28: Pluto

Chrona sat at the dining table and chatted with his daughter as his wife, Iyo laid out the table in preparation for dinner.

"Dad, should I go and call Icarus in?"

"No, he'll come back when he's finished."

Luna gave her father a worried look before looking at her mother. 

"Umm, Dear... Isn't that a bit harsh? He can finish up tomorrow or after dinner."

Chrona gave a stern look to his wife.

"The boy is way behind his peers, and if I want to enroll him in a good academy by next year I need to push, the good thing is he wants to be pushed."

"Good academy?!? Dad, are you kidding? He's a Grade 1, Level 1 at that!"

"Well I'll have you know that he has already leveled up, and in terms of pure athletic and physical ability he will probably surpass you by the time he is Grade 1 Level 5."

"Excuse me!"

"Dear, you must be joking."

Even Iyo found this a little hard to believe, Luna was a Grade 2 Level 3 on the verge of reaching Level 4. No matter how prodigious the boy's body was, surpassing higher-graded Novites in any aspect was unheard of.

"I told you before, but since you don't believe me you will all have to see in due time. Also, Iyo, and Luna, never question the methods I am using to train the boy, am I understood? For him to shoulder the burdens he will have to in the future this type of effort is the minimum."

Iyo looked at her husband and nodded, though she may not agree with his methods, she understood Chrona was never a person to do something or say something just for the sake of it.

All of his actions had meaning.

Luna, on the other hand, did not agree and protested,

"What's going to happen when he finds out that District Champion trainees snatched up his revenge before he could 'Avenge his Clan'"

She said the last words sarcastically, leaving a bad taste in her parent's mouths.

As much as Chrona wished to deny his daughter's words though, she had a point.

'Will the boy lose motivation when he finds out? No, I already explained to him the situation, plus, he said he wants power, just that alone will keep him on the right path!'

Chrona tried not to stress about the situation, but at the back of his mind, his daughter's words gnawed away at him.

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Northern Region Forest, Near Vanco Village

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"Squad Leader Pluto, how long do we have to wait for Galen and his group? We got the transmission two days ago and they still haven't arrived."

A tall slender woman wearing hunting tights, and ranger boots complained to a man lying down on the ground with a hat covering his face.

'Why did I have to be squad leader? I tried my best not to stand out in training but that sly old Vor saw through me. Now I have to lead a group, it's like the blind leading the blind.'

Although he was a trainee like the woman and the others in the group, the man was chosen as squad leader, similar to Galen.

"Hellooooo, Pluto, I am talking to you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I heard you. And like I told you all of the day yesterday, we are going to wait. And those were direct orders from District Champion Vor, do you understand, Lilly?"

At the mention of Vor's name, the woman named Lilly became silent. She knew as two trainees she could harass Pluto and not have to worry about too much backlash. Still, if he were to report such a thing as disobeying orders to Vor she lose her position and wouldn't be able to become a Champion in one of the major cities as she had always dreamed of.

"Fine, I will stop."

"Thank you."

Pluto was a mid-leveled Grade 3 Novite, and he used the rare element of gravity. The reason he was chosen as squad leader though, was not because of his rare element, but because of his intellect.

Vor recognized right away that Pluto, though lazy, was able to make correct decisions and act upon them at the drop of a hat, and to do this he only required minimal amounts of information.

His intel-gathering skills were also tops in the whole trainee group, seeing this, Vor believed that these traits would make Pluto a great squad leader.

"Squad Leader, what's that?"

One of Pluto's other squad members, Larry, pointed down the path where a person could be seen frantically running towards them.

Pluto, sitting up now, looked closely and recognized the armor and attire worn by the running person.

"What's Galen doing coming from that direction?"

"Huh, that Galen?!?"

Lily and Larry were both shocked to see that their squad leader's counterpart was in such a state, not even thinking about the whereabouts of the rest of his squad.

"Wait I think he is trying to say something."

"HELP!!"

Pluto immediately realized that something was a miss and mobilized his squad right away.

He signalled for them to spread out into a formation and he intercepted Galen on the road.

"Squad Leader Galen, what's wrong? And where is the rest of your squad?"

"Pluto, Pluto, you need to help me... They wiped all of them out, it's all my fault!"

Unable to bear the noble's whining Pluto slapped Galen.

"Get ahold of yourself, man! What happened explain so I can understand."

Galen began to calm himself down, taking deep breaths and settling his heart.

"Vor contacted us through the communication beads and my squad and I decided to head over to Vanco ahead of you guys to... um.. assess... yeah! to assess the situation, that it! Once we got there though we were caught in a large-scale illusion and someone began to pick us off as we hallucinated our worst fears."

Pluto was disgusted, it was obvious he led the group there himself in an attempt to take all the glory to himself. 

'This spoiled noble brat! I would have given him the credit but instead, he walked into a trap and got his whole squad wiped out.'

Pluto rubbed his temples to alleviate the headache that was growing.

'Now there is more work to be done.'

Just as he was thinking of how to proceed a voice called out to them.

"Hey there trainees, I didn't expect more of you would be so close nearby, I'll have to tell the High Priest we need to move soon, oh well."

The man shrugged and walked nonchalantly towards the group.

"I would ask you to state your identity, but it's clear you are responsible for this. Pluto Squad, surround and dispatch the target!"

At his call Larry, and Lilly sprung into action creating a triangle formation with the target in the middle and Pluto at the head.

"Oh no! I am surrounded!" The man grabbed his face and yelled with a grin.

"Engage!" Pluto yelled out and his squad closed in on their target.

The grin on the man's face only got wider as the three trainees closed in on him, and by the time Pluto was able to notice this detail it was already a moment too late.

Though he couldn't make out the words he could see the man mouthing an incantation.

"Deadman Circus!"

"Squad brace for impact!!"

Expecting an attack Pluto raised his defenses as did his squad members, halting their forward momentum and holding their ground, but nothing came.

Or so they thought.