(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 5

My God, he's worse than Katherine, Dre though as he shot away at the paper targets. His hands felt as if they were going numb, and Michael made it worse by barking insults at him for missing.

"Are you actually going to shoot a target? I'm sure the air doesn't deserve your vengeance."

"You act as if I've actually shot a gun," Dre said before shooting and missing another target. He cursed under his breath as he reloaded.

"Don't expect any sympathy from me," he said, sneering. Dre could tell that he was enjoying this a little too much.

"Is this because of me beating you in that sparring match?" Dre asked before firing again.

"Could be, or it couldn't. Does it really matter?"

"Dammit!" Dre yelled out in frustration after missing yet again.

The hallway door opened behind him. "Cease fire," a man's voice called out in a British accent. Everyone in the target range turned to see Chris walking in, his tattoo of the English flag displayed proudly on his shoulder.

"Mr. Blade? What are you doing here?" Keiko asked.

"I'm here to pick up you and Sasquatch up to get ready for the arena." Michael frowned at the Sasquatch comment. He snatched the gun from Dre's hands and quickly fired at the targets, hitting each one in the center.

"Thanks for missing them," he said as he slid the clip from the pistol.

"What? Blimey, man, that was a joke," Chris said. "Learn to take one."

"I take lives, not jokes." His voice was dark. It reminded Dre of when they first met. "Who all have you been summoned to pick up?"

"All three of you. Hurry up, they're probably waiting for you." He left, closing the door behind him.

"I hate that man," Michael said as he placed the gun and the clip on the shelf.

"It could be worse."

"How could it be worse, Dre. How," he said, sounding more like a statement than a question. Dre thought for a moment. How could it be worse? He said nothing, and made his way out of the door. "Just as I thought."

~~~~~

"So, the gang's all here," Ichi said as Chris led Michael, Dre, and Keiko to the rest of his group standing in front of the school gates. "Thank you, Mr. Blade." Chris bowed at him before he left the school grounds. "I'm sure that you all have heard about the arena from the people who guided you here, so I will not bore you with the details. Follow me, please." The gates slowly shifted over, allowing them room to leave.

"But I didn't hear anything about it," Kim whispered.

"Who picked you up?" Megumi asked.

"I believe it was Joel. He got in trouble with my teacher for scaring the class."

She sighed as she rubbed the wing of her nose with a gloved hand. "That sounds like something that he would do. Basically the arena is all digital, so we need to buy weapons at the chip store."

"And by chip store, she doesn't mean a store that only sells potato chips." Both Kim and Megumi turned to Dre with the same perplexed look. "Just in case there is some type of confusion."

"I'm pretty sure that no one is that stupid to believe that we need to buy actual potato chips to prepare for battle, Dre," Michael said from behind the group.

"We could. Who knows, these chips could be electrically charged to teach us how to fight in an instant."

Ian cut in. "If that's true, then why are we taking the classes?"

"For fun. Duh."

Ian opened his mouth to retort until Ichi interrupted. "Were you kids even paying attention to what I've been saying?" Everyone nodded with a sour look for being called a kid. "Then do you mind telling me what I've said?"

"You were talking about the meaning of the name of the city and how it correlates to the first King of Elements," Keiko said, her voice high and cheerful.

"Oh," was the only thing Ichi said for a while, looking dumbfounded. "Indeed you were. Right then-" he continued his lecture.

"How could fighting eight foot tall monsters be considered fun?" Rose asked once Ichi turned back around.

"Well, we all met each other that way," Keiko said. "If I had to fight them again to make sure we wouldn't have to split up, I would any time."

"I agree," Kim said with a shy smile.

Megumi as she placed her hands behind her head. "Who would've thought that Keiko would be the one who'd have their epiphany first?"

Once Megumi had stopped speaking, Dre could've swore he heard Michael chuckling behind him.

"Here we are," Ichi said as they stopped in front of a store made of red brick. Above the store was an image of a SD card with what looked like a holographic sword coming from it. Beside the picture were words that were written in another language.

"What language is that?" Ian asked as he pointed towards the sign.

"You little liars," Ichi said with a sneer. "I just explained that this region was inspired by the Greeks, and that many of the stores are written in the Greek language."

Just as they were preparing to make their way in, the glass door opened up in front of Ichi. A man dressed in the same uniform as Marcus glared at him. The man had short, blond hair. His dark green eyes were focused solely on Ichi before he walked past him, a line of six Apprentices followed behind. "Kimachi," he regarded in a low voice.

"Asshole," Ichi continued to face forward as he mimicked the same regarding tone. The man didn't lose a beat in his steps, but Dre noticed the twinge of anger in his face. He wanted to ask Ichi who was that, but the coldness in his voice made him decide otherwise.

"Basura!" Dre heard Kamatsu's jovial voice among the line of Apprentices. He stood behind Katherine, who didn't even glance in his direction. "I wouldn't even bother going inside," he said as he stood beside him, "it would be a waste of time and money for you."

"I think I'll take my chances," Dre said without turning to him.

Ichi cleared his throat and held the door open before saying, "This way, please." They all filed in.