Wayne, with Kage and Unknown following, continue their climb to the top of Kirata Mountain.
"Ok guys, we are almost at the top of the mountain. Be careful where you step; it's going to be hard to see soon."
As the boys climb up the mountain, an ominous mist starts to surround them.
"Aye Kage, what the hell is going on with this mist? It doesn't feel right."
"Yeah, it almost feels like we're being watched."
"Hey guys, don't worry about the mist. Just make sure you watch your step!"
"Yeah, he's screaming all that when he's so far ahead of us. Is he even watching his own steps?"
"Don't worry about it; he's the expert, so it makes sense that he's ahead o—"
As Unknown talks while climbing up the mountain, he misses a step and slips off the mountain. With Unknown falling off the mountain, Wayne thinks fast.
"Oh shit, I told you to watch your step. Lex, hurry, catch him."
Lex unshrinks and stretches one of his tails to catch Unknown. Lex wraps his tail around Unknown's waist and pulls him up to where Wayne is climbing.
"Damn, that was close. Are you okay Unknown?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Lex, for catching me."
"Grrr"
"Hey, that's not fair now. Both of you are ahead of me!"
"Haha, maybe next time you'll climb faster, loser!"
"You son of a bitch, you cheated; don't make me blast you with some energy!"
"Go ahead and try; I guarantee you will miss with all this mist in the way!"
Hey, you two, stop arguing; we're almost at the top, so let's go."
"Wait, wait, why don't we just use Lex to fly us up to the top?"
"Bro Wayne has already been over this; with three of us here, flying might make it harder for us to get to the beast king!"
"But why, though it doesn't make any sense?"
"Don't worry, Kage. I promise it will make sense in a moment."
Wayne starts jumping up the mountain with no fear of falling.
"Wait, what the hell could he have done the entire time?"
"Aye, Kage, you better hurry up before you're the last up the mountain."
Unknown starts to climb faster, leaving Kage with a long way to climb. As Wayne and Unknown edge closer to the top of the mountain, Kage starts to think to himself.
"Be last. Hell no, I'll make it to the top of this mountain before you, even if it kills me. Wait, I know what to do."
Kage activates level one and starts flowing OGI into his legs. Kage grabs on tight to the side of the mountain and gets into a running position. As Kage gets into position, Unknown looks down at him in confusion.
"Don't tell me he's actually planning on doing what I think he's doing."
"Accelerate!!!"
Kage, using the accelerate technique, starts running at full speed up the mountain. Kage quickly passes by Unknown and Wayne.
"holy shit I'm moving fast, but I can't stop running or I'll fall off the mountain."
Kage runs at full speed until he eventually reaches the top of Kirata Mountain.
"Yes, I'm first place. Take that Unknown! Wait, but what the hell is up with all this mist? I can't see shit."
Wayne finally made it up the mountain a minute after Kage. Wayne sees Kage staring at the mist in confusion.
"Yeah, it's a lot of mist, isn't it? Don't worry, we will get to the beast King when Unknown gets up here."
Kage goes to look down the mountain. When he does, he sees Unknown getting closer to the top of the mountain.
"Hey, slowpoke, you should probably slow down before you fall again, hahaha!"
"Shut the hell up, Kage; nobody asked you."
As Kage mocks him, Unknown starts to think of a way to get up the mountain faster.
"Ok, maybe I can do what Kage did and use the accelerate to get up the mountain faster, but then Kage will call me a copycat, and I seriously don't want to hear his mouth. Wait, I've got an idea."
Unknown activates level one with an intense expression on his face. Unknown grips the mountain as hard as he can while the muscles in his arms and hands start to glow.
"Flex!!!"
Using the Flex technique, Unknown catapults himself from the side of the mountain to the top of it. While in the air, Unknown does multiple backflips until he lands on the ground. When he lands, he points at Kage.
"How do you like that, Kage? My way of getting up here was way more efficient than what you did."
"Oh, shut the hell up; no, all you did was make yourself a slingshot."
"An effective slingshot, you mean?"
"You OGI users are so weird, I swear. Both of you should stop arguing. It's time to get to Pops."
Kage and Unknown stop their bickering and listen to what Wayne has to say.
"Ok, now that I've got both of your attentions, the only way to get through this mist is by yelling a password."
"Alright, password, so what is the password?"
"Shhh, Kage, I think he's about to do it."
Wayne looks around ominously and inhales slowly. Wayne exhales and shouts out.
"Arcta!!! The password is Come forth, man of ambition!"
All of a sudden, all the mist in the area cleared and revealed a huge cave with a tree growing out of it. Kage starts to look around in confusion.
"What the hell, the mist is just gone. I can even see Kirata village from up here now that the mist is gone."
"Yeah, that's how it's supposed to be. Since my pops wants to be hidden from the world but still be able to watch over the Moro zone, his assistant Arcta uses his abilities to make a special mist that no one can see from the outside. Also, the mist is impossible to get through without the password I just used."
"Yes, that is right, Wayne. I see you have gotten better at explaining things to others. Good job."
Both Kage and Wayne look at the entrance of the cave in shock as Arcta and The Beast King walk out on all fours.
"What the hell, that's a big ass dog."
The second those words came out of Kage's mouth, Wayne turned around and punched him in the face. The punch did little to no damage to Kage.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that out of nowhere, but I refuse to let you disrespect my Pops by calling him a dog."
"Damn, dude, I didn't expect you to swing at me like that."
"Wayne!!!! Apologize to your friend right now; I don't need you to speak for me."
"Of course you don't; I jumped the gun a little bit."
Wayne turns to Kage with a face of respect.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have hit you all of a sudden; my actions weren't necessary."
"Nah, man, it's all cool. I shouldn't have called your Pops a dog."
"Yeah, that was pretty insensitive of you, Kage. Maybe next time you'll have enough brain to think before you speak."
"Unknown, shut the hell up; you're not part of this conversation."
As Kage and Unknown once again bicker with each other, Arcta waddles over to Wayne.
"Kakakaka"
"Oh hello, Arcta, it's been a while, but I see your mist technique is still as effective as ever."
"Kakaka"
Arcta puts out his flippers, and Wayne firmly shakes his flippers. Kirata walks over to Wayne with a serious expression.
"Wayne I think it's time for me to test your ambition."
"???"
"I would like you to meet someone who's going to help me see how much you've grown in the past two years. Ok, you can come on out now!"
From the same cave, Kirata and Arcta walked out of a six-foot pale-skinned man with yellow hair and black spots all over him slowly stepped out of the cave.
"This man right here is Kev. A year ago, I found him beat up and unable to move. I took him in, and he's been living here ever since."
"Hmm, interesting. Hello Kev, it's nice to meet you."
"Hehehe, so you're the level zero with no ambition I've been hearing about."
"???"
"Wayne, listen up. I knew you would be coming back here soon, so I've been preparing Kev here to fight you since he's an OGI user."
"What??"
"He's a level one, to be exact. I wanted to see if I could help him reach level two before you arrived, but I can't complain since he's already pretty strong."
"Wait, Pops, what are you trying to say?"
"What I'm saying is that if you want to get back into that cave, you have to beat Kev. I remember when you said, You can't go to Grava Academy because you're a level zero, so the perfect test is fighting an OGi user."
"Hehehe, you heard that you have to do the impossible to officially return home."
Kev starts to smile with overconfidence. Wayne, with a blank facial expression, walks up to Kev and gets in his face.
"Sorry, but I'm going to have to beat you down now."
Chapter 26 end