(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 4

"Since we're in the week of introducing people to the arena, I figured it would be the perfect time to let you all know about careers on Amity besides fighting in our militia," the stout and fair-skinned Mrs. Blake said with a drawl as she looked over the class. Kim noticed that they were short a few people, but couldn't guess why. "There are many different types of jobs ya'll can take, and each job will require that you go to a school that specializes in that skill. Some Amian jobs, like a spirit Amian linking their powers to the merchandises of their store to protect from robbery, are taught by a combination of teachings both on Amity and on Earth. Others, like working with computers and such, are taught strictly on Earth. I hope ya'll have in mind just what your career plan is, or even began to think about it at least."

Kim heart thumped; she hadn't even considered what she planned on doing after school. She thought back on things that she were good at: knitting, reading, organizing, but neither of the ideas seemed to spark her interest. Her mind kept wandering back to her group. Her friends. What did they have planned? More importantly, what would Dre and Megumi do?

"Miss Kim?" she heard Mrs. Blake's voice call her out of her daze.

"Yes?" she answered hesitantly.

"I asked what you had planned after school," she said, sounding impatient.

"I- er... Ghost!" Kim's voice called out in a panic, pointing towards the flying, transparent object beside Mrs. Blake as she, and some of the other students, stumbled out of their seats.

"Ghost? That's impossi-" Mrs. Blake turned to look at the "ghost" hovering beside her. She heaved a great sigh as she walked towards the door to the hallway, slamming it behind her. Moments later, the specter vanished as Kim heard a male's voice cry out in Japanese before finally saying-

"Uncle! Uncle! I quit!"

The door swung open seconds later, and Mrs. Blake was pulling a tall, olive-skinned man into the room by his ear. He had to lean forward, almost dramatically, to compensate for his size difference. "Say it!" she hissed after she dragged Joel in front of her table.

After quickly uttering something Japanese again, he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for scaring the daylights out of you!"

"And!?" She jerked his ear forward, making him hop in pain.

"And I'm sorry for disrupting your class, O great and mighty Mrs. Blake, please let me go!" he said in one long breath. She let him go.

He quickly massaged his reddened ear, his padded, fingerless gloves reaching midway up his forearm. "Treating me like a child," he mumbled under his breath.

"I treat you the way you act," she said as she crossed her arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Uncle Ichi wanted me to pick up a member of my little sister's team." He turned towards Kim. "Come on, let's go," he groaned as he made his way to the door.

Kim looked to Mrs. Blake, who simply nodded. Gathering her books, Kim quickly strode passed her and left the room.

"Aya, that smarts," Joel said as he cupped his ear.

"Are you okay?" Kim asked softly before shying away from Joel's incredulous stare. She figured it would probably be a good idea not to say anything else until they got to where they needed to go.

~~~~~~~~

Here we go again. Another hour of learning things I already know about, Megumi thought to herself as she waited for Mr. Maxwell to begin his lecture. She had already rested her head on her hand, looking thoroughly bored.

"Good evening, class," the bald and dark Mr. Maxwell said in a deep voice. "Today is going to be a bit of a last minute lecture. Today, I'm going to teach you all about the Southern Amians." What's this? Something new? Megumi lifted her head, looking enthralled. "Please open your books to page two twenty-four." The students did as they were told. Megumi's anticipation grew as she read the headline: Southern Amity; the Land of Darkness.

"I'm sure that you all may not have heard of the Southern Amians, and with certain... situations going on, I assumed that now would be the best time to inform you all of them.

"First, I'll tell you about their lands. Below our border is a region covered by trees and wildlife. Instead of moving forward in technology, such as ourselves, they embraced the plant and wildlife to an extreme. They live like tribals, living amongst the trees and feasting on the fauna and the water from the lake. They hardly use technology either, only relying on their elements and weapons to catch their food.

"The second thing is how to tell the difference between us and them. Because they live in dense forests, they receive little to no sunlight, and overtime their bodies began to adapt to this lifestyle. Since they don't need much protection from the sunlight, their skin has become extremely pale, almost translucent. Their eyes are very similar to cat's eyes, allowing them to see in the dark. When their eyes are hit by a light, they reflect it, so it appears that their eyes are shining."

Megumi gasped silently, remembering how Amy, her dear sister's, eyes seemed to glow in the daytime. It's just a coincidence, she told herself. It has to be.

"Our leaders are also vastly different. While we are governed by the five sages; the Fire Sage, Water Sage, Nature Sage, Air Sage, and finally the Spirit Sage, they only have one leader: their Nature Sage. Because of their lifestyle, they have become an eternal enemy of our kind, due to our technology and overall way of living. It is extremely-" There was a small tapping at the door. "Enter."

Sakura made her way in; her hair was tied into two long, black pigtails, freely displaying her beauty mark just under her left eye. "I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Maxwell. Dad told me to come and get Megumi."

"Huh? What for?" Megumi asked, standing.

"It's time for you to go into the arena-"

"Finally!" she interrupted as she strode out of the class.

"Hey, wait up!" she heard Sakura say behind her. "You forgot your stuff!"