It was the day of my Commissioning Ceremony, and I was finally going to become a protector of the Umi Tribe. The tests were hard, but I managed to pass them all, even without shōkan abilities.

I didn’t have any close friends to celebrate with me, but one thing made up for that: the idea of my mother telling me who my real father is. I thought that she might finally be honest with me because part of the ceremony requires that you state both of your parent’s names. Stating the wrong name is like committing perjury and nullifies the entire process.

See, my mom married a man named Dan Siratchi. She even raised me to believe that he was my father. He was always great to me, and to be honest, I respect him more than my own mom because he’s the one that told me the truth.

I was around12 years old and Dan and I were outside. He was teaching me about spirit energy and the next thing I knew he told me that he wasn’t my real father.

I tried asking him a bunch of questions about who my real father is, but he said that he couldn’t give me any details because it wasn’t his role to tell me in the first place.

Although he was right, it made me upset, but now I respect him for it. I should have realized on my own, Dan never let me call him daddy; when ever I did he would always smile and say, “Call me Dan!” as if he were doing me a favor. My mom didn’t know that I knew the truth about Dan, at least not until the day of my Commissioning Ceremony.

My mom was never honest with me about much: it seemed that she only told me things that were convenient for her or she’d just say whatever she thought would satisfy me. So I don’t know why I did it, but I decided to ask her who my real father is. My excuse was that I legally needed to know so that I wouldn’t commit perjury while swearing in as an official Umi Tribe protector.

I nervously stood outside my mom’s bedroom door. My hands were sweating, and I had to take several deep breaths. After I pulled myself together I knocked on the door. It was only a moment, but it felt like hours went by as I waited for my mom to answer. ‘Don’t back down. You are a man now.’ I thought.

She answered the door smiling. “Look at my big man!” then she paused and gazed at my troubled face.

“What’s wrong? You getting nervous about the ceremony?”

I said in my deepest voice, “Mom, I think it’s time that you tell me who my real father is.” She looked at me like I accused her of stealing from a hobo.

“What are you talking about? You know who your father is.” I looked at her with the most serious face that I could muster.

“Mom, it’s okay. I know.” She continued to look at me as if I accused her of something.

“What do you mean? YOU KNOW?”

“Mom, I’ve known for years now. Dan told me himself!” Tears began to form in my mother’s eyes.

“Dan is the only father you’ve ever known so don’t act like your mother is some kind of whore-monger who doesn’t know who your real daddy is.”

As usual she took things to the extreme.

“Mom, I never said that or even implied that? Can you please just tell me?”

“Why do you need to know so badly? We raised you up just fine. Dan taught you the skills that got you where you are today! He taught you how to fight, how to use a sword, how to use a bow, and whatever the heck else you needed? So, why are you worrying me with this now?”

I took a deep breath, almost regretting that I asked her in the first place.

“Mom, I asked because during the ceremony I have to verbally state the names of both my parents. If I don’t tell them the truth and they find out then I’ll be guilty of perjury. So can you please tell me?”

*************************************************************************

At the ceremony, the officiator directed me to recite the oath:

“I, Kazai Kumoi, son of Herona and Dan Siratchi, vow to protect, defend, and honor the tribe of Umi with my life, my spirit, and my heart.”

My mom hadn’t told me who my father was so I had no other choice but to state Dan as my father which was technically true. . .mostly.

The officiator handed me a sword and said, “Congratulations, you are now a protector of the Umi Tribe.” Then he whispered in my ear “This is a special sword; I trust that you will use it honorably.”

I nodded and took the sword. As I walked off, I noticed that he told the next guy the exact same thing.

My step-dad, Dan Siratchi was there. He was one of the personal bodyguards of the Umi Tribe Princess. He is one of the only weapon’s specialists to ever earn that position. Normally, positions like that are reserved for shōkans, but he is the exception. I too want to be the exception.

During my first week, I was assigned as a gatekeeper. Our instructions were very clear, if we saw a hybrid, no matter how big or how small, we were to kill it without question. We never saw any hybrids, not even animoids. One of the guys working with me accidentally killed some guy’s dog thinking it was an animoid. He was fired.

We were also responsible for making sure that no criminals entered the Tribe. We had a list of exiles, and wanted criminals that we had to keep an eye out for.

Being a gatekeeper was a waste of my time and talents.

I think that the Princess realized this fact because a little more than a week after swearing in as a protector, I received my first mission outside of the Umi Tribe.

My team and I were sent to catch a thief who’d been stirring up trouble in Mums Village. The team consisted of me, the talented and resourceful weapon specialist. A guy named Broadie, the shōkan that specialized in cell manipulation. And last, but not least, there was Juicy. I was unaware of her capabilities, but she was a shōkan. So, I assumed she was gifted. I still couldn’t figure out why she would allow people to call her Juicy, but it could’ve been because she was a chubster.

I met Broadie when we were in training to become protectors. I never liked him much, mostly because he was a jerk. As for his skills as a protector, I always respected him for his cell manipulation even though he never mastered the technique. I found it to be highly complicated.

The shōkan summon water and molecule from the ocean and temporarily absorb them into the body to rapidly reproduce cells. With that technique, one could stretch their body and even temporarily grow extra limbs.

Before our mission, I’d never met Juicy. My first impression of her was that she was a little bit annoying and a major flirt. While we were on the shuttle to Mums Village, she tried to flirt with Broadie and me . . . at the same time!

“What up, Kazai? I know you wanna taste some of this Juice!” She said loudly while puckering her lips at me in the presence of random civilians and Broadie.

I didn’t say a word, although I think my facial expression spoke for itself.

“Can I get some of that juice?” Broadie asked.

“Yeah, but you gotta work for it!” Juicy demanded.

Broadie smiled and said, “I’m willing baby! Besides, Kazai can’t handle all that juice anyway! Look at him! He still wears his full uniform.”

Juicy started laughing, “All rookies do that on their first outside assignment. They can’t grasp the concept of only having to wear the Umi Tribe emblem.”

Once we got off of the shuttle, we walked to the Town Hall where we would meet the guy who hired us. Looking around, I noticed that Mums Village was nothing like the Umi Tribe.

The Umi Tribe is mostly powered by advanced water systems, but Mums Village was powered by windmills. None of their roads were paved and all of the buildings were made from wood, including the Town Hall. I thought to myself, ‘This place is weird.’

On the way to the town hall Broadie started reciting a song from an Umi Tribe musician named Yung Pako. “You’re so talented with making me sick, you’re rubber and I’m glue but I don’t plan to stick, —“ Then Juicy joined in. “Around, I’m moving out of town you see.”

Then they both sang in unison, “Not really but, you should pretend that I be!”

They both began laughing. Juicy, still laughing, shouted, “I didn’t know you listen to Yung Pako!”

“Who doesn’t listen to Yung Pako?” Broadie said. I just smiled and shook my head.

Just then a man came running out of the town hall. He ran with his elbows tucked tight to his ribs and his feet moved like he was afraid of touching dirt.

“Hi, I’m so glad that you could come. Here is a picture of our culprit.” Then he handed me the picture of the guy. He had long brown hair, green eyes, and pale skin.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m the governor here. Please excuse my manners, it’s just that this guy has been stealing from everyone’s houses and we as a community are just ready to get rid of him.”

Juicy snatched the papers from my hand and asked, “Does he have a name?”

“Yes, his name is Findle, Jack Findle.”

Juicy squinted her eyes at the picture as if she was looking for something. “Does he have any tattoos, birthmarks, or anything that could help us identify him.”

“Why, yes! He does actually. The last person that spotted him noticed that he had a black tattoo of a dragon foot on his neck.”

Broadie said, “Don’t you mean dragon paw?”

The governor said, “No, I meant foot.”

Juicy said, “Maybe he meant dragon hooves.”

“Does it really matter?” The governor said even louder.

Then Broadie said, “Of course it matters; I don’t want to attack a poor guy with a dragon paw on his neck when I should have been looking for a dragon hoof.”

Juicy nodded, “Mistaken identity.”

The governor walked off like he was in a hurry and shouted, “Good luck, I have to go handle something…else. I wrote his address on the back. Just go to his house, apprehend him and let me know when you do!”

The governor slammed the door as he entered the town hall building.

As we approached Jack Findle’s house I said, “He sure made it easy for us. But I don’t get why the local protectors didn’t just come and get this guy.”

Juicy said, “Listen rookie, a place like this probably doesn’t even have a jail, so I know they don’t have protectors. Places like this rely solely on shōkan tribes to protect them and even relieve them of insignificant criminals like Jack Findle.”

“Yeah Kazai! Get with the program! Dumb rookie.” Broadie snarled.

“Okay, well if that’s the case, why don’t they have any full time protectors here?”

Juicy smiled and said, “My goodness, why are you so stupid.”

“I’m not stupid, I’m just ignorant about the situation in this village.”

Broadie added, “Stupid. Ig-nant. Same thang. But anyway, they probably don’t have enough crime to hire full time protectors or maybe they can’t afford it.

Then Juicy added, “Besides, that’s how we get extra pay, by helping little rinky-dink towns outside of our territory.”

I nodded. All of a sudden my heart skipped a beat: we arrived to Jack Findle’s house. I looked at Jack Findle’s front door, then the windows and both sides of the house and saw nothing. Then I looked up.

On the roof was a man with his arms crossed.

“I take it that you came for me!” Jack said before squatting down as if he wanted to get a better look at us.

“I smelt you coming from miles away,” he said with a huge sadistic smile on his face.

Juicy never took her eyes off of Jack as she said, “Eh rookie, can you see the dragon paw tattoo?”

I looked carefully and then I noticed it. “Yeah, I see it.”

“Do you see the blade that he’s holding?”

“Yeah, I do now,” I replied.

Juicy said, “Good, you’re about to find out why they call me Juicy.”

She paused and said, “So Jack, if you smelled us coming, why didn’t you run?”

“Because without you here this place is boring! And without you here I wouldn’t be able to do this!”

Jack jumped from the roof and spat out six thin ice crystals from his mouth directly at us. As we all dodged his attack, Jack landed on his feet and began to run directly towards Juicy.

She took a deep breath and her cheeks swelled up like a balloon. She shot water from her mouth like a geyser.

The water sent Jack flying straight into a tree.

Juicy shouted, “NOW, BROADIE!”

Broadie shouted, “Shōkan!” and his hands became larger and his arms stretched toward Jack. He grabbed Jack with his oversized hands and pinned him to the tree.

“Ha! You Umi Tribe trash think you can hold me down! I will kill you all!” then Jack blew his breath on Broadie’s giant hands.

They instantly froze. Then Jack busted through the ice using the blade in his right hand.

Broadie’s hands fell apart into shards of ice and the remainder of his arms transformed into water and splashed to the ground revealing that Broadie’s real arms were still in tact.

Juicy was about to hit him with another blast but I stood in front of her and shouted, “Wait!”

Jack ran toward us with intent to kill. I said, “Wait for it.” Before Jack could get in arms reach he fell to the ground.

Juicy and Broadie were shocked. They paused a second and looked at one another.

“Broadie! Restrain him!” Juicy shouted.

Broadie pulled out some energy cuffs and put them on Jack Findle, to bind this criminal and compress his spirit energy, preventing him from using his apparent shōkan abilities.

We stood over Jack as he laid face down to the ground, he shouted, “What did you do to me?”

Juicy said, “That’s a good question. What did you do Broadie?”

Broadie just shrugged his shoulders.

I decided to speak up. “I hit him with paralyzing needles.”

Broadie shouted, “You liar! We were all here. You didn’t do anything, but freeze once you saw this guy!”

Juicy said, “Why would he lie about that? You didn’t do it, I didn’t do it, Jack didn’t do it to himself.” Jack growled as if he agreed before passing out.

Juicy continued, “I’m impressed rookie, but when did you do it?”

I began to explain: “When I saw Jack jumping from the roof it gave me enough time to get the needles from my pocket. Then I threw the needles as we were dodging those shards of ice. I knew that landing from a roof would leave a sting in Jack’s legs, so that’s where I aimed so that he wouldn’t notice when I hit him.”

Juicy shouted “Dang, rookie! You got skills! Pick him up Broadie. We have to go and have a talk with the governor. I have a few words for him.” Broadie threw Jack over one shoulder, and we headed back towards the town hall.

Next Chapter: HER HIGHNESS, LADY TUYETTE