Over the next couple of months, to say that Lina began showing a marked improvement during her training sessions with Daniel would be an understatement. After their mind meld session, Daniel began instructing her on the basics of the Jedi arts – telekinesis, using the Force to literally leap bounds beyond a normal human, sensing people and objects, and, of course, a mix of kendo and other swordsmanship skills in order to use a lightsaber (using wooden bokken for training). In addition, she was becoming more in tune with the Force to sense the entirety of the environment around her – including the sensing of the presence of others, identifying those presences, and sensing the feelings and emotions of those around her without being overwhelmed by them. By the time the term ended in July, Lina had become proficient in all of the basic Jedi skills – the next stage would be learning how to use them practically and wisely.
At the beginning of the summer break, both Daniel and Lina, along with Tatsuya, received word from the JSDF. Apparently, President Bartlett and the Japanese Prime Minister were about to unofficially get the joint task force started, as there would be a meeting to be held at the Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion's headquarters, with the president, Colonel Balance, and the rest of the STARS unit participating remotely via video conference. Although the task force wasn't official yet, the subject was of the utmost importance – so important, in fact, that they wouldn't even be told the subject of the meeting beforehand.
A few days before the scheduled meeting, Daniel was hanging out with the gang when they received an unexpected surprise. As they were having tea and snacks at their usual café, the door's bell chimed, indicating someone was entering the café. When they instinctively turned to see who it was, a few of them recognized the person who had just walked in – it was Ray Clark, Shizuku's friend from the study abroad program. Upon getting everyone's attention, he greeted them all with a friendly, if slightly over-the-top, gusto. He said he had been so enchanted by Shizuku's stories about her homeland – and by Shizuku herself – that he had decided to come over for a visit. Shizuku blushed at the attention he gave her, while the girls in the group started squealing in delight for Shizuku and asking her questions.
Tatsuya, grateful for the help Ray had provided during the incident with the Parasites, invited him to sit down and join them, an invitation which Ray graciously accepted. Although he was positively charming with everyone there, it was obvious that his affections were primarily directed at Shizuku, who didn't seem to object to the attention he was giving her. 'Well,' Daniel thought, 'at least one thing about him is certain – he has very good taste in women.'
At the end of the afternoon, they invited Ray to watch the next month when Shizuku would be competing at the Nine Schools Competition. "Alas," he stated, "while I would love to see my beautiful and accomplished friend compete at the highest levels and watch her in all her glory, I'm afraid that I am only here for a couple of weeks, and am unable to stay here longer, as much as I want to." He then turned to Shizuku and said, "However, while I'm here, I would be honored if you could serve as my guide to your incredible country." Shizuku could only nod, sporting a big blush on her face. The rest of the girls giggled at her reaction, sensing that she may have a thing for Ray.
On the morning of the meeting, a military car came to the house to pick up Daniel and Tatsuya. On the way to the headquarters, they also stopped by the apartment complex where Lina was staying to pick her up. From there, however, they didn't go directly to the battalion headquarters. They first made an unexpected stop at a hotel downtown, and were surprised when it was Ray that stepped into the car and sat by the trio. "My apologies for not telling you earlier," Ray started as they began making their way, "but I was instructed not to say anything until now." He then gave a slight bow and stated, "I have a secondary purpose for coming to Japan, aside from seeing Shizuku. It is, in fact, I, who is providing the intelligence that is the basis of your meeting today." At this Daniel thought to himself, 'If that's the case, then that can only mean the meeting is about one thing – or one person, to be more accurate.'
Once they arrived at headquarters, the four of them were led inside and to the conference room where the meeting would take place. In addition to Daniel, Tatsuya, and Lina, the rest of the Japanese Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion was present and sitting at the long table, including Major Kazama. On the big screen, which was divided into three parts, were the rest of the STARS unit in a conference room elsewhere in the world, President Bartlett and Colonel Balance in the White House situation room, and the Japanese prime minister and defense minister together in a conference room somewhere.
Ray then went to the center of the room where he could be seen by everyone there, as well as by those participating remotely, where he was introduced by President Bartlett, and recognized for his contributions during the incident with the Parasites. Once everyone was settled, Ray began to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began, "I'm sure you're wondering why you've been called here today." He then turned to the people in the room, making eye contact with Daniel and Tatsuya in particular, and continued, "As some of you may suspect from my presence here, I have some information about a mutual friend of ours – Jiedo Heigu."
There was some slight murmuring before Ray went on. "As you know, this man, as well as myself, is one of the infamous Seven Sages. However, unlike me, who wants to see magic continue to thrive for the betterment of humanity, Mister Jeido wishes to see it abolished worldwide, which could very well cause a seismic shift in the balance of power in the world – and not for the better." He then loaded an information disk to the computer in front of him, loaded it up, and began to display it on the screen.
"Over the last year-and-a-half, I have been carefully gathering information on Mr. Jeido in order to help bring an end to his anti-magic activities. While he is known by many names and identities, and has been involved in many things over the last few decades, there doesn't appear to be any information on him prior to the end of World War III in 2065. I suspect the information was either destroyed or permanently lost during the course of the war. However, since then, he has definitely made a name for himself in the underground and secretive parts of society. While his activities have generally been in support of the Great Asian Alliance, he is officially stateless."
As he continued to display the information he had gathered, Daniel noticed that it was mostly documents and text – all images were either blurry or too dark to make out a face. Ray seemed to notice this observation and stated, "As you can see, he's done quite a remarkable job of staying out of sight in the shadows. However, while it was extremely difficult, I did manage to find a clear photograph of our Mister Jeido."
When Ray displayed the photograph, Daniel nearly had a heart attack at seeing it as he gasped aloud in surprise. He not only dropped the pen he was holding, but his jaw also dropped as he recognized the face in the photograph. He may have aged over the years, but the distinguishing features were still there. "Oh. My. God," he said, "No way! You have GOT to be kidding me!" At his outburst, Major Kazama (as well as everyone else) turned to him before he asked, "Mister Horowitz – you recognize him?"
Daniel sighed as he calmed himself down before answering, "Yeah, I do. For one thing, Jeido Heigu isn't his real name. It's Johnny Zhou." There were murmurs of confusion before Colonel Balance asked on the screen, "Wait a minute – are you talking about your former comrade whom you said you killed during the Tokyo mission in 2020?" When Daniel nodded in affirmation, Lina asked, "How is that even possible!?" Daniel thought about this for a few moments before answering, "If I had to guess, I think he used the time machine to travel to 2065 before the building exploded. He probably wanted to get to a time period where he could be healed – far enough in the future where he wouldn't be recognized, but before I came here, so that he would be ready for me when I showed up."
Colonel Balance then brought up Johnny's old service record to the screen, allowing everyone to see it and analyze it before Lina interjected. "That still doesn't explain how he's alive! You said you killed him!" Daniel sighed again before answering, "To be fair, I never actually said that I saw him die. I delivered what I believed to be a fatal blow, and he looked to be in pretty bad shape before he sent me through the time machine. He must have had more strength left than I realized – enough to get himself to the time machine, reset the date, and go through it."
At that point, President Bartlett had a question for Daniel. "But what is the point of all of this? Why is he working so hard to get rid of magic use in the world?" Daniel closed his eyes and lowered his head in sadness at remembering the last time he and Johnny interacted and stated, "He almost certainly sees magic as a threat – an obstacle, really – to his desire for power. Before we fought, he said that it should be the Jedi running things in the world – that people should be bowing before the Jedi as their rulers. He's most likely been building his profile and power behind the scenes to eliminate this obstacle and step into the power vacuum when the time came." There was an audible gasp in the room as the president replied, "My god. He's an even bigger threat than we suspected."
As they continued to look through the information, Tatsuya noticed something quite interesting. "It looks like he has been in contact with someone here in Japan on a regular basis over the last decade or so – someone named Zhou Gongjin from Yokohama." Major Kazama then interjected, recognizing them name. "Zhou Gongjin? Isn't he the guy who helped round up that group of invading soldiers in Chinatown during the Yokohama invasion?" As the soldiers in the room nodded in affirmation, Daniel stated, "I'm guessing he's a descendant of Johnny's. The shared family name can't be just a coincidence. I would suggest looking deeper into this guy's background."
As everyone in the room and everyone on screen discussed this new information, President Bartlett stated, "It appears this man has been spending the last thirty years carefully planning out his moves and studying our weaknesses. Our best magicians may not be enough to stop him. Mister Horowitz, I'm afraid we'll need to ask you to participate in a combat situation once again. As the only other person in the world fully immersed in the Jedi arts, you may be the only one who can confront this man successfully." Daniel took a deep breath in acceptance, knowing the president was right. "I understand," he said.
As they wrapped up the meeting, Major Kazama stated, "Obviously, we'll have to work together to come up with a plan of action to take this guy out. We'll have to find out what his full capabilities are, as well as where he is." At this, Ray interjected. "I would highly suggest that you come up with a plan fairly quickly. While the actions of Daniel, Tatsuya, and his friends here have slowed down his plans, he will not be deterred for long. Plus, he never stays in the same place for very long, so you will have to be ready to put your plan into action at a moment's notice." Minutes later, everyone was dismissed, with the instruction not to discuss this meeting with anyone outside the room.
As everyone left, Daniel was struggling not to become overwhelmed with guilt. 'This is my fault,' he thought, 'It's my fault that my friends are in danger.' As if able to sense what he was feeling, Tatsuya grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around to face him and stated, "Daniel – listen to me. This isn't your fault. You did not cause Johnny to become the person he is." Daniel shook his head and responded, "But I could have stopped him! If I had, you and everyone else wouldn't be facing such vitriol and hate from the public. You wouldn't be in danger of being proverbially burned at the stake."
Tatsuya continued to look right at him and replied, "You don't know that. Besides, you're not responsible for what your former comrade has done. There was nothing you could have done, despite what you may think!" Lina then came up to them and stated, "Tatsuya is right. Johnny chose a dark path, and I don't think any amount of talking or persuasion could have changed that. You even said that master Kenobi didn't blame you." She then put her hand on his shoulder and said, "You've got to forgive yourself, remember?" Daniel sighed and then smiled, glad that his teachings had gotten through to Lina. "You're right," he said. "Thanks." Lina then smiled and gave a determined nod while exclaiming, "Don't forget, you're not alone on this! We're just going to have to be ready for him when the time comes."