Where They Grew Up

Miles away from Pure Heart Valley, in a monastery deep in the mountains, Shin Mao stood in the center of a training hall, the one he used to teach his children how to become heroes. That is, all of his children, but one.

After his visit to Pure Heart Valley, he had started to regret never teaching his only son how to be a hero. But no matter how much he regretted his mistake, there was no legendary weapon in his collection, or in existence, that could turn back time.

Shin gazed across the room, on a support beam were some red marks stacked on top of one another indicating an individual's height over time. While Shin had been praising his daughters, Mao Mao could only watch from the corner and soak up as much as he could.

To think this place was full of memories, but only one of which included his son. The day he gave each of his children a legendary weapon. He remembered each of their reactions when he handed the weapons to them.

Hinata was ecstatic to receive the golden scarf, the first chance she got, she soared up and down the mountain range. She was already a free spirit, and the scarf gave her all the freedom she would ever want.

Ashaki was thankful to receive the golden contacts, being the scholar she was, she alone had the mental fortitude to wield the all-seeing contacts. Ashaki was a force to be reckoned with the combination of her contacts and her use of Mystic Arts.

Brunhilde was humbled to be given the unstoppable force of the golden spear. The oldest, biggest, and the strongest deserved the spear.

Violet was curious as to why she received the golden hat, the main reason being she was clever under pressure. The golden hat, with its infinite storage space, would bring her ability to see possibilities most wouldn't to the next level, by giving her the item she needed (pending she packed said item).

Minori was impatient to try hers out immediately, she was easily the most reckless of the siblings. Despite her tenacity and technique, the golden bangles would more than make up for her recklessness.

As for Mao Mao, Shin wasn't proud to admit that instead of putting thought into his son's weapon, he just grabbed a weapon he never intended to use, and handed it to the child. But even then, the kid had never looked happier in his life.

Just over the mountain to the west, the sun was beginning to hide behind the large rock. He had stayed in the training room long enough, it was getting late, he needed to get back to the main house soon.

The training room and the main house weren't connected with any form of architecture. When the place was built, it was intended for future generations to make a treacherous journey before they started to hone their skills, a form of initiation before one could begin their training to be a hero.

Of course Mao Mao wasn't able to make the trip himself until later down the line. He would ask Brunhilde to give him a lift, in where she would place him on her shoulder and tell him to hang on for the trek.

Shin Mao made his way to the entrance, naturally, instead of taking the trail, he would fly from one building to the other. The feet of his golden armor started to produce a blue stream of flames that slowly raised him into the air. With a sudden burst of speed, Shin weaved through the rocky terrain and the forestry that blanketed the mountains.

Normally the trek was three hours long, inciting heroes in training to get up early. That in itself was a training exercise, the earlier you get up, the more time you have in the day to get stuff done. However, by flight, the trip was thirty-five minutes.

Gazing up at the sun streaked clouds, Shin reminisced about whenever he and Hinata would soar through the skies together. It was a nice father-daughter bonding experience while it lasted.

It wasn't long until he came upon the monastery, although in actuality, it looked more like a mansion than a monastery. It had been in the Mao clans possession for hundreds of years, every once in a while, Shin would use one of the legendary weapons to restore anything that was getting too old to maintain itself.

Naturally he never got a lot of visitors this far out, but he wasn't without company. His wife, Cleo Mao, was the only other current resident besides himself, it was nice having alone time with her now that the kids were out of the house. Even though it had been almost a decade since they all moved out, every morning he expected to wake up to his children arguing over breakfast like clockwork.

Shin set down just outside the front doors. They were made of mahogany, and nearly twice his size while he was wearing the armor. Pushing them open with effortless ease, he stepped into a large foyer. It had a red carpet that rolled from the door down the corridor, and into a far wall, which split into the northwest and southeast wings.

Before progressing any further, he stepped to the side, pressing his back against the wall. Shin deactivated his armor, and jumped out onto the carpet. One pro about the kids being out of the house, no one would see him out of his armor. Aside from Cleo, Mao Mao and his friends were the only ones who knew of Shin's actual stature. His size was a bit of a touchy subject, especially when he made such a big deal about it when he wasn't even equal height with his smallest child.

Following the carpet spread, he traced it into the northwest wing of the monastery. In his youth, the place was lit with torches that made his shadow dance on the walls; nowadays it was lit with electric chandeliers, making it much brighter.

Shin followed the carpet all the way to all the way to the living area. It was a large room with a fireplace in the side wall, a series of bookshelves sat opposite of the fireplace. Two single seat chairs were set next to each other, with a couch next to each of the chairs. The chairs were set so that they made a forty-five degree angle, while the couches were parallel of one another.

Every once in a while, the family would come together to regale each other with their latest heroic exploits. But since the children left, the only time Shin ever got to see any of them now is the family reunion every few years.

The unfortunate part is, that in the near decade that the family has been separated, the entire immediate family never came together. They were always one or two members short.

Sitting in one of the single chairs, a mature looking black cat rested with a crystal ball sitting in her lap. She was mouthing words to it, like she was having a silent conversation with the sphere. Upon a second look, a garbled figure was projected in the ball; from where Shin stood it was difficult to tell who the figure was, but the colors black and green made themselves prominent.

Ashaki, should've known, this was Cleo and Ashaki's favored form of communication. Cleo would use Mystic Arts to check on their children to make sure they were all right from time-to-time. Ashaki had eventually learned to sense when her mother was peeping and took some time to talk when she did.

Ashaki would turn whichever direction the Mao residence was in, and use her contacts to see Cleo when she had the crystal ball in hand. The crystal ball couldn't produce sound, and Ashaki couldn't hear Cleo from so far away, so they communicated by reading each other's lips.

Shin had no knowledge of the mystic arts, so he left Ashaki's Mystic Arts training to Cleo, while he taught her how to apply it in combat. This made her the only child to be taught by Cleo in any way, shape, or form.

He made his way over to the open seat next to his wife, casting glances to the crystal ball, hoping the garbled image would clear up as he got closer. Setting himself in the seat, he looked to the crystal ball, the image was cleared up just enough to make out who it was.

Ashaki's golden stare was the only thing Shin could make out clearly, apparently she and Cleo were wrapping up their conversation; not even a minute passed before the image dispersed, and the crystalline sphere reverted back to being translucent.

"How's she doing?" Shin asked, curious as to what they were talking about.

Cleo met her husbands eyes with her own, unlike everyone else in the clan, she was the only one with calming ocean blue eyes.

"Oh you know, the usual," the mother replied, her voice as soothing as silk.

"I see," said Shin, happy to know his daughter was doing some good in the world. "Have you checked on the others? How are they doing?"

"Would you like to see for yourself?" Cleo asked, projecting an image onto the wall, just above the mantel of the fireplace. It was almost like a magic tv, letting them gaze into the ongoing's of the outside world. "You'll never guess where Minori is."

The image became that of Minori as she walked through a very familiar town, with some very familiar individuals. Shin remembered them as Mao Mao's friends from the kingdom he was protecting. What were their names? Shin never really stopped to catch what they were.

One was a blue bat with large ears and eyes, she had a yellow heart on her torso with a matching peg leg. The other was a large white and brown Badger with robotic arm, his only parcels of clothing were an eyepatch over his left eye, and a sash with pockets.

"What is she doing?" Shin asked, curious as to why she was even in Pure Heart.

"If I've been reading the situation right," said Cleo, smiling at the sight of her darling daughter. "Then I believe she's on patrol with Badgerclops and Adorabat."

Those names caught Shin's ear, "How do you know their names?"

"Mao Mao and I talk on the phone every once in a while," she explained, her facial expressed reminiscence of days long past. "He talks very highly of his friends, even if he won't admit it to them."

Thinking back, Shin did remember talking to Minori when they ran into each other in a village just down the mountain. He did talk about Mao Mao, but was what he said really something Minori would act upon.

"Do you know why Minori is in Pure Heart?" Shin asked, rephrasing the earlier question to what he was really asking.

Cleo took a moment to ponder on this, after a minute of thought, she changed the image from Minori in Pure Heart, to one of Violet sitting in the back of an Aero-Vehicle, a gold plated one at that.

In the driver's seat sat a tanuki woman, pinkish-red fur made up most of her body, white fur covered her muzzle and chest, and black fur covered her arms, ears, eyes, as well as the tip of her tail. For apparel, she wore a light green cape. The two defining features the woman possessed were the black fur on her face almost made her look like a bandit, and that the way her fur was fashioned, it looked like if her fur had sleeves, they were torn off.

"If I were to guess," started Cleo, her tone saying that her guess, wasn't actually a guess. "I'd say she's there for the same reason that Violet is on her way there now."

"Huh, who would've guessed," stated shin, dumbstruck to hear this. This news astounded Shin, three of their children would be in the same place without anyone needing to goad them into it.

"And it doesn't stop there," stated Cleo, continuing the topic even further. "As soon as she's finishes up what she's doing, Ashaki will start making her way there as well. Says she has business there."

No amount of training could hide the surprised look that was strewn across Shin Mao's face. Not three, but four of his children were going to be in the same place.

"Do you know what the reason is? For all our children to be gathering like this, I mean," Shin asked, having enough of the suspense.

Cleo lowered her head, looking away from the image of her stoic daughter, a crease in her brow. "I have suspicions."

"How about Brunhilde?" Shin asked, wondering where his giant of a daughter was now. "What's she up to these days?"

"Why don't I show you?" Cleo said, a smile returning to her face.

The image shifted once more, this time, instead of being in the middle of a peaceful day, it was a chaotic storm. Brunhilde was locked in combat, if you could call it that. Brunhilde was wildly swinging her spear, her adversary parrying every strike... with a pair of chopsticks.

Shin knew of this man, he's acquired the title of Unbeatable Master, a title that was clearly earned. The master was white furred cat, he appeared to be in the middle of his lunch, which consisted of a bowl of ramen.

Shin had never seen such a one sided fight, any attack the master didn't parry, he dodged as he ate his ramen. With every failed attack, Brunhilde only got more and more aggravated, making her attacks sloppy.

"She's found a pleasant pass time," said Cleo, eyes trained on the battle. "She goes every other month to test her skills."

"Well," said Shin, unsure if this was a resourceful use of time and energy. "As long as she's walking away with some experience."

"He gives pointers at the end of each session." Cleo stated, her eyes never tearing from the action.

"How about... H-Hinata?" Shin asked, struggling to get the last word out.

The proud face that Cleo wore, disappeared yet again. In response, all she did was shake her head.

"I-I see," Shin said, disappointed at Cleo's response.

Shortly after the children moved out, Hinata seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet. Both Cleo and Ashaki had attempted to locate her using Mystic Arts, alas their efforts were wasted. Theories were raised, but no one ever found out why she couldn't be found. Eventually they put the issue to rest, saying that she didn't want to be found.

"How about you?" Cleo asked, taking a turn at changing the topic of conversation.

"What?" Shin asked, caught off guard by the question.

"You've been asking all these questions about our daughters," she pointed out, in an as-matter-of-fact tone. "What about your son? Aren't you worried about him?"

A gentle smile splayed itself across Shin's face, like he was aware of something no one else was. "I don't need to worry about him."

"Oh?" Said the mother, intrigued by the words her husband spoke.

"I saw what he did. I'd never tell him this myself, but when I was his age-"

"Let me guess," said Cleo, interrupting the father of six heroes. "When you were his age you were only twice the hero he was?"

"The opposite actually," replied Shin, pride sneaking its way into his voice. "He's twice the hero I was when I was his age. He's done a lot of growing in that valley, and I don't think he's anywhere near done."

Cleo wasn't expecting such humility from Shin, the most prideful man she knew. It was almost like anyone who goes to Pure Heart comes back a changed person.

After all, in this whole conversation, Shin hasn't made a single comment involving the words 'small' or 'big'.