(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 29

Ichi frowned as he peeked from behind the shield. Samantha was already nowhere to be seen. "Why didn't you grab her?" he asked to a downed McManus, who still had his ears covered. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

He rushed to McManus and attempted to pull him up to his feet, but he went for the ground as soon as Ichi let go. Of course. The screech shifted the fluids in his ears, making him lose his sense of balance. "Why didn't you put on your ear plugs in?"

"What?!" McManus called.

"Just great. You'd better hope that Brianna can fix that."

"She can. Probably. Damn, everything sound so muffled." McManus dug his finger in his ear. "I think my ears are bleeding."

"That's probably just your miniscule brain finally giving out," Ichi said as McManus worked his way to his feet.

"Bite me," McManus retorted as he stumbled towards the office door. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Let Queen Melody know about Samantha. After that, let the Amians who're enrolled here know about Samantha as well. We don't need anyone else getting possessed by her."

As McManus opened the office door, rows of students and teachers stood in the foyer, each of them looking at McManus. He looked through the crowd in an awkward silence. "Predator missiles. Those things are a pain."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Guys, oh my God. Did you all hear about what happened this morning?" Megumi asked Dre, Michael, and Keiko as they walked through the hallways. "Uncle Ichi and McManus found out who the Siren was."

"I think everyone within a three mile radius could tell that the Siren was here," Michael said to his book.

Megumi shot him a dirty look before Dre said, "What did they find out?"

"They know who the Siren is. Actually, Dre," she began, giving Dre a cautious look, "you should hear this more than anyone."

That perked Dre's attention. "What do you mean?"

"Dre, Samantha is the Siren."

Dre looked horrified at this revelation, though he wasn't too surprised about it. Knowing his luck, there had to be a reason that one of the most beautiful girls in his school suddenly started dating him. "Peachy. My first girlfriend would be a psycho alien chick bent on killing the men she's slept with. Dude. This blows so hard. Why can't I get any good news today?"

"It could be worse," Michael said, his eyes still glued to his book. "She could've mated with you. Though," he looked up from his book, arching a brow, "would it be worth the evisceration?"

Turning his head towards Michael, Dre asked, "You aren't going to try to date her, are you? I'm not sure if you're prepared for the hell that awaits you if you do."

"You've got nothing to worry about. I've got more things to worry about than trying to find a girlfriend. Like, keeping you and this one safe," he said with a smile as he ruffled Keiko's hair, who returned his smile with one of her own.

"Dude, I'm never gonna get used to that," Dre said as they made it to Kim's locker. Closing her locker, she walked with the rest of her friends.

"How's it going, everyone?" he heard Kimmy ask cheerfully. It was apparent that she didn't hear the news.

"You didn't hear?" Megumi questioned. "It turns out that Samantha was the Siren all along, the one who invaded the Wayland Marketplace, the tournament, and conjured the Edge Walker here."

"Oh, my. I'm sorry to hear that Dre," Kimmy said, her cheerful demeanor quickly disappearing. He shrugged as he mumbled something. "If it makes you feel any better, my parents said that you can come over today."

"Say what?" he asked before snapping his head up.

Kimmy giggled as she said, "It's true. My dad said that since he was familiar with your dad, that he knew that he could trust you."

"Wait, wait," Megumi butted in, "you mean to tell me that Dre gets to meet your parents before we get a chance to? Dude, how lame."

Kimmy's ears slumped from atop her green baseball cap. "I'm sorry, Megumi. I tried asking if I could invite other people, but he said that he wasn't sure if that was a good idea."

"Eh, don't worry about it," she sighed.

"So, if you're half Amian, does that mean that one of your parents is a kitty?" Keiko asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Er, well, kind of. My mom is an Armonian. They're kind of like... humanoid cat people," she added to the group's blank stare.

"Your mom's a cat person, too? Like, literally?" Megumi slumped in her chair as she groaned, "That's just rubbing salt in the wound."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, she doesn't act like how Human cats act," Kimmy said, smiling sheepishly. "Like, she doesn't like being petted and she hates lasers. Actually," she placed a finger on her lip as she looked up thoughtfully, "I believe that my mom gets a little paranoid whenever she sees a laser. You know, like wanting to attack the person who has the laser or something."

"Makes sense," Michael says after finishing his food. "If I'm remembering correctly, you said that your mom was a warrior, and considering that she is, it may have something to do with laser sights on firearms. Then again, I may be overanalyzing it," he concluded as they walked down the sidewalk.

"Hope you two have fun!" Keiko said with an ecstatic grin.

Megumi's mischievous smile crept across her face as she said, "Try not to have too much fun," to Dre and Kim before breaking off from the rest of the team.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm going to be honest, Kimmy. I'm a little worried about meeting your parents," Dre said hesitantly as he and Kim began walking off the school campus. He looked at her profile with a cautious eye. "I'm sure that they're good people, probably even awesome people. I'm just not good at meeting parents."

Kim gave a bright smile. "Don't worry, Ke'Undre. I'm sure that they will love you. I mean, who wouldn't?" She gave a gasp as she turned back towards the front before Dre could notice her blushing.

Dre was too focused on meeting her parents to notice her hesitation. "I can literally go through our yearbook and count the people on my fingers who actually tolerate me." He gave a heavy sigh as he raked his fingers through his hair. "I can already see what will happen once I see them. I'll say one word to your dad and he'll simply point to the door and say 'Get out of my house'," he said, pointing at an imaginary door. "Let's just get this verbal abuse over so I can go home and sulk for the rest of the day."

Kim giggled in her hand. "Where do you come up with these situations?"

"I have a sixth sense about things like this. Ask Megumi about how I predicted that we were aliens."