Fuego gulped as he entered the presence of Nuclear.  He stared at the ground.  He was too afraid to look anyone in the eye.

"So this is the one you have retrieved?" Nuclear asked Dokusei.

"Yes, sir.  It has been confirmed he is the son of Zestó and the brother of Kasai.  He says Kasai is the one who trained him.  Hopefully his abilities will prove useful."

Fuego finally mustered enough courage to look up at Nuclear.  The masked spirit stared him down, causing him to turn away again.

"I sense great potential in him."

"Yes, sir.  That is why I have brought him."

"Boy-"

Fuego immediately looked up.

"-what is your name?"

"F-fuego."

"And you ARE the son of the famous phoenix warrior, Zestó?"

"Sí.  Yes, I am."

"Strengths?"

"I-I'm skilled in swordfighting, but I'm still working on my fire magic.  Mí hermana promised she would teach me..."

Nuclear paused for a moment.  "And where is your sister?"

"Last I heard from her, she said she was on a mission to find Snow."

"Has she returned home?"

"No lo sé.  I do not know.  If she has, she will most likely search again if she did not succeed.  She's muy persistente — very persistent."

"I see."

Nuclear paused again to think, then waved his hand and turned away. "You are dismissed."

Fuego dipped his head slightly. Dokusei led him out.

"You have done very well for as timid as you are."

"Me entrenaron bien. I was trained well."

"For meetings?"

"For many things. Nothing as important as this, but many other things."

"You learn quickly, then."

"Gracias. Thank you."

Neither of them spoke a word after that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kasai slowly walked back into the forest to meet with her friends.

"Kasai?  A-are you okay?  This is the first time you've been late..." Cory pointed out.

The heartbroken phoenix sat down without a word before speaking.

"I'd prefer not to talk about it.  All I'm saying is, Snow isn't the only one we're searching for now."

"What are you talking about?" Katie asked curiously.  "He's the only missing Spirit!"

"I just said I'd prefer NOT to talk about it." Kasai muttered, raising her voice.  The group decided not to question any more.

"... how is Fuego?" Doug finally asked.  "My sister said she visited him while we were gone.  She said he looked and sounded pretty bad."

Kasai tensed.  "I'D PREFER.  NOT.  TO TALK ABOUT IT." she shouted, bursting into flames.

The others cringed away.  They knew Kasai had a quick temper, but she rarely shouted at them.  This was clearly a serious matter.

"What happened?" Streak asked.

"Did he die?  He didn't die, did he!?" Katie wailed.

"Katie, he's a phoenix.  If he DID, he'd reform." Doug reminded.

"I think it's best we stopped..." Sasha pointed out.

Kasai let out a loud screech, completely bursting into flames now.  She quickly stormed away.  The others stared for a moment.

"...talk about a fiery temper." Zakk muttered.

"NOT NOW, ZAKK." everyone shouted in unison.

This was not the time for puns...