We all stared over the edge as the Gatyri fell into the dark abyss. For a few seconds his echoing voice filled the cavern. Suddenly his screams stopped, then with a terrible noise it seems he reached the end.

I honestly don’t know how to feel. On the one hand, I am relieved that he is out of the picture. On the other hand, watching a man fall to his death is not exactly an amazing experience. But most of all I just feel tired. It is probably only three hours past midnight by now. And we have so much more work to do.

Breaking the silence, I mutter, “So … ?”

Roen looks at me and says, “We continue the mission.”

“Well yeah, but I think the situation has changed. We’re in a giant underground cave system with a number of unknown exits and more potential smugglers. We also have to worry about more than just Yimi now.”

Dee adjusted her eyepatch and said, “This is going to be a headache isn’t it.”

-

Dee was right. It did turn out to be a headache. But it was a headache in a different way for each of us. After taking a well deserved five minute break, we tackled the situation.

First and foremost, Yimi and the other kidnapped people needed to be returned to safety. Yimi in her yellow dress was clustered with the other young women, who were chained up against the wall. To my surprise it seemed, all the women were in good health and wearing relatively clean clothes. It seemed all of them were recently brought here, so the experience down here was a short one for them. Considering Dee’s sociability compared to me and Roen, the fact that we needed to have the mission poster approved as completed by a person in Pineton, and the fact that the majority of the victims were female, Dee was tasked with leading the group of kidnapped people back to Pineton.

Secondly, we needed to make sure any smugglers in the cave system were caught now rather than later. Roen was pretty banged up, but he volunteered to manage the smugglers until help arrived. I helped him move the smugglers we first encountered in the cave to the hub. Using the chains that once held the kidnapped victims, all the smugglers were now in the same position as their victims. Roen also had his rope back in case he met any more smugglers while down here.

Lastly, I was saddled with the simple, yet arduous job of reporting back. With how large that cave system could be, there was a good chance that many of the freed women were a long way from home. I needed to report to Suki and request some help from local authorities. And since we were all pretty tired, Roen and Dee would make their way back by dawn or in Roen’s case a couple of hours underground.

After helping Roen get set up, I ran to Pineton. While in Pineton, I woke up Ebenz and informed him that Yimi and a few other kidnapped people were going to arrive. After some profuse thanks from the man and his wife, I headed back towards the Yoshiga tree. I was in a hurry, but also exhausted. The pace I set was slow, but manageable and after some time, I made it back to the Yoshiga tree.

The sunrise was just beginning and its beaming rays were much appreciated compared to the dim moonlight. It was quite early, so of course Suki was not sitting at her desk within the gazebo. I knew that Suki and Imoto had personal little cabins in the nearby forest, but not exactly where they were. Searching around for a while, I stumbled upon a small log cabin. After knocking on the door, Suki appeared. She leaned upon the entrance way and looked me up and down.

She got right down to business and asked, “What complications were there?”

Was it that obvious? After looking at my blue outfit covered with sweat, dust, and a little blood, the answer was a solid yes.

I replied, “Well, Yimi’s kidnapping was not a unique case. After following the trail left by the suspects, we entered an abandoned mine. Within that mine was a tunnel that led to a large underground cave system. We found a group of men just past this tunnel. After interrogating them, we found out where Yimi and other kidnapped victims were being held. Then we -”

Suki interrupted and asked, “Wait, how large was this underground cave system and tell me the number of men within exactly.”

“Okay, the cave system had never been fully explored, but one of the smugglers said that it was covered nearly 300 kilometers, so very extensive. Oh and there were five men in the area past the tunnel that connected the abandoned mine to the cave system. Alright after that we traveled underground for a bit to reach the central hub where people were being kept. Once we reached this hub, we were faced with an unknown Gatyri and six other men.”

“This unknown Gatyri, describe him to me.”

“He was around Roen’s height, so maybe 1.75 meters (5'9''). He was buff, built wide you know, and he was barefoot now that I think about it. He had brown eyes, brown curly hair, and was pretty hairy. He wore a short sleeved white shirt and blue denim jeans. There were also a pair of strange blackish gloves that the Gatyri used to block and deflect Roen’s blades.”

“Hmm. I assume you fought. Was there an identifiable style or focus to the toyu the Gatyri displayed?”

“Yeah, he was able to pretty much manipulate stone. I forgot to mention that he was able to create the tunnels that connected the underground cave system to openings on the surface such as the tunnel in the abandoned mine we visited. He was able to use bonding to create walls of stones quickly with his feet. And that was mostly it, just stone walls for the most part.”

“Hmm. Is the Gatyri dead?”

“Yeah.”

“I know this may be difficult. But were you able to see the state of the body or eye confirmation of his death?”

I awkwardly shuffled and explained, “We uh, pushed him into a giant underground pit. It was pretty deep. I mean he was falling for a while, so I’m almost sure -”

Suki nodded and said, “Well, I’m just glad you are all alive and well. How are Roen and Devanna?”

“Dee is in Pineton and she’s fine. Roen had some bruises but for the most part was alright. He’s watching over the smugglers we caught. Oh, we are going to need help with them and the stuff down there. Along with the smugglers there was also a lot of contraband.”

“Is that it?”

“Yeah.”

“Good work. Now go get some rest, Kell. I can handle it from here.”

I then left and returned to camp, where I promptly passed out.

-

A light tapping on my tent woke me. My left elbow and chest felt tight and sensitive. Probably an injury from when I attempted to block that kick. And now that the adrenaline and everything else was out of the way, my body was recognizing the pain. I carefully got out of the tent to see Dee standing there.

She seemed cheery as she said, “Wake up, Kell! Suki wants to see us.”

I looked out to see that it was evening and the sun had recently set. Following Dee we soon reached the gazebo which was lit by an oil lantern on Suki’s desk. Roen was already there and he had some white bandages wrapped around his legs and lower stomach. His bandages reminded me that I should do something about my elbow and chest. For now I paid attention to Suki behind her desk.

We all formed a sort of line in front of her. With quick movements Suki slid three separate piles of money across the desk towards us.

After we all took our pile, Suki said, “Payment for the good work you all did. Each of you received thirty dollars. Three are from the original mission to find the young Yimi. And while the monetary payment is not much, the people of Pineton are grateful for your help. The rest is compensation from me and the multiple local authorities who were affected by the smuggling ring you discovered. And for the most part dismantled.”

Suki then opened a drawer of her desk as she said, “Your success on this mission may lead to more interest from the public in the future. Which means more missions. So I am making you full members of the Yoshiga. Although the sheer number of missions is the main reason, I want to let you know that I am instating you because I trust you. You have all shown yourselves to be semi-responsible, so I believe you are ready.”

With that she pulled three belts from her drawer and placed them upon her desk. These belts were orange and green with the top half being orange and the bottom half being green with a thin black stripe in the middle. They were made of a thick cloth and had the word ‘Yoshiga’ in white on the back of the belt opposite of the buckle. And the buckle itself was interesting. It was a large circle made of a glossy metal that was painted bright orange. In the center of the circular buckle was the symbol of the Ouro territory, a green Ouroborus eating its own tail.

Dee quickly swapped her current belt with this new Yoshiga stable belt. She tightened it around her waist, put her hands on her hips, and said, “Thank you, director Suki.”

Roen followed suit. But he instead wrapped the Yoshiga stable belt tightly around his bicep. The belt on his arm gave me an idea.

My pants had drawstrings, so I wrapped the stable belt around my left thigh and adjusted it so the buckle was facing forward. I thanked Suki, and she then dismissed us.

In all honesty I felt the promotion did not change much. But at least now, we were all full members of the Yoshiga initiative.