It had been a few weeks since the incident at Titan Academy, which had thrown all of Neo Brighton into chaos. The fact that the cataclysm, which resulted from Jayce’s reckless distraction, was one of the largest that the city had seen in decades had most of the population on edge – but that fact that it wasn’t a naturally occurring incident and one that has been incited by the activities of a single channeler had driven a wedge between the channeller and non-channeler population of the small city. What could have been considered a Mecca for channelers just a few weeks prior, was now an uneasy place to live for this extreme minority of the population. Much like Jayce and Xavier, who had bee directly involved in the incident, even those has had nothing to do with this latest cataclysm now did their best to keep a low profile. The streets were quiet and their occupants suspicious. For the first time in over a decade, channellers openly using their abilities in public were met with disdainful murmurs and sneers.

“It’s amazing how quickly things can change…” The young Geon host, Nikolai Amon, whispered under his breath as he found himself trying to navigate the ever-shifting maze of traversable streets through the capital city of Neo Brighton.

Just as they had been doing for the past few months, mobile barrier generators worked in conjuction with powerful DMZs to cordone off streets within the city, forcing pedestrians to be rerouted along snaking paths to any particular destination.

In this particular case, Nikolai’s destination was an unfamiliar one for him, but a frequent watering hole for his true target. After half an hour of detours and redirections, Nikolai finally entered the small diner near the centre of the city, setting his eyes upon a sight that had been missing from Merricent for almost nine months now. A smirk broke across his lips as he gazed over the small group of Roun, Tyler, Jinn, Elf, Nicola and Daito, all crammed into a booth, gorging themselves on junk food. Since he had returned some weeks prior, this had become somewhat of a daily ritual for the group of friends, with the young Synchros host doing his best to make up for lost time and catch up with friends, new and old alike. Unfortunately for the young Itami, Nikolai would have to interrupt the merriment.

“Roun.” His voice sounded from across the room, drawing the attention of the entire group to him.

Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards at the voice, not expecting to see Nikolai in this part of the city. Tyler’s puzzlement was equally visible as she too turned her gaze to the normally antisocial summoner, wondering what business he could possibly have with her best friend.

“Nik?” Roun’s gaze narrowed with his reply, before his eyebrow began to teeter upwards slowly and he prompted Nikolai to explain his visit. “What’s going on man?”

His curiousity was audible, but Nikolai’s characteristically stoic gaze gave nothing away. As always, his body language projected boredom and disinterest, creating an extremely confusing air about the young man who had sought this small group of channellers out.

“Nothing much, I’ve just got something I need to discuss with you.” He stated, watching as Roun paused and waited for the rest of the explanation – but nothing came. Roun’s gaze narrowed further as the brief pause was drawn out and the flow of conversation was disrupted by and awkward silence.

“In private” was all Nikolai would further specify, drawing a light grunt from Roun before he rolled his eyes and turned to his friends.

Tyler quickly flashed him a look of both confusion and annoyance, one which Roun promptly returned before they both shrugged in unison.

“I guess that means we’re going outside.” He grumbled, looking around at the configuration of the tightly packed booth that he and his friends had crammed themselves into.

Unfortunately, there was little space for him to manoeuvre through without having to make everyone get up. Instead, the young Synchros host let out another light grunt before allowing the ambient zeta flows to flood into his body. The effects of this were visible as his body began to glow faintly, enough to draw the attention of the old gentleman that ran the establishment, who began looking around at the handful of other customers that were seated about the small diner. Before anyone could say a word however, Roun engergized his braver form, abandoning his corporeal state and sliding through Jinn and Nicola to make his way up from the table without interrupting anyone else’s meal. With a light thud, he emerged from the technique, materialising just a few feet behind Nikolai and looking back over his shoulder.

“Alright man, let’s make this quick.” Roun stated, motioning for Nikolai to follow as he made his way towards the door.

“Right.” Nikolai nodded in turn, before turning back to the others present. “Enjoy your meal guys” was his salutation to them as he made his way outside, drawing nods and muffled grunts in response from the small group.

As Nikolai followed Roun out of the diner, his senses drifted briefly to the conspicuous voids that surrounded him. Much like the ones that had been used to mask the presence of Titan Academy’s Gaea pocket, the DMZs deployed in the city also served to dampen his preternatural sensory abilities, carving chunks out of the mental map of his surroundings that he naturally had as a channeler. This fact was not lost on Roun either, who just smirked at Nikolai’s distractedness as he made his way out of the sliding door and around the corner to a shaded alleyway.

“Things in Merricent have really gone to hell since I left.” Roun opened, causing Nikolai to nod in affirmation.

“I honestly didn’t realise that things were this bad.” Nikolai replied, watching as Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards.

“You don’t know what all of this is about?” Roun question with visible surprise.

“Not a clue.” He shrugged, causing Roun’s eyes to widen with shock. “I can tell you that it’s not Teros related, and the Order of Planet Harmonics hasn’t been called in to consult on it – so I’m guessing it’s not a spatial anomaly either.”

“Haima’sa maybe?” Roun suggested, but Nikolai just shrugged once more.

“Maybe—” came the reply “—honestly, I’m not all that au fait with these ‘haima’sa’ that you guys seem so obsessed with.” He clarified.

“Interesting.” Roun replied with mild intrigue. “From our encounter at the beach, you seemed pretty au fait with a lot of things.” He teased now.

“The Order keeps a record of the history of the guardians as told by our founder.” Nikolai now explained. “That also includes a history of the destroyer. So when it comes to Teros, there’s a lot that I know that you guys don’t. Beyond that, I’ve got a general idea on stuff like ‘gates’ and ‘gaia pockets’ but that’s really the full extent of it.” He continued.

“Fair enough.” Roun nodded with a slight chuckle. “Well, that clears that up I guess.” He added, before shifting his attention back the reason for Nikolai’s visit. “Well if you’re not here to talk about the haima’sa, care to tell me what this little meeting is all about?”

“Right.” Nikolai snapped his finger as he refocused. “I’m actually here at the behest of your friend Xavier.” He explained now, causing Roun’s eyebrow to tip upwards at the response.

“Oh, you’ve got jokes I see.” He scoffed lightly. “I haven’t seen X in months, and I can’t say that I’m upset about that.”

“He’s been laying low with his mercenary girlfriend—” Nikolai dismissed “—but given the maturity of my connection with Geon, I pretty much know where you guys are at all times.”

“Not at all creepy.” Roun interjected, but Nikolai just chuckled lightly in response.

“Be that as it may, I decided to check up on him since I knew that you were fine and Jayce is too far for me to reach him.” Roun’s eyerow tipped upwards at his last statement, an act that caused Nikolai to chuckle lightly once more. “One thing at a time Roun.” He interjected, as he saw the gears in Roun’s head turning.

“Right, right.” Roun nodded. “Xavier’s message; what did he want you to talk to me about?”

“Placements” was Nikolai’s simple reply.

“Placements?” Roun pondered audibly. “That hardly seems pressing at this point.” He continued with a slightly confused look on his face. “With TA functionally destroyed, there’s no telling when we’ll be able to complete this course and actually get certified for military service.”

“Initially I thought the same thing, but apparently that doesn’t really matter.” Nikolai shook his head.

“Okay, you’re gonna have to break this one down for me.” Roun pressed.

“Well, almost half the students in our program are already faction affiliated, despite not actually being legally certified for field service–” he started before Roun cut him off.

“Xavier, Kiara, Raen, Dana, Jayce and Rule…” He counted on his fingers now.

“Exactly—and these factions have a yearly recruitment cycle.” Nikolai further explained. “It’s really only a matter of time before they start filling the remainder of this year’s spots.” He continued. “In fact, I’ve heard that the Demai are already courting Kikoto.”

“Heard from who? X?” Roun inquired, wondering if the Lehomik agent’s information sources ran that deeply.

“No.” Nikolai dismissed the suggestion. “Ayana told Lilith, who told Kanrei—”

Roun just chuckled lightly.

“Yeah and if Rei knows, then everybody knows.” He interjected in between laughs.

“Exactly.” Nikolai just nodded in return.

“I’m still missing the part where this connects to me though.” Roun returned to the topic at hand; his confusion now visible once again.

Nikolai just paused as he thought about how best to explain the bigger picture.

“You ever wonder why Xavier joined with the Lehomik Military Alliance?” Nikolai pressed, watching as Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards as it tended to.

“Not really…” He shrugged. “I stopped giving much thought to why that boy does what he does a long time ago.”

Nikolai just shook his head.

“Well, there’s a pretty simple explanation for it.” Nikolai explained. “The boy is obsessed with power, and joining a faction gave his access to more of it.”

“I don’t follow.” Roun just shrugged.

“Kyasho Mirakama, Rayad Demar, Marshack Almed and Maika Smerkyov control some of the most powerful militaries on the planet.” Nikolai explained. “And unlike leaders of nations or rulers of kingdoms… they’re beholden onto no one but themselves.”

“Okay…” Roun just nodded as he waited for this all to start making sense.

“They’re also taking it upon themselves to seekout and awaken guardian hosts… which means that they’re personally investing in this war with Teros. It makes sense to assume that they’re also diverting resources and preparing their armies for whatever part they think they’re gonna play in it.” He continued. “Tapping into those resources—whatever they are—would help our cause don’t you think.”

“Okay, I see what you’re getting at.” Roun nodded.

“Exactly—and nothing would make that easier than being a member of their faction.” He continued.

“Okay.” Roun nodded as the big picture finally rotated into view.

Nikolai smirked knowingly.

“Now Xavier was pretty clear that we should each court a different military—to stretch our influence as far as possible collectively—and as coincidence would have it, the Demai and Lehomik are already spoken for.” He explained further. “Now, we’ve all known for ages that you and Tyler were gunning for the RSF spots; so given that, I figured it’d make sense for me to start courting the Xelots.”

Roun nodded slowly.

“But before I did that, I wanted to confirm that the Rogues were still your pick.” He pressed.

Roun paused briefly at the statement.

“Well, Tyler and I are a team—that bit’s non-negotiable—and she’s still dead-set on joining them, but I’ll admit that these days I’m not so sure.” He stroked his chin gently.

“Why the sudden change of heart?” Nikolai pressed.

“Their Commander and I didn’t really get off on the best foot and I’ve gotta admit that I question their methods at this point.” He explained, drawing loud laughter from the usually reserved Geon host.

“Don’t tell me you bought into their ‘truth and justice’, super-hero PR.” He retorted, drawing a sheepish smile from Roun.

“I should know better, but to an extent I think I did.” He nodded.

“That’s a bit juvenile, Roun, even for you.” Nikolai admonished him. “These are private militaries…”

All Roun coul do was nod.

“I know that… academically.” He paused. “Hell, if I’m honest with myself, I’ve always known that in my heart as well. It’s just easier to ignore when it doesn’t affect the people you care about.”

“I can imagine.” Nikolai now nodded in return.

“But that’s not your concern I guess.” Roun dismissed. “Either way, there’s definitely some stuff I need to clear up with them before I’m comfortable settling down with the faction.” He paused briefly, his mind shifting back to Nikolai. “Speaking of which, are you actually cool with joining the Xelots?”

His statement only drew a light chuckle from the platinum blonde summoner.

“I’m cool with most things.” He replied with a rather dismissive shrug. “My only real allegiances are to the guardians and their hosts – I appreciate the work that the Order of Planet Harmonics does and I like what the Xelot Army stands for in principle – but at the end of the day, they’re both just means to an end now.” He shrugged.

Roun chuckled lightly. “You are a savage my friend.”

“Not entirely.” Nikolai smirked in response. “I’d love to be able to be completely pragmatic like the likes of Jayce Falco, but I do have some personal attachments.”

“Oh really, do tell.” Roun pressed.

“An upside to joining the Xelots would be that I get to keep Brian out of trouble.” Nikolai stated.

“Bell?” Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards once more. “I didn’t know you two were so close.”

“Well… he’s pretty much my only friend—which I guess makes him my best friend?” Nikolai explained reluctantly before a sigh escaped his lips. “I guess—I just wanna make sure that wherever we end up, I can keep that fool out of trouble.”

Light laughter escaped Roun’s lips at his final statement.

“Well if any of these factions can claim to be boy scouts, it would be the Xelots—” he shrugged “—so if he’s gonna be out of trouble anywhere, it’ll probably be there.”

Nikolai just nodded in response.

“My thoughts exactly. Unlike the Demai who make new enemies daily, the Xelots Knights have been endearing themselves to more and more countries in the past few decades.” He explained. “Unless he’s unlucky enough to run into Jayce Falco on the battlefield, I feel like Brian would be well enough out of harm’s way with them.”

Roun just chuckled at the all too true statement.

“Makes sense, although Jayce Falco is a complete nutjob.” He shook his head.

Nikolai just laughed in return.

“He’s also our brother-in-arms.” He chuckled lightly. “So that’s some food for thought.”

All Roun could do was shake his head.

“Don’t remind me.” He sighed.

“Difficult working conditions aside, I’m glad that we’re at least on the same page.” Nikolai stated, causing Roun to nod lightly. “I can make an application to the Council of Xelots through the Order of Planet Harmonics; since they can confirm my status as the Geon host—” he explained “—and it should be a simple enough task to get Brian in with me, his combat scores have always been ridiculous.” Nikolai paused. “I assume you can contact Kyasho through your father?”

“Technically, yes.” Roun scoffed heavily at the suggestion. “Kyasho and my old man go way back, Shin is like a Father to the old man.” He explained before dismissing Nikolai’s suggestion entirely. “But honestly, I’d rather not go through him. I’ve been riding Shin’s coattails way too much for the last nine or so months. I’ll speak with Harry Benet myself about the reservations I have and if everything checks out, I’ll see if I can make it into the Rogues on my own merits.”

Nikolai just chuckled to himself at the sentiment.

“Sounds like you’re playing this on hard-mode, but whatever works for you.” He replied nonchalantly.

“Yeah.” Roun smirked smugly in affirmation. “I’ll let you know how things go by day end.” He added.

“That works for me. I’ll listen out for your call.” Nikolai nodded. “Until then, I’ll try to warm Brian up to the idea of us being ‘knights’.”

Roun just chuckled lightly at the response.

“Lead with how cool the armour looks.” He jested. “No way Brian is passing up those trendy digs.”

Nikolai chuckled lightly at the suggestion, before shaking his head slightly.

“Yeah, we’ll see how that goes.” His chuckle faded to a slight smirk, before he turned and began the arduous task of making it out of the capital. “I’ll look out for that call.”

Roun just nodded once again and watched as Nikolai cleared the area.

As Nikolai faded from sight, he whipped out his data comm and began a search for the contact details of The Garrison. His eyebrow tipped upwards slowly as it dawned on him for the first time that such information for these military installations were not simply retrieved from a website or directory of any kind.

“Hmm…” He pondered audibly; his gaze narrowing as he instead tried back channels to find the information.

Soon he was shifting through less savoury parts of the global information network in search of the information, but still to no avail. Confusion stained his face in turn, causing the youngster to stroke the thin tuft of hair on his chin before his mind drifted back to someone who would be able to put him in direct contact with the office-in-charge of The Garrison.

“Duh, Roun.” He slapped his own forehead gently as he closed down the variety of browsers that he currently had open on the device.

Instead, he opened his own contact-list and placed a call to the second number on his speed dial; waiting patiently as the phone began to ring. The youngster tapped his foot impatiently as the communication link was being established, listening to the few odd rings before and all too familiar face was displayed on the holo-screen, filling the projection with an unkempt face and a mildly annoyed look.

“What do you want?” Came the surly reply and a light growl from his older brother as he ran his hands through his messy, lilac Mohawk.

“Oh crap, I forgot that you were sleeping in today.” He replied.

“Good job.” Kairi scoffed. “I told you that I had two fights last night and not to wake me.” Kairi growled. “You’re not inspiring any confidence in me on this whole ‘saving the world’ front, kid.”

“Funny.” Roun scoffed dismissively. “I need a number for Harry Benet, I wanna set up an appointment with him about joining the Rogues.” He quickly changed the subject, causing his older brother’s gaze to narrow at the strange request.

“I thought you—in fact, I actually don’t care.” Kairi retorted. “I’m going back to sleep, call me again at your own peril.”

With this, Kairi ended the call.

Roun stood there for a few seconds, somewhat dumbfounded by his brother’s retort before a low chime drew his attention back to his data comm. As he turned his gaze downward, he watched as the ‘call ended’ screen gave way to a single notification; a text message from his older brother. Roun smirked lightly as he tapped on the notification, watching now as the contact card for Harry’s personal data comm floated into view.

Roun just chuckled lightly, before taking a deep breath and tapping on the card to place the call. As it had with Kairi, the call rang briefly before Harry accepted the link and his face was projected from Roun’s device.

“Roun?” The call connected to the sight of a very confused look on Harry’s face. “Well, isn’t this a stroke of good luck. You’re actually just the man I wanted to see.” He opened, leaving Roun stunned by the reply.

“Wait—what?” Roun, startled by his statement, quickly replied.

Harry just laughed at his response.

“I mean—that’s good I guess, ‘cause I was actually hoping that we could meet up.” Roun quickly added, still rather confused by Harry’s excitement to be hearing from him.

“Good! That works for me.” Harry nodded. “Where are you now?” He inquired, as Roun’s mind struggled to figure out exactly what could have prompted Harry to be seeking him out.

“Uh—I’m in Neo Brighton, at a diner called ‘The Watering Hole’.” He responded; the gears in his head spinning quickly as he tried his best to figure out exactly what was going on.

“Oh, so you’re back in Merricent?” Harry questioned, before muttering to himself under his breath. “Why does no one ever tell me anything?”

But his response escaped Roun’s senses.

“What was that?” He questioned, but Harry just dismissed the query.

“Never mind that kid—just stay put and I’ll send Hyaku to pick you up.”

“Okay, co—wait, what?” Roun’s exasperation was visible at this point, his mind struggling to reconcile his obvious good fortune with just how strange the entire ordeal was. “First of all, what’s all this actually about—and secondly, who the hell is Hyaku?”

Harry just chuckled lightly to himself at the youngster’s confusion.

“Sorry kid, unsecured line so we’ll have to have this discussion in person.” Harry simply dismissed his initial query. “As for Hyaku, you can’t miss him—he’s tall and surly with a long white ponytail and dressed in RSF fatigues. He should be there in about 10 minutes, give or take.”

“Okay…” Roun muttered in response, his mind running through the countless scenarios that could have prompted Harry to be so keen on seeing him at this point.

“Benet out.” Brought his attention back to the conversation, just in time for Harry to end the call—and rather abruptly at that—just as Kairi had done just moments earlier.

All Roun could do was sigh lightly.

“This is turning out to be a very weird day…” He muttered to himself. “Guess I should go tell Tyler the good news.”