"Master Nana! I thought you went on a mission with Ragna." Khay struggled to speak, glued to his godly physique stood between the two boys.
"Youngsters! I just returned from Gold Coast, and I immediately asked for you.
The two responded with silence.
"Lilith told me everything." He sighed in response.
"I know how you both feel, the pain of not attaining something when it's just within your grasp. When you gave it your all." He looked up to the skies, almost as if looking at a reel of his past.
"I know it all too well. After all, I was once just like you, in the same situation but when the odds were against me, I picked myself up and told myself there is always a way.'
"What exactly do you mean, Nana?" Trilith gazed up to his teacher.
"…." He remained silent. Then, he cracked a wide smirk.
"That's what you're supposed to do!" He screamed it out like a trumpet and hurled the two across and they went toppling like a stone thrown across a river; topple a few times and pushed themselves up from the ground and came to a screeching halt. They straightened their backs and stood tall, all the while staring at their beloved teacher. Nana cracked a pleasing smile. "Training?!" Trilith exclaimed, ready assume attack stance.
"That's how you're supposed to do it." Nana screamed at them from some 75 meters away.
"Just like how you didn't allow yourself to stay on the ground when I tossed you without warning, don't allow this to keep you down. Pick yourselves up from the ground. No student of mine is a quitter."
The two smiled at him at the distance in response his rather open but vague message.
"Though sometimes, you might have to stay down a little longer, but always, get up." He said whispering into their ear from behind them.
The two jumped back, startled.
"Master, how did you…." Trilith asked.
"Master, did you get faster again?" Khay followed.
"Hmm… Did I? Haven't I always been faster?" he chuckled. He took a deep breath. "Elements may be a key power to becoming strong in our world but trust me; you can become much more stronger if you focus on what you can do rather than sobbing on what you can't do. Get strong by your efforts, by your own means, prove to me… No! Prove to yourselves that you can make it. Let that be your resolve."
By the time he was done with his speech, the two teenagers were tear filled and sobbing; "Master." They acknowledged him and he walked over to them and rubbed the palm of his hand on their heads.
"There, there. Now, come! The Beast Integration Strain test waits. I'm more than positive you'll pass this test. Remember, there's always a way!" He led the duo back to the test grounds.
At the site of the second test, students had gathered around and civilians; relatives of students who had caught wind of the sudden and unannounced test had gathered to see the spectacle, murmurs and crowd cheers had filled the open area and Khay and Trilith made their way to their friends.
"Looks like it has already began." Trilith signaled Khay.
"This time for sure, we'll pass." Khay replied.
Han stared at the duo with much surprise. "You two look… lively." Lilith remarked. "What happened?"
"Hmph!" Trilith scoffed leisurely as he swiped his thump across his nose. "Just because we failed one test doesn't mean that's the end."
"Yeah." Khay responded.
"In life… there's more to life …" Trilith took a moment to clear his thought and his throat.
"Are you listening to yourself?" Lilith chuckled.
"Errh… No… What I mean to say is… There's always another way and better days ahead, as long as you don't give up." He leisurely hinted.
"That sounds a bit off… coming from someone who was sobbing not long ago." She said with a faint smile to her twin.
"Well, what happened?!" The much surprised and oldest of the Jun Brothers inquired.
"I'm not telling!" He said, delighted.
"We're going to make it." Khay responded in kind, his tone brimmed with confidence and determination. "Element or no elements, we stick to what we know best and what works best. Not to exactly bluff but we're both pretty well adept in the Battle Arts." He bore his chest out, almost proud as his thumb slid across his nose.
"Haha, that is true, you both ranked the strongest in our year." Lilith highlighted.
"I mean a bunch of idiots they may be but yeah, I guess you can't disregard that aspect they both have." Han added.
"You know, I am truly surprised they don't go around bluffing given their hot headed attitudes." She hinted to Han once again.
"Right? Maybe because what they are good at is the ways of the body, not the mind?"
She burst out in laughter. "That's right. That's so right. Oh that explains a LOT of things"
"You bunch of mean … Taking jabs at us for no reason." Trilith scoffed and clenched his fist, holding himself together as his teeth grinded, halting urge to clobber Lilith and Han on the head.
"I hoped you guys would find a way." She smiled brightly at them.
They both chuckled. "It was all thanks to our magnificent Master. The muscles on his face relaxed and grew into a bright smile.
"Though Khay seemed to have had a plan." He wondered. "What did you want to say?"
"It was the same thing, but Master did it better." He smiled.
"Let's make him proud as his students." Khay stretched out his fist and bumped it with Trilith, who was clearly high in spirits. "Ossu!" He exclaimed. "You really have to stop picking bad habits from Mikado-nee." Khay replied.
"What was that?!" A voice came from behind them. It was her.
"Mikado-nee" Khay exclaimed.
"Young Master, did I hear you correctly?"
"Erhh…" he chuckled
"I was in the house and I heard what was happening, out of care and love for you, I left everything and came to support you, only to see you badmouthing me? Is this really what you do to me when I'm not around young master?" She scoffed and pushed on her glassed into place.
"Since it's young master, I'll allow it." She threw a sharp gaze their way.
"Khay, Trilith, Lilith, Han, Lui," another voice came at them.
"Auntie Chislon."
"Give it your best." She wished.
"OKAYY?!!" Mikado grunted at them out of nowhere. And like an immediate and automated response, they all went; "Ossu!" In response out of habit.
"Now off you go… Young masters and Mistress.
They went off to the front of the tests line and joined their colleagues as the BIS test had already began.
"Mikado." Lady Chislon called out.
"Yes Ma'am"
"Don't you think it's a bit out of character to scold the children like that?"
"AH - - - I think I got carried away a little bit there… Haha." She chuckled.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Lady Chislon asked.
"Knowing those two, yes."
"My son and his friends have a hard journey ahead of them don't they?" she said, sighing. "Sometimes I wish things could have been different."
"Zen-jou..." A phrase Mikado hardly ever called out with escaped her lips. "The sands of time hasn't ceased their flow, I'm sure things will work out for the best."
She gazed up at the sky. "I must be getting old, worrying like this is usually your thing, Mikado."
"Ahhh… Zen-Jou Sama, you jest. You haven't aged a day." She said. "They'll blow through this second test that's for sure, I know my students, none is a pushover, zen-jou sama."
"Getting carried away there with this "Zen-jou sama" thing aren't we?" She said in her threatening yet cheerful way."
"Haha, certainly not." She pulled up an umbrella and opened it to cover Lady Chislon.
At the frontline of the test, majority of the students and civilians had now found their way to the event and eagerly stared on as one of the students sat on a bio-engineered chair that was designed to measure and facilitate the testing process.
"For those of you who just joined us, welcome to the Beast Integration test." Oueus addressed. The civilians and crowd filled the area with their murmuring. "Attention, it is very essential that you listen." He cautioned. "You would be deemed fit for beast integration if you reach or surpass the set mark. The beast strain indicator would turn green if it reached BI [Beast Integrating] zone, that is to say, you qualify and blue if it surpassed the initial green mark."