(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 59

"And if she didn't have feelings for you?" Dre asked.

"We aren't living in ifs, Wolf-Boy," she snapped back. She returned to her story in her cheerfully demeanor as if she hadn't retorted to Dre. "After we kissed, I asked her if this meant that we were going out, and she gave an emphatic 'yes!' I'm still in unbelief that I'm dating someone as awesome as Katherine. And then Dre tried to ruin the mood by calling me."

"But I didn't even try to ruin-"

"So after that, we were basically making out that whole da-"

"Okay, Megumi," Michael interrupted, covering Keiko's ears. "I don't think that this is something for Keiko to listen to. You wanna talk about something different? Like the weather? I heard we might be getting some snow pretty soon."

Keiko removed his hands from her ears. "But wait, how did Dre know that you two were making out when he called?" she asked, much to Michael's dismay.

"Kat sensed him watching on the other side of the door." She shot daggers at him, his face growing hot from astonishment. "You didn't think that Katherine would want to go to some place secretive and not use her Spirit element to monitor the hallway, did you?"

Dre sunk his head. "I didn't think about that. Oh! Check this out guys. Not trying to steal the attention from you and all," he said to Megumi before displaying a cyan, crystal-like bracelet on his arm.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then, Megumi said, "That's got to be one of the girliest pieces of jewelry I've seen you wear."

"Do you even know what this is? This is the Amyntikós, the shield equivalent to the Suscéptor."

"The Suscéptor's a girly piece of jewelry?" Keiko asked.

"No!" Dre looked around at the handful of students not paying him any heed. "No. Look, the Suscéptor's a sword crafted by the Elder Sages to help fight against Aggaron. From what Hiro told me before, it's the only blade that can do Aggaron any kind of harm. I'm guessing that the shield will be just as good, if not better, than the sword. Not only that, but the Elder Sage said that I can give this to whoever I want, as long as they have a strong enough bond with me and isn't blood related."

"And who will you give it to?" Keiko asked.

"Yes, Dre. Who will you give it to?" Megumi asked as she gestured to Kim.

"Dude, are you still trying to get me and Kim together?" Dre asked her. Michael could already tell what he would say next. He would say that there was probably no way of the two of them getting together, which would, no doubt, hurt Kim deeply.

As Dre opened his mouth to make a grand mistake, Michael intervened. "Are you going to give Kim the shield or not?"

Dre's mouth went slack. "Michael. Not you too."

"We all know that you want to. I bet that you were even considering giving it to her once you heard about that part, didn't you?"

Dre frowned at Michael for a moment before eventually sighing and turned to Kim. Michael smirked; he knew he was right.

"Kimmy," Dre began as Kim starred wide-eyed at him, "we've been friends for years now, even though this year we had to be distant because of Samantha. And... I think that we have a strong bond, almost stronger than any other bond I've ever had. That's why I believe that you should have this." He slid the bracelet off of his wrist and held it out to her. "You might have more use of this than I would."

"Ke'Undre? I-I'm flattered that you're giving me this. But I couldn't take it from you. You need it more than I do. It's your rights as the King to have it."

"Are you kidding? It only turns into a shield, and you're the only one on our team that can use a shield. I use gauntlets, remember?" As he spoke, the bracelet shined brightly before morphing into a crystal-like gauntlet. "That doesn't count. The wrist is connected, so I wouldn't be able to have much mobility." The gauntlet split at the wrist, creating both a glove and a gauntlet for him to wear. "You be quiet," he said to the Amyntikós. It turned back into the bracelet. "Look, if you're not going to use it, I won't either. I'll just throw it in DeGray Lake."

The group exploded, calling Dre any and all variants of the word "idiot." Dre took no heed, only watched Kim as she tried to decide whether to keep the shield or leave it. Her ears sagged as she extended her hand, catching the bracelet as it slid through Dre's fingers. Kim sharply inhaled, her eyes dilated as she continued to watch the bracelet. "Kim?" Megumi shook Kim's shoulder, snapping her out of her trance-like state.

She exhaled as she blinked her eyes back to focus. "That was weird." Her eyes shined as she slid the bracelet on. "I was in a strange world."

"Strange world?" Dre asked, anxious. "Was it a mirror-like world?"

"Yeah. I spoke to a fox while I was in there. A giant, silver fox."

"That's an elder sage," Dre breathed. "What did he say?"

"That the gap has finally been bridged. I wonder what he meant by that."

"No clue." Keiko looked over to Dre. "Any ideas on what he means?"

"No. But I know how I'm going to find out."