Archive #1 - "HI I'm Miki"

So my friend, Steve, drew me a picture of my character, Miki from the Save Miki Arc. After finding out how "irrelevant" she is, as some people would claim, he decided it was nice to draw her.

Miki's profile page

But, I edited his drawing to make it more satirical. If you reached the Save Miki Arc, you would understand the context of this. ;)

Regular updates will resume Wednesday at ~9:35 AM.

Website 15.0, February 23, 2013

Today, I am featuring Website Version 15.0! It corresponds to April 2009.

This week is so bad!!! I mean good morning everyone! I just took a very difficult exam yesterday and now I have to take another tomorrow, but I'm way behind. It's a good thing I have time to update while I am in class. I would like to mention that from here on, on rare or often occasions depending on how busy I am, I will post different kinds of media (related to the story, but does not have that much canon material), for example, the surprise-Miki image on my last post drawn by my friend, Steve. I need to finish a lab now so I'll check out for now. Have a good week! :)

"The top has tabs for you to go through. The episode list, character list, etc.

My name is Matthew Tran and this is a story titled 'Fires of the Sky'. This was made out of boredom so I don't expect any grammar significance until later in episode 260+.

This story is about a boy named Matt who enters his first day of high school. However, a commotion occurs and Matt decides to check it out only to find that his friend is in danger. In an attempt to save his friend from the flames, Matt trips on a puddle of oil. Unfortunately, he receives a slight concussion. As Matt wakes up, he speaks of the flames but his friends say none of that happened. As time goes on, Matt will experience his own powers, along with new friends who will have the same problem. What will Matt have to do?"

This week's updates include:

- I added episode 221. The 'Fires of the Sky' tab on top has episode 221 if you cannot find it.

- Base functions and character updates will be more prominent as the weeks go by. Yay!

Note: Please tell me any errors that you find! It would be appreciated. I will fix them.

Episode 221 - Vermillion of Flames, Friendly Two-Year Reunions

Recently on Fires of the sky, the El Monte students returned to Earth only to find it still frozen. As they return to Arkon’s Magic, the six main students, Matt, Yessenia, Jaime, Alex, Venus, and Winny all enter a bridge that leads them to the Elemental Challenges! Without further delay, they were forced to attend as the six members for the challenges, but are they ready? After finishing the first match, the El Monte students find that they have humiliatingly lost against all the other four schools. Even worse, one of the members of El Monte seemed to have mysteriously run away with Benny, a member from Rosemead. What does this all mean?

Episode 221 – Vermillion of Flames, Friendly Two-Year Reunions

            Through the bothersome search for students, Shirley and the others made way for the interior of El Monte. Van suggested entering the school. “This place is kind of weird because there is not a single person here.”

            “I can’t even hear the freeway. The only sounds I hear are our steps echoing into nowhere.” Jon commented.

            Shirley was behind the whole group. “Um guys, what were your reasons for coming here again? We can take care of all of our errands and then we’ll leave as soon as possible. I don’t want to interfere with the Elemental Challenge.”

            “I thought we just came here to follow you!” Maggie said as if she had no idea what was going on.

            Shirley sighed. “Oh… And I thought you had some more important business to take care of… Anyway, I came here to talk to Emmy. I kind of wanted to battle her.”

            “Aren’t you interfering with the Elemental Challenge that way?” Jenny became worried.

            “Maybe… I guess you’re right. But, that’s not interfering with El Monte, so I’m going to do it anyway.”

            Michael stopped her. “Why would you want to go? It doesn’t matter if you’re not bothering El Monte. You’re tampering with the challenge by messing with other schools.” He hid under a tree. “And if the higher officials see us just wandering around, he could capture us, interrogate us, and then when he finds out we’re from El Monte, they can ban our school from even continuing the challenges.”

            Shirley clamped her hands together. “Aw, pleaaaase, Michael? We’ll only be here for a bit. I’m the only one who wants to get my errands done, right? It’ll be fast!”

            “The last time I tried to stop you, you had a whole city destroyed.”

            Shirley froze. She remembered the time when her group met with Michael at the Grailden Cavern before entering the formerly destroyed city of Wisteria. The trio-sisters became guilty and quiet as well. Jon scratched his head. “Did I miss something here?”

            Michael sighed again. “Ah… Sorry for reminding you about that. Look, if you want to break the rules, then that’s not my problem. I should be graduating as soon as we finish the stupid challenges.”

            “Right?” Shirley went on, “Because of that, it won’t be your problem. It will be on us. Don’t worry. I get away with a lot of things! Hehehe.”

            She walked on ahead and Van and Maggie followed her. Jenny said to Jon, “I’m starting to think this is a bad idea.” She had her hand over her chest indicating that she was struck with fear and stress.

            “I don’t even know what the heck is going on.” Jon shrugged. Michael decided to stay under the tree and do nothing until the challenges were over. After all, he did not want to interfere with the challenges.

 ~~~

            Matt tried to catch up with Nix who was speeding through road to road. “Are you getting tired already?” Nix teased.

            “No way! It has only been five minutes!” A small fire appeared out of his hand for a split second. Nix stopped joking and he became serious, curious about why a piece of fire appeared out of nowhere. Again, out of nowhere, Nix had been punched in the face once it faced forward again. It bounced to the ground and disappeared into Matt’s soul after being inflicted by a large amount of pain. Matt gasped. “N-Nix?! What happened?!”

            There was a hooded man in front of Matt. “Long time no see, Matt.”

            Matt squinted his eyes. “Um, who are you?”

            “You ran a lot with me in middle school. What happened now? You’re really out of shape.”

            “Could you be…?!” He stopped. A small patch of fire flashed from Matt’s hand for a second.

            “Dude, when I say you’re out of shape, I mean it. That fire is coming out of your hands for no other reason, no?” The boy removed his hoodie and this student was one of Matt’s old friends. His name was formerly Brandon, the same name derived from Brandon Mares, but this boy is named Brandon Martinez who often loves being called McLovin. His thin glasses gleamed clean and his light blue and white hair flashed from the sunlight. “And remember, don’t call me by my real name. Do you remember my nickname?”

            Matt raised his fists and said in happiness, “Of course I do! It’s McChicken or something, right?”

            “Excuse me?!”

            “But anywho, I can’t believe you were in the Elemental Challenges this whole time!! How’s it been?!” Matt said while frowning. “Actually, you know… we weren’t that close in middle school, were we? I remember meeting you through Jen because you two loved to run a lot. I still remember, McChicken! Your mile time was like 6:04, one of the fastest in middle school!”

            McLovin began chuckling. “Ohoho, so it was.” He then glared at Matt in the eyes, “Was. Heh.” He ran towards Matt with super quick speed that it felt as if he teleported behind Matt.

            Matt’s heart skipped a beat from surprise. “W-What the? (That was way faster than Taiger…! How?!)”

            McLovin whispered into Matt’s ear, “I’ll have you know, since two years ago, my mile time, without cheating, went down to 4:52 and it is still decreasing.”

            “Cheating? What do you mean ‘without cheating’?”

            McLovin teleported in front of Matt, but at a twenty-foot distance. “Well, take a guess. My elemental ability is the power to speed through time.”

            “Figures. That’s what everybody seems to want nowadays.”

            McLovin pointed at Matt’s fiery hands. “According to society, no one really wants your power. Why don’t you show me what justice is really like?”

            “What do you-…” Matt was interrupted by a sudden punch in the face. He was about to fall but McLovin held him from behind. “What the hell?! How did you do that so quickly?!” Matt uttered.

            “Don’t fall now. That’s a sign of losing.”

            “Ergh… You’re just playing with me now.” Matt opened his palms, “Alright then, I’ll just have my little friend to help me, heh! Come on, Nix! Let’s do this together!” A puff of smoke appeared but nothing came out of it. “Nix? Where are you?”

            McLovin made several more punches towards Matt’s face and chest. “Stop goofing around and show me how a real man fights after two long years, Matt!”

            Matt forcefully created a fire aura all around him. “Eraaagh! You need to stop. This is serious!”

            McLovin was slightly inflicted by Matt’s flames but he jumped away quickly. “Now you’re being smart. You should have done that sooner, hehehe.”

            Matt knelt down, feeling pain from the flames that he created. He grabbed onto his head. “Ergh!! This headache!”

            “What is it now, another trick up your sleeve?”

            “No… This doesn’t feel safe at all… You have to run!”

            “What are you talking about?”

            Matt was on his knees. He squinted his eyes and he faced the sky above. “AGGGHH!!! What the hell is going on?!”

            The fire aura exploded about ten meters around himself while McLovin made a quick run for it, barely being able to miss the flames. All of the trees and crops nearby Matt’s radius had been burnt and some were left in flames. McLovin was still in awe. His lens shattered. Matt could stand up again, noticing that McLovin had a difficult time seeing.

            Matt chuckled. “Hehe, I think I found your weakness.” He glided towards McLovin with flames on his legs. “Now that I know your weakness, I’m not afraid to fight back!”

            McLovin ran away from Matt’s now blob-like appearance. “Wait a minute there, Matt. I don’t think it’s a good idea to meddle with your powers after experiencing that. You don’t know what could happen next.”

            “Are you scared now? Have the tables turned?”

            McLovin said angrily, “This time, it’s not a matter of fear and bravery. That automatic explosion can account for another disaster, and you know it!”

            Matt threw a large Vermillion spell at McLovin which he could not avoid since its width was several times larger than a normal attack. “I feel fine! I can control my own powers.” He then made his fireballs into Twirling Flames which were thrown towards McLovin. McLovin had trouble running away from a large, orange blob of flames. He was thrown against the floor from a slight explosion created by the Twirling Flames.

            “Your powers are immense, Matt. I don’t think I can go any further…”

            Matt calmed down, but his aura was still around his body. “Phew! That was a close one.” He watched as McLovin struggled to get up. “Are you okay?”

            McLovin sighed. “I lost… The first match was an extremely simple challenge, but then I ran into you here. It’s interesting, really.” Matt listened to him mumble on. “I’m not really one to hide things, really.” He took out a key. “This might not be of use, but it’s something. Rosemead entrusted the key of South El Monte, to me.”

            McLovin threw the key at Matt. Matt grabbed onto the key from midair and then said, “That makes sense. Since you’re the fastest, running away with the key would be the best idea. So, this is the South El Monte key, huh…”

            “Matt, listen to me.” McLovin warned, “Those powers of yours are not what they seem to be, at least for right now. You look as if you’re malfunctioning and I have no clue what is the cause of it.”

            Matt opened his eyes wide. He remembered the time when Santi overused his powers. “Crap…! Did I… go too far?! This can’t be. This just can’t be!!” Matt froze in fear. McLovin watched him in confusion…

 ~~~

            Shirley, Jon, and the trio-sisters ventured through a desert-like towards Arroyo. Shirley giggled, “We’re near the front entrance to Arroyo!” She took a look at the school before entering, “Hm… I still remember her. She was a pale, but very happy girl. She cried so much because she said she was forced to go to Arroyo since the rest of her family went there. Emmy, I hope you’re here.”

            As the five students entered the school, they could see a girl sleeping under an extremely large and shady tree. Shirley screamed from the bottom of her lungs, “EMMY!!!!!”

            Emmy jumped from the shock. “Oh my gosh! What the hell was that? Enemies, where?!”

            Shirley ran towards her. From Emmy’s view, Shirley ran slowly. She could see Shirley’s beautiful, longish hair flying in the wind with her clothes tied together in several bows. She wanted to cry. “S-Shirley…? Is that really you?” She also recognized Shirley’s skirt which was extremely short – something that the typical Shirley would wear.

            The two girls hugged and Van and Jenny wanted to cry from their reunion. Maggie smiled and Jon was still confused. Emmy cried out loud and yelled at Shirley, “Damn it, Shirley! You disappeared from me for over seven months. Where have you been? I thought you had… vanished…”

            “I was stuck in a world called Elsiya. We had so much trouble finding out way home, but in the end, it all worked out. Well, kind of. We were interrupted immediately because the Elemental Challenges needed urgent participation by El Monte.”

            “Oh, we all requested it and we waited, hoping for you guys to return. The moment all of your auras and essences appeared out of nowhere on Earth, we figured you were back! It shocked me and I wanted to meet you again after the challenges, but then… I couldn’t show you my awesome powers.”

            “That’s how I felt!! Oh my gosh!” Shirley said. Her tone deemed to show that she was extremely happy to see her old best friend. She had never been this happy before since middle school.

            Jon said to the trio-sisters, “Since the time I’ve seen Shirley in the beginning of Freshman year, I knew something was off. She was always happy, but not extremely happy enough. I had a feeling something was missing – but that key has been found: Emmy.”

            Van wiped her tears. “What an adorable story.”

            Maggie shook her head. “Yeah, it’s pretty sad and cute at the same time now that I think about it.”

            Jenny was off crying and wiping her sulked tears against a tree. “That’s so sad!!!!!!!!”

            “Jenny, are you okay?!” Jon panicked.

            Emmy said to Shirley, “Anyway, you should get going. You’re not in the challenges, so the higher officials will catch you.”

            Shirley gasped. “You’re sending me away already? I… kind of wanted to battle you with my powers really quick.”

            “Shirley… I’m sorry. This is a serious matter.”

            “I-I don’t understand, Emmy. I came all this way to meet you and battle before one of us loses our powers.”

            “I know. I wanted to do that too, but it’s too late. And, I don’t want the higher officials to execute you for interfering. Please, understand me, Shirley. I promise we can meet once this if over.”

            Shirley disagreed. She shook Emmy by the shoulders, “But they haven’t caught us yet. We’ll do this real quick-…”

            “I am afraid that is not possible”, said a mysterious voice from above. All of the students became shocked. Where and who was this voice coming from?

 ~~~

-NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW-

Matt: On the next episode of Fires of the Sky…

Shirley: Oh shit we just got here and we’re getting caught, damn it!

Matt: That’s what you get for talking last time!

Shirley: Excuse me?!

Jaime: This is troublesome. I stayed in the center of school so I could do nothing but now we’re being attacked. Who is this Sammy chick?

Sammy: Don’t spoil the surprise. I hope you El Monte people miss me.

Jaime: And what kind of power do you have?

Sammy: Sh, it’s a secret!~ I can predict what happens next.

Jaime: I don’t know about you, but I think you just revealed it.

Sammy: And my foretelling says someone else will infiltrate! See ya!

Jaime: What?!

Matt: Why are people attacking our base?! We didn’t even do anything yet! Next time on episode 222, Vanishing Students, Rosemead Infiltrates El Monte!

Shirley: What’s going to happen to us?!

Go to Episode 222 - Vanishing Students, Rosemead Infiltrates El Monte ->

Website 14.9, February 16, 2013

Today, I am featuring Website Version 14.9! It corresponds to April 2009.

Good afternoon! I hope you all had a good week and weekend. In the past week, I caught up with a few friends and their existence reminded me how great my life is. And this weekend, I took the time and effort to write episodes 223-234 within three days and let me say it was actually an exciting experience. These episodes in my opinion are very fun to read because there are just so many characters and so much tension going on between the schools in the Elemental Challenges. Something really devastating and traumatic might happen at the end of the arc though... But on a happier note, I'm already getting started with Volume 18 and the art is still improving. Time to work on it! Have a great week! :)

"The top has tabs for you to go through. The episode list, character list, etc.

My name is Matthew Tran and this is a story titled 'Fires of the Sky'. This was made out of boredom so I don't expect any grammar significance until later in episode 260+.

This story is about a boy named Matt who enters his first day of high school. However, a commotion occurs and Matt decides to check it out only to find that his friend is in danger. In an attempt to save his friend from the flames, Matt trips on a puddle of oil. Unfortunately, he receives a slight concussion. As Matt wakes up, he speaks of the flames but his friends say none of that happened. As time goes on, Matt will experience his own powers, along with new friends who will have the same problem. What will Matt have to do?"

This week's updates include:

- I added episodes 219 and 220. The 'Fires of the Sky' tab on top has episodes 219 and 220 if you cannot find it.

- Base functions and character updates will be more prominent as the weeks go by. Yay!

Note: Please tell me any errors that you find! It would be appreciated. I will fix them.

Episode 220 - A Riddle to Partake, El Monte Plays Tricky

Recently on Fires of the sky, the El Monte students returned to Earth only to find it still frozen. As they return to Arkon’s Magic, the six main students, Matt, Yessenia, Jaime, Alex, Venus, and Winny all enter a bridge that leads them to the Elemental Challenges! Without further delay, they were forced to attend as the six members for the challenges, but are they ready? After finishing the first match, the El Monte students find that they have humiliatingly lost against all the other four schools. Even worse, one of the members of El Monte seemed to have mysteriously run away with Benny, a member from Rosemead. What does this all mean?

Episode 220 – A Riddle to Partake, El Monte Plays Tricky

            Porter was thrown onto the floor without any cushion at all. “You pathetic loser!” Layla pointed her finger at him, while pulling her own hair in stress with the other hand. “You’re out of this challenge for sure.”

            Ghoul tried to stop her. “L-Layla, aren’t you going a bit too far on our own teammate?”

            “What good is a teammate if he can’t even fight well? He lost to an El Monte student who didn’t even grow out his second wind yet. Utterly pathetic!”

            “Mwah…” Ghoul hid behind Johan. Johan did nothing but close his eyes, ashamed of Porter as well.

            “I-I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Keep me in the challenges, I beg of you!”

            Layla's hair extended and it whipped him several times. Porter cried in pain. “Hmph.” She only gave a grin and then she started to smile. “Suffering already? This is exactly why we should not add you in our team anymore. With the five of us, we will be even more superior. Ha ha ha ha!!!!”

~~~ 

            “You want me to open up a portal by drawing it?” Brandon became extremely confused. “Didn’t I tell you before? I couldn’t even draw a portal back to El Monte. I had trouble because I didn’t have the proper materials. I’m already running out of materials used to get to Elsiya.” He examined the bridge and then the telescreen. “How many people know about the challenges?”

            Shirley placed a finger over her lip to think about it. “Hm, well this has probably gone about over two hours. So the other people from El Monte don’t know about this place yet because we don’t want them to worry over our unprepared team of six, or well, five now.”

            Jon poked the invisible wall in front of the bridge. “Well, there seems to be some kind of barrier…”

            Van clapped her hands together. “Come on, Brandon! We want to go.”

            Shirley agreed with her. “I need to see my friend, Emmy, before it’s too late.”

            “And I’m chaperoning them.” Michael added.

            Brandon sighed. “Very well. This is a very low possibility, but I’ll try to draw a portal to the Elemental Challenges using Elsiya’s materials that I have left in my pocket.” He took out an Elsiyan-specialty paintbrush. “You guys owe me. Making a portal causes a lot of energy. Last time I-…”

            Shirley stopped him. “Wait. Maybe you’re right.” She remembered that the last time he created a dimension to Edmund, Brandon had sacrificed himself but was revived only by Santi’s dying wish. “Maybe it’s too dangerous?”

            “Why did you change your mind all the sudden? What a buzzkill!” Maggie pouted.

            Jon interrupted them, “Hold on, guys. Would it cause less energy to draw some kind of material that can break through this barrier rather than create a whole dimension?”

            Brandon examined the invisible wall in front of him. “Hm, I do feel some sort of strange essence.” He poked it for a second. “Ah, it feels a bit soothing for this luscious world.”

            “What was that?” Maggie tilted her head.

            “His fabulous personality is speaking.” Van whispered to her.

            “It seems I can use much less energy to break through. But, I’m not sure if Elsiyan material will be good enough. Elsiya originally contained magic essence anyway compared to Earth. I’ll give it a try.” He took out his paintbrush and began drawing away.

 ~~~

            “Wait, did she really do that?!” Alex burst into surprise at all of his friends in the group. “That can’t be true. She’s been with us all the time so she can’t just randomly leave us like that, can she?”

            “And you mentioned something about Sammy, right?” Matt asked Jaime. Jaime nodded at him. “So she came back but on a bad note, didn’t she… What exactly is her connection with Venus anyway?”

            “I think she’s just some messenger passing by the information to Benny and Venus. The question is how she got involved.” Jaime began feeling suspicious about this girl named Sammy.

            Nix fell onto Matt’s lap. “I’m scared. Is it really possible to get Venus back even if she chose to leave? That was a big promise you made, Matt.”

            Alex crossed his arms. “Great, another promise. How many did you really make come true?” He referred to Wisteria’s destruction. The group became silent. Matt looked away in shame. “Oh… Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that…”

            “It’s fine.” Matt stood up. “This time, this time for sure! I will try my best to get Venus back. I’m sure deep down, she wants to stay with us. Right? She’s our friend. We all care for each other like no other. We need each other, especially at a time like this. That’s what having friends is all about.”

            Winny blushed. “Is it…?”

            Yessenia noticed a light flashing in the portal. “At any rate… we will have to move on. The next match is starting soon. But before we begin, we have to choose wisely on our next exclusion in our group.”

            Alex looked at the information on the second match. “It says here… ‘One key must be obtainable by any of the four schools. This key is the portal of all centers.’ …What does that mean?”

            “There involves a key, and we have to take it from another school. The question is, which one?” Yessenia muttered to herself.

            “If we take the words literal, the key might lead us to a portal from a center.” Jaime added.

            Winny examined the timer which showed that they had twenty seconds left to rest. “Well, we don’t have much time to think about it. How about we improvise?”

            “Let’s go already! I’m really angry. I want to beat the crap out of South El Monte and Benny for messing with us!”

            “Calm yourself, Matt.” Alex rolled his eyes. “Geez. You’re always so ecstatic about getting revenge.”

            As soon as twenty seconds were up, the students made way for the portal.

 ~~~

            The five students appeared at the front gate of El Monte. Yessenia thought about the situation carefully. Winny took a step forward. “That’s a little strange. I guess the victory point is not in our own school. Or maybe yet, that could be the tricky part.”

            Yessenia tried to look for any hidden clues from El Monte’s buildings, “It seems we need to find a key. If it is indeed a key for El Monte, what center do we have?”

            “The center!! That’s it!” Alex said in surprise. “I think I get it now!” The group began to listen to him. “If we have to get a key from one of the four schools, the stupid challenge is going to make us fight as many of them until we find the right key. Aside from that, all we have to do is bring the key and use it for whatever center building we have. In our case, it is the new library that was in construction all last year.”

            “What a genius!” Jaime slapped Alex on the back which made him yelp in pain.

            “Have you been working out or something? Augh!” Alex complained.

            “At any rate,” Yessenia went on with the main subject, “the challenges do not tell us which school has it, and which student has it.”

            Nix appeared from Matt’s soul. “Wait a minute, where is our key?” From afar, there was a faint flash that appeared within the school.

            Matt pointed at the light. “What was that?!”

            “I knew something was off! We go now!” Nix flew towards the light.

 ~~~

            “Is… Is it working?!” Shirley said while her hair was flying ragingly in the wind. The three girls held onto Michael while Jon held his ground. Shirley slapped Brandon. “Hurry up! My skirt is flying!”

            “Like I can control the power?!” Brandon was almost done drawing a large drill.

            “Is this really going to work with Elsiyan power?” Jon said while trying to dig a hole for his legs to stay secured. The three girls continued to scream. They were about to fly backwards!

            Suddenly, the wind disappeared and a crackling noise was heard in front of Brandon. An illusion could easily be seen cracked open. The three girls fell onto the floor and Shirley fixed her skirt. “So, this is it, huh?”

            “Are you insulting yourself?” Jon looked at her skirt.

            “I wasn’t talking about that, you idiot!!” She blasted in anger. She then focused on the illusion. “I think… we need to break it a little more. Here Jon, break it. Brandon is too tired.”

            “Are you picking on me now? Surely you know my powers are only to dispel elemental users from using their power?”

            Shirley pouted. “Stop being a dummy. I’m talking about breaking it physically. Go.”

            “You’re crazy!”

            Jenny giggled. “Now, now… teehee.”

            Michael created a long sword with a strand of his eyebrow. “Let me have a stab at it!” He clenched onto his sword and then he swung as hard as he could against the illusioned wall. It shattered into pieces. Shirley screamed. “Ahhh! You’re awesome!! I knew we could rely on you!”

            “Since when did you know that?” Jon questioned.

            Michael said to the students, “We are only going for a short moment. If we get caught, we’ll be sent to jail. Remember that.”

            Brandon sat down on the dirt road. “You guys go ahead. I’ll guard the illusion.”

            Van knelt down and then she patted his head. “You must be really tired, huh?” Brandon laughed in agreement.

            Shirley raised her fists. “Alright! I guess it’s time to hop on in! I can’t wait!”

 ~~~

            Alex took the key from the front door of the library. “This key doesn’t even fit in the keyhole for this place. What the heck?”

            Winny snapped her fingers. “That must be it. This time, the match requires us to protect the key from any outsiders even if it is not our own key.”

            “The center… Our center is this very library.” Yessenia added. “Basically, our key could be held by anybody else besides our own team and we have to find it ourselves.”

            “How annoying!!” Alex complained.

            Matt laughed. “You think this is going to be challenging? Nix is here to help us. It can fly!”

            Nix appeared from Matt’s soul. “You got that right!”

            Jaime raised his fists. “Awesome! It can be easier for us to search for any suspicious student.”

            “Then what do you suggest our plan should be? Do we all bundle up together and stop anyone who gets in our way?” Winny said to them.

            “No way!” Matt objected. “I remember playing flag football in middle school. As the same goes with soccer, you must have someone near this area in order to stop others from messing with us. I know this place requires our own El Monte key, but you’ve probably seen the other schools. Porter attacked us and some other guy who took Venus invaded. They play dirty.”

            Alex agreed with him. “True, but I never expected you would play football.”

            “What did you say?!”

            “Anywho, adding from what he said, Benny infiltrated our area. This just means if the other schools come and destroy the whole building, our match might be glitched.”

            “Not glitched, but that’s what the creators want to see happening.” Yessenia guessed. “The creators like to mess with us as well, so I wouldn’t be surprised that they made a possibility for destruction to happen. My sister told me all about the precautions, but we keep getting caught up in it anyway.”

            “Hence, why we are in last place.” Jaime teased.

            Winny chuckled. “We can always spark back up to the top.”

            Yessenia decided the next battle plan. “Do you guys want to hear my opinion on who stays and who goes where?” Everyone agreed. They knew she was very dependable on plans anyway. “Jaime is the best at hiding here due to his shadow ability. If anything, he is more dependable on the defense side by staying here. If he goes out there while hiding, I am sure the other students can easily protect themselves since they are on defense mode by just being out there. They become on attack mode once they reach in our area.”

            Jaime made a shadow of himself. “So all I have to do is hide and my buddy here will do all of the work, eh? Sounds like a fun idea.”

            Yessenia pointed at each area of their position, “Each school is at different areas. Matt lives nearby Mountain View, so he might as well venture there and find the key.”

            Matt shook his head. “Gotcha! Are you ready, Nix?”

            “Of course!”

            Alex wanted to avoid Arroyo because of Gina, so he quickly chose Rosemead by random. Winny decided to take on Rosemead while Yessenia agreed to take on South El Monte’s location. “Wait, who is going to hold the key?” Alex questioned.

            Yessenia carried the key. Winny pointed at her, “Ah, Yessenia is the strongest one here. She might as well be the best at defending that key.”

            “I like the flattery.” Yessenia smiled. “I will take on that job and protect it with my life!”

            “Or until the match is over.” Matt said as Yessenia punched him onto the floor.

            Nix headed for Mountain View. “Come on, Matt! I’ll fly ahead and tell you if I see anything!”

            Even if the second match seemed tedious enough, something else was going on with the El Monte group. They were slightly becoming see-through and their appearance was static sometimes. It was as if they were their own glitch, but for what reason?

 ~~~

-NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW-

Matt: On the next episode of Fires of the Sky…

Shirley: We’re finally in the challenges! This is so exciting. I can’t wait to find Emmy!

Matt: I finally get to battle an old friend too!

Shirley: Uh, I’m still talking here.

Matt: And I say you’re done!

Shirley: *slaps* Anyways! Back to me. So like, everyone started following me and I thought they wanted to come here for a reason but they just followed for the heck of it. I hope this isn’t all on me if something goes wrong.

Michael: I’m warning you. Something will go wrong.

Matt: The guy I’m fighting is really fast!

Shirley: Hey! I’m still talking here!!

Matt: It’s time to practice my fire powers here!

Shirley: Are you even listening to me?!

Matt: The second battle continues and it seems I have found someone with a key! Awesome! Next time on episode 221, Vermillion of Flames, Friendly Two-Year Reunions!

Shirley: …Hello?

Go to Episode 221 - Vermillion of Flames, Friendly Two-Year Reunions ->

Episode 219 - Runaway - the First Match's Conclusion

On the last arc, all of the El Monte students rejoiced to participate in the Sunlit Mayhem in order to return home. This is their last chance before it is too late. However, as the battles kept rolling along, the El Monte students fight that their scores have been entirely lower than expected, and students like Yessenia and Jennifer suspected a lot from Spokesman Gerald. Aside from this, Winny, Jaime, and Omar went on a detour to stop the second-to-last cradle and they surprisingly found Tony trying to fix it himself. After all of the history of Elsiya was concluded, students like Shirley and Peter had to say goodbye to Echoville’s group and Elsiya’s tigerman tribe. Now, the El Monte students return to Earth only to find it still frozen up. As they return to Arkon’s Magic, the six main students, Matt, Yessenia, Jaime, Alex, Venus, and Winny all enter a bridge that leads them to… the Elemental Challenges!

Episode 219 – Runaway – the First Match’s Conclusion

            “Sammy, huh.” Jaime tried to remember if she was from El Monte. “Come to think of it, back then, Matt and Shirley had problems trying to hide their powers around this girl. Those idiots told her about their powers which caused malfunctioning.”

            “A lot of non-power users know about us,” Winny added. “but powers don’t malfunction if they’re the ones who figure it out themselves. All you have to do is not say ‘I have powers’ and you’re good.”

            “Exactly.” Jaime commented. “So this girl came back to do what, exactly?”

            Benny pointed at Venus, “To take her back to where she belongs!”

            “What?! That’s stupid!” Jaime grabbed onto Venus’s shoulders. “She belongs with us, and we’re not going to give her up.”

            Winny stood in front of the two, “What is your problem anyway? Coming out of nowhere? Changmin does not like this at all.”

            Benny laughed. “She chose to become the spy, of all people though!”

            Jaime paused. “(Maybe that’s why she’s been quiet ever since the challenges started…)”

            Winny looked at Venus, “We’re not giving this girl up. She’s our friend!”

            Benny laughed obnoxiously this time. “Why don’t we listen to her first?”

            Venus said nothing. Jaime shook his head. “No… Venus, you’re not leaving are you?”

            Venus closed her eyes. There was a long pause. “…I have to do this. I’m sorry…” She headed towards Benny. “This is what I was supposed to do this whole time.”

            “But what about the Elemental Challenges?! We can’t do this without you, Venus!” Jaime complained.

            Venus said angrily, “Is that what you’re going to say?!” She began shouting, “After what I have just done? You’re just going to worry about the Elemental Challenges instead of me?!”

            “I-I didn’t mean-…”

            “I knew friends were just temporary. I’ve always believed it. Every friend I make leaves. Johnny, Santi, even you, Jaime. You only care more about the challenges than other people, don’t you?”

            Winny stayed quiet. Jaime argued with her, “It was not my intention at all! I really do care, Venus. I’m just not good at expressing it.”

            Venus rolled her eyes. “All the guys are the same, aren’t they?”

            Benny interrupted them, “I hate to break it to you, but do you guys know what happens after every match?” The students turned to him, “One student has to take the outside hand, meaning they will be out of the challenges for good. They will be returned to where they last appeared right before entering the challenges. This is to filter out any unnecessary players because the elemental master wants to see the best of the best fighting against each other.”

            “That would mean the bridge…” Winny remembered.

            “Elemental master? Who is that?” Jaime said slowly.

            Benny answered them, “You guys know nothing about the elemental world, do you? The elemental master is the all-time powerful ruler who created elements in the first place. He is considered a God of all elements.”

            “Isn’t that Luther?” Winny exclaimed.

            “Luther? That weakling we beat away a year ago? He decided to move to both other people instead. He was a loser and pretty simple to defeat, ha ha! He is actually the second ruler, but more of a disgrace, trying to go against the first master.”

            Jaime said quietly to himself, “Embarrassing to say that we could barely beat him…”

            Winny gave a huge sigh. “So Luther isn’t as threatening after all…” She looked up into the sky. “William, being the Earthly parallel universe of him would mean he’s no more than just a simple student, a simple classmate.”

            “Time is wasting, though.” Benny said as he heard a ring in the telescreen. Tommy had just arrived at his destination, leaving four students to finish for Rosemead. “I will be the fifth. From what it looks on the screen, Merlin is the only other student who hasn’t made it back. See ya! Hahaha!”

            Benny grabbed onto Venus as he headed for the closest ledge behind him. Jaime tried to run towards Venus, “Hey wait! Don’t go, Venus!!”

            Winny tried to follow along. She threw her Changmin ball at Benny but Venus zapped it away while Benny used his dark magic to cancel Jaime’s shadows. “Too late, HAHAHA!”

Jaime gasped. “She fought back?!”

Benny lifted his feet off the ground to jump but a hand from below grabbed onto his right leg. Benny began tipping over and the hand began burning Benny’s leg, followed by a toss to the floor beside him. Venus fell out of Benny’s hands and onto the ground as well. Matt jumped up from below and then he gave a grin. “Heh! Thanks for the additional heat, Nix!”

            Nix was flying beside him. “No problem! We are a team now!”

            Benny stood up as soon as possible. “What the hell is this?”

            Venus froze. “M-Matt?”

            “You’re not taking away Venus! She has been our friend for a while now, and she’s going to stay that way!”

            “Oh? You’re not going to give her a choice?” Benny said with arrogance.

            “She has no choice. We like her as a friend, so she must stay with us!” Matt laughed.

            Venus blushed. “Matt… Why…” She thought to herself.

            Matt ran towards Benny. “Let’s get him, Nix!”

            “Got it!” It squeaked back at him.

            Venus began clenching her fists. “This… This is not your choice, Matt!” She created a Thunder Snap above Matt and he was slightly electrocuted for a split second. He took a step back, being astonished from the instant pain.

            Matt knelt down. “Ergh… Venus, what are you doing?”

            Venus said angrily, “Friends leave all the time. Why should I trust another?”

            Matt responded, “According to you, friends are those who stick with you forever, right? Isn’t that your definition?” Venus did not answer him. Matt continued, “If you want to stick to your definition of friendship, then why are you trying to escape from us?”

            Venus became shocked. Benny blasted a dark aura towards Matt. “Enough with this nonsense! We’re going, Venus!”

            The two of them made a run for it. Jaime, Winny, and Nix all tried to stop them but Benny created a shroud of dark mist all around them. “What is this? A smoke ball?!” Jaime struggled. In a moment without waste, Benny and Venus were already at the bottom, running away. The group of three students including Nix began heading to the bottom floor.

            From near El Monte, Yessenia could see the telescreen showing El Monte’s number of students go back to zero. “What is going on?!” She said in wonder.

 ~~~

            Alex tried to throw two balls of water at Gina at the same time but they evaporated before they could reach her. Gina shrugged. “Eh, you’re getting there, but you still need a lot of work. I can see some improvement though!”

            “Aha… thanks…” He fixed his glasses, and then a ringing noise came onto the telescreen. “Augh, what?! El Monte is back down to zero students?”

            Gina tilted her head. “Strange. Why are they moving away from the winning point?”

            Alex began to panic. “I-I-I-I’m going back to El Monte! I’m really sorry for leaving, Gina. Thanks so much for the help!”

            Gina giggled. “No problem!”

            Alex said once more before he left, “And Gina… You’re really nice. Not all opponents are bad people after all.”

            As he left, Gina became confused. “He thought I was a bad person? We’re just rivals. Oh well! Time to head to the top of Arroyo!”

 ~~~

            After several minutes, the telescreen made more ringing sounds. This was an indication that more students from Mountain View were on their way to the goal. Rosemead already gained five with Merlin being the fifth student to make it. Gina was surprised to see that Merlin regained some energy after their fight way before meeting with Alex. Following this was Mountain View’s students, Juliet and West who were defeated by Gina and Winny. They seemed extra exhausted. The only students still not on the top portion of their high school were all six of the El Monte students along with other school students such as Porter and Dracula who have recently been defeated.

            Benny was also on his way to Rosemead with Venus. The automatic announcement from the telescreen began to speak. “All four schools have arrived at their destination. The remaining students in last place must reach their destination within five minutes or they will be automatically disqualified from the whole Elemental Challenge.”

            Matt, Nix, Winny, and Jaime stopped. Jaime turned around, “It’s either the games or Venus. Do you think we’ll make it?”

            “Not a single bit.” Winny said bluntly.

            “Thanks for the encouragement.” Jaime responded with a sarcastic tone.

            Matt became angry. “This is ridiculous. We are already losing, and now they’re teasing us by taking Venus away?” He thought about it carefully. “Is that bastard from Rosemead, the same school that Tommy goes to?” Benny continued running. Matt still stood there, knowing there was five minutes left.

            “Don’t you think it’s time to turn back now?” Winny questioned.

            “VENUS!” Matt called. Benny and Venus continued to run without turning their heads back at them. “We’re going to continue the Elemental Challenge. Until then, you’re not going anywhere anyway!” Winny and Jaime watched him in awe. We’ll prove to you that by being in first place…” Nix waited for him. “we will have tried our hardest just to get you back. I swear to you, I promise to try my hardest to prove that we want you back as our friend! WE’RE NOT GOING TO GIVE UP!!!” Jaime’s nose began to burn. Matt’s determination to return Venus back to El Monte triggered a deepened atmosphere between both sides.

            Winny chuckled with her giddy personality and Nix gave a smile. Benny and Venus began to disappear into the far distance. A strand of tears from each eye ran down Venus’s eyes as she continued to run away.

 ~~~

            Outside of the Elemental Challenges back in Arkon’s Magic, Shirley, Van, and Jenny were tearing up after watching the whole scene on the telescreen. Van cried obnoxiously, “That girl left us for good?!?!?!”

            “This is a serious matter…” Jenny tried to wipe the tears off her face.

            Shirley remembered seeing Emmy in the challenges, the same best friend she had back in Madrid. “I want to see her again, strong and powerful this time compared to before.” She said to the group around her, “Hey you guys, um… Do you think I can somehow, sneak into the challenges?”

            “Are you crazy? That’s highly illegal and you could get yourself jailed, regardless of you living in the real world.” Michael retaliated in disappointment. “You should know better. El Monte does not cheat their way through. That is South El Monte’s job.”

            “I know, I know… But, I mean, I don’t want to directly interfere. I was wondering if I could have a talk.”

            “Why can’t you just do that at the end of the games?” Jon questioned her.

            Shirley said slowly, “I was planning to, but then I thought about it… What if Arroyo loses? I would never have the chance to fight Emmy with our elemental powers. We kind of had an unsettled battle back in Madrid and I want to end it.”

            “I don’t get it.” Maggie shrugged. “Are you two enemies?”

            “We were best friends but we became extremely friendly rivals. I’m sure she’ll be glad to see me, as much as she’s probably glad to see Alex.”

            “Is this unsettled battle really worth the chance of getting into jail for good?” Jon interrogated her even more. “This is not some kind of fun game. This is serious. If South El Monte wins, who knows what they’ll do with their powers?”

            Shirley became silent. Jenny giggled. “I think it’s a fun idea. I’m all in for the risky danger.”

            “What?! That’s so not like you, Jenny!” Maggie pushed her.

            Jenny said while grabbing onto Jon’s arms, “And she’s not the only one that will be going. All of us will, right Jon?~”

            Van whispered to Maggie, “Something’s totally going on here. Do those two…?”

            “I-I-I don’t know. I just… what the heck?!” Maggie became mindblown.

            “Fine, fine!” Jon gave up. “If Jenny says so, then it must be okay.” He said quickly. The whole group gave one eyebrow up. “And don’t look at me like that. I find it a little reasonable too. Even then, how are we going to get into the challenges?”

            Shirley thought about it. “Hm… Ah!” She snapped her fingers. “There is someone from El Monte here who can help us. He did it once before to help stop Luther. Let’s go talk to him! Hehehe.”

 ~~~

            Back at the Elemental Challenges, the group of five El Monte students was in their personal portal in the large tower from before their first match. Alex was frowning.

            “We all barely made it before we lost for good as well. We should not slip up again.” Yessenia warned. The group agreed with her.

            Matt punched the wall beside him. He clenched his teeth. “Damn it! We’ll beat them all, I swear of it!!”

 ~~~

-NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW-

Matt: On the next episode of Fires of the Sky…

Alex: I can’t believe it… Venus just… left us.

Matt: There has to be a good explanation to this, right? She barely even said anything!

Winny: Funny coming from you since you were beaten down to the bottom of the building until she started leaving.

Matt: What did you say?!

Jaime: This does bring up a good question though. Why would she leave?

Yessenia: The next match is already starting. We have to focus even if one person is missing. As each match goes by, one member has to opt out.

Matt: And I’m staying in for sure!

Alex: The next one talks about a key and a center. What does this all mean?

Winny: That’s the heart!! Right Changmin?!?!

Jaime: You’re talking to a ball…

Matt: The first match finally ended but we are losing like crazy already! What should we do now? Next time on episode 220, A Riddle to Partake, El Monte Plays Tricky!

Jaime: And what’s with the mask?

Winny: Fiend! Don’t judge me!

Go to Episode 220 - A Riddle to Partake, El Monte Plays Tricky ->