you that our first training session in the Emblem of Valor gym will start next week. He also wanted me to tell you to remember your deal with him, whatever that means."

Dre thought hard about it for a second. "Oh, yeah. Mr. Toney wanted me to give you this." He reached into his pocket, pulled out the Emblem of Valor ticket that he was supposed to give her last week.

She gasped with a sparkle in her eyes, looking as if she had been handed a diamond ring. "Dude! Where did you get this?" she asked as she grabbed it. "Daddy said that the tournament had been sold out for weeks."

"Your dad. He just told me to invite you to it. What's wrong?" he said as Megumi's face soured.

"It starts tomorrow." She placed the ticket in her pocket and eyed him. "When exactly did daddy give you this?"

Dre inhaled though his teeth before he said, "Last month, after he told me I was the King of Elements."

Megumi rubbed the temples of her head. "Why am I not surprised?"