It doesn't matter

by ryo-ohko

Ryo is a normal kid, with a normal life going to a normal school. Well... I wouldn't say a kid with both Angelic and Demonic background is quite normal...

2. Saga one Geno's Saga

Chapter 2
I remember it like it was yesterday, I was six and it was the first day of First Grade. I walked to school that day; and I took a shortcut in the forest we lived by. In a small clearing by the path were three kids. That's the first time I had ever seen them, and at the time I had no idea they would grow to be my best and closest friends.
There was a kid sitting in the mud it was obvious he had been pushed in. The boy had brown untamed hair. He and another kid were glaring at the girl who I figured had pushed him in the mud. I thought nothing of it and continued my walk to school.
I got to the classroom and took my seat. I was always a model student, even in Kindergarten. I noticed the same three kids again, except this time there were four of them. Two boys, the same two I saw earlier, the girl that pushed him into the mud. Plus one other girl, she seemed younger, but was obviously the same age. Then there was a big girl; she must have been their big sister. The big girl left and the four separated almost instantly. The two boys took seats next to each other in the back. The girls sat on different sides of the room.
Class started and you could hear the two boys snickering in the back about some joke they had made. The girls didn't speak at all. They sat in silence during all the lessons. Soon enough it was time for recess. I sat in the corner; watching. I had no friends. That's when I noticed some of the third graders were teasing the boy with brown hair and the other boy with black hair. The boy with black hair was trying to defend him, but nothing he said would make them leave them alone. Then, around the corner came the big sister, she stopped the third graders with a few well-chosen words. That's the first time I had smiled in a long time.
School ended for the day and I started walking home. I heard laughing from the same clearing I had seen earlier on the walk to school and the next thing I saw I couldn't believe. There were the same five kids from school, except now the boys were floating above the ground and so was one of the shy girls. The older one and the other girl were just sitting there watching and not doing anything. Then the older one jumped up and started to fly along with the others, and the other girl followed. The other three started cheering wildly. I couldn't hold it in and I screamed. The bigger girl saw me and shot me a look, I knew I was in trouble.
She landed and ran over to me, not saying anything but looking concerned and angry. "I'm sorry, I mean, you were, but, I mean… I'm so sorry ma'am." I jumbled my words but finally got out what I wanted to say.
"It's ok, but you can't tell anybody? Normal people don't really like... people... people like us." The girl said, she seemed nice but there was a touch of anger in her voice.
"Yes ma'am. I won't tell anybody, I promise. One question though; how come y'all can fly" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
"See, we are Amonic; meaning we are half angel, half demon. Normal people don't believe that it's possible and they think we are some mutant experiments. That's why you can't tell anyone! It's very important," The girl said, repeating her statement. All I could do was nod, I was still in shock, and I couldn't believe this was real, but I wanted to believe it considering I was six at the time. "Let me introduce you to everyone, now that you know our secret." The girl said, bringing me into the clearing and closer to everyone else. "To start off, I'm Rikku…" Rikku was beautiful; at the time she was in the fifth grade. She had brown hair down to her shoulders and hazel eyes. "…These two are Ryo and Nalio. They are my brothers…" She said indicating the two boys, who were still floating above our heads. Ryo was the one with the short, messy brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. He was in the first grade, just like I was. The other boy, Nalio had black hair it was more controlled than Ryo's. He had deep green eyes. "…The shy girl over there is Raven…" She had long black hair and blue eyes. She seemed inferior to everyone else. She was in first grade also"…and last but not least. That girl is Kitana." Kitana had long brown hair. Her eyes were green like Nalio's and though she was in first grade like the others, she acted older than them.
Ryo landed and circled me, examining me"and who might you be" he said.
"I'm Kumia. I'm in your first grade class." I said and I just stood there. Then a thought hit me"Why were you guys cheering so loud"
"Rikku and Kitana finally developed their powers." Raven finally spoke, her voice was small and quiet, and it reminded me of a gentle breeze.
"Ya, the rest of us have had ours forever." Ryo said, still circling me until Rikku bopped him on the head.
"Well, it's very nice to have met you all." I said"See you tomorrow" I waved and walked from the clearing not knowing these 5 children would change my life forever…………

Chapter 3
These kids quickly became my best friends. Eventually the girl Raven warmed up to me and became less shy. We would walk to school, walk home and sometimes hang out in the clearing where we first meet. One day as we were in the clearing, a thought crossed my mind, "What kinds of powers do you have?"
It was Rikku who answered, after checking if no one was listening, "Well, flying, that is what we all really like to do. We are also a lot stronger than any normal person."
"And we can shoot things like beams!" Kitana added excitedly.
"Some people like us use their powers for fighting. I don't like to fight though." Ryo said.
I was a little confused, I was still learning about my new friends, "Wait, there are other Amoni's?"
Rikku shook her head, "You don't have to be Amonic to have powers. So common people can develop powers too. Although most powers originate from a demon or angelic background." Rikku always seemed to have the answer. I'm not sure if it was because she was brilliant, or she was just older then the rest of us.
"What happened to your parents?" I asked, not knowing my question would have such a negative effect. For awhile everyone remained quiet.
"They broke up, haven't seen them sense." Nalio broke the silence. Still no one talked so; I made a mental note to not bring up their parents again. My head was still full of questions, but we were quickly approaching the school. Where we knew people were sure to listen.
Like I said, we spent a long time. Just walking to school, having fun, and then walking home. Although Ryo and Nalio said they didn't like fighting. They soon learned to love it. At about eight years old, Ryo had become fascinated with fighting others like him. Soon after he did, Nalio did also. This slowly proved how alike they were yet also how different they could be.
It was the third grade; Ryo and Nalio were now weak fighters, but fighters non-the-less. Sometimes they would skip school to stay in the clearing and fight each other. Then one day we got a new kid. He walked in on his first day looking strong and confident. His red hair was neat on his head and he walked tall. His attitude only matched by the evil depths of his eyes. His name was Nenji, but he preferred to be called Firewolf. He sat down in back of class and watched looked at everyone, he seemed to be taking mental notes on us all, and then he noticed Ryo and Nalio. Firewolf smirked at the sight of them. This wasn't a normal smirk; it was a smirk that spelled trouble a smirk that will haunt me for the rest of my life.
It was recess time; Ryo had stayed after a second to finish his worksheet. When he came out the door Firewolf was waiting for him.
"Hey, kid." Firewolf aimed at Ryo in a voice that meant trouble.
"My name is Ryo-ohko." He responded cooly, turning to look at Firewolf.
"Ya, well mine is Firewolf." He said, as if to tease Ryo's last comment, "your not like normal people are you? You have U.P."
"U.P.?" Ryo asked him he was clearly confused but wasn't going to show it.
"Unnatural powers. What race are you?" He asked him.
"Amonic, you?" Ryo shot back, a slight glare in his eye. He quickly looked down knowing he had said too much.
"Werewolf/human. So, you fight?" He asked, noticing the glare in Ryo's eyes. Ryo nodded his head slowly, 'yea'. "Cool. After school in the forest, you and me." Firewolf smiled as if he wanted to kill someone, or already had.
Ryo-ohko walked back to everyone else, we had been standing across the blacktop watching the scene unfold but not knowing the words exchanged between the two. "What was that about?" Kitana asked as soon as he reached us.
"He wants to fight me after school." Ryo said. He looked a little worried but he also wasn't going to say it flat out.
"You ok Ryo? You seem nervous." Raven asked, clearly concerned for her brother safety.
"I'm fine, he just seems really strong." Ryo answered defiantly, he wasn't going to let us know his real fears.
"Don't worry bro, if anyone, you can take him." Nalio gave Ryo a reassuring smile, this made Ryo smile as well, though the smiles were clearly different.
"What'll happen will happen…" Ryo said slowly as though finally considering all the possible out comes of what he had just gotten himself into.
"Exactly squirt!" Rikku gave him a noogie and he pulled away.
'I hope I can do this.' Ryo thought in his mind…

Chapter 4
As they sat in class all Ryo could think about was the fight. His eyes wandered from his work to the clock hanging on the wall. An hour, half hour, fifteen minutes, five minutes. The time to prove himself was coming, and he wondered why he was so nervous. He kept asking himself, but couldn't find an answer. There was nothing to be afraid of, was there? He could beat Firewolf, couldn't he?
When class finally let out, Ryo didn't waste any time. He waited at the edge of the forest as the rest came up behind him and past him. Only Nalio stayed behind, "You okay?" he asked him. Seeing the pale look on his brother face.
"Fine just, excited" Ryo lied attempting a smile. He sighed and started toward the clearing. Firewolf was already there, waiting for him to arrive. Firewolf had a sword on his side in a sheath on his belt. "Were fighting with weapons?" Ryo questioned, having no weapon of his own to defend himself; Firewolf nodded and smirked, somehow already knowing this. Ryo dropped his stuff and took a couple steps forward taking a deep breath. He glanced back at Nalio who gave him a reassuring smile. Ryo gulped and took a fighting stance, Firewolf stood there waiting. It was obvious Ryo would have to make the first move.
Ryo ran at him, but instead of striking he jumped. This was his first mistake, as Firewolf formed an energy ball and threw it straight up at him. Ryo spun and barely dodged it. Ryo came back down charging up a punch. Firewolf jumped onto a tree branch and jumped from the tree branch to the air, right above where Ryo was. He kicked Ryo out of the air and jumped off him as if it was all too easy and he was almost bored with the whole ordeal. Ryo got up; it was going to take more than a kick to keep him down. Ryo put his hands above his head and made two energy balls, and then he fused them together by his knees and made one large energy ball. They formed a triangle of which he put his hands in the middle of and shouted "Setenta!" a beam flew from the center of the triangle directly at Firewolf. Firewolf side-stepped the beam and drew his sword, and cut the beam in half. Firewolf then came at Ryo with his sword pulled and flashing in the summer sunlight. He slashed and Ryo stepped back and with each slash the sword moved faster. Ryo tried making energy balls in his hands to throw at Firewolf but he didn't have the time nor the energy for he had wasted most of it dodging the sword. Firewolf made his own energy balls and Ryo dodged it, but when he dodged the energy balls seemed to have dragged out for longer then expected. He had an idea. He jumped back and concentrated hard, in front of him appeared an energy ball, he grabbed it and from one side and it became a beam sword. He smirked; Firewolf seemed surprised at the boy's newly discovered weapon. That's when the battle really began when Ryo attacked with his sword; Firewolf countered and sliced back still keeping up his quick strokes. It continued like that for a while them slashing at one another with there weapons. Eventually Ryo swung with his might and hit Firewolf's sword, causing it to get cut in half, he stood bewildered for a second, but then Ryo swung again. With another powerful blow he hit Firewolf who fell back, clothes ripped and blood all over him. That was the end of it, or so he thought. Firewolf got up and disappeared; he reappeared behind Ryo and hit him in the back of the neck, hard. Ryo got wide eyed and fell, his beam sword vanished.
Nalio ran at Firewolf yelling in anger, "How dare you, how dare you!" Firewolf just grabbed Nalio's arm and threw him down to the hard earth.
"Don't worry, he isn't dead! He is just unconscious. I wouldn't kill him, at least not yet." Firewolf reassured before turning and walking away. Ryo took about three-days to recover but was fine. Firewolf wasn't in school from that day on.
But Ryo couldn't help but think about him...
He was tough. But no one is invincible……right?

Chapter 5

The year went on, and on still, as much as he tried, he couldn't erase the loss to Firewolf from his memory. You could often you would find Ryo-ohko in the middle of the clearing training, each day training harder and harder. From wee hours of the morning to the darkest point of the night. He was determined to never lose again, and lose he didn't. When he was fighting Nalio, Ryo would always rain victorious. Yet Nalio got better too, and slowly as Nalio began to match Ryo, he panicked again. Training and pushing himself even harder then before.

The Group was walking to school, I was with them. Obviously Ryo hadn't come home again that night. We found him in the same area, our clearing; we had come to call it, training with himself like an idiot. "You didn't come home again last night" Rikku yelled at him.
"So what I like training out here, alone!…" Ryo shot back.
"You need to learn, school is important." Rikku yelled.
"I'm not going, I don't care, its not that important…" Ryo yelled.
Suddenly another question hit me. "Rikku, how come you never come to school with us anymore" I asked her curious about my older friends whereabouts.
"This is not the time Kumia…" Rikku said, the tension in her voice clear.
"Amoni only need certain amount of teachings. It's very odd, but after a certain point we seem to learn everything else we need to know ourselves." Kitana explained.
"It usually happens at the end of Fifth Grade. Everything, just comes to us." Nalio added. Rikku had already gone up to Ryo by now and the two had started to argue. We didn't wait around to watch.

A little after class began Ryo came storming in, clearly unhappy. We knew Rikku would win. He sat down in a huff and wouldn't talk to anyone. He barely talked to Nalio, his favorite person and best friend. We weren't really sure why, but ever since the fight with Firewolf, Ryo hadn't been acting like himself. The loss to Firewolf triggered something inside him, something that had sent him down the road for the worst. But Ryo had lost before that, why was he choosing this loss, this battle to act up? Then it happened again, another new kid. Except this one seemed friendlier warmer towards everyone. According to the teacher the kids name was Geno. He had blue hair, rather short. A welcoming smile, a smile closely related to Ryo-ohko's. Everyone had missed Ryo's smile, it was the best smile we all knew or had seen. But Ryo did not smile, not anymore, not even when Geno had greeted him. He just made a hand gesture as if he acknowledged Geno's presence and nothing more mattered. At recess that day Geno caught up with Ryo-ohko. "You okay kid" He asked him cautiously.
"Fine." Ryo's answer was quick, short and stern.
"Are not… what's wrong" Geno cut him off and looked at him.
"Nothing, and if there was why would I tell you anyways" Ryo yelled and walked around him. Geno stood there; Ryo walked but quickly turned around. "Hey… I'm sorry. Things have been kinda hard lately." Ryo looked down embarrassed by his sudden out burst.
"No problem, what has been killing you so much" Geno asked.
Ryo quickly thought about saying Firewolf, but he knew that wasn't all of it. There was much more that he hadn't thought of. "I don't like to lose fights." He said slowly, thinking of the best way to describe how he was feeling.
"It's okay, everybody loses every once and a while." Geno said, not getting what the big deal was.
"No you don't understand… I'm not a normal fighter." Ryo said as he lifted his hand, creating an energy ball, oblivious to anyone who could be watching.
"No, I understand." Geno said with a smile as he created his own energy ball.
"I see, I just, and I feel like I can't … I can't lose. My father was a General of the Demonic Army…" Ryo said, letting his energy ball disappear.
"It's a big thing to live up to… but you must realize that there is more than one way to win a fight." Geno told him.
"I guess that's true…" Ryo lied, having no idea what he meant by this.
"Hey… you need a mentor, someone to show you what you cannot find yourself, like a sensei." Geno suggested.
"Do you know of someone that could be my mentor" Ryo asked, excited.
"He is standing in front of you." Geno said smirking. "I'll be your mentor, though I seem a child I'm incredibly strong, and have been given a mission to free the Planet Clíoness from Zlork invasion and domination."
"But… you think I could do that? I mean, you'd take me to an army of aliens" Ryo asked. Partially not believing what this kid was saying, partially wanting to believe it was true.
"Well as we travel there I'd train you, it's far away and you'd leave home for quite some time. But… after about a week or so of my training, you will do fine." Geno said, examining Ryo-ohko.
Ryo couldn't take it and lunged onto Geno, hugging him. "Thank you so much." He said. "Well of course, we have to run this by your family…" Geno remembered.
"Oh yeah…. Rikku…" Ryo said with a somewhat grim look on his face.

Chapter 6

"I SAID NO!" Rikku could be heard yelling even to the farthest edges of the forest. "Please Rikku! I'm sick of school!" Ryo pleaded, but to no avail. He was begging to let him train with his new mentor, instead of going to school.
"I told you, NO. School is more important than fighting. I've told you about a million times already." Rikku sighed, tired of her brother's pleas.
"Let the runt go, I'm kind of sick of him" Kitana said, relaxing in one of the armchairs in the house.
"Kitana! Don't talk like that, about your own brother!" Rikku yelled, releasing anger on Kitana as well. Kitana somewhat chuckled but, didn't say anything else.
"I'll learn the stuff when I come back. C'mon Rikku, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity!" Ryo still begged, not giving up hope.
"By then you would have forgotten the things you have already learned" Rikku explained to her hardheaded brother and Ryo's hopes began to drop. She had a point…
"I can help with that problem" A new voice had entered the room.
"Geno!" Ryo looked, astonished. Not because Geno was in the house suddenly, but that he looked about as old as Rikku. "I thought you were our age…" Ryo questioned, getting slightly disappointed.
"No, I turned that age just to be able to meet you Ryo-ohko. This is my actual age." Geno smiled and turned back to Rikku, "I can school the child as well as train him. I know I don't look it but I've been through college" Geno Winked, flirting with Rikku a little. Rikku stood there, running out of excuses to keep her precious brother Ryo with them, "But… what… what if he gets hurt. I couldn't live with that…" Rikku looked down, saying the one thing on her mind that had been truly bothering her.
"Ma'am, I can absolutely promise you that Ryo-ohko here, will come back alive and safe, hopefully." Geno said with such confidence even Kitana seemed to lighten up.
"See Rikku!" Ryo said, hopes high once again.
"But… I mean… you see…." Rikku struggled to find another excuse.
"Please Rikku, Please!" Ryo begged in his newly discovered pathetic voice that seemed to work on everyone.
"Fine…" Rikku said, looking down, away from everyone else, "But if there is a scar on even an inch of your body I will ground you for a month." She said in somewhat of a tease.
You could tell the next couple days before Ryo's trip because Rikku was a little out of it. So was Nalio. Okay, so they were more then a little out of it, but they tried not to let it show… Too much. No one was sure how long he would be gone, not even Geno. But Ryo promised that he would try and keep in touch with them all. Nalio was worried, mostly because he was going to miss his brother.
Finally the day of Ryo's departure came and Ryo stood in his room looking at all of the things he wouldn't be taking with him.
"You okay?" Kumia had walked in. It was the weekend and he spent pretty much every weekend at the house.
"Ya, I'm excited is all." Ryo smiled nervously, "I might miss everyone a little bit too…" Ryo finally admitted after Kumia gave him an idiot look.
Kumia hugged him and smiled, "We'll miss you too. It's not everyday an eight year old gets to leave on his own." He teased.
"Blessings of being Amonic I guess." Ryo shrugged. All of a sudden Nalio raced into Ryo's room and tackled him onto his bed while Ryo just laughed, "I'll miss you too Nalio." He said as Nalio climbed off.
"Why are you even leaving? Can't you take me with you?" Nalio asked and pleaded at the same time.
"Sorry. I just, I really want to go and Geno is only accepting one at a time." Ryo patted his brother of the back, with a slight frown and walked out of the room into a teary eyed Raveness.
"I'm going to miss you Aniki." She said as she hugged him.
He hugged her back, "I'm going to miss you too Ravie. Oh, and I'm only a couple months older than you. So don't call me big brother."
He smiled which; in turn made her smile as well, "Okay Ani- I mean, Ryo." She continued to smile as she released her death grip hug on him. He walked downstairs and met with Rikku. She looked about ready to cry but he knew she was going to try to look brave.
"Are you okay Rikku?" He asked looking at her.
"I'll…. I'll be fine." She assured not only Ryo but also herself, "I'm just going to miss you." She admitted.
"I've heard that a lot today," Ryo said, trying to lighten the mood "But I'll miss you too." Ryo hugged her, which almost made her break out in tears. But Rikku held strong and choked it in.
"Have you seen Kitana?" Rikku tried to change the subject.
Ryo shook his head, "Nope, I haven't seen her all day." Ryo said, curious.
Rikku frowned a bit, "Just like her… miss her own brother's farewell…"
Somewhere in the middle of the forest Kitana sat on a tree branch. She had small tears in her eyes, "Stupid lit'l brother…" she sighed and continued to sob.
"Ya stupid Kitana. Sometimes it's like she doesn't even care about me." Ryo frowned, feeling kinda sad.
"Don't say that, I'm sure she's very concerned…" Rikku said once again trying to assure herself as well as her brother. Soon after everyone gathered downstairs there was a knock.
Raven answered the door and there stood Geno, in all his glory, "Hello Raveness" he looked past her eyes and straight into Ryo's, "are you ready Ryo-ohko?" He asked. Ryo looked from Rikku to Nalio then back to Geno before nodding. "Okay then lets go. And Miss Rikku, thank you once again." Ryo hugged Rikku tightly and picked up his duffle bag. He slowly walked out the door and with Geno. They walked a few steps and Ryo didn't look back, not even once. Not because he didn't want to, only because he was scared he was going to run back to them all.
"Okay, first part of your training. Is keeping up with me." After those few words Geno jumped and took off into the air. Ryo blinked for a second and took off after him. Soon enough Ryo caught up with him. 'This is easy' Ryo thought. But he thought too soon. A couple of seconds later, Geno sped up and was soon a lot further away from Ryo. Ryo concentrated and attempted to catch up with him. But Geno seemed like a dot compared to him. He had to concentrate even harder to keep track of Geno.
After what seemed like an hour of flying, Ryo finally saw Geno land. He found a spot near Geno and landed himself. There was a big gray building. Whatever windows it once had were now bolted shut with metal planks. It was a dull and boring place and in a way, slightly creepy. There was one door that seemed heavily reinforced. The building itself took up about seven entire football fields and was about fifty stories high. It was a wonder nobody has seem to find it before. Geno waited for Ryo to walk up. "Welcome to the S.T.A.R. Port." Geno said with a smile, "It's very exclusive and not many people know about it so, consider yourself lucky." Geno said as he watched Ryo examine the outsides of the building.
"S.T.A.R.?" Ryo asked, curious to its meaning.
"Oh, excuse me. S.T.A.R. means Space Travel And Research. It's where lucky people, like me, with space ships can store them. It's like a peer for boats, only, with space ships." Geno explained, feeling foolish for not bringing it up in the first place.
"What about the Research part?" Ryo questioned again.
"There are many studies going on inside the Port about other cultures, Languages and planets we don't know much about yet. Information about Universal Wars between planets are posted, what treaties are set, and that kind of thing. To own a space ship you must know the treaties and boundaries that have been set through out the Universe. Break a treaty or boundary and you can be killed in a snap." Geno said, still smiling.
"Killed?" Ryo questioned in a slightly nervous voice.
"Yep, some planets are very strict to their rulings and others just like their privacy." Geno shrugged, "different cultures have different ideas and rules." Ryo looked stunned at all this information, he already learned something never knew and would have never learned in school. He would have to remember to tell Rikku about that.
"Are their any major wars going on right now?" Ryo asked, curiosity still getting the best of him.
Geno nodded as he began the code to open the door, "There are two. One is about eighty galaxies away, between the Cokians and the Peppriks. Two very well known races, to S.T.A.R anyway. And the other is the one we hope to end very soon. It's the war between the Mags and the Zlorks. The Mags have been tortured by the Zlorks for many years and have been putting up a losing fight. Zlorks are a very conquering race, always have been. And want the Mags planet: Clíoness. Naturally in the Universal Code, no planet can purposely interfere with two planet's war unless specifically asked by one planet. The Earth's Special Forces has been called by the Mags for back up. Considering we are allies with them we have accepted their plea and they have asked me and about twenty specially trained recruits to handle the situation." Geno took in a breath as the door began to open.
The door led into a small room, no bigger than an average American bathroom. Ahead of them was another door. They stepped inside the room and the front door closed. Ryo stood completely still as some gas come over him and then the whole room flashed red.
A voice from somewhere announced, "Agent Geno Finulas and special guest Ryo-ohko Satoya. Welcome to S.T.A.R." The gas began to be sucked through the special vents in the floor.
"But why did you choose me, of all people, of all fighters to do this. Why me?" Ryo questioned him, realizing the real purpose for him coming here.
"There are many reasons behind the choice of you." Geno said as he accessed the other door, "For one: it's a requirement of the Agents to pick up a trainee and tutor them of the Force; in case they like the Force and join it later on, or just for the sheer protection of the earth. Second off, the mind of a child is unlike any other mind. Most people don't think the way a younger counterpart can. Their ideas are unique and different. Imaginative and surprisingly cunning, the hardest of problems can very well be concluded with a child's thinking. They seem to use there minds more then older teenagers and adults. The third reason is your background, Amonic is a race known for its strength and intelligence in battles, also their agility. They have the stamina and plans to win fights." Geno continued explaining as the door opened and they walked down a hallway, "and finally I had a great recommendation from a fellow agent. Ah, here he is now." Geno noticed the Agent walked this way. He stopped in front of Ryo Geno, "Ryo allow me to introduce you to" But Ryo interrupted, "I know who he is…" Ryo stared at the figure in front of him, "Nice to see you again…Firewolf…"

Chapter 7

"Glad to see you recognize me young Ryo-ohko." Firewolf smiled the same menacing smile he has had when they had first met.
"Glad I could too, you seem… different." Ryo said coolly, examining him, cross feelings returning.
"I wasn't showing you my real age when we fought. I only did that so I could meet you." Firewolf smiled, he was now Rikku's age as well.
"Why does everyone keep doing that to me… Seems like the story of my life" Ryo sighed, but he couldn't help a tiny smile. He and Firewolf weren't exactly what you would call… friends.
"Okay back to the topic at hand." Geno interrupted, breaking the slight tension that had been building between the two. "Agent Firewolf had recommended you; he said you were an okay fighter. He had been looking at you as a trainee for himself, but you didn't seem to meet his standards. So he immediately recommended you to me." Geno finished.
"Gee, I feel flattered. You made such a huge complement; sorry I didn't meet 'Your Standards'" Ryo-ohko said angrily and sarcastically to Firewolf.
"You little runt. Being in this building is an honor! Especially to a civilian, like yourself!" Firewolf spat back, deciding to ignore certain parts of the comment. "Gentlemen please, let's get back to our mission and the reason you're here Ryo-ohko." Geno began walking and Ryo quickly followed wanting more then anything to be away from Firewolf. Firewolf scowled and followed them, much to Ryo's dismay.
"What is our mission Geno?" Ryo asked curious, he wasn't going to let the presence of his rival shake him up to much more then he already had.
They entered a door at the end of the hallway and entered a giant room the size of maybe two warehouses. Bare walls, not much other decoration then the Earth Special Forces and S.T.A.R. banners on just about everything in the room. Ryo looked around and saw spaceships everywhere, he caught his breath.
"Pretty impressive, huh runt?" Firewolf asked, smirking at the child like response to what Ryo had seen before walking off to his ship. It was huge. It actually looked like a giant pair of scissors. There were two giant spheres in the end, and Ryo guessed an engine was somewhere in-between them. Then there was a giant, slender part the came forward from the spheres and came to a fine point at the end. If anything it looked like some form of a fighter ship. The technology used was amazing that was being used to build these ships were clearly higher then the computer he had at home.
Ryo-ohko couldn't help but wondered if Geno's ship would be anything like Firewolf's. Under Firewolf's ship there was the crest for Earth Special Forces. There were other crests too all over the place; ones that Ryo could tell were parking places. Some were visitor parking, others were V.I.P. and others were of a guild or club under the Earth's Special Forces. They finally reached Geno's spot; there was a crest of Earth's Special Forces but no ship. It was just an empty lot. Ryo-ohko tried not to look too disappointed as Geno brought him over to a whiteboard full of equations. Geno wiped it off and drew a circle.
"This is the Mags Planet Clíoness," he then drew a shaded area at the top right of the circle, bottom of the circle, and one a little left of the circle. He then put a little building like rectangle on top of the planet. "These shaded areas are where we predict the major fighting areas to be by the time we arrive. Five or so agents are to be sent to these major areas. The remaining five agents will be examining the planet for any camps, bases and such." He then pointed to the rectangle, "This is the main capital of the entire planet. The planet is under a Unitary Government system for the most part. So this is there only governmental center. If we don't stop the Zlorks they will eventually make attacks towards the capital, there have already been 4 attempts, but luckily each crisis was averted… for now." He then drew five dots around the shaded areas and then pointed at the top right one, "All teams of five will move in at different times. This is what area we have been assigned to. It is one of the biggest valleys in their solar system, bigger than three Grand Canyons. Trust me it will get dark down there. That will be another thing we need to train for, the dark." He then drew five dots scattered around the circle. "The rest of the agents will continue to search. As soon as most major fighting has stopped, one troop from each team will head towards the Government building and be its own special security for a while. Kinda of like Earth's President's secret service" Geno said as he erased one dot from each group and put four new dots around the rectangle.
"How long is a while?" Ryo asked, attempting to absorb this information into his eighth grade mind, he needed specifics and he wasn't getting everything he needed.
"Couple of years, couple months, It's really hard to say. The team of five will choose by the five team's leaders. I am not our leader. If all goes well we should be able to ward the Zlorks away from Clíoness." Geno said still smiling. He seemed to never be bugged about anything, even with a killing alien force. Ryo could see why the Earth accepted him in the Forces; he seemed to make everything sound so… fun and simple.
"Is Earth really that strong? I mean can we really defend against that entire army with only twenty people?" Ryo asked, the idea seemed outrageous and it was, it sounded kinda like a suicide mission.
"Not alone, no we couldn't. Twenty Earthlings against an army of Zlorks would put up a fairly decent fight but yes we would all be killed. Luckily we have the Mags on our side and the element of surprise with us." Geno began to erase the marker, "any questions young Ryo-ohko?" He smiled in his direction once again.
"Plenty, first: I know you aren't sure how long we will be there, but how long until we get there?" Ryo asked.
"About a year." Geno seemed to be estimating yet it was a firm estimation.
"Okay next: is Firewolf on our team?" Ryo asked hoping no, but trying not to let it show. "Sadly not, agent Firewolf is on the third team. We could use his fighting skills on our team but he is needed in more harsh combat areas." Geno said, at this Ryo smiled but quickly tried to hide it from his mentor.
"Okay finally: I've seen everyone else's ship, where is yours?" Ryo asked curiously, finally asking the question he had been wanting to ask since they had reached the parking spot.
"A good friend of mine has it. She is performing flight tests and such. She is kind of like my assistant. It'll be back in a couple of hours. We leave tomorrow morning. Until then, amuse yourself." Geno said as he went back to some kind of calculating on his white board.
Ryo got up and looked around. There were many different races of aliens, humans and so many others. Different spaceships, big ones, fat ones, skinny ones, long ones. Some looked like battleships and others looked like transports. Ryo couldn't wait to see the one he and Geno would ride in. Wait until he told everyone back at home about this, they wouldn't believe him. Thinking of them reminded him he missed them, all of them. As strange as it seemed in the place he was in he found a public phone about 3 or 4 pits away from where he had been sitting. He picked up the phone and dialed his home number excitedly.
"Hello? This is Ryo." Ryo-ohko smiled at the sound of Raven's excited voice over the phone.

Chapter 8

"IT'S RYO, IT'S RYO, IT'S RYO!" Raven's excited voice ran throughout the house as Nalio, Rikku, and Kumia all came rushing to Raven's side muttering in words like "let me talk to him." Or "is he okay?" or "Tell him I said hi!" Raven just ignored them and yelled at him, "We miss you already Aniki!" She said as she smiled.
"I miss you guys too! Tell everyone I said hi." Ryo answered from the other end.
"Okay, Ryo says hi everybody!" Raven yelled, "Anyway where are you? Are you there yet, are you coming home soon Aniki? Are you, are you, huh, huh, huh!" Raven pressed on, wanting to see her big brother.
"I'm not sure, we haven't even left yet but Geno says it'll take around a year to even get there." Ryo said with a sigh, "but let's not talk about that now. Will you be okay Raven?" Raven's voice sounded disappointed yet still excited as ever, "I'll be fine. Rikku takes good care of us, Nalio seems pretty upset though. You should talk to him."
"Okay" Ryo agreed, "I love you Raven!"
"I love you too Aniki!" Raven said cheerfully as she passed the phone onto a broken down Nalio.
"Hey Ryo, how's it going?" Nalio seemed upset but didn't want to show it. He wanted to remain firm and strong.
"Pretty good, you won't believe where I am." Together they talked, for a little over half an hour. Then he went back to Raveness. She was so happy to hear from him it was incredibly how happy she seemed. Then after fifteen minutes of Raven he talked to Rikku. She asked the usual questions; where are you? How are you? When will you be back? But then she talked about Kitana and how she hadn't gotten back yet. She was worried and was going to find her soon. Ryo had wanted to talk to Kumia but he left soon after Ryo called; dinner time. He didn't know his number either, he barely knew his own. He said his goodbyes to each one of them and to say hi to Kitana when they found her and got off the phone. He then ran out of ideas and went looking at the ships again.

Looking around he ran into someone older and much bigger than him. This kid had silvery hair, dull silver though. He had a helmet under his arm and had a jump suit on. It was red and white. On the little nametag it said 'Gizmo.'
He just smiled at Ryo and said, "Watch where you're going okay?" Ryo nodded. Gizmo nodded and looked around, "I got time. Who are ya kid? Where ya from? And finally, what group you belong to." He asked somewhat anxiously.
"Do you often question strangers like this?" Ryo said sarcastically. Gizmo nodded, "Well than. I'm Ryo-ohko. I'm from… Earth? And I don't really belong to a group; I'm a trainee of an agent." Ryo said, not sure how to answer his questions, "Who are you?" Ryo's curiosity still getting him.
"The name's Johnny. I'm from Tennessee, in America, and I belong to the Earth's Special Forces." He answered not only Ryo's questions, but also the same ones he had asked.
"Your tag says 'Gizmo'" Ryo pointed out to him.
"I know, that's my nickname. Heck anyone has a nickname in the Forces." Gizmo pointed out. Now that Ryo had thought about it, it was true. Firewolf's real name was Nenji, but he went by Firewolf. Ryo then though of what Geno's nickname could be. It was probably something really cool. After all, Geno was pretty cool in Ryo-ohko's eyes. Ryo ran off to see if Geno was ready yet. Two seconds after he ran off he ran back. "Sorry about that. Good meeting you Johnny!" He said quickly as he ran back off. He then stopped again. He forgot where Geno was. But he did see someone he knew. Sadly enough it was Firewolf. Luckily Firewolf hadn't seen him yet. He ran and hid behind a pillar to catch his breath.
"There you are!" It was Geno heading for him. Ryo sighed, thinking for a second it was Firewolf out to get him. "Come on young Ryo-ohko, the ship is here." He said and smiled. Geno led the way back to the ship.
Along the way Ryo's curiosity troubled him yet again, "Geno, what is your nickname?" Ryo asked. He couldn't wait for his answer; it was going to be the best.
"Blue" Geno answered and smiled. Ryo got quite stunned for a little while. It wasn't the best nickname but it was still pretty cool after Ryo though about it. It was different, simple but not plain. Ryo liked it.
"Well here we are." There was Geno's ship. It looked like a giant sphere painted a liquid blue. It was as big as the first level of an apartment. Then a girl stepped out she had long brown hair and had glasses. She was about Geno's age, if not older, and she just laughed a little and smiled, "Hello my name is Jun Jun." She smiled at him.

Chapter 9

"Nice to meet you JunJun, my name is Ryo-ohko." Ryo said staring up at her. She was pretty. JunJun nodded and inspected the ship.

She then turned to Geno, "Tested and ready to fly." Then tossed him some sort of clear see-through card.

"How is the oxygen and food?" Geno asked her.

"Great, but we'll need to refuel every so often so were taking the path around Truh." JunJun answered, "And the matrix core needs some juice so I will charge it just a little bit then we will be off." Geno nodded and JunJun went next to the ship. She put her hand on the surface and a thin green line spread out from her hand to every direction, then a door seem to just open from no where; materialized from nothing in a way. It was cool though. She went in and must of done something because the entire ship made a buzzing sound a flashed yellow.

Meanwhile Geno was looking at the equations and nodded. JunJun came back after the ship finished buzzing. She smiled, "Were all ready to go guys, are you two ready?"

"We will be soon, thank you JunJun" Geno said smiling in her direction, "are you ready Ryo-ohko?" He turned to Ryo. Ryo nodded and got his duffle bag. It was time to leave… for a year at least. He would miss his family of course.

"Let's go." Ryo said. Geno nodded and took Ryo inside the ship. The door seemed to materialize back into its hard surface.

"Let me show you the ship." Geno told him. It was around the size of an American apartment; it was round and had a section with three doors. To the left was another door and in the middle was a rather large pillar. "Over here…" by the three doors to Ryo's right, "these are the rooms; you will be staying in the middle room. JunJun's room is the right room and the room on the left is the training room." Geno then led him to the pillar in the middle, "this is the matrix core, never touch it. It's what runs the ship." Geno then led him to the door on the left, "this is the cockpit, where I drive the ship, where I sleep, and where the whole ship is run." Geno smiled.

"This is so… cool" Ryo-ohko said, looking around still. The whole ship seemed somewhat small yet, really neat. It was really advanced too.

"Go get set up in your room, this is your key." Geno handed Ryo another see through card. This one had an R on it, "you put that on the little pad next to your door and it opens." Ryo got really excited and went to try it out. He put it on a white pad and the door slid open.

It was nice inside. Small, but nice. To the left was a dresser that was white and to the right was a bed and a nightstand to its right. Then straight on the back wall was a desk and a chair. Ryo went over to the nightstand and set down a picture of his family and on the desk he set out some teaching books, and paper and pens and pencils. Rikku made him prepare of course. He then set some clothes into the dresser.

"Ryo! Get out here!" Geno yelled from outside the door. He went up to the door and placed the card and it opened. The door to the cockpit was now open and JunJun and Geno were standing in it. In front of Geno was a big giant board of buttons and switches. Ryo dare not mess with any of them for fear of messing something up. JunJun just stood there, as nice as she was sometimes she seemed like a maid or something. "We are about to take off. Ready?" Geno asked. Ryo was about to ask where the windshield was but then it materialized in front of them just like the door did. He could see these giant doors from Geno's garage opening. He pushed a few buttons and the ship began to rise. This was the coolest thing ever. Then again what can top going to an alien planet in a space ship traveling at roughly a thousand miles per hour. Ryo just stood in awe as the ship began to float out of the doorway. After that it began to face upwards, and then shot out. Faster and faster, reaching the atmosphere and easily breaking through it. Soon enough they were in space. Ryo felt a little shake and he could hear some engines, somewhere…

While starring off into the vast depths of space, Ryo saw many other ships pass him. One was Firewolf's, they were the fastest. Each ship seemed to go its own way but he knew he would see all of them sooner or later.

Ryo stood there for as long as Geno would let him. It was so fascinating, all the stars and planets they past. Occasionally something came up on the radio and asked something. A lot of the time in was in another language so Ryo-ohko couldn't understand it, but Geno did. Ryo supposed that's one of those rules and regulations Geno mentioned earlier. Geno would answer and they would leave him alone.

Until finally Geno got up, "JunJun take over, its time for school." Geno smiled in Ryo-ohko's direction. Ryo just snapped out of the daze he was in just so he could give a moan…

Chapter 10

Geno just shook his head in laughter and Ryo's moan. He said he would teach the boy but Ryo-ohko had no idea what he was in for. He brought Ryo into the other door that Geno told him was the training room. The door slid open just like the others, smooth, fast and fancy. Inside it was like a grid room. The walls and floors were covered in green lines that ran this way and that. It went up the wall and back down reconnecting in little places and sprouting off in different directions. Most people would say it looked like a computer on the inside except with all the wiring and screws.

To the almost immediate left of the door was a white, slender control panel. It shined from the pale green illuminations of the room. On top of the control panel was many buttons, of all colors. Ryo had no idea of their meaning and didn't want to find out.

Geno walked to this control panel and began typing some things. As Geno typed Ryo went further into the room, for such a small ship the place seemed to have huge rooms. As soon as he stepped a foot more in the room, the door behind him slid shut and scared Ryo to death, jumping and landing on his bed on the floor. It was odd, it felt completely like glass and wherever the lines were you'd expect to feel bumps but it was all smooth. This room was amazing, soon becoming Ryo's new favorite room.

"Now I told you that we would be training and learning right?" Geno said, "Well I figured it's too much of a hassle to separate them. So I'm going to be combining them." He continued typing on this control panel as Ryo got up slightly confused.

How would he be able to separate learning and training, they weren't really interchangeable. Ryo then got a rather funny image of him kicked the crud out of a math book.

"This room is a holographic imaging room. If that confuses you, it makes images and different places. Just like I could show you your home right now." As Geno said this, the room with the green lights disappeared and was replaced with Ryo's living room. Everything was in the right spot, couch and chair and kitchen. Just not Rikku or anyone else, but Geno. He looked around the place feeling rather homesick until he spotted Geno standing by his front door next to a rather, out of place, control panel.

"Isn't it neat?" Geno said, voice like a child unwrapping a new toy.

"Yeah it's really cool. Where else can we go?"

"Where else would you like to go?"

"Well," Ryo thought for a moment, "how about the ocean?"

Geno smirked and pressed a couple buttons, soon the room that once resembled his house faded and a new room appeared. Ryo was completely surrounded by water, except he didn't have to swim. It must've been the wildest experience he has ever seen. He could walk normally as if he was on land, but water seemed to surge around him. Of course it wasn't there because he would, of course, get wet.

Suddenly something whizzed past him causing him to fall down landing on what appeared to be more water, but what was the actual floor of the room. Ryo quickly turned his head around to see what it was and it was there, staring back at him.

A shark.

It was staring at him, he thought. It then rushed right at him causing him to panic and try to punch it, only for it to go right through him and attack a fish behind him. Ryo plopped back down on his butt and gave a huge breath of relief.

"Fun eh?" Geno said, trying not to laugh.

"Yes actually, so what's the training going to be?" Ryo asked, getting up.

"I'm going to teach you about the structure of an atom." Geno said.

"I know what an atom is."

"Yes, but how much?" Geno began changing the room.

"I know what it is and what it's for."

"You're going to learn more." Geno smiled as a room appeared. It was huge, the floor was a bumpy silver and purple spheres. Above them were yellow spheres, some farther off, some closer in. The spheres had no shine to them, no other characteristic other than their complete smoothness. Everything was suspended.

"This is your training Ryo-ohko." Geno said, "I will teach you all about this atom you are standing on while you dodge the electric currents that the electrons will emit with the protons."

"The who with the what?" Ryo asked looked up at the yellow spheres, gulping.

"You'll find out soon enough, just dodge the lightning." Geno told him walked over to him. Soon enough the atom began to go into motion, the electrons passed by above him some shooting down electricity to a proton and as it made contact the proton buzzed and glowed a yellow color. Ryo jumped as an electron came over him and shot one down almost striking him. Then another and another, Geno kept up with him.

"Don't get hit, it'll restart the hologram!" Geno told him as the jumped.

It was easy so far for Ryo. Although Geno hadn't yet started telling him the information about the atom; everything he needed to know.

About half an hour passed, and Geno hadn't said one word. Ryo just kept dodging everything that came his way. It appeared to become more rapid but Ryo could still dodge it. He wondered why Geno had said nothing yet. He just kept dodging along with Ryo, smiling. Ryo shrugged it off and had fun with his dodging.

Much later Geno still hadn't said anything and Ryo-ohko began to feel some exhaustion.