(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 8

There was a shift in a bush a ways ahead of them. On instinct, both Michael and Keiko pointed their guns towards it. "Come out, now," Michael demanded. "If you refuse, I will not hesitate to fire, and I warn you now, I don't miss."

After a brief moment, a short man emerged from the bush, his round glasses reflected the sunlight, hiding his eyes. "Mr. Itchy-nose?" Keiko asked, lowering her gun. Ichi nodded, and began walking towards the group.

A loud bang sounded off in the forest, and Ichi's head flew backwards before he sprawled on the ground. The group looked over to Michael's direction; the barrel of his rifle was smoking slightly.

"Damn, Michael! What did you do that for?" Ian asked, outraged as he stomped towards him.

"That was a fake. The real Ichi is a few inches taller and limps when he walks." He lowered his rife.

Before Ian was able to retort, Ichi's voice called out to them. "You have good eyes, Michael. What you saw there was an A.I of myself from when I first created this place. But, I'd hope that you didn't drop your guard. I didn't come alone." At that, more A.Is began to appear from the forest. Seven bodies surrounded them, each one with a blade in their hand. One of them, Dre noticed, wore black samurai clothing and a crimson ponytail. "Your next exercise is to defeat the A.I. Good luck."

With that, five of them pounced on the group; the younger versions of the Masters rushed them from each angle. "Get down!" Megumi bellowed as she, Michael, and Keiko opened fire on them. Dre noticed both Hiro and a pale A.I in a black suit place their hands on the ground. Walls of rock shot up from the ground, protecting the masters and encasing the group in a hexagonal room.

"Well, that went well," Dre said before he swung at the wall. The sword bounced off of the wall, seemingly vibrating the bones in his fingers. He dropped his blade, shaking the numbness out of his fingers.

"So did that," said Michael as he tried to chip away at the wall with the butt of his gun. "This isn't working." He turned towards the group. "Rose, you're a Nature elemental, right?"

"Y-yes, but I-"

"You're our only hope," Michael interrupted. "You're our only Nature elemental on our team, so must be the one to do this. Use your element to carve out a section of one of the walls big enough for us to go through."

"You do know that Nature elementals do not work that way, right? I cannot simply carve a section out like-"

"Okay, okay. Just do whatever it is Nature elementals do to help us escape. Please," he added hesitantly to Rose's sour look.

She thought for a second before saying, "Okay. I will try."

"If you need any help, baby, just pretend like it's me on the other side of the wall," Ian said as Rose made her way to a section of the wall. She groaned in disgust as she placed a hand on the wall. Taking a deep breath, she forcibly pushed her hand against it, knocking out a large hole for them to walk through.

The group walked to the door; Michael, Keiko, and Megumi led them with their guns aimed in front of them. "Good job, Rose. Did Ian's advice really work?"

"Of course not. I was imagining that Ian and I were on a date, and how bad I would want to escape," Rose stated.

"Ouch. That one struck him right through the heart," Dre snickered.

Ian turned to him. "Keep laughing. Your girlfriend's probably getting porked by the dude with the chopper."

Dre ceased laughing immediately.