Gao talked with his friends as the escalator was guiding them towards the entrance of his rooms. Their buddies also joined the conversation as they planned their next move. Axia and Drum were gazing around, just so that no one eavesdrop them. They came earlier than usual, and no one was coming yet.

The only one absent was Jackknife, who wasn't attending school since his buddy was gone with Demios.

"So, Commander I managed to arrest them all," Kuguru expressed surprised, before a small smile appeared on her face.

"That's good news. That's one problem out of our way. We have done nothing about it," Baku added.

"I wasn't expecting Commander I to still do something when he was kicked out," Ironchain said.

"He's not a loser like you," Cat Sith replied.

"Say that again you stupid cat!" he grunted as he tried to catch him.

Halberd sighed as he thought that his friend acted like a kid right now, "I believe he believes that someone could have been done and did it. He's not a man to be underestimate. That's what allowed them victory."

"I believe the Buddy Police Force can recover now that Seiichi and Sueroku are out of their way," Gao commented with a large smile.

Hanako asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"Focus on Azi Dahaka. We can all give our attention to him now," Drum declared as he grabbed his left biceps with confidence.

"I want to hug you right now," the blue dragon said.

He chassed the red dragon as that dragon protested loudly.

"Looks like there are good news here too," someone told them.

They looked at the new comers and saw Zanya and his brother in a good mood.

"What do you mean by that?" Kuguru asked.

The dragons smelt someone familiar.

"Nin," the nanomachine ninja appeared near them as he waved.

"Tsukikage!" they yelled.

"Dad managed to let him go free!" Akatsuki joyfully said as he raised his arms.

"That's awesome!" Gao joined them in their joy.

They forgot about planning their plan about Azi Dahaka and spent time talking together and telling Tsukikage everything he missed, before class began.

Chapter 139: The Last Calm Before The Tempest

When it was lunch time, everyone joined on the rooftop of the school and discussed together. They made sure they were in a more isolated spot of the ceiling; do they wouldn't attract some unwanted attention.

"There is a lot that happened while we didn't do anything," Zanya concluded, a little ashamed of being useless for a while. He did add, "But it's good to know that Kiri is back to normal with his buddy."

"It must have been hard for Joker. Those terrible things he heard," Akatsuki lightly whined as he crossed his arms.

Tsukikage agreed with a nod.

"I did something bad too. I doubted you Tsukikage," the boy remembered what he thought of his buddy when the ninja started murdering humans, "I should have believed you."

I forgive you Zanya. You had all the right, the text changed, It was better that you didn't blindly trust me, he put the scroll away and smiled.

"Thanks," the boy replied. He thought about it, "So. How are we going to stop Azi Dahaka? He is incredibly strong."

"He defeated The Punisher," the red dragon said, before looking up, "But we will find a way."

"That's why we need to find the best tactic we could and fight him with numbers," Baku said as he checked his deck, "But I don't know how we could all fight him by himself."

"There is also Tasuku with them and he is the most experienced compared to all of us," Kuguru commented.

"We will have to fight him without hesitation. He took the wrong path and we have to stop him," Zanya said with little conviction. It was one of their friends, but not anymore.

"Jackknife said that it won't be easy to convince him to come back," Gao grumbled.

"But the Buddy Police Force might return to normal," Kuguru replied.

"Maybe Tasuku will reply something like, 'for how long?' or 'It might happen again'." Baku quoted.

"True," Drum grumbled as he finished eating, "But I am ready to fight Demios. We might have to show him with our own power!" he raised his fist.

"I don't believe that defeating Demios will allow us to save Tasuku. It's not a matter of a battle this time," Halberd warned him.

"It's more about Tasuku's belief. He isn't controlled like Kiri, so we have to show him he took the wrong path," Baku concluded. A thought came at the back of his mind, if I accepted his suggestion, I might had joined him too. I could have end up like Tasuku, he didn't regret to remain loyal to his friend.

"You're right. What happened to the Buddy Police Force really hurt him a lot," Gao thoughtfully commented as he gazed at everyone.

"I have a question," Zanya started. He looked at everyone and when he got their attention, he spoke out loud, "How can we stop Azi Dahaka and everyone with him? I know we have to fight them, but…" he gazed at Tsukikage, "What about the laws?"

"What about it?" Drum asked.

"We are playing like a super hero. Like Captain Answer. I know that we have to do it, but we will be seen as criminals. We don't have a secret identity and our buddies are known," the boy concluded his warning.

Gao clenched his fist and replied, "Even if it might cause us trouble, we have to do it that way. We might end up in jail or seen as criminals, but the true must come out. They are planning to slowly take over the world and we can't let it happen."

"Our parents will never let us do something like that," Akatuski realised.

"They might be the one arrested," Zanya wondered out loud.

That thought made them realised that doing everything to stop the evil Azi Dahaka clearly had bigger consequence than first thought.

Kuguru suggested, "Maybe we can ask Commander I for help. Maybe he's back as the commander of the Buddy Police Force?"

"You think he is already back? He was fired," the boy replied as he adjusted his glasses.

"Big bro," his younger brother whispered.

"I agreed with him. I don't think someone who was… kicked out of his function can quickly return to it. They will have to replace him," Halberd added his thought.

"But it wasn't fair for him to be fired," Hanako grumbled.

Gao thought about it. He wasn't sure about what they could do when he heard, "Nin!"

Tsukikage showed his scroll with his suggestion, Let's try it out later.

They checked the time and gasped.

"Lunch time is almost over!" Gao yelped.

Drum quickly finished his lunch and the others followed him.

"Let's go there after school," the nanomachine ninja buddy agreed.

"Let's bring everyone," Gao said when he thought of their other friends.

Later, the group, with Tetsuya, Kiri, Kazane, Noboru and their buddies were in front of the Buddy Police Base and looked at it from outside. They could see the damaged caused by the battle between Card Burn and Gallows near the roof.

Gao knew little of the fight, except about how ended up arrested. He couldn't explain to his friends what happened, so he focused on entering in the Buddy Police Force.

They quietly walked inside, not saying a word. The ex-buddy Police members remembered how it was when they were among them while the others looked at the inside and where impressed by the decorum. It was simple and clean with the elevator at the back, behind the counter where a woman was talking with a co-worker.

"Hello there," she said to them.

"Hello. We would like to speak with the commander of the Buddy Police Station," Kuguru started.

She recognised them and said, "You came to meet him right?"

"Meet him?" Drum asked curiously.

"Commander I called you," she replied.

"No," Zanya replied.

"Maybe he didn't do it already. Anyway, he wants to see you upstairs and talk with you."

They realised who it was and said loudly, "Commander I!"

"I thought he was fired yo," Testuya commented.

"With everything going on and with Sueroku confession, he was put back to his post. The police have enough proof to put doubt on everything that caused him to lose his job and his position as the commander. It's good that he is back," she commented, avoiding thinking of the day the arrestation occurred.

"We are going right now," Gao said as they climbed on multiple elevators, as they were too numerous for one.

As they waited for the elevator to reach the right floor, the boy gazed at his dragon buddy with a small smile at the thought that things were going better than they believed. Commander I was back to his post and Seiichi and Sueroku were arrested. His smile dissipated when he thought of the son of Sueroku. He couldn't understand what the boy was feeling, but it was painful to think that his father was put to jail for doing something illegal, even if it was for a good reason.

The door opened, and they went into the office. They were all happy when they saw Commander I turning towards them with a smile on his face, "Hello everyone. I was about to call you."

"We came faster than you wanted sir," Asmodai replied with a small grin on his face.

"Why did you want to call us… I mean them?" Kiri corrected himself as his buddy stood behind him.

"I wanted to call you to ask you something important. I know there is trouble coming, concerning Azi Dahaka and his troop, but also that you are planning to act against them. Am I right?"

The group nervously chuckled while Kazane took a step forward and said, "Yes mister. We want to make sure that our world is safe. Since the Buddy Police Force was under Seiichi, Gao decided that it was best that we do something on our own."

The man nodded with a smirk while Stella replied, "I'm sure you know that acting like this would be illegal. It's not a job for the citizen to act like they are an officer of the law."

"That's what we were thinking," Akatsuki said while his older brother made sure to be at a safe distance from the woman.

"That's why I wanted to call you. Since I'm back into function and that you were surely planning to do something, I thought it would be for the best to suggest that you reinstated as member of the Buddy Police Force. That way, you won't have to worry about acting outside of the law."

The children and their buddies gazed at each other's without immediately responding to the proposal. It was something unexpected for them, as they believed that nothing of the sort would come and that Commander I would have been put back to his previous function. Despite that, it was the best outcome they had and knew the man enough to trust him.

"I guess we accept," Gao replied, a little uncertain as he looked at his friends.

"Except Hanako," Halberd replied with his arms crossed.

"And you too Akatsuki," Zanya added.

They youngest children nodded quietly, knowing how dangerous everything will be. As for Akatsuki, he didn't have a buddy either, so he would only be in the way.

Kiri and Noboru agreed, ready to give any help they could.

"I'll accept the post. I am ready to show them they cannot do anything they want," Noboru said.

"I have to make amend for what I did," Kiri said.

"We will give them the cold shoulder when we cross them again Kiri," Joker replied as he showed his arm blades.

"Welcome back everyone and for our new members," Commander I nodded with a smile, "Anything you have to say. There are many things I need to know before anything. I've been left out of many things and a little catch up will help."

They told him everything they knew as the day slowly came to an end. Everyone returned to their home, hope and confidence that they can do anything.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: The Clash Of Friends Part 1