(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 90

She heard Jessica chuckle before she placed her feet back on the desk. Rose ignored her. "So, are you done with the Kurai Elites?"

Despite his ordeal, Ian grinned. He reached into the small box attached to his pant leg and produced a badge of a black raven. Under the raven was a cyan orb attached to a small chain, the orb the same color as his eyes. His first name was stitched on a black space above the raven's head. "You tell me," he said. She could hear Jessica's feet slam against the ground as she looked at them, mouth agape. "They told me that I still had some work to do, but I would make an interesting part of the team."

Rose gave her a conceited look. "We should go out and celebrate then," she said loud enough for Jessica to hear, much to Ian's confusion.

~~~~

The springtime heat began to come. The trees surrounding the city park were finally beginning to turn green. Children laughed as they played on the city's shabby playground, which consisted on two slides, a jungle gym, and a see-saw that was always horizontal with the ground, even if a child and a full-grown adult sat on opposite sides. It wasn't the best place to have a picnic, but neither Dre nor Kim minded. What they did mind was how the rest of the group barged into their plan. It was originally going to be just a small date, until Megumi heard about it and invited herself and Katherine. Then, since it was across the street from their house, Michael and Keiko joined in. Rose and Ian saw them as they drove by and decide to buy two pizzas in order to make up for them joining in.

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't really complain too much. It was actually refreshing to hang out with his friends after preparing for both the tournament and the final exam. Dre rested his head on Kim's lap, looking up at her as she gave a smile that was blessed by both God and Zeus. It was hard to believe that tomorrow, they'd be back in the Emblem of Valor arena, fighting again after such a peaceful day. What made things worse was that they had no idea who they were fighting. Sakura would let them know who they were fighting first. Knowing his luck, they'd get put out in the first round.

He shook the thoughts out of his head. That was for another day. For now, Dre figured it would be best to relax today.

"I'm just saying," Ian began, "since I'm a part of the Kurai Elite, I should be the leader of the group."

"You wanna be the King of Elements too, while you're at it?" Dre asked. "I'm sure you'll be amazing at that."

"Hell, you want to take my position as an agent for Death?" Michael asked as he poured Keiko a cup of tea with his uninjured hand.

"Okay, okay. Sheesh." Ian angrily chomped on a slice of pizza.

"Hey, Dre," Keiko began. "What would happen if Michael became the King of Elements?"

"Hmm?" Dre raised his head from Kim's lap, chewing on a slice of pepperoni that Kim fed him.

"I mean, you told us one day that in order for the King's power to be transferred, the current King would be dead. Would it still work that way if Michael got that power, since he's technically dead?"

"But I'm not-"

"Hey, you've got a point there," Katherine interrupted after taking a sip of juice. "What if the power goes to the person that killed Michael?"

"Still got a heartbeat, guys," Michael murmured in vain.

"But wait, what if he's dead, too?" Kim asked. "Would it go to the person that killed him?"

"Okay, you guys are just effing with me now," Michael complained.

Before Rose could say anything, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Hastily sliding it out, she looked at the screen. "It's Sakura." The group perked up as she answered. "Hello? No, we're just having a picnic." She listened for a moment. "Actually, we were just discussing that. We don't really know who the leader is yet. Shall I put you on speakerphone?" After a moment, she tapped on the phone's screen before she laid it on the grass. "Okay, you're on."