Elemental

Chapter 8: Food Inspector

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The next day, Bernie was standing at the register watching Coal help an older Fire lady reach something from a high shelf with a smile on his face. Bernie himself cracked a smile, seeing his son so much more relaxed and happy.

However, both of their happiness didn't last very long when the shop began to rumble. The pipe inside the wall of the store burst open again and water started spilling out onto the floor.

Coal set the basket down and rushed over. "No, no, no, no, no." He grasped the pipe and used his fire to weld it shut.

"Ah! The water's back!" Bernie exclaimed angrily.

Suddenly, an Earth delivery woman entered the store carrying several vases of flowers.

"Coal Lumen! Delivery for Coal Lumen! Is there a Coal Lumen here?!" The called.

Coal squinted at the flowers in confusion until he saw two pairs of eyes floating around in the water of the glass vases.

Coal's mother perked up. "Flowers for Coal?"

Coal rushed over and grabbed the vases. "Oh, these are so amazing! I'm gonna go put these away!" He announced, rushing down to the basement and setting the vases down.

"What are you two doing here?!" He hissed.

Wade and (Y/n) rose out of the vases, looking very nervous.

"We have bad news. The sandbags didn't hold." Wade said.

"Yeah, obviously." Coal snapped.

"Yeah. And I also have worse news. I'd forgotten a tiny detail about the last time I saw that city crew..." Wade confessed.

That detail included Wade accidentally knocking over a ton of cement and encasing several workers in it, who still weren't over it.

"I guess you could say that still have hard feelings." Wade joked nervously.

(Y/n) glared at him and whacked him on the back of the head. "This is no time for jokes! The city crew isn't going to help."

"Guys, Gale's deadline is tomorrow. We need more sandbags." Coal insisted.

"But, that didn't work before." (Y/n) reminded him.

"Well, I can't just do nothing!" He exclaimed, his flames turning slightly purple.

"Coal, did you fix the leak?" Bernie asked, as he made his way down the stairs. He paused when he saw Wade and (Y/n). "It's you two again!"

Wade and (Y/n)'s eyes widened. "Us?!"

"You're the ones who started all this!" He accused.

"No, dad! Those were different people. Not all water looks alike." Coal excused.

Bernie noticed Wade's tag that was pinned on his shirt. "You are city inspector?"

"No! Right?" Coal asked with a stained smile.

Wade played along. "Right! I'm not an inspector." He tried to cover his tag with his hand, but that just enhanced the word 'Inspector'