(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 68

Keiko woke up to the sounds of fire igniting. "Does anyone else hear that?" she groaned as she rose herself up from her sleeping bag. The girls were fast asleep, somehow sleeping through the noise. Yawning, Keiko reached for her jacket and headed out into the woods.

The noise was coming from the shoreline of the lake a ways down from where they were. She noticed a bright blue light coming from the source of the sound. Zipping up her jacket, she groggily walked onto the shoreline, walking towards the figure expelling a blue flame out towards the lake. Common sense would've told her to go back and warn the group, but she was too sleepy to listen to reason.

The cold waves crashed softly on the sand. The cool mist splashed onto her bare feet. Under the bright light of the full moon, she could see a figure blasting fira across the lake. "Hm? Dre?" She wiped her eyes. "Wh-what are you doing up so early?"

"Huh?" He turned to her, looking confused. "Who are you?"

Keiko tilted her head. "What do you mean? It's me, Keiko. Are you feeling well?"

Dre stared at her with the same confused look on his face. Then he looked out towards the lake. "I... I think I'm not." He blinked at her. "No, I know I'm not. I'm gonna go lay down. Yeah," he said mechanically. "I-I'll see you in the A.M."

"Sure," Keiko said slowly as Dre walked past her. What was that all about? Dre acted as if he didn't know her. He didn't even tell her why he was out so early. Did she looked differently? She rushed into the changing station and gasped at herself as she look into the mirror. She looked... older, taller. She was even fitting into her once oversized pajamas. And were those curves?

Keiko leaned forward over the sink to get a close-up on her face. Her eyes, which were bulging now, were still slightly smaller than how they were before tonight. Her face was sharper, almost like a woman's.

"What in the world happened to me?" she breathed. "I've got to tell Michael." She ran out of the changing room and down the grassy hill to the guys' tents. Unzipping the entrance, she crawled to Michael cradled in a corner of the tent.

"Michael," she whispered as she gingerly shook him. "Michael, wake up."

He turned to Keiko in a daze. "Huh? What's going on?"

"Something happened to me," she whispered. She sat back to let Michael see how she changed. "I don't know what happened. I just woke up earlier because I heard some noises on the beach and Dre acted as if he didn't know me so when I went to the changing room to-"

"Okay, okay, Keiko," Michael yawned. His eyes widened with sudden realization. "Keiko?"

"Hi, Michael," she waved as she chuckled nervously.

~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, say 'ah."

"Ah." Kiku placed what Keiko thought was a popsicle stick on her tongue with a yawn. The two of them, as well as Michael and Rose, sat in the tent while the rest of the group waited outside. She could hear Dre complain about the cold. "I didn't know you had to say 'ah' too, Mrs. Kimachi."

"I didn't," she said, lethargic. "That was from me being called here at four in the morning. You all realize that I had to waste a honey drop to get here so soon," she said to Rose and Michael, who both shared apologetic looks. Sighing, Kiku continued. "For the most part, she seems pretty normal. I haven't really found anything too out of the ordinary, besides her sudden growth spurt. Just to be sure, I'll do a brief physical." She reached into her black bag and pulled out a stethoscope. After withdrawing it, she turned to Michael. "Leave. Both of you."