(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 97

"Well, I'm offended." Ichi smirked as he pushed his glasses up the wing of his nose. "Why are you all behind?" Michael growled as he pointed to his arm tied in a sling.

"We were supposed to cover for them, until he threw them under a bus," Rose said with a glare at Michael.

Ichi laughed. "That's a good little snitch."

Michael scrunched up his face. "Ignoring that. Since you know where the team is, what are you going to do about it?"

Ichi's pocket buzzed. He pulled his phone out as he spoke with Michael. "There's a lot of things that I could do. Report it to Toney. Expel them myself. The choices are endless." His smile quickly vanished as he read the text. "Uh, oh."

"Uh, oh? What's uh, oh?" Rose asked. Both she and Michael stood up; Keiko's head was rested on the back of the sofa, drool dripped from her opened mouth.

"Toney wants us to go to his office. They must have gotten caught." Ichi sighed as he placed his phone back in his pocket. "Son of a bitch. I thought they knew better to let themselves get caught." Angrily, he opened a pack of honey drops and handed Michael two and Rose one. "Make sure you wake Keiko up. Reiax Academy gates." He swallowed his candy.

~~~~~

Ian lost track of how long they'd been in Toney's office. He was shocked to see just how much of a nerd Toney was. His desk was covered with superhero action figures, statues, and a mini television with an Atari 2600. This was a bad time to think about this, though. He, Megumi, Katherine, Kim, Kamatsu, and Dre were all standing in front of his table, waiting for him to show up. Even worse, Dre was beginning to worry him. Ever since Ian saw him at the Edge Walker's forest, he'd looked completely different. Even if his hair was silver, and his eyes were brighter, almost as if they were glowing, there was something else that was different about him. He looked stronger, as if coming here had matured him.

He wished the same could be said for the rest of the group. Megumi kept her eyes on her shoes, and despite Ian asking her questions about Dre, she didn't speak a word. Kim was already sobbing lightly, wiping her tears on the back of her hand. Katherine and Kamatsu were the only ones who looked reserved. Their hands placed behind their back, they stood boldly, not letting the slightest amount of fear show.

The door opened behind them. The group jumped, except for Dre, Kamatsu, and Katherine, and heaved a breath of relief as Ichi, Michael, Keiko, and Rose appeared beside them. Ichi looked at them with disappointment before he faced forward, his hands placed behind his back. He cleared his throat. "You do know that you weren't supposed to get caught, right?" He inclined his head over to Dre. "What happened to him?"

Dre looked over to Ichi. With a smile, his eyes flashed. "The baby boy matured." Both Ichi and Ian looked over to Dre in shared shock.

Just as Dre spoke, the door behind them opened again. This time, Toney marched to his seat. His jacket was ripped to shreds. A towel was draped across his shoulders, splotched here and there with dried blood. The lacerations across his body looked to have been recently healed. Once he sat, he glared at the group with a furious glare that stabbed fear in Ian's heart. He looked as if he would jump over the table at any second. "I'm... so disappointed in you. In all of you. Do you not realize what could've happened to you all tonight? You could've been killed, struck down before your prime. This wasn't just some mock battle where you have people supervising in case things got out of hand. This wasn't just a simulation in the Emblem of Valor Arena. This was a real live invasion, and you would've been shown no mercy if any of the renegade Sirens got their hands on you. Not only that, but you blatantly disobeyed a direct order from your headmaster. It pains me to do this, especially since you all had passed your final exams, but you all left me with no choice. I'm afraid I have to expel all of you."