Joey's head bopped around in the front seat, they were cruising in an 18-wheeler truck down the high way 1 o'clock in the evening. The sun shone on the road and created surreal mirages on the highway.
Ms Sina was really full of surprises, when Joey saw her climbing into an 18-wheeler he never knew she owned a truck, he watched her use a conveyor belt to lift the beasts into the trailer.
Now they were on the highway and watching her switch gears in an 18 wheeler was preternatural, but she did it with ease.
Ms Sina, what are we going to do when we get there?" Joey finally asked.
"We are going to Skyfall midpoint, they take care of all business on the island and all of the South America archipelago".
Joey facepalmed realizing she heard wrong, then asked "Sky Military Base?"
"Do you know anything kid?" Sina asked rhetorically then sighed "Sky Military bases are divided around the world, Skyfall is in the south, Skyrise and WestSky and EastSky MIlitary bases speak for themselves.
Since you are gonna take part in the Sky Academy Tournament, you would spend 3 years at the Sky Academy and learn the ins and outs of Military Warfare on 9 skies then you get accepted into Skyfall base as a cadet."
"So are there more Sky Academy Tournaments?" Joey asked.
"Of course, Every Cardinal Base has one." She took a pause and said.
"Lemme tell you this, You don't have to win the Sky Academy Tournament. You just need to make them want you for one reason or the other.
Winning will be extremely hard because children that are already in the Sky Academy are allowed to fight in it and that will sour your chances. Especially children from the 1st Families, those guys are demons."
He wanted to ask about what 1st families were but he allowed Sina to continue.
"2nd Families are another set of assholes. I wonder what kind of women they get to pump out children like that, but they still couldn't touch me, hahaha," Sina cackled wiping off the tears from her laughter.
"What?"
"Forget that last bit, just train a little harder because people from first families have superpowers even though they are the same age as you. That's part of why they are so great."
Joey was surprised that people were actually that much stronger than him, them being able to unlock their powers this young was something that he found hard to believe.
He always thought himself strong from the constant butchering with a dulled blade at his Uncle paired with the training that he was given, he never saw himself losing to someone his age.
But the fact that they unlocked superpowers meant they could beat him easily, they wouldn't use pure martial arts as a courtesy.
Joey wanted to learn more about how the first families worked but he wasn't able to ask, he only heard Sina say "look alive, we're here", as she drove toward the gate.
Joey looked up but couldn't help but react to the way she said look alive 'look alive", he made him wonder if she was a part of the military.
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Pulling up to the first entrance they were stopped.
"Restricted Area, We need you to show us some ID if you're gonna get past the gate", said a large bulky man in green uniform, his voice was deep which made it sound like he was shouting and he had a serious expression.
Sina took a business card out of her purse and showed it to him, "I'm on business with a lieutenant here" she said with a rare smile.
"Mam, If I let anyone that said they were on business, I would've lost my job ages ago." the soldier said in a deadpan tone.
She pulled something shiny from her purse, she tried her best to hide it but Joey's side glance eyes tracked it like a hawk and managed to see it was some sort of pendant. The man's face went pale, Joey only heard "Yes Mam".
The massive gate jerks open and allows the truck to go past, Joey wanted to ask about what she showed the man to let a man that bumptious turn into a mouse in less than a second.
As they moved past the gate, Joey saw the Sky base was situated out on the cape in the distance, the aqua blue waves roared, washing up on the pale yellow sand. The road was lined with sea rocks, It seemed like a resort that any hotels would kill for.
The clean ocean breeze gusted through the truck and the salty smell filled him with ecstasy, Joey felt like it was summer in spring.
They got stopped twice more and Joey saw Sina follow the same process not saying anything more just pulling the shiny pendant he managed to get a better look at it from his side-eyes.
The further in the went Joey could start to hear the blast and shockwaves coming from further land, the vibrations were what caused the waves further outland, the military base was out on a cape[1] and it was armed to the T with Boosted M7 Howisters with H E L L written on it,
The sand was lined with people fighting in military martial arts, they were constantly sergeant shouting in their face, while some were throwing energy grenades that kicked up 40km winds. They pulled around into the main building and Sina used her same strategy to pass all the gates.
'Don't you have any questions kid?' Sina asked, seeing him immersed in the activities along the coastline.
Joey quickly pointed on the M7 Howisters with H E L L and asked "why does that Howitzer have hell on it?"
She looked at it and smiled "Cuz if you get hit that's the only place yer going, bahahaha", she laughed as her body quaked; then asked, "Aren't you gonna ask what we're doing here?"
"I did, all the way here and before we left and all you said was business" giving a mental facepalm.
"Oh-ho, I see," she said realizing her blunder, she paused then said, "We are going to see something special".
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[1] Cape - A cape is a high point of land that narrowly extends into a body of water.
(AN: Will elaborate on South American archipelago)