Rather than heading up to the second floor, where the female students were placed, Layla instead headed right into the first floor. She wanted to see if that rumor she had heard was true. She raced past boy after boy, them all looking confused, and wondering what a girl was doing in the boys' dormitory.
Layla reached the room occupied by Quinn, Vorden, Tsukuru, and Peter. She reached her hand up to knock, but then, she hesitated. She remembered what had happened the lasttime she had been here. When that psycho boy Vorden had pinned her to the wall, and might have killed her if Tsukuru hadn't called Vorden at that exact moment.
Layla let out a sigh and steeled her nerves. She needed to know if they were back and if Quinn was safe. Layla gulped and knocked on the door. A moment later, the last person she wanted to see opened it. Vorden.
Layla narrowed her eyes.
"Look, let me just cut to the chase," Layla asked in a sharp tone. "Where is Quinn? Did he make it back with you?"
Seeing Layla at the door, Vorden smiled.
"He's with Tsukuru at the doctor's office," Vorden replied.
Layla let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks!" She yelled and started to run off.
"Hey!" Vorden yelled after her. "Wait!"
Suddenly, Layla turned back around to face Vorden. As she did, she saw a huge smile on his face.
"You and Tsukuru aren't the only ones who know anymore." He replied.
Layla's heart jumped.
"Wh-What do you…mean?" He asked.
Vorden then started walking over to Layla.
Layla felt a cold chill run down her back. The grin on Vorden's face was starting to get creepy.
"I'm saying…" Vorden said as he reached her. "You're no longer special, and you're no longer needed by him anymore. Because Iknow."
Layla rolled her eyes and continued to run.
"Looks like you're still a crazy boy!" She yelled over her shoulder.
Back with Vorden, her words made his eye begin to twitch.
***
Back in the meeting room, everyone's eyes widened at what Sergeant Faye had just said.
Meanwhile, General Duke's eyes had widened the most. If this had been an old cartoon, his eyes would have taken on the shape of dollar signs.
He snapped his head over towards Paul.
"There's no way we're leaving that much Glathrium on a Red Portal Planet, right?" He asked.
Paul nodded.
"We'll send a salvage team to Pioletic after things calm down here." He replied. He then turned to Sergeant Faye. "Please continue."
Sergeant Faye opened her mouth to continue speaking, but Shizuka spoke up.
"As we continued forward towards the shelter, we came across a section of the forest that looked as though it had been burned down." She replied in a casual tone.
Faye's eyes widened, and she snapped her head towards Shizuka. She had completely skipped the part about how Hikiko Tsukuru had somehow extracted the Beast Crystals from the Palewalkers without cutting them open.
Shizuka sent Faye a dark look that told her to "Shut up". This was clearly something that Shizuka didn't want the higher-ups to know about.
Faye pursed her lips in annoyance.
It was at this point that General Duke shot up from his seat.
"Oh, come on!" He shouted. "You expect me to believe that kid somehow burned a forest down?! HOW?!"
Shizuka narrowed her eyes at him, then turned to Oscar.
"Commander Oscar, you are old enough to remember the old world, correct?" She asked.
***
Back in the doctor's office, Quinn was lying in a bed with Tsukuru sitting in a chair next to him. Hayley had left a short while ago to deliver his latest "shipment" of Glathrium to the Head General, so the office was "unmanned" as of right now.
Tsukuru had created another one of those white, segmented boxes with ten holes, which he was holding in his lap. Slowly, he was filling each of the ten holes with a Minor Health Potion from his System's Shop. Currently, eight of the ten holes were filled.
A System message popped up in front of Tsukuru.
[Would you like to purchase a Minor Health Potion?
Cost: 3 Bronze Coins
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes.' Tsukuru thought, and another System message appeared.
[Insufficient funds. Would you like to convert 300 Credits into 3 Bronze Coins?
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes.' Tsukuru thought again.
The "Credits Balance" on his wristwatch dropped from "12,490" to "12,460". The sound of a "cash register" rang in his head, and pixels began to form in his hand. The pixels clustered together into the shape of the Minor Health Potion's flask. There was a flash of light. When it faded, Tsukuru was holding another Minor Health Potion. Tsukuru placed the potion into the ninth hole in the box.
Lying on the bed, Quinn looked over at Tsukuru and sighed.
"You didn't need to stay here with me," He replied.
Tsukuru had his finger paused in the air, just about touching the image of the potion on the System's screen, ready to purchase the final potion. He turned to Quinn.
"Yeah, well, consider it my atonement for not joining up with you sooner on the Red Portal Planet," Tsukuru replied, before glancing away, a guilty look on his face. "If I hadn't got distracted by that damned Palewalker, I probably would have found you much sooner." He then replied in a low tone. "It's a miracle you survived."
Quinn let out a sigh.
"It's not your fault," He muttered. "You weren't the one who pushed me through the Portal."
***
Back in the meeting room, Oscar raised an eyebrow.
"Yes?" He replied.
A smile appeared on Shizuka's face.
"Then, can you please explain the concept of a 'Propane Tank' to those too young to know of it?" She asked.
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
'That strange word again.' She thought. It was what she had called that strange cylinder that she had made by piecing together those pieces of shrapnel she had found.
Oscar began stroking his chin.
"Ah, yes. Propane." He replied. "It was a form of natural gas we used before the discovery of Beast Energy. It was a flammable gas used mainly for heating and cooking. We used to keep it in large tanks. Although smaller portable tanks existed, as well."
Shizuka's smile widened.
"Judging by the shrapnel fragments I found, I believe he used one as a home-made incendiary grenade." She replied.
***
Back in the doctor's office, Tsukuru clenched his teeth at Quinn's words.
'Peter.' Tsukuru thought bitterly.
Quinn then forced a smile.
"It's good to know that I can survive on my own, at least." He replied.
Tsukuru glanced at him with a dark expression.
"You were lucky that 'Ian' was also on the planet," Tsukuru replied. "What would have happened if Vorden had shown up alone?"
Quinn winced at the thought.
'What would Vorden have done?' Quinn thought. 'If there hadn't been a way to turn me back…would Vorden have…"
Quinn shook his head, as he really didn't want to think of that scenario.
***
Back in the meeting room, the room had become dead silent. Everyone had their eyes wide at Shizuka's insinuation.
A moment later, Oscar broke the silence. By bursting into laughter.
"Of course he did!" He said, still laughing.
Seeing the Supreme Commander acting so…out of character, the others all turned to him.
Oscar had a nostalgic look on his face.
'That is totally something that Mason would have done…' He thought, smiling as he reminisced.
"That boy…" Oscar muttered. "He's just like his old man…"
Nathan glanced from one person to another.
"Is nobody gonna talk about how we got a kid on the base who can make explosives?" He asked, a twinge of worry in his tone.
Paul then glanced over at him.
"We also have a handful of Sunshields, Graylashes, and over three hundred kids with the Earth Ability." He replied. "Since when have we cared about property damage?"
Sergeant Faye sighed again.
"Anyway, it appears that Hikiko put out the flames before they could spread to the shelter." She replied. "As we found a large water tank with a highly-pressurized water hoseattached to it in the vicinity." She then turned to the Supreme Commander. "After that, we finally made it into the shelter."
***
Back in the doctor's office, Tsukuru put on a sad smile as he saw the look on Quinn's face.
"Man, way to make me feel inadequate." He replied. "You're almost as tall as Vorden now."
Quinn looked at Tsukuru and let out a light chuckle.
"Oh, don't exaggerate." He replied. "I only put on a few inches."
Tsukuru smirked.
"Yeah, well, you went from being nine inches taller than me to being almost a whole foot taller than me." He replied. "When you're as short as me, even a few inches seems like a mile."