As we all stood in the governor’s office Juicy pointed her finger in his face and shouted, “What the HECK were you thinking not telling us that Jack is a shōkan? We were unprepared, we could have been killed!”

The governor flinched with every movement of Juicy’s hand in his face. I think that he was afraid that Juicy would blast him by accident or something.

Juicy continued, “He almost caught us off guard! If I wasn’t here and Kazai wasn’t a boss, we could have been killed! Our assignment was to capture a harmless thief, NOT a killer!”

The governor hysterically shook in fear, “I’m s-s-so, so sorry. You have to believe me! I knew both of Jack’s parents, and they were not shōkans. This doesn’t make sense at all.”

Juicy tightened her fists and jumped at the governor like she was about to hit him.

He said, “REALLY! It’s true! He never even showed A-A-ANY signs of aggression; he’d just steal stuff from us and run. He never attacked anyone! As a matter of fact, he was always a kind kid, up until a few months ago. I never imagined that he would attack you. And I really had no idea that he had shōkan abilities!”

Juicy angrily interrupted, “Well KNOW THIS! You owe the Umi Tribe 3 times the agreed amount!”

The governor bowed his head down and said, “Oh yes! That’s fine, I understand. I just don’t want any trouble, please.” Then we all heard a faint dripping sound. The governor popped up his head with his face red from embarrassment.

We all looked down to see that the governor’s pants were wet.

Juicy sighed and said in a calm voice, “Just send all of Jack’s records to the Umi Tribe; we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“What do you mean? Do you think you know why he has shōkan powers?” The governor asked as he slowly stopped shaking.

“Yeah, I’m thinking that one of his parents may be a former exiled shōkan of the Umi Tribe.”

“That makes sense: if his parents were secretly shōkans then he may be one too. Good thinking.” The governor said as he forced a disturbing smile.

As we began to leave, Juicy paused and turned to the governor and said, “Don’t try to act like you didn’t just wet your pants.” Then we all walked out of his office.

The governor peeked his head at us through the window as we walked out of his office and said, “Don’t judge me! I have issues…bladder issues!”

When we made it back to the Umi Tribe we got off of the shuttle and we walked toward the Protector Station. Jack had already woken up and the paralyzing needles had worn off, so we made him walk. Juicy was in the front, Jack behind her, then Broadie and I behind him.

Juicy turned and looked at us. “Lucky day for you Jack, you get to meet the Umi Tribe Princess, Lady Tuyette. She’s the one in charge here.”  

That’s when I noticed a tall woman with three men surrounding her walking toward us. One of the men was my step dad, Dan Siratchi. I didn’t recognize the other two guys.

“What up, Miss Lady!” Juicy shouted with both her arms raised in the air. “Is there something going on so big that you have to come out and handle it?” Juicy asked with excitement.

The Princess calmly said, “My dear Juicy, how many times do I have to tell you not to greet me like that.”

Juicy said, “You know you love when I do that!”

The Princess smiled and said, “No, I just I love you Juicy. Don’t EVER greet me like that in public ever again.”

She glared at Juicy as if she could see into her very soul. Juicy immediately bowed and humbly said, “Yes, ma’am.”

The princess addressed us all, “Well, I’m here because I wanted to kill two birds with one stone. I received a call from the governor of Mums Village and he told me what happened. I’m very proud of you, Juicy. You handled that with great wisdom and expertise.”

Juicy smiled and bowed. “And good job to you too, Broadie Junior and Kazai, son of Dan Siratchi.” the Princess smiled and turned to my stepdad, “You must be so proud.”

Dan replied, “Indeed, I am, My lady.”

“I’m sure you all know and recognize the infamous, Dan Siratchi here. So, allow me to introduce you all to Billy Woo: he was recently honored with the title of Shōkan Master. This is Dr. Kyro: he is our lead scientist, specializing in genetics. Billy and Dr. Kyro are here to escort Jack to the lab and possibly his prison chambers. Dr. Kyro is going to run a few tests on him to figure out if he’s a shōkan or not.”

Jack began laughing hysterically. “Shōkan? You think that I am a shōkan? I can tell you right now that I’m not a shōkan!”

Juicy said, “Liar, you spat ice blades at us! How else could you have done that?”

The princess slowly began to approach Jack and looked him in his eyes and said, “No other tribe can summon ice but the Umi Tribe, so that only leaves one other alternative.”

Jack began laughing even louder, “HAHA! That’s right!”

The princess bent over and grabbed Jack by his shirt and pulled him closer to her face, “Are you telling me that you are a hybrid?”

Jack smiled, “Give the dog a bone!”

We were all in shock. Dan reached for his blades. Juicy took a step back. Billy changed his stance to a fighting position.

The Princess smiled and let go of Jack as she stood tall and said, “In case you didn’t know, we have a zero toleration policy for hybrids here in the Umi Tribe. And just in case your simple mind can’t comprehend. That means that you are about to die.” The princess pointed her index and middle fingers at Jack’s face.

Dr. Kyro stepped in between them, “Please don’t be hasty, your Excellency. He’s obviously lying. Just look at him. I was around back in the hybrid days, and I’m positive that I’ve never even seen a humanoid hybrid that has zero beast qualities. Look at him! He has no scales, no horns. He barely has muscles. He’s a joke! I’m sure that he was just attempting to get under your skin. Please allow me to take him in and run a few tests on him so that we can get to the bottom of this.”

The Princess smiled and said, “Maybe you can run an autopsy after I kill him.”

The Doctor said, “I’d rather not.”

“Very well . . . take him. And be sure to get those results to me ASAP!”

Dr. Kyro bowed and said, “It’s my number one priority, your Excellency.”

The Princess began to walk away, “Juicy, you are coming with me and Dan. I have another mission for you.”

Juicy smiled and skipped behind the Princess, “YES! Does this mean that my punishment is over and I don’t have to do lower ranking assignments anymore?”

The princess just smiled and kept walking.

As we handed Jack over to the Doctor and Billy, Jack smiled and whispered, “Hello, Doctor.”

Then Billy asked, “Dr. Kyro, do you know this man?”

The doctor laughed, “Ha! As if I would be associated with the likes of someone like him.”

Next Chapter: BIZARRE GUESTS