30 Give Chase

Michael, known to the people close to him, Old Mike; known to a certain little mage he helped raise, the obnoxious old drunkard.

"Old drunkard this, old drunkard that," the shaggy old man grumbled. "Fuck!"

He threw the empty jug aside after chugging down the remaining liquor and proceeded to scramble down the alleyway, wiping the corner of his mouth with his wrinkled sleeve.

He managed to totter to the end of the enclosed street towards the familiar, ragged parts of town with success. "Ah, this should be good..."

The red-haired policewoman skidded to a stop at the other end of the alley when she caught her suspect trying to quietly slip away, her scowl quickly flipping upside down to a sneer.

"After him!" she shrilled as her back up came into view.

"Argh, goddamnit!" he cried. "Why's the bitch so fucking relentless?! It's been weeks! Give up, will you?" He turned his head left and right, frantically trying to figure out where his next hideout should be.

He bolted straight forward as was it was his only choice after finding that any alternatives would lead to a dead-end. Why? It was because police vehicles have pulled up, blocking every other street he could escape through.

A bullet suddenly whizzed past his ear as he was running and hit the penetrated the street sign a couple of yards before him. Fortunately for him, that warning was enough to snap him back to his senses, and he was suddenly grateful for Jax for kicking him out of his bar before he got too drunk.

"Detective Ada, be careful!" a pursuing officer shouted. "Detective Kane warned you not to act rashly!"

"Am I doing the work, or is he?" the fuming detective snapped. She leaped over the benches blocking her way and continued to run down the faded road.

The officer winced at his superior's short temper. "The detective has requested backup from the mages to tackle the suspect. Do you not remember from the last briefing?"

"Well, I don't see them!"

"Ah, fuck," the old man cursed after he overheard their conversation. He'd better run fast if he didn't want to get caught up with another mage.

At the next intersection, he took a sharp left turn as his surroundings became more and more familiar. His gang's base was near, probably a few blocks more, but to his dismay, the wailing sirens caught up as well.

Detective Ada and her officers stumbled into the intersection tired and panting for breath. They've been chasing the suspect for so long, but the old man never seemed to grow weary enough to be caught.

This pursuit had to be rigged. Mage or not, how the hell is this old man running so fast, even while intoxicated?

The officers groaned in frustration as Old Mike jumped from the ground up onto the nearby roof of a five-story building, many thanks to his supernatural powers.

Old Mike bent over with his hands on his knees, letting out a few wheezing coughs as he watched the officers below glare up at him. "What do you want?" he hollered in indignity, shaking his fist wretchedly at the female detective. "Can't you let the elderly in peace?"

Detective Ada scowled ferociously. "Stop feeling wronged!" she snarled. "You are the prime suspect for murder!"

"What murder though?! Stop falsely accusing people!" he accused, pointing a nasty finger down at his pursuers. "I haven't killed anyone since the day Rune disappeared- oh shit..."

He clamped his mouth shut after he realized he just sold himself off, and he flashed a sheepish grin as the detective's face burned as red as her hair.

She pointed her gun up at him and shouted, "Well then you can rot the rest of your days in jail for your other crimes! 'fess up! Who is Rune!"

"None of ya business!" he cried back, sticking out his middle finger. "Fuck off!"

Then he turned and ran once more, jumping off one edge of the roof onto the next building, smoothly sailing through the air without a problem until he reached the end of the street. He launched himself off the top of the corner building, praising his success when something whammed against his right and sent him flying back to the ground.

He grunted as he hit and rolled across the pavement, his sides throbbing.

Hundreds of feet before him landed a rather average-looking man wearing a simple t-shirt, pants, and sneakers. He sighed almost pitifully and ran his hands through his short, dark blonde hair as he watched Old Mike stagger back up to his feet, blood dripping down the corner of his mouth.

"I don't wish to harm the elderly," the mage said. "Please surrender, sir, and cooperate with the authorities."

He raised his arms and murmured something under his breath, and it took only a few seconds before Old Mike realized what he was doing. Without wasting another second, he launched himself high into the air before he was caught inside the cell formed by the unearthed pavement.

He glared down at the frowning mage, who was clearly frustrated that he managed to escape his trap. "Ah, annoying aerokinetic mages," he mumbled. "I guess you choose to fight."

Old Mike scoffed, still suspended midair. "You're wrong." He held up two fingers. "First, it is you geokinetic mages that are annoying. Second, I'm sorry but you've placed your hopes too high. Who said I chose to fight?"

"What?!"

Without another word, the old man fled the scene, a huge grin spreading across his face...

_______________

Classes were back in session the next day and when Emrys stepped through the front gates, he found the quad fixed and brand new. Traces of the fight two days ago were nowhere in sight. "That's fast," he marveled.

Inside the pocket of his uniform, his hand closed around the cool, heavy card he obtained yesterday from the woman. Last night, while Gray went off to sleep, he stayed up in the small living room to complete the rest of the registration with the help of the hologram's instruction.

It was quite impressive, really, to think that he'd get his hands on something so high-tech and complex.

After hours of studying its content and use, he found that it was supposed to act as his identification card. It was a type of one of the more advanced versions of ID cards that mages were supposed to have once registered.

'I wonder if Gray ever got one?' he wondered as he stepped towards the main buildings. 'But the lady did say something about the both of us being unregistered...'

He took out the card and held it up the early morning light, which in turn reflected and glared in his eyes. He quickly lowered the card and shook his head, dazed.

'Well, either way, I need Gray to help me complete my side of the registration.'

Last night, he had finished entering all the data the hologram instructed him to, but the only thing missing was the panel requiring a guardian's contact information. He was a minor after all. There was still about half a year before he turned eighteen.

All he needed was his full name, age, and contact information...it wouldn't be that hard to just ask him after school, right?

"Ah, Emrys, is that you?"

The boy swiftly pocketed the ice-blue card in his pocket and looked up to see the renowned science teacher stepping towards him from the side entrance to the hallway, wringing his hands together a bit uncertainly.

"Oh, good morning, Mister Kinoshi," he said politely, bowing his head in respect.

"Ahaha...good morning!" the teacher replied, the look on his face lighting up at his greeting. He stopped and looked up at Emrys as he was a bit taller than him, wrinkles appearing at the corner of his eyes.

"Er, how are you?" Mr. Kinoshi began. "I see you've come to school later than you usually do..."

Emrys blinked, confused when he heard a hint of concern in the older man's voice. But then again, Mr. Kinoshi was always someone with a keen eye.

"Ah, about that, sir. I'm okay. I moved places when classes were canceled yesterday, so I took a bit more time to adjust and get used to the different path to school," he said.

Mr. Kinoshi's brows furrowed. "Moved?" he echoed. "Did something happen? Are there any problems at home? Where did you move to? You won't be transferring schools too, right? Maybe I can-"

"W- whoa, whoa, slow down, sir!" Emrys quickly interrupted, startled by the questions. He sighed, defeated as he caught his teacher's worried expression, and ran his hand down his face.

"I'm not transferring schools. There's no point transferring schools when I'm already a junior."

Mr. Kinoshi scratched the back of his hand a bit shamefully. "Y- you're right."

Emrys huffed. "There are no problems," he continued to clarify. "There's...there's nothing wrong. I simply...moved to a temporary home. I'm completely fine, you don't have to worry... Thank you for asking, though. I really appreciate it."

His teacher cast him a suspicious glance at his words, eyeing him up and down. "You are not lying?"

"I'm not," he answered truthfully. Emrys did, in fact, really appreciated his teacher's concern. It actually felt kind of nice to know that there was someone looking out for him, despite him almost becoming an adult and being able to take care of himself.

"Look," Mr. Kinoshi said, suddenly filled with guilt. "I am sorry about that day. I should've done something to stop it."

Emrys frowned. What is he talking about? "Uh...I'm not sure I follow?"

"That day you got into a fight with the guest speaker, your friend Jade asked me to do something to stop it, but I didn't, and now I know I was wrong. The whole school was wrong for allowing that to happen, e- even if you turned out to be...awakened."

He hesitated for a moment, as if he still couldn't process the fact that his student had turned out to be a mage. He shook his head, snapping out of it.

"I'm sorry," he sincerely apologized, genuinely disappointed in himself. "I hope you can accept my apology and not blame the school too much. But of course, you have every right to be mad. I want you to know that I will have the school hold the M.A. accountable for their actions-"

The bell suddenly rang, interrupting the rest of Mr. Kinoshi's words.

"I- I have to go to class now, sir," Emrys said awkwardly, turning towards the building. An apology wasn't in the list of things he had expected from when Mr. Kinoshi came out of his classroom to meet him, and it wasn't like he really blamed the school or anything.

Though it would make perfect sense if he did.

"Sir, you don't have to apologize at all. The matter is already in the past, so you don't have to feel guilty," he said reassuringly. "I'll see you during the fourth period-"

He bowed his head once more to take his leave but stopped again seeing how disheartened the old man still seemed.

Not sure what else he was supposed to say, he said one last thing before he left for class.

"Really, you don't have to bother yourself with Wednesday's problems. Also, you don't have to pressure yourself to force the school to demand an apology from such a prominent association. Someone I know already helped me resolve the misunderstandings yesterday..."

Mr. Kinoshi looked up in surprise, but then his shoulders sagged almost immediately after. "Oh...," he said. "Then...off you go."

Emrys waved and left quickly, not wanting to be late for the next bell.

'...Did I sound too rude just then?'