(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 45

"Team 'A,' can you all hear me?" Dre heard Ichi ask from the darkness. Blinking his eye open, he struggled to work his way up to his hands and knees. Once his focus returned, he found himself surrounded by the burning, smoldering parts of their aircraft. "Team 'A,' are you there?"

"I'm guessing we're team 'A,'" Michael groaned, holding his hand on his forehead, a waterfall of blood began to flow from underneath. "What the hell happened?"

"You were all taken down taken down by a Southern Amian. Keiko tried to cushion the impact by shielding you all with a wall of chi. You all would've died if it weren't for that. The strain rendered her unconscious."

"Where is she?" he demanded through his teeth as he groggily stood.

"Don't worry, I've got her," they heard Rose say from behind the wreckage. Keiko was laying in her arms, her face patched by black soot and small cuts.

Drunkenly, Michael rushed to them, as Dre tried to balance himself on his feet. The world seemed to sway from under him, and there was a low buzzing in his head as if bees were buzzing through his agonizing mind. He had to find the rest of his team.

After taking one step, Dre found himself careening to the ground, only to land in a pair of arms.

"Hang on. I've got you," he heard Kim say. He looked up to see two images of her looking back at him with one concerned eye. Her left eye was covered in blood. "Oh, my God. You're bleeding," she gingerly laid him on the ground before he saw a wave of blue fire flow over his chest. Looking down, he saw exactly why Kimmy was so worried; under the light of the flora and fauna, the front of his shirt was drenched with warm, dark-red liquid. After a moment, the fira returned back to her hands. "There, that should stop the bleeding," she said, trying her best to manage a wan smile.

"Here. You're bleeding, too," he croaked as he raised his hand to her eyebrow.

A hand grabbed his wrist. "Whoa there, Wolf-boy," Megumi said, bringing his hand back down to his side. She had a scar across the top of her head, though it looked to have been healed already. She had what looked like sweat dripping from her face. "I'll cauterize her wound. You just let Ian heal you."

"Ian?" Dre asked. He tried to hoist himself on his elbows, until Ian forced him back down.

"Sure, Megumi. I'll heal him. Hell, I'll even give him a lollipop for being such a good boy." He kneeled beside his brother and outstretched his hands over him. Water began to flow from his palms, moving as if they were alive, over Dre's body. The pain over his chest began to fade, and though he still felt disorientated, he felt fatigue slowly leave his body. "Not like anyone even asked if I was alright or anything. I probably just got a broken butt-cheek. That's all," he murmured to himself, scowling.

"I'd ask if you needed to be healed, but I'm going nowhere near there," Dre said as he worked his way up to his feet.

"Shut up. Yo, anyone else need to be healed?" he asked after his water flowed back into his hand. "We'll all need to be as close to one hundred percent if we want to get out of this alive."

"Over hear, Ian," Michael said, raising a carved hand. "Keiko, Rose, and I could use some healing. Keiko's unconscious, so be careful with her."

"Heal her first," Rose said, though there was a large gash across her bicep. "She was the one who exhausted herself trying to save us. If it wasn't for her, who knows what would've happened to us. I'll have one of the Fire elementals stop the bleeding."

Ian nodded. As he allowed his healing water flow across her small body, Michael began pondering, "I don't understand. This is a simulation. How are we able to be concussed?"

"I believe I can answer that," Ichi's voice said in Dre's ear. Undoubtedly the rest of his team heard, as they all reacted at the same time. "Whenever I crafted this machine, I wanted to be able to fully capture what it's like to be on the battlefield. So I had to do research on what happens to the brain when it's exposed to such ailments. Concussion. Unconsciousness. The works. After that, I configured the shock paddies that are placed on your head to recreate such a phenomenon. Judging by how you were all stumbling as if you'd just left a frat party, I'd say... huge success."

"You're freaking evil," Dre said he briskly walked to Rose's side to saunter her wounds.

"Close, Ke'Undre. I'm a freaking evil genius."

"Keiko should be waking up, everyone," Ian said. After Megumi stopped Kimmy's bleeding, the rest of the group all circled around Rose and Keiko.

She murmured under her breath before she blinked her eyes open. Looking around, she asked, "Is everyone okay?"

"You little dummy," Michael chuckled ruefully, "You had me worried."

"Sorry. I-"

"No. Don't be sorry." Michael clutched Keiko's hand, helping her stand on her feet. "You saved us little pipsqueak." She scrunched up her face, but Michael continued. "If it weren't for you, we'd all be dead." Her face changed just as sudden as before. Her eyes widened with her mouth in the shape of a little "o."

"Dude," Dre said with a sniffle, "that was beautiful."

Michael glared at Dre as Keiko began to clear the team's concussion. "Just look for my sniper."

"Okay, okay." Knowing the rotating red alarm light wouldn't be enough to see around the ship's interior, he flared his hand and searched around the front of the ship for the rifle. Ichi began to speak again as he looked.

"Glad to see that everyone's up and semi-moving. I'll go ahead and let everyone know that there is a shortage of supplies between you all. Lucky for you, the other team had to drop their supply crates not far from your location. I've already notified them of it, though, so if you want to garner their supplies, I'd suggest you get moving as soon as possible."

"But I don't get it," Keiko began as she moved from Rose to Michael, placing her fingertips on the crown of his head. "If there's another team here, why can't we just ask politely to share with them?"

"Because that pain in the-" Dre interrupted himself before he said something that he'd regret. "That pain in the rear end, Kamatsu, is on their team. No doubt that jerk would sooner us die than to let us use anything from it. How will we even find this crate, anyways? It's not like we can sense it or anything."

"Well, actually you can. See, I set a homing beacon on it before I boarded it on the ship. I can give one of you the tracking beacon, but keep in mind that I only have one for each team, so you should decide who would be best to cover the most ground."

"I suggest that Michael has it," Rose said. "He's showed that he's a superb climber, and since we're in a forest, he'd be the best person that'll be able to cover the most ground."

"Anyone agree?" Michael asked, his eyes obstructed by Keiko's arms.

All hands were raised.

Michael sighed after Keiko released her hands from his head. Standing up straight, he asked, "The first thing we should do is to get out of here. Does the door open?"

"Nope," Megumi said as Michael walked towards her and the door. "Looks like the crash made the door malfunction. I think we should have Rose use her nature powers to-" With one swift kick, the wide, metal door flew away from the craft into the thicket of trees. The flora lit up as the door soared passed them. "Or that. We could do that."

"Any luck on the rifle?" Michael asked as the group filed out of the craft.

Picking the rifle up from beside the door, he said "Yep. Also, do you think you can give me a warning before you kick down a door? I don't really want to test and see if this place can simulate a heart attack."

"I'll think about it," Michael said humorlessly as he grabbed the gun.