Smoke dances through the air as it leaves Choo´s mouth-drifting to the nearby open window, making its way inside the room

"How many times do I have to tell you to not smoke indoors … Professor Choo ?"

"Jeez, Gael…can you not today? I´m not in a good mood today…

"My deepest condolences! ….I will turn a blind eye this time, but don't expect to keep using it as excuse to break the regiment rules"

"Sigh…"Choo throws the cigarette bud away as he looks over the immense city surrounded by thick white clouds

"! … could you not at least dispose…" Before even allowing Gael to fish the sentence Choo sends a blast from his fingers disintegrating the bud leaving no trace of it left.

"Don't talk like he is dead please…"

"I apologize for assuming..."

"It's okay don't beat yourself over it...Lets go!, I want to end that meeting as soon as possible… Also ...have you scheduled the boy's assessment test yet ?

" Yes Sir!, It is due tomorrow morning in the C block research facility!"

"Thank you Gael, I know even though you are a pain in the ass sometimes, you are a trustworthy assistance!"

"…Thank ?...-Gael fumbles around her bag looking for papers on her purse and hands them to...

"I've brought the briefings for the meeting and wanted to take a look at them with you beforehand Pro…"-Choo Dashes through Gael with incredible speed disappearing into the long wall way.

(This guy…)tough gael in disappointment.

---

"oof, oof"-Gael reaches the door where the meeting would take place and cleans her skirt from the dust/dirt on it and tidies up her blouse.

As she excuses herself in she glances with a killer intent to Choo to be met with a trolling smile from him, Gael sighs and proceeds to shake her head in disappointment

(How this childish man reached Diamond rank still confuses me to this day).

Focusing her attention to the remaining 3 attendants of the meeting, Gael bows to greet them

"Head Master Julius, Chief Commander Boris... I am honored to be in your presence!"

Gael directs her focus to the mysterious man, dressed very plainly, one could mistake him for a normal resident, but in a room with such great figures there was no mistaking him for a regular person.

"I am sorry but I believe we have never made an acquaintance…"

"Oh yes! This is Ravago Yuri, he will be joining us today, he has some important reports that he would like to share with us all "

Ravago stands up and bows to Gael, sits down and with a very serious face speaks to the entire room:

"Has Headmaster Julius stated there are urgent matters we need to discuss, but before we proceed with that ,we need to hear from you, Choo… Even though it may be hard, seeing that he was a close friend to you … But the only person that can give us any information about Mirios Urake´s disappearance is you…"

Choo gazes into nothingness and sits with his fingers joined together in front of his head.

(I have never seen him this serious before, he almost looks like a different person)-Thought Gael has the mood in the room changed quickly.

"Yes… has you known Mirio was a very good friend, and I will do whatever it takes to find him…

I can't imagine who would be able to make him disappear and leave his children behind…"

"I see...Perhaps we should look into the matter of the mother?"(Master Julius)

"The mother has never been in the picture, Mirio kept secret that they even was a woman in his life, until he arrived with the kids from a mission…"(Choo)

"If I may Master Julius… we are currently launching an investigation to find who the mother is, but with no success, it makes it difficult that most of the details of the missions Mirio went are under classified information not even the Ruler has access to."(Ravago Yuri)

"Yes he would never go in much detail about his missions, so I never touched the subject of the mother…"

"Perhaps this mysterious mother came to take the kids back and was unsuccessful?"(Boris)

"I find that hard to believe, Mirio was not someone that could be fooled or overpowered easily"

"What a shame it is !that such talent is gone! If we find him I shall recruit him as a senior officer!, It's hard to find Master rank soldiers."(Boris)

Choo smirks keeping the cold gaze

"Listen ...I requested this meeting for 2 reasons gentlemen, and the reason that Yuri is here is tied to one of them …

You see, I haven't started investigating the disappearance of Mirio to take care of the children first…

…But the truth is…

...I am scared...i'm scared because i can't imagine the monster that someone would've had to be to make Mirio go missing…because…

…because he was in truth , a Challenger rank!"

The disbelief in everyone's faces was palpable, although Yuri must have learnt this information before, it was hard to discern if the unshaped expression was just his natural composure or not.

The current world has a system that assigns ranks to individuals with extraordinary abilities, starting at Iron then progressing to bronze, silver,gold,emerald,platinum, diamond, master, grand master,challenger and at the pinnacle of it all, Representative rank.A rank reserved only to those who can represent a nation.The cream of the crop, the 0.001%

Even though Boris was the Chief Commander of Dusky,he was only Platinum ranked, but commanded the Military with an acute sense for warfare.

"Cha-Challenger rank?!Even higher than the headmaster!?' But that is impossible!!! He would have made a huge shift in the balance of the nation's power! How come this is the first time I'm hearing about this ?"

"...Calm down Boris, We must not exalt ourselves"

" You knew about this Headmaster?"

"I had my suspicions from the earlier years Wishlist teaching him that he could reach far in the future, the boy was exceptionally talented after all ,Choo´s statement must be true"

(Challenger rank… only one rank below Representative The highest rank attainable and recorded so far?, Was Mirio really that amazing?) Though Gael was still shaken by the information.Because there she was a mere Gold rank assisting Professor Choo as his secretary,she felt out of place surrounded by such powerful people...

"Yes, he was a Challenger rank ,however , he never sought to get the certificate…. I wanted to talk to you about gathering the military and joining forces with the intelligence agency Yuri runs, Has this must be much larger than just the disappearance of an unrecorded Challenger rank…

I fear much higher forces are at move here"

"Indeed...troubling times these are, in all my years of teaching and even in participating in the 10 Th Great War, there was not such a strange occurrence like the one we have at hand"

"…Before we proceed, may i request to be appointed the guardian of the children until they are of age, as per Mirio´s will, and to have the kids attend the Dusky trainee School, Headmaster?

"That will be granted of course , you need only to ask, I reckon they will be in great care on your hands Choo"

"My deepest thanks Headmaster"

"Not that that's out of the way, let me recall the events of that night…"

(Fade to black)

Choo was thinking about going to a bar after a long evening of work, when suddenly a migraine shook him and he heard a voice inside his head.

""Brother!... remember that bet we made when we were teens at the bar?""

""Good evening for you too !, how have you been?Oh I'm doing Fine as well!""

""Sorry to neurolink you so suddenly, but about that.. are you still good for it?""

""Fuck me dry if i´m going to take care of your children! I have my hands full with the brats at the regiment! Hire a babysitter you jerk!

""Hahaha! Don´t be like that I promise I will make it worth your while!""

""...1 Billion Desih then!""

"" What!? are you crazy!?,What makes you think I have that kind of money?""

""Is what you will earn monthly if you get the challenger certificate mister bigshot""

"""You know I don't want the fame and the hassle , and it's so much work from there on, I just want to live a simple, modest life…"

""Fuck that ! if I were you I would have taken the examination years ago and I would be rolling in kama, and bitches.. omg so many bitches! …:D""

""Dear Lord! GROSSSS!You pervert! I can experience your emotions! keep it inside your head!

""yeah yeah ,it's what you get for using a neurolink to speak to me…wait, why don't you phage me? Is everything alright?

""So can you pick my kids for me at this location?I will meet you as soon as I can""

""So you are just going to ignore me huh ?""

(Choo head rings again and gets filled with information and locations has he had been there himself before)

Then he gets serious, drops the bags from school and starts dashing through the city to reach the place he just learned about

""Explain what is going on right now! You link me out of nowhere, send me a location in the outskirts of the enemy territory and request to take care of you children?""

""I´m sorry I can´t speak for much longer, I will explain everything nest time over some beers, so please just listen to me Choo, you are the only one I can trust, I can't ´t elaborate more they might be even scanning for bioelectrical information…""

Choo immediately recalled the days when he had to go on missions and changed to his crisis mindset

""… So it's that Serious…What on earth have you got yourself into this time?""

""..sorry it´s…""

""yeah… it's classified I know…"

Choo sent a powerful signal to is brain and tensed up his legs muscles to squeeze as much power from them as possible, and in a blink he was a few blocks further

"""Are you safe?…I'll help however i can ,i´m here for you man "

""I know ... take care of them while i'm gone, my dear friend…""

"I'm heading there right now!"

"Thank you"

"""Yeah , You owe me BIGG time after this ! so come back to pay me back!!"

"" I will!, I promise...""

Even though Mirio said he would come back, even he , an unrecorded Challenger rank could not hide the pain and sorrow from his old friend and let his emotions slip through the neurolink.

""See you soon ...my friend""

The migraine faded away and the link was cut short.

Choo was past the city border by that time, and arrived at the location half an hour later.

In a small house in a farm in the countryside, he could clearly feel the 2 familiar presences of his borrowed nephews.Even though he had not seen them since they were 2 years old he recall their aura clearly.

Soon after he knocked at the door and was greeted by Sora,his clear blue eyes made a huge contrast with the pure black hair and tiny freckles on his face.

""You are not dad ?who are you ?""

"Hey!Long time no see ,you sure have gro…" something was sent flying at Choo's head, he quickly dodged it and grabbed a joint when…

Realising who it was he rested the joint back at his pocket

"...Jesus!Kaito!,you sure gave me a scare there!("since when did I lose sense of his presence?I'm sure he was in the living room when i got close to the house…")

"How do you know my name?" Said a Similar boy to Sora bit his distinct features such as the lack of freckles, the girly eyelashes and the slightly blackened under eye,as if they were painted.

"I'm a friend of your father!"

The boy did not believe his words and pointed at Choo demanding proof

"Then what is the password?"

Choo recalled the information Mirio gave him a few hours earlier

"Wild Boar,Sick Duck,Pine Tree"

"Are you really uncle Choo?,Father said you were darker than us ,but never said that much,and he said your hair where like snakes coming from the back"

("That Mirio, he gave them a description from when we were young adults…")

"Yes it's me,i cut my dreadlocks and let my hair grow into an afro…"

"If it's you can you do the smoke thing please father said only you could do it in the entire world"

"Sigh...these kid"..."If that what it takes for you to believe me, so be it"

Choo pulled out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth and it lit immediately.

"Woaahhh,with no fire ??"Said Sora that was standing there bewildered but that simple fact

"That's not all...check it out …"

Choo inhaled and what came out was a thick white smoke that formed a dog, then amonkey then a small kid resembling Sora, then jump around with sora as he grabbed his hands for a bit then vanished into smoke again

"There you have it ,believe me now ?"

"Yes that was quite impressive, but when i grow up i will be able to do even more impressive things then that!"

("What a massive ego this kid has , even though he should only be like.. 8 ?")

"I bet you will buddy, now lets go we don't have more time to waste!"

Sora nodded and went inside to grab his thing's

Then Choo felt numerous of what appeared to be silver ranks heading their way…

Since he was near enemy bordes the neighbouring country must have sent scouts to see who was traveling near their territory with such speed earlier.

"Uncle??"Sora looked at Choo with a questioning face as if he had sensed the scouts and was asking on direction on what to do next…

("He sensed them as well?, not he must feel the bloods lust, but impressive still if that is")

"Kids ,im sorry but you will have to go to sleep for a while"

"If it's the bandits we can deal with ,I can help!"

Choo smiled at the prospect of having a 8 year old kid fighting numerous silver ranked scouts alongside him, it reminded him of his father for a bit,

But soon he exhaled the smoke from the join and it quickly enveloped the hole house and in seconds a whole hectare

""Second squad fall back the first has stopped all communications and did not respond to the last call…""The squad leader looked around to check on his guards and confirm their position but all he could see was a thick mist like fog that enveloped the whole forest, he felt dizzy, as like he had drank a whole mead galon… and sleepy very sleepy, and he went out.

Choo grabbed the kids and head back to Dusky

("It took me half an hour to get here at full speed,with 'bagage' it should take me at least double that...and I incur the risk of injuring the kid's while traveling at full speed…")

Choo pondered a bit and decided to take a carriage to the outskirts of Dusky,

("If i mask my appearance i should be able to reach it without much trouble,lets not start another war yet !")

Then he dashed with the kids and disappeared from sight.

***

The room was silent as they listened to Choo's accounts of the event's

("Such a sad event...i feel sorry for the professor...it almost makes me forget the tough times he gave me before…")

"So it wasn't you who killed the scout's on Harbby village"(boris)

"No, i avoided them as best as i could since i had to care for the kids…not to mention that it would be bad for our country to kill 2 full squads of silver ranks … enough to start a war over , since there was prior provocation"

"We figured that you would have had that kind of judgment Professor, but we had to confirm it, don't take it to heart…"

"There is no harm done Headmaster"

"we are still looking into who might have killed the scouts,our agents have figured that the killing wounds were inflicted by a sharp blade ,done with an extreme mastery to bout "(Yuri)

"Then I can trust that when the culprits are found we can gain some time on the negotiations treaties...we don't have enough manpower to go to war this soon…"

"Affirmative commander!, you will be notified by the intelice agency as soon as we are able to...now on the topic of the war…

...i have some information that will soon be public knowledge…"

The meeting proceeded for a few more hours as everyone was listening to Boris explain the information he just revealed.

***

Sora woke up as the light outside his room was just turned on,

"Uncle?,Where are we?"

Choo opened the door slightly, just enough to pass his head through,and softly spoke to Sora

"Hey there buddy, you are at uncles house now you are safe, you can go back to rest"

"Okay, when is father coming back?"

"...i don't know, but i will take good care of you two,so don't worry"

"..."

"Tomorrow we will set you up to go to school, would you like that?"

"We can learn about limbo like with father?"

"Yes and there are going to be other kids too, isn't that great?"

"Oh … yeah … i guess"

"Ok now go to bed before you wake up your brother too"

Sora nodded and looked at his brother that was snoring like an old man, then both him and Choo laughed a bit

"Good night uncle!"

"Good night bud"

Choo left the room and smiled as a tear slided down his face.

***

The day before:

A woman , sensed someone traveling at high speed, heading to the location where the house she was protecting was located,

She concealed her presence and followed the man quietly to investigate,

When the man knocked at the door she drew her sword from the hilt and was ready to dash from hiding at any moment, the man appeared to not have noticed her yet. She waited…

Soon after Sora opened the door then a few seconds after that kaito followed suit…

She observed, for a bit then sensed about 20 silver ranked scouts heading their way…

("They must have sensed him coming here earlier then sent 2 squadrons to investigate, but I can't have then been found here, should I take care of them ?")

As she pondered about how to approach this situation , she felt a huge amount of limbo energy being released and instinctively protected herself, as smoke was coming from the house she was watching just a while ago.

("This must be the man "He " was talking about… let's observe a little more…")

As she meditated on the situation, she picked up her mask to place on her head covering her face completely leaving only her thick black hair dancing in the wind.

(chapter end)