Recently
on Fires of the sky, the main group who had participated in the Elemental
Challenges has finally returned to Arkon’s Magic! But… to the rest of the
students’ surprise, several students have not appeared in the group, and they
knew that something tragic must have happened to them all. As a vow, Matt
decides it is best for them to do their own thing, because messing around all
throughout the first two years did nothing but cause them to lose more friends
in a very traumatic way. One thing to note now is that… after 365 days, things
have changed. Almost every student had to separate and disconnect with each
other due to self-anger and terrible memories of the first two years. We will
have to see what is up by reading onward to Fires of the Sky – Junior Year!
Episode 266 – Phoenix becomes a New Student
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!
MAAAATT!!!” a high-pitched voice called from outside the school. The annoying
voice got louder as he came closer.
He stopped for a second to grasp in
his sight of Matt after so long. This boy was a little taller than Matt,
probably around 5’7. He wore a collared shirt with a tie, not really something
you would wear to a Californian high school. His hair was also of odd color,
maybe yellow, or red. Something like that. He suddenly tripped.
Matt watched him. “Damn it. He’s
back.”
~~~
Shirley, Alex, and Winny were
sitting in the activities office. Shirley sat on the table while trying to
straighten her hair out. Winny was on her phone while Alex was scuffling
against his hair, panicking about the situation that has been going on lately.
“Let me get this straight,” Shirley said as she chuckled at her terrible pun while
she continued to straighten her hair, “Matt beat up all of the East Coasters
and Juliet and West told him that the two of them were being threatened?”
“Yeah,” Alex nodded. “Apparently,
someone from the government sent the East Coasters to pretend to be Mountain View
students. While they were there, they found out that the five remaining
students there who went to the Elemental Challenges had at least some kind of
connection to El Monte. In order to hide their secret plan to sneak up on us,
they had to have a sixth person: Kelvin.”
Winny yawned. Shirley asked him in
return, “I don’t get it. Why couldn’t the person from the government ask
someone from California to you know, infiltrate? Why waste so much time having
someone from the East Coast do all the work?”
“That’s the confusing part. If they
were trying to be discreet, I think that would have been going a bit too far.”
“The person from the government was
not born on Earth,” Winny said suddenly. Shirley and Alex quickly gleamed eyes
at her.
“How do you know that?!” Shirley
said in awe.
“Easy. My sister told me a few
things about the Elemental government. Not everyone there is born on Earth.
Assuming that the government still has four stations, someone in the government
was chosen at random to take on this quest to find information about Earth, or
moreover, El Monte. This person must have been from another dimension who has
no prior knowledge of Earth, so he had to find the first group of students that
he stumbled upon – offering them a governmental position if they did what he
asked.”
“Then why can’t someone from the
government who was born on Earth be chosen to do this quest? That would have
been smarter,” Alex corrected.
“That is not the government to
decide. Think of this as a wanted poster on a billboard. The government has its
own group that is given a board of requests and any one of them can choose any
quest in order to gain money, fame, and restore order.”
Shirley sighed. “Phew, so we can
safely assume this guy has no idea who we are, nor does he have a specific
grudge against us.”
“Exactly. There is nothing to worry
about now that Matt has defeated the East Coasters, at least for now.”
Alex began to cry. “There will be
more?!”
Winny stood up from her chair. “Yes.
I am getting a little hungry now, so I will get some lunch.” She headed for the
door as she turned around, “By the way, let Matt know that an old friend of his
is back – for good.”
Alex and Shirley looked at each
other in confusion.
From
a further distance, they could hear the activities director yell, “What the
hell is that kid doing in this room?!” which made Alex fall off his chair and
scram like a mouse.
~~~
The boy in front of school cried as
he stood back up. Tears ran down both eyes and transparent snot dripped from
his right nose. Matt belched a little from what he was looking at.
“The, the floor! It’s so mean to
humans!”
“Well, I mean… you were always
flying before, Nix,” Matt said to the human figure who looked nothing like a
bird now.
“Sh, sh! You have to call me
Phoenix. And guess what!” He flapped his arms outward, “I’m gonna attend El
Monte High School with you!!!” His fingers lunged against the gated fence next
to him which must have stung for a second. He began to cry again.
Matt covered his face in shame. “You
don’t just flap your arms around like they’re wings anymore, Nix.”
“The fence, the fence is so mean to
me!!!”
Nix suddenly hugged Matt, “I’m
finally becoming a grown man and it’s thanks to you!” He squealed. “Your
growing strength and my time to grow into puberty helped me turn into a human,
if you’ve forgotten.”
“Nope, I remember,” Matt said
bluntly. “It was freaky.”
“Aw, just ‘freaky’? I thought you’d
be frightened!”
“I probably was.”
“Listen, you should show more
spirit! Well, that’s funny to say because I’m your spirit, hehe! But for now, I
get to tell people you’re my bestest friend in the whole wide world!! Bye
Matty, I’m leaving to tell the others!”
Matt sighed. “Okay… Have fun.”
~~~
At the bleachers where the rally used to take
place in, Lisa sat down with Julie to watch Jen and Jaime practice running at
the track field. It was almost sunset a bit early due to it being October, the
month in which nightfall comes in the earliest at around 4:45 PM.
They have been sitting there,
watching and gossiping for the past two hours and many students who loitered
all around campus figured it was time to go before it got too dark. Some of the
runners had already left and only Jen and Jaime remained. By this time, their
nonstop running turned into a break.
Jen knelt down on the grass,
breathing heavily for air. Jaime was not as tired, but he did sit down to
relax.
“How are you still okay?” Jen asked
him. She was not very close to him, but knowing that he was Matt’s friend, she
respected him.
“I practiced all year.”
“It only took you a year?? I’ve
practiced for many years and I get tired before you do…”
“So what?” Jaime chuckled. “You can
beat almost all the girls in our school at running. That’s something.”
“But… what’s that going to do?”
Jaime began to realize that Jen was
talking about more than just human capabilities. She was talking about
elemental power and its advantage against others, which she did not have.
“You don’t need powers to be better
than others. I’ve been practicing how to get stronger in my own way. Even if I
have powers, I don’t practice with it. I practice with physical strength.”
“Why don’t you use your powers to
train yourself?”
“Because, power doesn’t come from
the advantageous. It comes from what we are born
with – that is the ability to become physically stronger at our own will.”
“But I’m not physically strong.”
“You can train to be. But hey, if
you really feel that way, I think you’re mentally strong. I heard your name on
the Top 10 GPA.”
“Oh, I guess so…”
“How about this. What is something
that you can do, that others can’t?”
Jen thought about it carefully.
Running and singing were out of the picture. Even if she was five-star at
these, others were just as good. And then, she thought about her hobby to read.
“Prophecies, endings, fate…” she
murmured to herself.
“What was that?” Jaime felt
confused.
“The books. There is something about
certain books that only I can read.”
Phoenix ran over and tripped on his
shoe laces. He began to cry with dirt plastered all over his face from the track
field. Jen and Jaime headed over to him as soon as possible.
Jaime examined Phoenix’s hair color.
“This is kind of weird.”
“I’ll bet,” Jen giggled. “He’s kind
of cute.”
“M-Me?! I’m a bird!”
“Wait a minute. I recognize that
whiny voice anywhere,” Jaime began to think about Nix. “What’s going on?!”
“It’s me, Nix!! Remember?! Hehe!”
Jen fell over on her bottom. “W-What
in the world?”
Phoenix turned into his usual little
bird form, “Don’t worry. I didn’t lose my cuter form! I just wanted to practice
walking around like a human because I’m gonna attend this high school with you
guys. I have nothing else to do. And besides, whenever you guys are in danger,
I’ll be one step away – literally, because I have feet now!”
Jen hugged him up to her chest and
Nix was blushing.
“Oh, you’re the cutest thing
eeeverrrr!~” Jen squealed.
Matt appeared from near the
bleachers. Julie and Lisa watched the four students from afar.
“What are they talking about, I
wonder?” Lisa asked, dumbfounded.
“Oh, probably nothing important,”
Julie lied in a very calm manner.
Jen became silent. She frowned
again. Again, Jaime noticed her change in expression.
“Nix, it’s time to go home. The bus
is coming.”
“Awwr… I wanted to play with Jen and
Jaime some more.”
Nix jumped into Matt’s arms. Matt
glanced over at Jen and Jaime, but only slightly. Jaime waved at him.
“See ya later, Matt.”
“You too,” he then turned to Jen
instead, “and you should go home before it gets dark. It could get more
dangerous around here.”
Jen sighed. “Okay… I’ll go tell Lisa
that we’re going to split too.”
As Matt walked away, Jaime said to
Jen, “What was that all about?”
“He hasn’t been the same. How long
have you two not talked?”
“Probably since four months ago.
Even then, he barely talked much but I didn’t want to get into his personal
life.”
“Oh… Okay. Well, it was nice meeting
you, Jaime,” she giggled.
“No problem!” Jaime said when Jen
began to walk off. “Oh and, Jen,” he added, “just because you don’t have
powers, doesn’t mean you can’t protect yourself. There are two other ways: take
advantage of your mental ability and use it to protect others, or you can also
gain physical strength on your own.”
“On my… own?” Jen wondered what he
meant. She then thought about something interesting with Kalpesh. “Hey, you’re
right! Thank you so much,” she said as she gave him a polite bow before
completely leaving.
~~~
Almost an hour later, Jen had
arrived at Kalpesh’s house with a ride from Lisa and her parents. Lisa had to
wait outside for a small while.
Jen walked into the motel parking
lot. It was kind of creepy at night with the neighborhood empty. They were all
hiding in their homes.
“Hello?” Jen called while ringing
the doorbell. A human figure appeared with a chainsaw and a mask as Jen
screamed from the tip of her lungs. “EEEYAHHHH!”
The boy removed the mask and out
came Kalpesh. “Hey, keep it down. Our neighbors are going to complain!”
“Oh… um,” Jen said awkwardly, having
been reminded of her burden and cowardice because of her scream, “I was
wondering if you could help me.”
“Did Stan make you go on another
stupid training world again or…?”
“No, no! Hehe. Not this time,” she
thought carefully, “I was wondering if you could make me a weapon with your
technological thingies.”
“They’re not thingies, Jen! And I
can’t just make some weapon without any material.”
“Are you sure? You were able to make
chemicals explode. I need a threatening weapon like that in order to protect
myself.”
“You want me to make you some
explosives?”
“Hrm, now that I think about it, it
does seem kind of awkward. Hey, how about a real life weapon? You know, like a
sword.”
Kalpesh began laughing. “You? With a
sword??”
“This is not funny, Kalpesh!” she
pouted with her hands on her hips. “Matt told me to be careful at night and stuff,
so I need something that is reasonably good – like a switchblade. My mom would
never buy me one of those. She says pepper spray is all I need.”
Kalpesh shrugged. “Switchblades are
okay,” he then thought about it. What about longer-range combat? He began
asking himself a few more questions to find out the best way for Jen to protect
herself. “How about a bigger weapon, but safe to put in your backpack?”
Jen shook her head. “That sounds
nice, but what kind of weapon would that be?”
“I’ll give it to you tomorrow at
school or in two days, depending. I’m gonna need to have a word with Joey.”
“Okay, but good luck. He’s been
chasing after you ever since that chemistry incident.”
“Heh, I know…”
“Well, thanks, Kalpesh! I’ll see you
tomorrow,” Jen smiled as she waved. Lisa was still waiting for her, tapping her
foot.
~~~
Even at 6 PM in the night, the
guidance office was closing. The counselor said kindly to Winny, “I will have
to have a word with your parents tomorrow about this decision. There will be
several procedures, but it will work out. It’s one hour after closing time and
I have to go. Have a nice night, sweetie.”
Winny tried to smile. “Thank you,
miss. I will see you tomorrow then.” Winny turned around and a taller boy in a
silhouette walked next to her.
“Ready to go?”
“Yes, Timothy,” she softly
responded.
~~~
- Preview to the next episode! -
Matt:
On the next episode of Fires of the Sky…
Jen:
Oh, what a beautiful weapon! So like, how do I use it?
Kalpesh:
What? You don’t know how? Well, I kind of don’t but I did lots of research
while trying to make it.
Jen: Hm…
Well while I practice, I also have to make time for running.
Jaime:
I’m still up for running if you want to go.
Kalpesh:
But she needs to practice with her weapon!
Jaime:
In the real world, it would be quite frightening to see a woman with such a
weapon.
Kalpesh:
H-How dare you!
Stan:
See, Kalpesh? Even Jaime disagrees with him.
Kalpesh:
You don’t even talk to him that much!
Matt:
Put that weapon down! Next time on episode 267, Jen Learns How to Play with
Steel!
Phoenix:
Is there a new world coming up?!
