Holographic Pods

By the time Juniper and Yong-Jin said their goodbyes it was already early evening, Juniper was taken back to his appartment and the two shared a light hug and waved farewells to each other before Yong-Jin walked away. Juniper thought of their height difference, it was really big, he only came up to Yong-Jin's chest.

He then turned back into his house.

Juniper sat outside his apartment on the balcony overlooking the city of Capital Star. The sun was setting and the sky was turning orange and yellow. Juniper decided to order more seeds from the Starnet market, he had used the majority of them now.

He placed his order for the vegetable seeds and was about to head back inside when he saw a new message notification on his communicator. It was Demetrius asking him to come to the capital star military base.

Juniper decided to send a call to Demetrius instead, His communicator rang once, twice, three times and finally Demetrius answered. "Hello?"

"Im not disturbing you am I?'' Juniper asked, he curled up into the chair on the balcony.

Demetrius chuckled lightly. "No, not at all.''

Juniper saw that Demetrius was still in his military uniform "Good. I would hate to interrupt your work schedule, but I wanted to ask about coming over to the base?"

''Mm, well I would like it if you could come over to the base preferably soon, we will test to see if your abilities have improved. We would run a few more tests than last time, this includes physical tests is that alright?''

Juniper nodded. "It seems fine, are you going to tell me what exactly these tests entail?"

Demetrius smiled lightly. "They should be fun, I want to know where your limits lie so we can push them further."

***

The next day Juniper got ready and headed off to the military base. When he arrived there he took a seat in a waiting room and waited for Demetrius, there were many people gathered today, they seemed to be soldiers but there were people in a uniform he recognised from the Beast trainers. He had seen them before at the arena and on Gio the first time they met.

Some time went by until Juniper spotted Demetrius walking towards him. They greeted each other and Juniper followed Demetrius outside. Demetrius led him across the grounds and towards a building behind.

Inside was a large training room which housed a lot of equipment including the holographic pods he had seen at the beast arena.

Demetrius motioned Juniper to sit on one of the benches, "We will get you set up in one of the pods, today I mostly want to see what your offensive power is like so we will be doing simulation battles'' Demetrius said.

''Battle?'' Juniper was a bit bewildered, although he hadnt needed to attack anything in his life he did train with his brother Sena to protect himself and because his offensive ability of fox fire was weak he had to rely more on his agility and dexterity.

Demetrius explained that the simulations would use projected images and illusions rather than real combat. The main reason being is that he wouldnt want to injure Juniper so would rely on the projected imagery. "You will need to dodge or deflect the attacks, it will help us determine your level, although the things you will see will feel realistic you won't have to worry about your physical body.'' Demetrius paused before continuing ''I will also join you in the holographic world, so just do your best''

Juniper agreed. Demetrius went to go set the pods up, Juniper sat swinging his legs and looked around the room and his eyes glanced at a figure outside in the grounds of the base. ''ah'' Juniper got up and went out into the yard.

The man in the dark green uniform stood with his back to Juniper he looked to be conversing with one of the military personnel.

''Gio?''

Gio thought he had heard a familiar person someone call him and turned to face Juniper.

Gios eyes widened in surprise and walked over lifting Juniper up into a hug.

"Why are you here?" Gio exclaimed.

Juniper smiled, "Im getting some tests done on my abilities, what about you?"

''Well its..'' Gio started

Demetrius came out of the building to look for Juniper who was no longer on the bench.

''Juniper?'' Demetrius questioned

Juniper saw Demetrius and patted Gio to put him down ''Demetrius''

Demetrius hugged Junipers shoulders.

"This is?'' Demetrius asked Juniper looking at Gio

''This is my partner Gio. Gio, this is Demetrius he is also my partner'' Juniper answered introducing them both, it felt slightly strange to Juniper but as it was normal to have multiple spouses here he quickly returned to calm.

Demetrius nodded and greeted Gio politely.

Gio returned the greeting and shook his hand.

''Is there a reason why there are so many beast trainers here today?'' Juniper curiously asked Demetrius.

Demetrius replied "We are going to start assigning contracted beasts to soliders, however some people who have higher genetic level will need to go out to find their contracted beasts."

''Well that includes yourself right? I have seen your name on the list of those going to get a contracted beast'' Gio said smiling.

Juniper was surpirsed he would of thought Demetrius would already have a contracted beast.

Demetrius nodded, "Yes, that's correct. Until now I havent found mine.''

Juniper pondered "I thought you would have one already''

Demetrius shrugged, "I just never found the right one, speaking of which I know you wanted to find a plant contracted beast?''

''Well.'' Juniper nodded

''It would be nice if you could come along with me, I will be leaving Capital star for upwards of a month..'' Demetrius muttered.

''Huh? If Juniper is going with you I will come along too. I may be useful since beasts are my area of expertise.'' Gio suggested.

''Actually this is why I want to test Junipers fighting ability, although I will protect you I want to make sure you can defend yourself. We would be travelling into the wild so it is unknown how dangerous it could be.'' Demetrius reminded.

Juniper agreed and Demetrius took Juniper back to the holographic pods, Gio decided to follow along.