A new day dawned over the island with Jones fast asleep in his bed, cuddling his pillow and bedsheets like a child. His nearby alarm clock begins going off, prompting him to open his eyes and stop it.

"Oh man...I don't remember setting my alarm to go off this early. What time is it?" He groans, straining to sit up in bed, and checks the clock. "Half six?! Geez Jonesy you're gonna be exhausted today, haha."

A note was also attached to the clock, so Jones quickly goes over it.

"Good morning Jones.

If you're reading this I assume you're up. I apologize about waking you up so early but I have to make sure you're at least awake before 8am. However, I'll allow you to have an extra hour in bed as an alarm for 7:30 has also been set.

If you don't mind, I went fishing through your wardrobe and pulled out some ideal clothing for you to wear. Whether you decide to wake up now or later, please feel free to have some breakfast before joining me outside.

Yours truly, Midas."

Jones puts the note down as he sees a white vest and black shorts lying on his chair. He can't help but smile with a blush, pushing his hands through his hair while stretching and lying back down again.

"Heh... always one step ahead of me aren't you Midas..."

--------

Putting his used cereal bowl in the dishwasher, Jones lets out a yawn as he steps outside through the front door to be greeted by Midas. A table under a tent sat outside the house, a couple of water bottles lying around it.

"Good morning sleepyhead."

"Hey man. Sorry if I'm a little...late..."

Jones' cheeks turn a bright red as he looks at Midas. He too was wearing a vest and shorts, all in black with Ghost logos on them. He simply looks back, raising an eyebrow.

"Hm? Are you alright Jonesy?"

"Uh, y-yeah! I'm okay... it's just...uh, your clothing..."

"What? This old thing? It's just something I still keep in memory of the days of the Agency. Why do you ask about it?"

"It's just... well...you look kinda hot in it." He mutters shyly, his cheeks going an even deeper red.

Now it was Midas' turn to be flustered by Jones' compliment. His cheeks go a bright pink, overlapping with his pale skin.

"A-Ah. Is that so?" He chuckles lightly. "Well, thank you."

Midas takes a nearby map left on the table, quickly scanning over it with his eye before rolling it up and putting it in his pocket. He then turns back to Jones.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I'm giving you one final chance to back out."

"Of course. Why are you trying to put me off?" Jones responds, taking Midas' hands. "Do you not believe in me or something?"

"I'm not pushing you away my dear. I'm just..."

He sighs.

"Ah. Nevermind. It doesn't matter. I have faith that you'll be okay."

Jones smiles happily.

"Alright. I have a training session set up, but that'll be for later. To start off with, we'll get ourselves warmed up with a jog."

"Sounds easy enough."

"Ah. You say that, but I never mentioned where or how far we're going."

Midas takes the map out a second time and has Jones take a look. The 'jog' he had planned was a pretty long one in terms of distance.

"We're not lapping Pleasant Park a few times. We're lapping the whole island one time. With a specific route I've drawn out."

A red dot starting at Pleasant stretch out of the town, following some of the roads of the island. A few stray green dots were labelled too, with the red lining looping back to their current location.

"Woah... Midas that's, uh.... pretty far... don't you think?"

"Don't worry. The green dots are checkpoints. Jules is currently waiting at the first one in the car. When we get there we're allocated to a 10-15 minute break."

"Oh, right. Gotcha, haha."

"Come now. I may be athletic, but even I would struggle going one lap around the island without a break. I'd be a mad man if I did that."

"Pfft. If I get a break from it, then I think I can handle it no problem."

"Oh, getting cocky are we?"

"Maybe?~"

"Nevertheless, we're wasting time. Are you ready?"

"...As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good. Now come on!"

Midas begins running ahead of Jones whilst he trails slightly behind. As they approach the exit to Pleasant Park, Jones quickly manages to catch up with Midas, very red in the face.

"Ha! See? I've caught up with you!"

"Don't get too overconfident . We're still miles away from our first break station."

He speeds ahead of Jones, whilst he tries to keep up with his fast pace.

-----

30 minutes later...

Jules hums to herself as she lies on the bonnet of the car, soaking up the warm summer sun. She was wearing her summer attire and living her best life. Bopping her head to the beat coming through her airpods she stops and looks up as she notices two figures arriving.

"Ah, there they are."

Midas gives her a wave, while a very exhausted Jonesy lies back in a nearby deck chair and grabs a cold water bottle.

"Is he okay?"

"Well I did warn him how tough they are. But he didn't want to turn back now."

He looks back at Jones and smiles a little.

"Though... he's persistent and determined, I'll give him that."

"Are you sure you should be forcing him to run a whole fucking lap around the island? He'll pass out before you get halfway by the looks of it."

"No no! It's okay, I can handle it!" Jones calls out, waving his hand in the air.

Midas begins to look unsure about this whole idea and begins reconsidering.

"Hmm... maybe you're right Jules. Perhaps I'm taking it a little too hard on him."

Jones swivels around in the deck chair, putting down the now empty water bottle and listening in on the conversation. As they talk he looks down to the side, shivering as he feels a faint presence behind him.

"See Jonesy? They don't believe in you...so why are you even doing this?"

"Because I won't know my true potential if I don't try." He spits back at the voice in his mind. "They know I can be better. I want to prove I CAN be better."

Jones gets up and goes towards the siblings, the voice fading away with a low hum.

"Wait guys. Don't call this idea off now, we've only just started." He stops them. "I don't want to quit here. I want to prove that I can be of use to you both."

"Jones we admire your want to do this but looking at how you came up here on the brink of passing out, we're not sure about all this." Jules tells him.

"Aw c'mon. You can't just give up on me this easily. I'll be fine! I'm not gonna take giving up as an answer."

Jules and Midas look at each other before sighing. He takes out the map he had drawn out and looks over it, fetching a pen from his pocket and making some edits.

"How about I shorten the path by half. So we cut through here, then..."

Jones peeks over Midas' shoulder as does Jules. He was drawing a line that cut through the land, ignoring the bottom part of the island and being cautious about keeping their distance from the I.O bases and Corny Complex.

"Here. Why don't we do half the length." Midas offers, giving Jones a better look. "If, and only if, you happen to start having no problems with half the length, we'll try our luck at a whole lap."

Jules nods, seemingly liking this alternative idea.

"That sounds good enough for me." Jones responds, smiling warmly."

"Wonderful. Now come along. Our next checkpoint awaits us."

Midas rolls up the map and passes it to Jules before running off, Jones quickly going after him while she gets in the car.

------

Meanwhile at a nearby I.O outpost...

"Hmm...so he's the one the leader wants..."

A man with many tattoos and an eye patch over their right eye mutters to themselves, watching the two men and the girl from a distance with a pair of binoculars. The man in question was Joey, a new recruit hired by Doctor Slone to work for I.O. Although, they weren't everything they seemed to be on the surface.

Checking that no one else was around, Joey pulls out a tablet shaped device, a communication device, responding to a call.

"Joey? Where are you? I thought we told you to report back to us if you found-"

"The golden guy? Yeah I found him." They interrupt the caller. "Remind me again why we need him."

"He has a power. A power that can be of use to us Kymera. It's said he's a so-called descendant of the golden king, Oro." The caller explains. "If we capture him and steal his power, those puny humans will have no choice but to obey us!"

Joey looks back at the men through their binoculars, observing their figures.

"Just imagine how easy conquering other planets will be with his power in our hands instead of his." The caller goes on. "That 'I.O' will be no match for us then. And that man can join our other test subjects from the past inside our Mothership. The place he'll be calling 'home planet' for the rest of his life."

"You sure he'll be easy to capture?" Joey asks. "He looks pretty durable and tough to take prisoner so easily."

"Every human has a weakness to them Joey. We'll find his... given time..." His superior chuckles. "For now though, keep an eye on him. We'll find a way to lure him to us one way or another."

"Yes sir."

"Oh. One other thing. Try and send us a few snaps of him. Then the cover-up for his disappearance can come to fruition."

------