“Synchros’ power has been fully awakened in her vessel. The last of the Guardians is among us; it is time to assemble the others.”

“Synchros’ power may’ve been unlocked but I don’t think these ‘hosts’ are any more ready than they were a year ago. We’ve got a narcissist, a sociopath and a child with a hero complex – hardly a team capable of saving the world.”

“Perhaps not, but that is why they have you and why you each have us. This may be your first sortie, but we’ve fought this war before – we’ll see you through to the end my boy.”

“I suppose I’ve trusted you up until this point, I’d be silly to stop now.”

“Hahah, indeed child. Now go. Seek out the others that we may begin our work – the enemy has already begun his work and has us at the disadvantage. We can afford to dally no longer.”

“Very well Geon. Let’s get started.”

“Roun!? Is that you?” Tyler’s excited voice blasted through the youngster’s phone as he reclined in the living room of his parents’ house.

“Yeah, it’s me. How’re you doing?” He replied casually, failing to return Tyler’s mounting excitement.

“Better now! You had us all worried sick.” She scolded, her gaze narrowing as she did.

“Yeah, sorry about that – stuff just kind of… came up at the last minute.” He replied with a light sigh, deciding that it would be impossible to try to explain his recent activities to his best friend.

“Apparently.” Tyler pouted slightly. “Kairi told me that your dad just up and sent for you – spirited you all the way back to Genaisa. He said he wasn’t even sure if you’d be coming back.”

“Oh I’ll be back; you can bank on that—” Roun affirmed. “—but things are a bit messy right now, so I have to clean them up a bit before I can head back to Merricent.” He explained. “How’s everyone else doing?”

“Not too bad. Nicola’s been bugging me daily; asking if I’ve heard from you, so I guess I can finally put a stop to that. Jinn and Elf are also super worried, but I’ll let them know that everything’s alright.” She replied with a slight smile.

“Thanks.” Roun returned the smile and nodded. “What about the kid – Nicola’s friend? Hope my last night with you guys didn’t freak him out too much.”

“Daito?” Tyler chuckled. “Nah. I think he has a thing for my sister so he’s still hanging around… and the more I talk to him, the more he reminds me of you, so I think he might actually have a chance with your favourite fan-girl.”

Roun just chuckled in reply.

“How’s Genaisa?” Tyler inquired now.

“Cold… very cold, but otherwise pretty good.” Roun started.

“So early?” She pondered, before remembering the region’s unusual climate as of late. “Oh right, its winter there already, isn’t it?” Tyler replied, causing Roun to nod. “But you’re a psycher though, your braver form should be able to handle the cold, no sweat.” She added.

“Yeah.” Roun conceded. “Temperature regulation is pretty easy; it just takes a hell of a lot more energy down here than it did in Merricent. So it feels like all my abilities are constantly ‘nerfed’ – my brain’s running at half-speed and my senses are seriously dulled.”

Tyler just laughed lightly.

“Sounds like you need to buy a better expansion suit – one more suited to Genaisa’s crazy climate.” Tyler suggested.

“Yeah, my mom’s supposed to take me shopping for one soon, but she’s been pretty busy with… other duties.” Roun scoffed lightly. “So until she gets around to that, I’m walking around and training at like half-capacity.”

“Oh boy, you’re so melodramatic.” Tyler laughed.

“Fine… maybe like eighty percent.” Roun chuckled, drawing a light laugh from Tyler as well.

“Speaking of training, you’re missing out on a lot at school.” Tyler added, causing Roun to sigh lightly.

“Yeah, I figured. I’ve been training with my dad so hopefully when I come back I won’t be too far behind… but it’s still not the same as training with you guys.” He lamented, while Tyler smiled knowingly. “Ah well… at least I’m getting to spend some time with Seth, which is pretty good.”

“Oh yeah. How’s he doing anyway? I haven’t seen him in ages.” Tyler responded.

“He’s good. He’s grown a lot since the last time you saw him, the boy’s almost taller than I am now.” Roun replied. “He’ll probably be near Kairi’s height by the time he’s done growing.”

“Wow, last I saw him he was barely waist high – he’s what, thirteen now?” She inquired.

“He’s turning fifteen in December actually; don’t forget that he’s only a couple years younger than Nicola.” Roun corrected her, causing Tyler’s eyes to widen.

“Wow, we’re getting seriously old, dude.” She replied with the most mortified of looks on her face, causing Roun to chuckle lightly at her dismay.

“Yep, but hey—at least we don’t have to worry about wrinkles.” Roun remarked with a smirk, causing Tyler to smile slightly.

“Well that’s true. I plan to be old and super-hot, like your mom.” Her smile broke into a smirk.

“Eww, gross…” Roun scoffed at the mere suggestion that his mom was ‘hot’.

“What? Seriously—” Tyler just continued, ignoring his discomfort. “—if I could have your mom’s body at my age, I’d be so happy.”

“Will you look at that—I guess this is where this conversation ends.” Roun just rolled his eyes. “Good hearing from your Tyler.”

Tyler’s loud laughter just echoed through the spacious living room of his parent’s house.

“Take care Roun—” she managed to mutter between laughs “—and don’t wait another month before calling me again.”

Roun just chuckled.

“I won’t. My phone was one of the casualties of the move but I just got a new one so you’ll be hearing from me much more often now. Give the guys my regards.” He replied.

“I’ll do that.” Tyler nodded. “Be safe and hurry home.”

“Will do, Ty.” Roun nodded before finally ending the call and resting backwards onto the plush sofa at the centre of the room.

“Was that the girlfriend?” A familiar voice drew Roun’s attention to the foyer of his parents’ house and put a smile on his lips.

“That was Tyler.” He replied, but received no response. “So no, Seth.” He confirmed the previous assertion.

The target of his statement, Roun’s younger brother, just laughed lightly.

“Hey, I think that was a legitimate question.” Seth replied with a mild chuckle.

“Tyler’s been my best friend since before you were born. That’s hardly a legitimate question.” Roun retorted. “What are you doing home so early anyway, don’t you have school?”

Seth’s eyebrow tipped upwards, much as his older brother’s tended to, before he shook his head and replied.

“Dude, it’s Tennō tanjōbi ; no school today.” He explained, causing Roun’s eyes to widen slightly.

“Damn, it’s the beginning of November already?” Roun sighed heavily but Seth just laughed.

“Yeah, time really flies when dad’s putting you through the wringer doesn’t it?” He chuckled. “Speaking of which, how’s your training coming?”

“Decently I guess.” Roun shrugged. “It’s hard to tell without a frame of reference. Compared to Shin I started out a weakling and I’m still a weakling… so judging by that I’ve made no progress.”

“Way to go on the optimism bro.” Seth replied with a feigned thumbs-up, to which Roun simply chuckled in reply.

With this he stretched out his right hand, palm facing upwards, and allowed the ambient zeta to flow towards it. Unlike it usually did, the energy no longer flowed into his body before it was processed, instead coalescing above his palm and igniting into the gold flames of synchros. Next, he outstretched his left hand in the same manner but this time summoned energy into his body and ignited the appendage in green flames. Next he pressed his hands together and combined the two energies, before pulling them apart slowly. As he did, Seth watched strings of intertwining synchros and veranos dance between his palms, wrapping themselves about each other before slowly taking on the shape of a blade. The entire process took a few seconds, but soon the blade that Synchros had bestowed upon him had materialised in the space between his hands, allowing Roun to grab it and swing it a few times before finally dissipating it.

“Not bad for five weeks of training.” Seth nodded. “I don’t know many Bravers who can competently execute psycher, manipulator and summoner class abilities.”

“Yeah.” Roun nodded. “People usually pick up a second class by Heroic tier, but Shin’s been drilling me on this stuff pretty hard. My morphing’s still crap though—” Roun chuckled. “—but he seems to be letting me get away with it for now.”

Seth chuckled as well. “Yeah, dad’s quite the taskmaster – that’s why mom took over my training a long time ago.”

Roun’s laughter intensified. “Smart move – we don’t need them raising another Kairi.”

“True story.” Seth chuckled loudly as well.

“What are you two laughing at?” Naomi’s voice drew the attention of the brothers away from each other and towards the foyer, where they could sense the potent energy of the heroic-tier channeler and another faint energy signature.

“Nothing ma.” They both replied in unison before Roun got up and they made their way towards the door.

At the entrance to the house, they greeted their mother and her guest – the young Zadavia Moreno. Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards as the two women made their way out of the snow and into the house. As usual, his mother was dressed rather lightly, more than capable of regulating her body temperature during Genaisa’s winter months without the help of an environmental regulator. For this reason she sported little more than a sleeveless unitard, fur boots and a sleeveless hooded parka, drawing the instant comparison between her preferred attire and that of Jorna.

Zadavia on the other hand was dressed extremely warmly. As she entered the room, she removed a large coat, which revealed a pair of thick leggings over which she had pulled a pair of knee-high, fur-lined boots. Her thick leggings gave way at the top to a knitted, long-sleeved, turtle-neck shirt and a thick, long-sleeved, hooded parka.

“Where are you two coming from so early in the morning?” Roun inquired with mild curiosity.

“We just came from the mall; we were doing a bit of shopping and getting in some girl-time.” Naomi replied with a light smile, drawing the attention of the two young men to the floor next to the door, where a large number of bags now sat.

“Looks like we dodged a bullet there Seth.” Roun smirked. “Did you manage to pick up that new expansion suit for me?”

“Oh yes, I finally got around to it.” Naomi smiled. “Zadavia actually helped me pick it out.” She added, prompting the most mortified look to dawn on Zadavia’s face while Roun started to look equally uncomfortable.

“…there are no words, ma.” Roun sighed heavily, as he raised his hand and rested his face in his palm. “No words…” He continued to mutter, much to Naomi’s and Seth’s amusement.

“Welcome to what I have to put up with, every day.” Seth laughed lightly, while Naomi searched through the bags for the undergarment.

“Here it is.” She stated pleasantly as she handed Roun the bag.

“Thanks.” He nodded, as he took it. “I’m going to go take an extremely long time to put this on – feel free to leave before I get back.”

Seth just laughed. “Not going to happen dude.”

“You didn’t tell him?” Naomi inquired to Seth, who just shook his head.

“I didn’t get a chance before you guys came in.” He replied casually.

“Tell me what?” Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards.

“Your father didn’t actually give you the day off from training.” Naomi sounded, causing Roun’s eyebrow to drift upwards even further. “He just gave you the day off training with him.” She emphasized. “The last couple weeks have been to bring your combat abilities up to par but there’s more to Synchros’ power than its destructive capabilities. Starting today I’m going to teach you how to connect with the guardian spirit.” Naomi smiled. “So hurry back.”

“Great… so much for my day off…”