(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 1

"See you later," Dre said as he waved. He had about an hour to kill, and all of his friends was in class. Almost all of my friends. I guess I'll go see what Michael is doing.

~~~~~

"Was that effort? Because that didn't look like effort! Try it again!" Michael barked at a cowering Apprentice in front of the target range. He held his shaky pistol in front of him, took a deep breath, and fired at the paper targets about twenty yards away. Seeing that he'd missed yet again, Michael put a hand over his eyes and quietly said, "You're letting a Human show you up. A Human!" He raised his voice so quickly that just about everyone in the target area jumped, including Keiko and Dre, who had the misfortune to show up in the middle of Michael's tutoring.

"What's going-"

Keiko shushed Dre and led him out of the target room into the underground hallway lit by a row of florescent lights perched on the low ceiling. The walls looked to have been made of black bricks. She softly shut the door behind her and took a deep breath as she leaned against it. "Miss Brianna noticed how good Michael's skills were with guns, so she let him be a tutor whenever she wasn't there."

"So she's not here today, either?"

Keiko shook her head. "There's been a lot of teachers gone today. I wonder why?"

"Yeah, me too," Dre lied. "So, how long will Michael be busy?"

"The full class hour, I think."

Dre threw his hands up in frustration. "Great, just peachy! Michael was the only person I thought would be able to help me, and wouldn't you know it, he's too busy too."

The door slowly opened behind Keiko. Michael stood in the doorframe, looking at Dre with a face full of malice. "Help you with what?" he asked in a dark voice.

All of the strength and confidence that Dre had before had vanished the moment he saw Michael's towering figure. The silver crucifix on his chest seemed to glow under the light.

Dre opened his mouth to speak, but only a small squeak came out. Speak, Dre. "Willyousparwithme?" he quickly asked.

Sighing, Michael said, "If you're not going to speak to me like a warrior, then don't even bother speaking to-"

"Will you spar with me?" he asked, slower and calmer. "My other sparring partner canceled on me, and I have a sword fighting duel coming up."

"From what I've heard, you suck at sword fighting. You'd be better asking someone closer to your level, like a newborn." Michael turned back to the target range.

"I want to judge just how good or bad I am!" Dre blurted out. "If you're going to insult me, I'd expect that you'd see my skills firsthand."

"Fine then." He made his way back inside, Keiko following. Dre swallowed nervously as he too went in.

Michael stood in front of a computer, typing away as he said, "Albert, I want twenty-five field strips." The Apprentice in front of the targets cursed under his breath as he began to take his pistol apart.

The paper targets lifted into the ceiling. "Get in." Michael grunted.

"Come again?"

"Get. In," he repeated, more stern. I'm beginning to think this was a mistake.

As he passed Michael, Dre asked, "You're not going to get Keiko to shoot at me, are you?"

"Don't tempt me," he said humorlessly as he picked up a hilt less practice sword and followed. Dre and Michael's footsteps echoed through the wide open area. They made their way to the center of the range and turned to each other. "You would have done better asking Keiko to spar with you, seeing as she's better trained at this than I. Then again, she doesn't know the meaning of the words 'hold back.'"

"I'd rather not ask her then," he stated as he looked to her. She stood in the shooting booth beside Albert, resting her head on her hands as she looked on with an eerily innocent face. He shuddered as he turned back to Michael.

He placed both hands at the base of the sword and slightly slid his right leg behind him. Even if Keiko was more trained at this than he, Dre could tell that Michael had training in sword fighting as well.

Dre slid his right foot behind him, turning everything but his head to the right. Sliding the practice sword from behind his back, he held it slightly above his head, its point aimed toward Michael. His free hand was also turned toward Michael, as if he was prepare to throw fire at him. He wasn't sure why, but this stance seemed to feel... right.

"Let's get started," Michael said before he rushed at Dre, holding his sword behind him with both hands. Positioning the sword high above his head, he brought it down hard at Dre. Acting on a newfound instinct, Dre quickly hopped to the side and smashed his sword against Michael's back. He fell to the ground hard, leaving Dre flabbergasted. Maybe that dream wasn't a dream at all. Maybe it was something more.

Michael struggled to stand back on his feet. He repositioned himself as he began walking a wide circle around Dre. "You just got lucky with that one," he spat.

"Don't remind me." Dre kept his eyes on Michael as he turned with him. Holding the sword low to ground behind him, Michael dashed at Dre again. He sent a decapitating swing at Dre's head, who ducked under it. Flipping the sword upside down, he slashed at Michael's ribs, following up by driving the edge deep into Michael's back. Michael tumbled to the ground, holding his side as he worked his way back to his feet.

His stare was cold, shocking Dre down to his core. "How did you do that?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't know. I'm just as clueless as you-"

"Don't toy with me, Dre!" Michael bellowed as he rushed as him at an inhuman speed. Before Dre was able to get back into position, Michael swung at his head, slapping him square in the face with the flat of the sword.

His face exploded with pain as he dropped to the ground. He looked up, staring at the point of Michael's sword. Dre could feel his dark eyes leering into him as he said "On your feet." Dazed, he slowly stood back to his feet, shifting back into position. They both stared at each other, waiting for the slightest shift in each other's position. "I won't lie, Dre. You're good," Michael said, grinning as he lowered his blade, "but I had to get you back for almost embarrassing me in front of my group." He pointed his thumb behind him to the small crowd of Apprentices watching silently; Dre figured they were too afraid of Michael to say anything.

"Did you really have to hit me that hard?" Dre said, gingerly rubbing the side of his face. "My brain's going numb."

"It'll feel better when it stops hurting," he said as they made his way towards the target range.

"Thanks for the concern."

Dre started to the exit until he felt Michael's hand grip his shoulder. He turned Dre around and shoved a pistol into his chest. "Since we're already here, how about you get some target practice in?"

Dre looked past Michael to Albert who glanced up at him, shaking his head as he reassembled his pistol. "I don't have any choice in this, do I?"

"Not at all," he said with a grim smile.