I waited for Alex to finish his game with Jude before heading outside with him to go look for An.

"Where do you think he is?" I asked. While I waited, I had tried sensing An and the others with both my earth and wind, but all the trees made it hard to pick up an accurate reading. The fact that they were likely zipping around didn't help matters either. There was also the magical nature of the forest itself. The wands they gave out to students had to be made from the trees here. Specifically the Koyaki, a sacred tree the people of this region used to build their gods' shrines.

I would've asked Adela, but I didn't want to bother the girls during their pool time.

"T-think i-it's probably the one where M-Mira was the other day," Jude said as he poked his head out of the dorm.

I smiled. "Thanks for the info, little guy!"

He nodded. "I-I had fun dueling tonight, so consider it a reward."

Alex smiled. "Now, if only I knew where you guys found Mira."

I rubbed my chin. "We can go talk to her. Mira has darkness magic. So she would be helpful in more ways than one." Hopefully, she wasn't busy.

Jude stepped out and took out a blue flip phone. "I-I can call Tamara. T-tried calling my brother, but that place they're at seems to have no reception."

"What's that?" Alex asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You've never seen a flip phone before? Know they're old, but they're not that old."

"So that's a flip phone. When I was born, they were already out of style."

Oh, right. His home country of Kuroriku had more advanced technology than nearly all of Xeleria and even most of Zionia itself.

"M-mom says these are safer. N-new phones a-aren't good. S-spies."

"Spies? Mean from governments?"

"A-and companies. Have trackers. C-can determine what we buy in a-addition to where we go."

"True," I mumbled. There were always people listening in on others. Companies did such stuff to get better marketing to sell their products. Governments did so to keep watch over a potentially unruly population. Something we always carried around, like a smartphone, was the best vehicle to keep an eye on people and learn more about them.

"But, can't a government still spy on a flip phone?" Alex asked.

"T-true. T-there are back doors and weaknesses in security in old hardware. B-but it does help against those seeking to steal private info via spyware."

"I thought flip phones also had that risk as they can connect to the internet and download apps."

"Such features are obsolete now. Companies d-don't provide them anymore for such old hardware anymore. Makes it just a portable phone. S-simplicity at its finest."

"Hello? Jude? Why are you calling? Tammy prefers to text," Ling answered in place of Tamara.

"C-can you ask Mira to come out? W-we need her help finding A-An."

"Oh. Sure. Mira! Jude needs a ride!"

"T-that's not why I need her!"

I chuckled. Ling was as bad as Eli. Hmm. Where was that guy anyway?

I turned as something bright red glowed behind me. Eli dodged Carter's fiery fists in the middle of the plaza. So those were the flames that Lei and Hika mentioned. They sure burned hot for something so small.

"He's going to burn himself again," Hikaru mumbled. Was he joining us too?

"Stop!" Renshu yelled.

Carter came to a stop, nearly tripping. "What's wrong?"

"Your prana output is still too much. You're going to burn your hands at this rate."

Elliot crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Your output is very odd. It is intense, but your flames are small. Usually, huge output means big flames."

"Maybe he needs to practice spreading them out," Huoyin said.

"True, but this place is dangerous to do so," Nate said, staring at the two dorms. The buildings were several meters apart.

Could Carter seriously hit both from there? Then again, his control did suck.

Cart sighed.

"Don't give up," Elliot said. "I took a while to learn my martial magic." He stared at his fist. "Was even called a lost cause for only knowing one type."

"Can I learn it? Martial magic?" Carter asked.

"Huh?" Renshu asked.

"If fire hurts me, maybe another type could help me. Plus, I like kicking and punching."

Elliot smiled. "It is more than just that. Maybe by learning it, you can prevent the bad effects of your flames."

Carter smiled at the older boy. "Really?"

"That said, learning a new element isn't easy," Nat said.

Alex chuckled. "Says the one who knows a handful of them."

He did? Wow. He had to be quite talented. Perhaps more so than Adela.

"How did you learn yours?" Carter asked. "You know a whole bunch, right?"

Nat smiled. "I had Dad get me many tutors. But as I said before, my strongest element is fire, followed by earth, darkness, wind, and plant magic."

Carter grumbled. "Dad got me tutors too, and I can barely use one!"

"Same," Eli said, sighing.

I laughed. Nat could use so many as his family knew many angelic elements. It just took them changing the type of energy used to mask their powers as magic.

"Honestly, my magic isn't as polished as some of you who only have one," Nat said, smiling.

Carter narrowed his eyes. "Don't give me that. Your fire magic is better than mine!"

"He did say 'some'," Ling said as she walked alongside Mira.

Mira turned and waved at us. "Sorry I took a while."

"It's okay. We should be the ones apologizing for calling you out this late," I said.

"Take care out there," Ling said.

Mira nodded and ran toward us.

"Hey, your big brother and the others were eavesdropping on us, Nat!" Carter exclaimed.

"Well, you guys are all loud," Ling said, shaking her head as she made her way toward them.

I chuckled. She sounded like Yen.

"You can take comfort. We're leaving," I said, waving at them.

Carter blinked. "Can I go? I wanna go on adventures too!" He jumped up and down.

"Continue your training! You're not in the position to give my brother nor the rest of us any challenge yet!"

Cart turned back to look at Eli. "Let's continue!"

I smiled. He took the bait.

Huo took a deep breath and said something, but given the distance, my ears couldn't determine what it was. But my lip-reading skills told me he wondered whether he should've stayed back in the dorm. Training with someone as noisy as Carter had to be exhausting, even with his new headphones. Elliot had to make things worse.

I snapped my fingers, warping next to Huo in a literal flash of light.

Huo yelped after several seconds of processing what happened. "D-don't scare me like that! What do you want?"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering if you would like to go with us."

"Huo, if you go, be sure to tell me all about your adventure!" Carter said as he dodged Elliot's kick.

Huoyin narrowed his eyes at him. "Why should I?"

Carter grinned. "Because, we're training buddies!"

He scoffed and walked toward Alex and the others. "Don't recall when we became friends."

Elliot laughed. "He's like a fiery Thalia."

"Thalia? I-is she cute?" Carter asked, blushing

Ling grumbled. "You really are girl crazy."

Who was this Thalia? I didn't think I had the chance to meet her yet.

"She's pretty but scary! Also, she has her heart set on Ryan. Uh, don't tell her I told you that, though."

I laughed. Alex was right about him being loose-lipped.

Ling sighed. "Sir Zhuang, you have yet to learn how to keep a secret."

"I know lots of things that I haven't shared yet! Like, hmm, what haven't I told?"

Ling shook her head.

I laughed. "So, shall we get going?" I asked, looking down at Huoyin.

Huo nodded.

I snapped my fingers and warped over to Alex, Jude, Hika, and Mira. Jude had jumped on Mira's back like during classes.

"Let's get going. We've taken long enough," Alex said, following Mira into the forest.

I nodded.

Huoyin turned around. "I'm going to sleep."

"You aren't coming with us?"

"No. I've had enough of forests to last a lifetime."

"T-the swamp?" Jude asked even as he got further away. He must've had good ears, as Huo wasn't yelling.

Huo grumbled. "Seems Hal is no better than that Zhuang guy." He walked away.

He had been through a lot. Perhaps it was best to let him rest.

I ran over to the others to go find An. With Alex's prana control, An would hopefully be able to learn how to use his stronger spells without straining his body.

"Say, why did you accompany us?" I asked, glancing at Hikaru. 

"Like I said, I think that I could use some more training."

I smiled and patted his back. "Want to train with your old pal, huh? Sadly, the training's going to be for An."

"Why are you interested in helping him anyway?"

"I owe one of his relatives a favor."

Hika smiled. "Repaying debts, huh? You were always big on those as a kid. Even when I told you it wasn't necessary."

"Well, yeah. I'll feel bad if I don't do something nice in return."

He sighed. "You haven't changed a bit. That's why I felt I had to accompany you. At this hour, and in this place, you could get lost or attacked by wild animals."

"I thought that a hard-to-detect barrier kept the beasts away."

"I think it only protects the dorms. That said, beasts aren't the only danger. Remember, the one who hurt all those people participating in the rank battles is still on the loose."

Right. Near the end of our first year, a mysterious person had appeared, challenging others to rank duels and beating them up within an inch of their lives. The school had canceled them to prevent others from getting hurt. Koukyuu and the others hadn't identified the person despite all of this time. If it was a third year, we had little to worry about. But if they were still in this school... Well, they also could've been a non-student like that Kitsune guy who led The Eight.

"We're here," Mira said. She had come to a stop in front of a meadow. An gritted his teeth as Hal dashed at him. The twins who had gone ahead of us dashed through the air and blocked joint attacks from Alto and Aban.

"Not bad, twins," Hal said, grinning as the twins dropped down, flanking him.

An, Alto, and Alban panted.

"These two are strong," Alto said.

"Yeah, but we can't lose to these jokers!" Alban said, slamming his hands on the floor.

The twins and Hal leaped into the air. Hal threw several needles at Alban.

"Catch, Alby!" Hal yelled.

"Told you not to call me that!"

Alto laughed. "This brings back memories of the games. Like before, Hal has two strong allies on his side."

Alban dodged. "Shut up and focus!"

An held out both hands in front of him, knocking Hal's second round of needles back with a psychic energy burst.

The twins held their hands toward one another, connecting their dark purple and light yellow prana up.

"Careful, a unity attack!" I yelled.

An gasped and warped his teammates and himself away as a white and black energy ball flew at them.

"Oh, more guests. Pick a side," Hal said, grinning as the twin's energy ball threw dust high into the sky. We probably would've found them from that smoke plume alone.

Alex glanced back and forth at both groups. Was he seriously considering it?

"Well, since I'm a bit of a clown myself, I think I'll join you three," I said, smiling at Hal.

Hal narrowed his eyes at me before grinning. "Sounds good!"

"W-wait! We came to get An!" Jude said.

"Me?" An said as he stepped out from behind some trees.

"Yeah. I was asked to train you," Alex said.

An blinked. "By who?"

Hal crossed his arms and chuckled. "Bet it was Ver! Or maybe Xue. Hmm, or the Princess. Or Ning. Hmm..."

I smiled. Finally, something Hal couldn't pick up on.

Alex scratched his ear.  It's a secret."

"That makes me curious," Hal said, smirking like a cat.

Jude leaped off Mira's back and landed on his brothers. He whispered something, making Hal's eyes widen.

"It was Kun?"

I chuckled. "Thanks for keeping it a secret, Alex, but it wasn't necessary."

"You asked Alexis to train me? Why?" An asked.

I smirked. "Because, you still need additional training. Next time we battle, I want more of a challenge."

An narrowed his eyes at me. "I see. Should've known."

Jude jumped off his brother's back. "C-can I t-train with you too?"

"Sure," Alex said, patting the blond kid's head.

Mira stepped toward Tasunke. "Uh, could I train under you? I want to learn strong darkness magic."

"Sure!"

Tashunke sighed. "No fair. I want a student too."

"You can train Hika," I said, putting my hands on my friend's shoulders.

Hikaru sighed. "I guess that's fine."

"Yahoo! I got a student!" Tashunke yelled.

Huo made the right decision to go rest.

"Uh, can we train together?" Aban asked, scratching the back of his head. "I want to learn to make a better stone fortress."

I smiled. "Of course."

Hal sighed. "Sucks being one of the few poison mages around."

Alto laughed. "And I wish Lei were here so we could train together. I know. How about we keep on training together."

Hal jumped back and grinned. "Sounds good, Alty."

Alto shook his head at him. "Please don't."

I laughed. At least things worked out.

"Hey," An said as he stood next to me.

"Yeah?" I said.

He turned away. "I know you did it for selfish reasons, but thanks." He ran over to Jude and Alex who had picked out a part of the meadow for themselves.

I smiled. Claire was right. An was a good kid.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Predictions? Theories?**