Chapter 12: Get Schooled

After leaving the basement behind Mew headed out of the Aurora household and did not look back. As he took his first few steps on his mysterious solo trek he said to himself, "This'll give 'em time to hash things out."

He looked ahead and remarked, "I, on the other hand, still got a mission to fulfill."

He crossed his arms and looked to the sky, "Lets see now...I should probably scout out Sancturia for more info on Gravitus. But where to start?"

Mew shuffled through his memory banks for a moment and found he got his answer not too long ago. As the metaphorical lightbulb went "Ding!" he raised a finger and exclaimed, "Aha! The school, of course!"

"It might be summer time but there still oughta be a teacher or two working at summer school. I bet they'd be able to direct me to the educational materials Gravitus force feeds them. That should give me more of a peek into the man's character."

After nodding at his brilliant idea Mew glanced back and thought, "I should be quick though. They'll notice if I'm gone too long."

Even Mew knew not to trust his intuition to guide him this time. Getting handy directions from the townsfolk only took a friendly approach and quick question or two.

Thanks to their help Mew wound up on the South side of the city, not far from where he first arrived. There he found a massive one-story building that was more wide than long. In fact, Mew could sense that it was shaped sort of like a "T".

The school's overall size and shape wasn't what surprised him though. It was the fact that in big bold letters, the school's name was simply called "South Sancturia Academy."

Mew rubbed his chin and snickered, "The designer must've shown great restraint to not call it 'Lincoln High' or 'Washington State University'."

He shook his head and waltzed right up to the front doors. He gave it a couple knocks and then peered through one of the small windows. The halls were empty, dark, and oppressive.

"Just as I imagined it, haha..." The laughter dulled into a sigh as Mew imagined hundreds of students lining the halls, and him among them.

"Haaaa..." After another sigh Mew knocked again and saw no one coming. He then realized, "Wait what am I doing? Even a bat wouldn't hear me knock in these empty halls..."

So he tried "Plan B"...

"Kssh!"

And punched through the glass window to reach for the door lock. Careful maneuvering around the broken glass led his hand to a shocking conclusion.

"Oh its already unlocked." Mew's enthusiasm tapered off for a bit. He slowly pulled out, using his powers to fix the window. He whistled innocently and pushed the door open.

He gently closed it and surveyed his surroundings. There were a lot of lockers. Like, a lot of lockers.

"They might as well have called this place Lockertopia." And with that bite of self-indulgent humor Mew wandered to the center of the school's crossroads.

Three directions, three tiers of education. Left led to Elementary School, run by the rambunctious insanity of youth. Right led to the Middle School, the bridge across the gap from youth to puberty. Then straight ahead lied High School, where the pressures of growing up weigh heavily upon the shoulders of the students...As if their studies weren't enough to crush them.

"All in one building? Sounds chaotic," Mew stared forward and tucked his hands in his pockets, "Alright so if I go this way."

He wandered down north for a bit, surrounded by iron-clad lockers. He seemed to be the only one here but the door's condition made that impossible. The door was open. Either summer school was happening or crimes were going down. And as fun as the latter would be to foil as a distraction, it was no doubt the former.

Mew checked each classroom to be certain he wouldn't miss anyone. He remarked after the first dozen checkes, "How many rooms do they need? Sheesh."

His search was proving fruitless until an unexpected source of inspiration passed him by. "Hmm?" Mew took two steps back and looked to the left. There lied the heartless catacombs. The final resting place of countless souls, lured to their ends by succubi made of paper and ink.

"The library..." Mew scowled. He turned towards it and peeked inside. There must've been millions of those little devils disguising themselves as books. All those shelves, the coffins holding them back.

Mew gripped the sides of the doorway and put great effort into trying to pull himself back into the wall. He stretched his neck up, grit his teeth, while his arms locked into place.

"Must...not...read!" Mew 'fought' with all his might against the devil's temptations. But logic triumphed over temptations, as Mew rationalized in his head, "It'd just be a quick peek. I wouldn't actually be reading a book."

And so he quickly loosened his grip on the doors and casually went into the library. He paused for a moment, blinked at his actions just now, and thought to himself, "I really need some friends."

He approached the closest shelf and went for the first book his hand could reach. "Ok, time my Plan B's Plan B. If I can't find a teacher, then these books will have to..."

He pulled out a hard cover book and stared blankly at the cover, "Of Mice and Men?"

He flipped the book over and then tried to peel the cover off. No use. It was on like glue. Mew slowly put the book back and shrugged, "Guess that's fine. Its a fictional tale. Gotta have some of those."

Ignoring the countless plagiarism for now he turned to the left and saw that the fiction section stretched down for about a couple hundred feet.

"And as big as this is," Mew slumped over and sighed, "I bet Gravitus' section greatly eclipses it."

Mew goes on a great journey through the labyrinth of knowledge. There were no children's literature to be found, obviously, but all that removed was one obstacle in his path. The genres of Sports, Health, Comedy, Drama, and so forth cluttered his path the most.

"I just want the History section damn it! ...I really can't believe I just said that." Mew coughed then decided to pluck out a book or two to see what else he might find. For once there actually were some Aurian original titles amongst his findings.

He found a sports book that talked about basketball teams. All originally named, and with their own modified rules to account for their powers.

In the Health section Mew found a peculiar book called "Out of Your Cocoon: The Journey of Aurian Puberty." He dully went "Huh" to it and remarked, "What a weird way to word it."

He admittedly got a tad bit curious and peeked inside close to the middle of the pages. He started skimming the words while strolling down the aisle. But as he got to the end he heard someone shout out "Hey!" and poked his head up.

There was a rather normal looking guy at the door. Short brown hair, buttoned up plaid shirt with tie and slightly disheveled collar, and brown work slacks. He had a bracelet on and thus was clearly an Aurian, and he was a bit scruffy on the chin meaning he was in his later adolescent years. Though really, the guy just looked pretty unremarkable.

Or was Mew decided to judge him, "Why's thus guy look like he walked off the pages of a harem manga?"

"Who are you?" The guy asked in a detached rather tired manner.

Mew shuffled the book behind his back, where he dropped it onto the kick of his back heel. From there he leaned a hand on the nearest bookshelf, using the motion to stuff the book back where it belonged. He then crossed legs and with a smirk tried acting natural, "Oh you know...Just a student working over time."

The guy wiggled his finger accusingly at Mew while saying, "Yeeeah right. You'd be at summer classes then."

Mew saw the direction of his finger go towards his arm, "And you aren't even wearing a bracelet."

Mew swung his head towards his arm and went, "Crap I thought he wouldn't notice!"

He then tried to spin a yarn to explain this away, "O-Oh I just...left it at home!"

"Nice try," The guy softly disregarded, "Now...I'll give you one more chance to explain yourself before I pull the alarm."

Mew sighed and relented to the guy's all-too serious attitude, "I'm just...trying to find the History section."

The guy's eyes light up with a hint of confusion, "The History section?"

"Yeah. Its my first time in Sancturia so I thought I'd read up a bit on the place." Mew sold his story in as non-suspicious away as he could muster.

"You're a human." The guy sounded more curious than worried.

Mew eased off the shelf and smiled at the guy, "You could say that."

The guy stared at him for a few seconds and then weakly waved a hand to the left to say quietly, "History section's down that way."

"Thanks!" Mew waved his hand up then went to the far left part of the library. Sure enough, the shelves were labeled "History", making him wonder how the hell he missed that.

Before he took a peek at the nearest book he could hear the guy's footsteps coming closer. He turned his head up to the left. He noticed that the guy was carrying a paper bag in his right hand, but more importantly...

"I got it from here. Thanks for you help uhhh..."

"Bobby." The guy replied.

Mew squeezed his lips together and snickered, causing the guy to tilt his head and ask, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. That's just the most normal name I've heard so far." Mew's tone did a poor jobbing hiding his laughter.

Bobby closed his eyes and demanded of him, "Oh yeah? Tell me your name."

Mew paused and tried to think of something cool sounding, coming up with "Sora" after a solid five seconds.

"You're a terrible liar."

"That obvious eh?" Mew pulled his hand out and said, "My name's Mew."

Bobby's lips curled up as he tried to hide a smile. As he shook Mew's hand he said, "That's the weirdest name I ever heard."

"Eh, stones and glass houses, you know how it is," Mew parted hands with this new face and then tried to part ways as well, "Anyways, I got a pretty good idea of what I'm doing."

Before he turned back to the book he saw Bobby shrug from the corner of his eyes, upon which he put his bag down and remarked, "I got an hour to spare. Let me help you out."

"You sure?" Mew sounded surprised.

Bobby glided his fingers along the spines of the books in front of him and joked, "Anything's better than looking after a few rowdy kids."

"Oh you're a father?" Mew suggested while pulling a book off the shelf.

"W-What no, why would you think that?" Bobby spat out sounding offended, "I'm a teacher. Sort-of."

"Sort-of?"

"I'm teaching elementary kids in summer school. Its a temp job as I work on my credentials to become a full-time History teacher, like my mother."

"Ah, that explains it." Mew chuckled and put the book he had back in.

After a bit of book searching Bobby shook his head and stuttered, "I-I'm sorry, you said you're a...human?"

"Yeah why?" Mew replied while focusing solely on the books in front of him.

"I think it should be pretty obvious," When Bobby's response got Mew looking obviously oblivious he remarked bluntly, "Humans don't just fly up here as a vacation spot."

Mew smiled and gave him a quick head tilt, "I'm a...different kind of human."

"You wouldn't happen to be the same guy who got into a fight outside the Pyramid would you?"

"You were there?" Mew asked.

"No but, I heard talk of what happened around town."

"They're talking about me?" Mew suddenly got a little excited.

"Mostly you..." Bobby closed his eyes, sighed, then looked at the bookshelf and murmured, "Forget I said anything. So who are you exactly?"

"That's my little secret." Mew said, taking a page out of Auris' book by sounding a bit like a tease.

"Come on man I'm trying to help you out here, can't you be a little cooperative?"

Bobby sounded dismayed a little, so Mew figured "What the heck" and told him outright, "I'm the Elemental Overlord."

Bobby dropped a five-hundred page hardbook out of his hands and onto his paper bag as he blurted out, "Elemental Overlord?!"

He then widened his eyes and stared down at his bag. Gently pulling the book off he opened the smooshed bag and pulled out a now mushy banana and sighed, "Ah man I was looking forward to that."

Mew waved his right hand around and with a magician's flick of the wrist snapped his fingers and created a fresh banana out of the ether. He handed it off to Bobby and with a sly raise of the brows noted, "This proof enough for you?"

Bobby snatched the banana up but was staring at Mew's face the whole time. Never one for a missed opportunity to gloat a bit, Mew crossed his arms and chuckled, "Cause if not I could show you some real fireworks."

"Not necessary. I believe you," Bobby put his new fruit in the bag and wiped his forehead clear of sweat, "Its just...wow. A living legend's standing before me, in the flesh."

Mew's smile widened and he tried to remain humble saying, "Weeeeell maybe 'legend' is exaggerating it a teeeeny tiny bit."

He then eased up and asked, "So the Elemental Overlord is mandatory learning?"

"Not exactly," Bobby was still a little shaken as he wagged his hand around in circles, "You were supposed to be a myth. A fairy tale passed down by our elders."

"Fairy tale? Now where have I heard that before..." Mew peeked out of the corner of his eyes at the books then pointed at them.

"So there'd be nothing on him in the History books eh?"

"Not a word, sorry." Bobby was genuinely apologetic.

"That's alright," Mew faced the bookshelves entirely and mumbled, "Shouldn't be surprised."

Bobby leaned in closer to Mew's face and tried to see things from his perspective. There he asked in docile, curious tone, "Anything specific you're looking for?"

Mew stared up at the upper shelves and floated off the ground to reach for a book. As he pulled it out he answered, "Giiiimme just a moment."

The book he got out was titled "Mein Kampf" and seeing it got him grinning wider than his face could handle. He dropped to the ground, raised the book up high like the Holy Grail and exclaimed, "Aha! Knew it!"

He shoved the book into a puzzled Bobby's face and said, "Only villains would force their students to learn about Hitler!"

Bobby closed his eyes and stated in a smarmy tone, "Ooooor it makes sense to teach students about all manner of history good or bad so they learn not to make the same mistakes?"

Mew closed his eyes partway and twisted his frown to the right. He then quickly put the book back and grumbled, "Yeah you're right..."

He lowers his crossed arms to his waist and scanned the other shelves for materials worth browsing.

"Nothing but Earth stuff again..." Upon landing next to Bobby he turned to him to ask, "Does Aurian history have its own section or...?"

Bobby stared blankly at him for a few moments then shook his head and stuttered "C-Could you repeat that?" Mew took his response in stride and replied with emphasis, "DOES AURIAN HISTORY HAVE ITS OWN SECTION OR...?"

"Alright geez I heard you," Now Bobby was merely annoyed, followed by dismayed as he answered, "You'll find a few books if you look hard enough but for the most part-"

"Zippo. Zilch."

"Exactly," Bobby then went on to explain, "A lot of tomes of Aurian history were supposedly lost in a great fire two-thousand years."

"Ah yes, the tragic 'Gravitus Inferno' of something something A.D." Mew tightened his arms up against his chest and narrowed his eyes. He didn't give a crap about reading but even he knew that getting rid of books is a terrible thing to do.

But, maybe he was jumping to conclusions in assuming that Gravitus was to blame. It could've been just some random fire, like Bobby said. Given what he's learned so far, Gravitus' motives certainly seemed...complex.

"You mentioned a villain," Bobby suddenly chimed in, "I get the feeling I'm being drip-fed important details here."

Mew grinned and chuckled, "Nah I've told you eeeeeverything I-"

"This has to do with Gravitus, doesn't it?" Bobby's response was both hesitant and solemn. He stared Mew right in the face with his eyelids drooping.

Mew stared back for a little bit. His immediate thoughts went back to something Auris told him last night, "Do I believe in destiny? Nah."

A smirk popped up as started rubbing his chin and continued his thoughts, "But lucky coincidences? Oh. Hell yeah."

Mew slowly raised one arm up, then threw his hand straight down on Bobby's right shoulder. With the guy looking mildly uncomfortable Mew raised his brows and said in a deep voice, "Hey."

"H-Hey?" Bobby replied.

Mew smiled and peeled his hand off, snapping both his hands up as fingerguns to say, "I think you and I got a lot to talk about Mr. Bobby."

"Cause you've just been hired to be my personal history book." As Mew exchanged the "barrel" of his guns for thumbs-ups Bobby just blinked away at him slowly.

"...So this is where my 3.7 GPA has led me. Mom would be so proud," Bobby picked up his lunch bag and moved past Mew, glancing back only to say, "There's some tables in the back. We can talk there."

Mew and Bobby went and sat down at a small round table surrounded by soft chairs. Mew laid his feet on the table while Bobby dug into his lunch a bit. As Mew expected of someone as vanilla as him, his choice of sandwich was tuna fish.

Once nice and comfy with his arms behind his head, Mew winked one eye open and requested, "So tell me a little bit about your connection to Gravitus."

Bobby paused mid-bite of his sandwich and grumbled, "I-Its not a connection. I just...know a thing or two about the guy, that's all."

While he ate his food Mew thought up his first question. Turns out it was pretty obvious what he needed to know the most, and that is, "Do you think you can tell me why he's littered Sancturia with a ton of stuff from Earth?"

"Hmm, I think it might have something to do with the laws of Earth contact." Bobby replied.

"Earth contact?"

"Yeah. Its not common but there's been plenty of Aurians who've wanted to go down to the surface and see what Earth culture's like," Bobby put down his sandwich and waved a hand out to Mew, "Generally speaking though they've got to wait until they're 20."

"Why 20?" Mew blinked his eyes shut.

"Mew focus!" He yelled at himself before remarking aloud, "N-Never mind that. What you're insinuating is that the Earth stuff in Sancturia is to help Aurians get used to visits down on the surface?"

"Yeah. A few of our people and their descendants almost blew their covers because they weren't properly prepared."

"Still, seems like a lot of effort to put into something that doesn't happen often." Mew narrowed his eyes, this answer he found unsatisfactory.

"It sucks," Bobby suddenly said, "I'd love to learn more about Sancturia's past. What kind of clothes did we used to wear? Did we eat similar foods? Who ruled this place before Gravitus?"

Mew knew the answer to that last one, but he wasn't telling. With a slow bob of his head he mentioned, "The only ones who'd probably know are Gravitus and Auris."

Mew's eyes swung wide-open and almost bulged out of his sockets. He went "Wait I didn't mean to say that!" but it was already too late. Bobby was staring straight at him, judging him.

Mew planted his feet on the ground and swung his hands around. His clownish demeanor couldn't distract Bobby long enough. The guy whispered to himself in a melancholic tone, "Auris eh?"

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me..." Mew was feeling he'd have to re-evaluate his opinion on Bobby. He was clearly not as "normal" as he was leading Mew to believe.

"Alright, just who are you Bobby?" Mew firmly remarked.

"What?" Bobby suddenly jolted his head upright.

Mew was feeling some glaring similarities to his first encounter with Gabriel and thus found it sound to suggest, "Which Planetary Aurian are you? Jupiter? Saturn? One of the other three?"

"W-What are you talking about?" Bobby was astonishingly confused, in a manner that sounded way too natural for a guy pulling a fast one. But Mew didn't fully believe that.

"I think a lot of Aurians would take pause at learning that they had two immortal people living among them," Mew smirked and winked one eye closed, "One of whom is their leader."

Bobby closed his eyes and washed away the confusion with a sigh. He then put his elbows on the table and lowered his head behind his face, "Not unless their immortality was common knowledge."

"Excuse me?" Mew muttered.

"I should've known. The Pyramid. The Elemental Overlord. Gravitus. All of it leads back to Auris." Bobby let out a long sigh.

Mew laid back and let Bobby speak his mind for him a bit. He expressed his opinion in a somewhat coarse manner, "I bet Auris never told you her nickname."

"Or much about her at all." Mew joked.

"She's known across all of Sancturia as 'The Harlot Heretic'."

Neither of those words were very flattering. Even hearing the first word, despite being on the other end of her 'shenanigans', disgusted Mew a little bit.

"She's the one who voices her distaste of Gravitus the most, making her a 'Heretic'. And she's a 'Harlot' because-"

"Don't need to get graphic, I get it." Mew bluntly remarked, "But why is Auris targeted for her immortality and not Gravitus?"

Bobby went silent, but the facts spoke for themselves, and Mew wound up saying in his stead, "Its because he's the ruler and she's not."

"That's not...!" Bobby said through biting teeth as he stood up off his chair. He then laid his hands on the table and curled them into fists.

"Damn it, why did you have to come here..." He murmured as he sat back down, no doubt expecting Mew not to hear him.

After a bit of silence Bobby leaned back into the seat of his chair and remarked, "If you know what's good for you, you'll go back home Mew."

"No can do. I made a promise to Auris that I'd kick Gravitus' ass but good." Mew replied in a jovial tone.

"...Even if it might end up being the wrong thing to do?" Bobby murmured, sitting back upright.

"Look Auris is...She's not exactly..." Bobby sucked his lips in and then spat out what he wanted to say rather quickly, "I don't think she's that bad a person."

Mew nudged his brows a couple times and remarked, "Oh ho so you're familiar with her?"

Bobby had this grizzly scowl as he responded, "I really hope you're not suggesting..."

"No no!" Mew yelled, doing a very lame job hiding his own experience in the matter, "I-I was just meaning in a 'friend of the family' sort of way."

Bobby closed his eyes, crossed his arms and remarked, "Right, I get ya."

He then brought up something that Mew wasn't expecting, "I have a job. I'm working towards a lifetime career. I'm young, I'm healthy, my parents are alive...I have plenty of friends and things to do in my spare time..."

He paused for a moment and grumbled, "And its all thanks to Gravitus."

It was the kind of tone that you don't want to use when you're praising someone. Mew sat up, looked him in the eyes and accused him outright, "And yet you don't sound thankful."

Bobby opened his eyes slightly. The slow pace he rose with suggested he was tired. And then he hung his hands on the lip of the table and replied, "You ever had that feeling in the pit of your gut that something was just...wrong?"

"Ever since I got here..." Mew kept locked in his head.

"That's the feeling I've had for the last two years. But you're the first person I've felt comfortable mentioning this too."

"Not even to your parents?" Mew sounded surprised.

"Does it sound like Sancturia welcomes dissent towards Gravitus?" Bobby's quick to point out.

"...B-" Before Mew got any bright ideas he was even quicker to say, "Because he's given us so much and asked for nothing in return."

"That's why the defiant ones are shunned and targeted for ridicule." With that Bobby leaned back and sighed.

"There's still one thing missing here," Mew thought before he asked, "This suspicion had to start from somewhere Bobby. Come on, tell me what you know. It'd really help make a difference."

Bobby leaned on the left side of the chair and propped a hand up by the side of his face, mumbling to himself "Make a difference huh...?" before finding the strength to talk.

He sat upright and put his hands flat on the table. He then spoke his thoughts in a concise manner, easy for Mew to digest, "I guess you could say it started more than a couple years ago. But when it happened I was just a dumb kid..."

He stared at Mew and asked him, "Have you noticed how peaceful things are in Sancturia?"

"Besides whatever's going on with the princess yeah. There's been no police stations, jails, etc..." Mew slowly opened his eyes and mouth to let out a silent "Oooh" as he figured out the problem.

"Exactly," Bobby seemed to read his thoughts and respond accordingly, "Ever since Gravitus took over there's been no crimes, no wars, nothing...So, why the hell are we required to build weapons in middle school?"

Bobby raised his right hand up and summoned from a flash of light a rapier with a golden hilt and fine silver blade. From one side he could see his reflection, while on the other side Mew could faintly see his. He held it with a scowl and a crass remark of, "I don't like fighting. I'm better off being a teacher...Yet as long as this blade's a part of me I can't shake the feeling that I'm a one step away from fighting a war."

"A war eh?" Mew temporarily closed his eyes to get deep in thought.

Bobby dispelled his blade and pulled his hand closer to his chest to show off his bracelet, unaware that Mew wasn't looking as he talked, "It feels weird to say this as a History buff but...It just feels like our Drives and weapons should have been left as relics of the past. They aren't useful anymore."

Mew widened his eyes and let out a harsh scoff. Then he swung his hand down with one hard motion and said, "There's no such thing as a useless power."

"What? T-That's not the point I'm-"

"You're only thinking of your Drive in terms of fighting. I'm sure there's plenty of uses you can get out of it in every day life."

Mew shoved his chair back with his feet and leaned across the table, pawing at Bobby's Drive with an overeager curiosity, "Come on! Show me whatcha got!"

Bobby retracted his hand by his chest and yelled, "Gah! Hold on a second!"

Mew retreated and Bobby sighed out with a blush in his cheeks, "Its called the Bounce Drive."

Mew closed his eyes and waved his hand around excitedly, "See now that's a pretty useful Drive! With it you could bounce sound around all over the place like an echo, reach high shelves your shorter friends can't reach...Create a really bouncy funhouse..."

He opened one eye and smirked at the wide-eyed Bobby, "Weapons fine, you could do without those. But don't hate on your Drive stone. Its what makes you you. Without them you Aurians really would just be nothing but a bunch of regular humans."

Bobby hid his bracelet under the table and remarked bluntly, "Has anyone ever told you you're weird?"

Mew laughed it off, "Someone's trying their darnedest to set a world record, that's for sure."

He then stood up from his chair and said, "Speaking of which I think I oughta get back to them. I fed them an excuse that I was out getting a drink."

Bobby looked at the clock up on the wall and remarked, "And I gotta get back to teaching. I haven't even finished my lunch."

"Sorry for dragging you aside," Mew said sincerely, "But you've been a huuuuuge help."

"I have?" Bobby blinked a few times as Mew turned away and started to head for the door.

But as seemed to be a running theme for Mew, Bobby had one last thing to say to pull him back. Before the first word was uttered Mew rolled his eyes and turned back around with a smile.

"If you get another chance later in say like...a couple days? There's something else I'd like to talk to you about concerning Auris and her family."

Mew clicked his hands up as finger guns and remarked, "Two days, got it!"

And thus after logging that away in his mental schedule Mew made his way out of the dreaded library and down the hall to leave the school for now. He walked a one-way trip to the Aurora household and thought about what he learned from Bobby.

"The history books in Sancturia were 'burned away' but weapon making is kept around? Sancturia is kept peaceful, but Auris and Kairi are singled out by their people? Gravitus is a tyrant, and yet he's recruited good people like Michael, Maria and Seth without question?"

Mew was steadily realizing that he was hearing two different stories here about the man who called himself Gravitus. Who was he? A tyrant, or a saint? A peace-keeper, or a warmonger?

"My gut's telling me he's a bad guy...But some things just ain't lining up here."

Admist his internal struggle the hazed laughter of the demon in his head spurred to life, and he made a tantalizing remark of, "A warmonger...Hehehe. If that is what he is then perhaps I'd be wise to join his side once I take you over."

Mew rolled his eyes and snarked back, "'Once'? More like 'never'."

"Whatever. As far as I am concerned you are a fool to take either side."

"But I haven't picked a side yet," Mew remarked nonchalantly, "And I'm not going to. I'll do whatever's the right thing to do. That's all there is to it."

"And just how far will your justice take you? How long can you handle the strain until despair overwhelms you?" "D." grinned his soulless fangs across the recesses of Mew's mind while filling the quiet void with his laughter, "My favorite toys...are those that already come broken."

Mew rolled his eyes and grumbled, "If you break anything in there I'm adding it to your bill for the month."

"...Hmph." The demon slogged away in silence.

Mew arrived back at the Aurora household and made his way for the basement. But while heading down the stairs he realized, "Wait crap, I said I was getting a drink..."

So he whipped up a quick glass and filled it with ice cold water, taking a sip of it as he returned to the dojo. There he found Kairi on her butt panting and sweating a bit. Gabriel stood on the opposite side of the mat with his sword sheathed and his stance unwavering.

"You were close that time. But you need to remember to target my weak points." He said in a firm yet soft voice.

Kairi stood up, grabbed her staff and gasped in exasperation, "Do...do you even have any?"

Before Gabriel could answer he turned to the stairs and started to smile.

"Ah, there you are Mew." He said courteously.

Kairi swung her head back and saw him take a drink. Mew assumed a little time with Gabriel would've chilled her out a bit, but that fire in her eyes still burned through him something fierce.

"You've been gone an hour...For a glass of water?!" She exclaimed.

Mew had time to come up with a good excuse for that at least, "I like my water like I like my video games...Man-made and in crystal clear high-definition."

"...We literally have a sink upstairs." Kairi dryly remarked.

Mew just shrugged and walked on over to the mat. He put his glass down on the ground beside it and gave the nod to Gabriel to step aside. The man complied without a word and went on off by the mirror to observe.

Mew glanced at his notes on the mirror and thought on what he was going to do next. With a renewed sense of motivation to press forward in his mission to learn the secrets of Sancturia he smiled at Kairi and told her, "Alright, next up I think you need to learn how to..."

Next Time: Evasive Topics