Benny leaned at the door, letting off a shuddering puff.

“What was that all about? And this book…” The mysterious book formed a significant lump in his bag so Benny could feel it from the inside. “Just what is this thing?”

“Benjamin?” Mom appears at the doorway of the kitchen. “You’re still here, honey? I thought you left already?”

“Oh well, Abuela wanted to talk to me for a bit.”

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Benny to jump in fright, thinking it was the book in his bag. Only to realize that it came from front door.

“Now who could that be?”

“It’s only Pablo, Mom!” Benny said quickly as he makes his way to the door.

Benny opens the door and finds Ace standing already on the porch, looking very irritated.

“Err…morning?” Benny gave him a wan smile.

“Don’t ‘morning’ me! What took you so long?” He snaps at Benny, who flinches in response to his loud voice, “Did you stay up all night at that party?”

“No, and I rather not speak about last night’s party.”

“Good morning, Pablo! A little energetic this morning?” says Mom, as she walks up behind him.

Ace does a double-take, clearly surprised to find Benny’s mother standing there, “Morning Mrs. E! I’m here to pick Ben up!”

“We’ll be going now! Bye Mom!” Benny snatches up his shoes, pushes Ace out the door.

As soon as they were out the door, Benny sits by the porch steps to put his shoes on.

“So what took you so long? It’s rude to keep people waiting-”

Benny cleanly cut him off, “Abuela wanted to talk to me for a bit. She was annoyed that you kept texting…”

Ace suddenly begins to backtrack. He knows full well that even Mr. Unos was deathly afraid of Abuela. “Oh, um, okay…sorry about that. But Pop’s gonna grill us both for the next barbecue night if you don’t hurry up!”

“I think I can convince him not to ‘grill’ me but I think it’s you who has the problem.”

Ace quickly regained his composure, “Dang right! Now hurry up!”

The two boys quickly headed for the next door’s garage where Ace’s father, Mr. Unos (or as he is more popularly called Chief Unos as he is the head of security of the company he works for) was waiting for them in the driver seat of his company car.

“We’re here, Pops!”

Chief Unos leaned out of the window, looking rather irritated and impatient as his son was earlier, “Took you boys long enough!”

“Sorry, Chief Unos…” Benny apologized, “Abuela wanted to speak to me so I-”

“Y-you mean, M-Madam Estrella?” Chief Unos stuttered, looking quite uncomfortable, “Well, if she wanted to talk to you who am I to argue! Well, hurry up and get in the back or we’ll be late.”

Benny and Ace looked at each other. Abuela was probably one of the only few people the Chief Unos was afraid of (next to his wife, that is). According to Ace it was because he fell of a ladder onto her flower beds a years back and got a “scolding” he would never forget. Ace never knew what exactly transpired and couldn’t tell him, Benny was sure he had heard his dad say that the shovel in the garden shed took a strange shape after that incident.

“Don’t you have to be reporting to the company at this hour, Chief Unos?” asks Benny as he and Ace climbed on to the back seat of the car.

“Don’t worry kiddo. I have something to personally report and deliver to Mr. Perlasreyna anyway so taking you boys there will be like killing two bird with one rock!”

“It’s stone, Pops. Not rock.” Ace rolled his eyes.

Benny snorted in attempt to keep his laughter down. Chief Unos has a penchant of saying famous sayings but getting them wrong every time.

“Buckle up, boys! As you know, safety begins!”

“It’s safety first! Seriously Pops…” says Ace, looking exasperated.

Ace had already put on his seatbelt. Benny, on the other hand, was fumbling around for the clip.

“You’re sitting on it, Crusoe.”

“Knock off with the nickname already.”

“Duck your heads. I can’t see the driveway!” says Chief Unos as he was revving the engine, preparing to back the car out of the driveway.

Chief Unos drove the car onto the road and soon they were speeding down the highway, heading straight for town.

“So Benjamin, I hear that your brother and sister are back in town?” Chief Unos asks Benny.

“Yeah, but Kuya Emmett’s here only for a couple of weeks though. He’ll be heading back to the US next Saturday.”

“You don’t sound sad by that though?”

“Err…No as much, sir. We still keep in touch through Skype.”

Technically speaking, they don’t Skype directly to each other. Emmett would Skype to the whole family and Benny would only say a few words before excusing himself to do something else while the rest of the family chatted.

Chief Unos shakes his head. “That’s not the same as being here physically though. I would enjoy the time I have with my own brother before he heads back to someplace far if I were you…”

“But you don’t have a brother, Pops.” Ace snorted, “Just a brother-in-law and one you don’t even get along with.”

“We just don’t see eye-to-eye, Pablo.”

“Yeah, and the last time you and Tito John saw each other it ended with a black eye. Two of them, remember?”

“Err, well, that brother-in-law of mine was always such a…”

Benny sat silently in his seat.

What Ace’s dad said really clicked on him. He and Emmett have never been that too brotherly with each other. Emmett was still too busy with his studies while Benny stayed to his own devices. Although what happened last night had really drew the line between them. At least for Benny, as Emmett didn’t seem to realize how bad it had gone on Benny’s end. He was still a little resentful than usual of Emmett at the moment.

“Hey Bro, you didn’t log in last night. Did something happen last night?” whispers Ace.

“I told you I could if I can escape Emmett’s ‘little’ discourse.” says Benny, rummaging his bag.

“Let me guess, it was that long, dull and boring?”

“I don’t know if it was boring to the adults, they were eating up every word he said. But I sure didn’t understand half of what he meant about those diseases he said he was tackling in his research. And he spoke for two hours straight! It’s medical miracle already that he didn’t ask for water the whole time.”

Ace snorted in laughter, “Wow, and just when school was out, you get a med school lecture?” he says, leaning back on his seat, “Couldn’t you have asked to excuse yourself?”

“I did but everyone kept on shushing me every time I tried!”

“Harsh. And I thought Pops could be brutal…”

“What was that, Pablo?” says Chief Unos, peering at him from the rear view mirror.

“N-Nothing! I didn’t say anything!”

Benny smirks at Ace.

“So what about Tom or Lilly?” asks Ace having dropped his voice to whisper, “Or even that elder sister of yours? How were they able to withstand listening to that? I don’t think science appeals to her as much as Kuya Em, right?”

“She wasn’t…she said she needed to get some rest saying she was tired from her trip. So she was excused before he even started.”

Although now that Benny thought about it, that was probably a ploy to get out of it. He was sure that when he woke up at two in the morning to get a glass of water, he saw her through the crack of her bedroom door that she was still texting on her phone.

“So it’s lucky her, huh?”

“Tom and Lilly, on the other hand just fell asleep on the couch. Apparently it was okay with the rest of the family if they fell asleep.”

“Looks to me that you got the worst end of the stick there,” says Ace

Ace didn’t know that half of it. Benny would never dare to mention the embarrassing part of Emmett’s discourse because Ace would never let him live it down.

“Hey Crusoe, you okay? You look a little run down.”

“Oh, nothing, nothing at all…and stop calling me that!”

To get his mind off things, Benny quickly rummaged in his bag and found a pack of salted sunflower seeds.

Ace eyes the pouch, “Sunflower seeds? Don’t you get tired of eating those?”

“Hey! They’re delicious and healthy!” says Benny, feeling a little defensive about it.

“Why don’t you try chewing some roasted peanut brittle? I’ve got some here…”

Benny quickly backs away, “Get that stuff away from me!”

“Whoops! I forgot you were allergic to them!” says Ace, takes a few sticks and stuffs the can back on his fanny pack.

Benny noticed that his mouth was breaking into a wide grin. Ace was clearly pulling his leg.

“‘Whoops! You forgot?!’ Did you forget the last time I ate peanuts? I got rashes all over me!”

“Relax I was only kidding!” Ace laughed as though this was something said in passing.

“Oh, you’re kidding, huh?” Benny grumbles as he watches Ace stuff several more peanut brittles, “You look thirsty. Would you like a drink?”

“Now that mention it, I am a little thirsty. You got some water there?”

Benny shakes his head, “Nope. But I have some milk if you want to drink down those peanuts?”

Ace instantly did the same reaction, albeit more intense. He jumped away from Benny, planting himself against the wall of the car. To which, Benny burst into a fit of laughter.

“Dude, that’s not funny!”

“Whoops! I forgot you were lactose intolerant!”

Ace looked annoyed for a bit before breaking into a grin, “Touché!”

“Pablo?” Ace’s dad called from the front, “Could you come up in front and help look at this road map? I can’t pinpoint where that beach house of your friend’s is.” he says as he pulls over.

Ace’s hand was already at the door handle when he stopped, “Wait. Why do you need a road map? Didn’t we install that GPS the other day?”

From the rear view mirror, Ace’s dad turned a shade of pink, “I couldn’t figure out how to work this damn thing! Just come and help me look for it!”

“Couldn’t you just ask for directions?” Ace crosses his arms defiantly.

“I don’t trust the directions you ask of someone out in the sidewalk! Now get in here and help find it!”

Ace was grumbling underneath his breath as he stepped out of the car. “So is asking help from a kid…this is why we have the GPS!”

“Just go before he pulls a pistol on you!” says Benny, in an undertone.

“Tasteful joke, Crusoe…” Ace whisper back as he gets out of the door.

Benny was about to tell him stop calling him by that nickname but Ace already closed the door of the car. Chief Unos also gets out of the car and lays the road map on the hood.

“It should be around Palm Cove.” says Ace points at the map.

Chief Unos frowned, “Well, judging by the traffic at this time of the day we should take this detour route but that will take us-”

Benny had to smile as he watched the father and son work together, feeling slightly jealous that he and his own dad weren’t close as they were. Jacob Estrella was always too focused with his work in the firm that he barely gave time for any for leisure, unless it involved his brother winning some award or something high social.

Benny leaned back on the seat. He had to admit the seats were comfortable. He felt his eyes suddenly getting droopy. It was still a long way before they would arrive and it was still early in the morning…

Benny closed his eyes and letting the sleepiness overtake him.

***

Tenryu Fyreroar woke up from his nap.

He felt a little better and recharged though he had those dreams again.

“That dream again,” he says as he stretched his arms, “Just who was that kid?”

He sat up and took a glance out of the window. He saw the landscape had now changed from desert to a thick forest. A forest filled with trees that were white as marble and with leaves that shone like emeralds.

“Marble Forest…that means we’re nearing Marble Town.” Suddenly, his stomach began growling, quickly reached into his belt pouch, “I know I still have some of that in here… now where, aha!”

He pulls out his a snack provision he always brings on his journeys: a meat jerky. Tenryu reclines on his seat and takes a big bite.

“We are now entering the middle section of Marble Forest. Please be patient as we will be arriving in Marble Town shortly in two hours. Thank you and enjoy your trip.”

A lady’s voice boomed through the loudspeaker overhead.

“Two hours? With nothing to do but to look at a bunch of trees…wish something interesting would happen right now!” Tenryu grumbled in his seat.

This is where we say be careful what you wish for.

KABOOM!

A loud explosion rocked the whole train!

The train screeched abruptly into a halt! All of the passengers were screaming as they flew out of their seats. Tenryu himself was thrown off his seat and collided headfirst into the opposite seat.

“Ow! What the blitz?”

He got from the floor, rubbing his forehead. Several of the passengers in the carriage got up from their seats, completely disoriented as he was.

Several thoughts coursed through his head. Were they being attack? Were there bandits raiding the training? What’s going on?

Tenryu was actually getting himself worked up for another fight.

Suddenly a man came out of the door, holding what looked like a weapon.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Tenryu yelled launching himself at the man.

“Wait! What-?”

He pulled the man into a headlock and threw him down the floor. As the man tried to get up, Tenryu slammed a foot down his chest to keep him from getting up.

“You aren’t pulling a fast one buster!”

“Um, excuse me…kid?” a passenger called out to him.

“Not now! Can’t you see I’m busy dealing with this bandit?” snaps Tenryu.

The passenger looked a little disturbed. “Err…that’s just it. I think you should look a little closely at who you’re beating up there.”

“Huh?”

Tenryu looked at his so-called “bandit” and his “weapon” except neither of those was actually true. The man was no bandit at all…he was the train conductor! And that weapon was actually a ticket clipper.

“Oh, blitz…Sorry, I thought you were bandit!”

Tenryu got off the guy, who looked a little livid.

“Offense non-taken,” The train conductor grumbled. Who contrary to what he said, looked as though he really minded it a lot. The conductor stood up and pulled a megaphone. “Attention, all passengers! We are sorry for the inconvenience but there has been a severe engine problem. So I am afraid we are stranded until we have finished the repairs.”

Everyone began to complain in unison.

“What in-?!” snaps someone.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“We need to be in the next town!”

“Mommy, I am hungry!”

“Not now, sweetie…”

The train conductor raised his voice over the hubbub. “Everyone, please calm down!”

Tenryu himself didn’t appreciate this news. So he went to his seat and heaved his bag over his shoulder and proceeded to climb out of the window.

“Excuse me, sir! But where are you going?!” The rain conductor yelled through the megaphone.

“Huh? Who? Me?”

“Yes! You! Just what do you think you’re doing?” the train conductor said in a really ticked voice. The passengers already stopped complaining and were staring at Tenryu.

“Well, the thing is waiting isn’t really my strong point. So I’m just going to head to the next town on foot!”

“W-what?!” says the train conductor, “You can’t do that! We are in the middle of Marble Forest! Dangerous creatures live out here!”

“I can take them if they come at me! Besides I’m a Swordsmage!”

“Who’s that crazy kid?”

“Hang on…isn’t that kid, Tenryu Fyreroar?”

“The one called Wildfire Wizard?”

“Isn’t he the guy who burned down half of Tindill Town?”

Tenryu got really annoyed at that part.

“Hey! It was those Redcliff Boneheads that caused all that, not me!”

Tenryu practically roared at them. Satisfied with seeing their stunned looks (although it looked like they were scared) he leapt out of the train’s window and began to head into the forest.

Tenryu ran deep into the forest.

The place was filled with the strangest plants and animals you can find. Take for example a horse that had antlers of a deer. Animals weren’t the only things different, so were the plants! In fact Tenryu was now jumping across several giant mushrooms that bounced like a trampoline. As he reached the end of the rows of mushrooms he leapt from the last one and headed stopped at a clearing.

He reached into his neck pulled a small golden chain. Hanging from it was a golden pendant set with a large red oval gemstone. He flipped it open revealing it to be compass.

“Show me the way to Marble Town!” he commanded it.

The compass needle began to spin and stopped. Its needle was pointing towards east direction.

“That way, then!” he says jovially as he follows direction to where the compass pointed.

He could smell the scent of the sea in the air. He must be close to the shore. Tenryu gave a great shudder as he did not like the sea very much.

Tenryu continued on as he made his way deeper into the forest.

Unbeknownst to him someone was watching from atop the branches. It was a person wearing robes and a hooded cloak and carrying a staff.

“And so it begins…he is in place” the person whispered. “And it is time for you to wake up, Benjamin…”