Chapter 32

"Solaris!" Eclipse and Emperion shouted at the same time.

"Who's Solaris?" Jay interrupted.

"He's the guy who fought me in the last test of the DAF exam. He totally destroyed me!" Shadow smiled with excitement. "Also, look at this." A set of horns appeared on top of his head, matching the mismatch of red and black coloring.

"Woah, wait. Didn't that make you go berserk last time?" Eclipse worried.

"No, that was just my excitement getting the better of me. Don't these make me look cool? I really like them." He dismissed Eclipse's worries and turned his attention back to the others.

"That was your excitement? You looked like a maniac!" Eclipse shouted.

"Inconsequential."

"When did you get the horns?" Jay asked.

"It was about two weeks ago. It was while I was training with Silver in my training space." Eclipse opened his mouth to ask a question when Shadow raised a hand before he could speak. "According to him, magic power is divided into multiple stages. Once your magic reaches a high enough level, you get another 'vessel' to contain the extra magic. The vessel's usually appear in the form of moveable wings, but once you get to level four, like I did, you get horns instead. No one really knows why you don't just get more wings but yeah. That's just how it works." Shadow turned to Eclipse, who was patiently waiting.

"Since when did you get to train with Silver?"

"Since about a month and a half ago."

"How'd you get him to teach you?"

"He came to us."

"Strange."

"It's not strange for me."

"Clearly."

"So which level are you at in this 'magic level' thing?" Jay asked, interrupting them.

"Four. Each vessel reflects your current magic level."

"When am I gonna go up a level?" Emperion grumbled.

"It'll probably be sometime soon. You've been training hard, even with only one vessel." Shadow guessed. Emperion pumped the air in a silent victory. "Anyway, we need to start planning our celebration. What do you guys want to eat for dinner?"

"Hamburgers!"

"Emperion, if I have one more burger, I'm seriously going to puke all over you. We've had too many lately." Jay vetoed, giving a sick face.

"Hot dogs?" Eclipse suggested.

"Hot dogs it is! Next, what kind of dessert do you guys want after the hot dogs?"

"Cake! Cake! Cake!" Emperion and Jay chanted together, splashing the water.

"Cake it is then! Who's ready to go shopping?" Shadow had an excited look on his face. At that moment, Jay and Emperion stopped chanting and splashing the water.

"I'll go." Eclipse offered.

"Thanks. Whose house should we do it at?"

"Anywhere but Jay's house." Emperion crossed his arms.

"What's wrong with my house?" Jay shouted.

"It's too small!" Emperion shouted back. 

"It's not too small! Yours is just too big!" Shadow turned towards Eclipse as the two started to bicker.

"Why not do it at my house?" Eclipse nodded in agreement. Shadow turned back to the pair of bickering kids. "Me and Eclipse are gonna go get the food and..." Shadow started. When he noticed that the others weren't listening, he facepalmed before beckoning to Eclipse and they both got out of the water. Together, they dried off and headed for the shopping area. They were wandering around the baking section at a store Shadow normally went to.

"I want the chocolate cake." Eclipse pointed towards a premade chocolate cake with pink frosting lining the edge.

"What are you talking about? I'm baking the cake, not buying it." Shadow gave a little chuckle.

"You can cook?"

"Of course I can!" Eclipse continued staring at the chocolate cake while Shadow picked up some ingredients and put them in his shopping basket. "If you really want, I can bake a chocolate cake."

"Yes, please!" After they had bought everything they wanted, Shadow teleported them to the base of the mountain. "Why aren't we teleporting straight to your house?" Eclipse wondered.

"I wouldn't want you to suddenly suffocate." Eclipse tilted his head in confusion. "My house is half way up the mountain."

"What? Why?"

"My magic power can be a bit... much so I wanted a house that would help keep my overwhelming magic out of unsuspecting people's lives. I'm also not a fan of crowded areas." Eclipse nodded in agreement. "Also, I just realized that if you were able to get to the DAF exam then you would've had to fly to the top of the mountain so stopping here was unnecessary and pointless." Shadow blushed from embarrassment and covered his face with his hands while Eclipse patted him on the shoulder with a reassuring yet amused smile. When Shadow teleported him and Eclipse into his living room, the place was empty.

"It looks like the others aren't here yet." Shadow put the groceries on the counter island. "I'll give you a quick tour while we wait." Shadow showed him around the house. Shiro was sleeping in one of the guest rooms. Shadow decided to wake her up once dinner was ready. Since he had closed the door prior to leaving for the exam, Shadow accidentally passed the training room, forgetting to show it to Eclipse. As Shadow was heading back down the stairs, Eclipse noticed the small red button on the wall. Curious, he pressed it and the door to the training room opened up. Shadow paused when he heard a loud gasp from behind him.

"WHAT!! You never said anything about this room!" Eclipse exclaimed. Shadow looked back up the stairs to see Eclipse gawking at the training room.

"Oh right! I forgot about that room." Shadow walked back up to stand next to him. "That's my training room. I used it to whip Emperion into shape and increase my magic strength." He invited Eclipse inside, and Eclipse accepted. Just as Eclipse was wandering around, Shadow slid the dial up to seven. The sudden magic-sealing pressure made Eclipse falter and nearly fall down. He fixed himself up and stared at Shadow, who had a smug look on his face.

"What did you do just now?"

"Oh, nothing, I just activated the magic-sealing stone and set it up to seven." Shadow put on a playfully bad poker face.

"This room is made out of sealing stone?" His voice was full of wonder, as he continued to look around the room. "It sure doesn't look like it."

"The stone is under the magic resistance tiles. If this is a magic training room, you can't make it out of flimsy material." Shadow shrugged. "Do you want to spar with me sometime later?"

"We'll see." After Eclipse had finished marveling at the training room, Shadow slid the dial back to zero and closed the door before heading down to the kitchen. Jay and Emperion were still missing. Instead of worrying about them, Shadow turned to the kitchen and started preparing the dinner food. Eclipse welcomed himself to a spot on the couch and reached for the TV remote.

"You aren't going to wait for the others?"

"They know how to get here on their own. They'll be fine." Shadow assured. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a knock sounded on the door. Eclipse stood up and opened the door.

"Shadow, you bastard! How dare you leave me behind!" Emperion roared from the door, pushing past Jay and Eclipse to get to him.

"I tried to tell you, but you were too busy arguing to listen." Shadow countered. He then turned around and held a finger up to his mouth. "And quiet down! You'll wake up Shiro before the hot dogs are ready!" he hushed.

"Hot dogs?" Emperion whispered, forgetting all about his anger. Shadow nodded before turning back around. Eclipse sighed and Jay shook his head. Once the hot dogs were cooked and ready to eat, Jay woke up Shiro and they all ate together. It was a quiet meal.

"So... did you guys pass?" Shiro asked, breaking the silence.

"Yup! Passed with flying colors!" Shadow exclaimed. "Well... most of us, at least." he then snickered. Emperion started eating his hot dogs faster.

"That's awesome!" Shiro burst out clapping. "What next?"

"We wait for a list of trainers to come, then we pick and get trained for another few months before trying to join a squad." Shadow explained.

"Mind introducing me to your friend?" Eclipse asked.

"Eclipse, that's Shiro, the bacon hoarder. She hides an excessive amount of raw bacon in her fridge. Shiro, this is Eclipse. He placed higher than me in the DAF entrance exam."

"I am not a bacon hoarder." she grumbled. Shadow raised an eyebrow at her.

"You have at least 20 unopened raw bacon packets in your fridge."

"No! It's only 15."

"Exactly my point! You have way more bacon stashed away than normal people do."

"What? 15 bacon packets is hardly anything!"

"For you, at least. What do you even do with all that bacon?"

"I eat it, of course!"

"All 15 at once?"

"NO! One at a time!"

"Won't your bacon go bad if you just eat it one at a time? You can't eat 15 bacon packets in a day. Not only is it bad for you but you'll get full after just one!"

"I eat them over time!"

"Why do you have so much bacon anyway?"

"It's bacon!"

"I know that, moron!"

"You're the moron!" Shadow and Shiro locked foreheads and started growling at each other across the island.

"Uhh, Shadow? When are you going to start making the cake?" Eclipse interrupted. Shadow pulled his head back to look at Eclipse, making Shiro faceplant the island.

"It should be done baking pretty soon. Afterwards, I'll frost it and all that and then we can eat it." Just as he finished, a timer dinged over in the kitchen and Shadow stood up to open the oven. He pulled out a round cake and prepared a chocolate frosting. After he finished the cake, he cut up five slices and placed them each on their own plates before setting one in front of each person.

"Dig in. If you want another once you finish your first, go get it yourself." Shadow sat back down in his seat and everyone began stuffing their faces with cake. After they finished their cake, everyone sat in a circle in Shadow's room. Each had a hand of cards. In the middle of them were two stacks of cards, one backside up, the other front side up.

"Mmmmm. Mmmmm." Emperion was staring intently at his hand of cards.

"Emperion, you have a very serious face for just a game of cards." Shadow stated.

"Shush! I'm trying to focus." he hushed. Shadow waited for him to make his move but he continued to stare at his cards. An idea crossed Shadow's mind and he secretly levitated a pillow behind his back. Once it was within reach, he chucked it at Emperion, hitting him square in the face, knocking him backwards. Emperion removed the pillow from his face and glared at Shadow, who was standing up, hands behind his back and a smile on his face.

"What was that for?" he yelled.

"Lighten up a bit. Tonight's a night to relax, not get stressed over cards." Shadow explained in a cheery tone.

"Oh yeah? How's this for relaxing?" As he finished his sentence, Emperion threw the pillow back at him.

"You are so asking for it." Shadow grinned as the pillow slid from his face. He cast a protective spell over everything in the room before launching a counter attack, and in an instant, the room was a flurry of flying pillows.