The room that Raphael has entered is utterly amazing to him. The walls of the room are made out of pure marble with golden pillars going down from the ceiling to the floor on opposite sides of the room.

The center of the room's ceiling is made out of glass and iron, allowing the outside sun to leak into the room. Raphael looks upward for what seems like an eternity as he watches the vibrant, blue sun above. Raphael then notices as he watches the sun that the entire room is painted in a bluish tint, making the room almost feel like it is covered in shadows.

As Raphael watches the blue-morning sun, he hears the distinctive sound of a portal shutting behind him. He turns around to see that he had entered through another portal generator. This generator, however, is crafted out of beautiful, gleaming gold, making it match the rest of the magnificent room that him and Chiot are now in.

Chiot's voice breaks the silence as he speaks out to Raphael, “Heh, looks like there's nobody manning the portal generator here....” Raphael looks around the room to follow up on what Chiot had said. He scans the room repeatedly and, as it turns out, there is not a single soul in sight.

While examining the room, Raphael notices a lavishly built and decorated goldwood door at the far side of the room. Raphael points towards the door with his right hand and says “The main hall must be that way, come on Chiot.” after which, him and Chiot walk towards the goldwood door and exit the portal room.

The area outside of the portal room is much wider then the room they were in before, and also a lot more lively. The room must be roughly around three hundred feet long and wide. On all of the walls that encompass the room are lavishly made wall paintings of angels and demons in epic battles. On the ceiling of the room is an incredible battle scene between the Demu and the UMA, with the gods and demons of each religion commanding on their respective sides.

The main hall is filled with people from all areas of the universe. Raphael is able to discern the UHG staff member's out of the crowd,given that they have unique green and brown uniforms, which comprise of a business suit-pants combo and a beret. Raphael can tell that they are elite, their posture and stance scream dedication and strength, at least to him.

There are goldwood and silverwood furniture dotting around the room, mostly benches and chairs that lay on each of the left and right walls and some branching out slightly towards the center of the room. Raphael notices that there isn't any type of furniture in the center of the room. The reason why eludes him.

At the very end of the room, facing directly away from him and Chiot, is a massive goldwood desk that houses five UHG staff members. Behind the desk and to both of the sides of the desk are two oak doors, which Raphael finds odd since he hasn't seen a normal door while off of his planet for quite some time.

Aside from the door that he has come through and the doors that he has identified on the other side of the room, there are also two double-doors on the left and right sides of the room, there purpose unknown to Raphael. Raphael also noticed earlier that there are small sunroof windows on each of the four corners of the ceiling. Their presence doesn't interfere with the ceiling mural, however.

Raphael's amazement of the main hall is suddenly cut short by Chiot's palm to Raphael's back. “Come on, kid,” he says confidently. “you've got some tests to win.”

Having been shrugged out of his wonder-struck state, Raphael gives Chiot a nod and they both walk towards the goldwood desk on the other side of the room.

When they arrive at the desk, the person that graces him at the counter looks peculiar to Raphael. Just like Sherah, this person has an odd skin pigment. Their skin is a dull golden color. Raphael thinks that the man must have been from a unique race of some sort. Before Raphael can ask the man where he is from or of what race he is, Chiot speaks up for him. “Excuse me, sir,” he says in a dignified tone to the golden colored man behind the desk. “but this young man, a one 'Raphael Horizon Danteo', is here to take his tests to become a member of the UHG. We received a message earlier today from his UMA contact, Brigadier General Jonathon Tyron Lendlock, that his UHG registration had been filed and was scheduled for today. How long, good sir, do you think it will take until his tests will be ready?”

“Raphael Horizon Danteo...?” says the gold-colored man before sliding a laptop in front of him and typing in a few commands. “Just a moment....”

As the man types commands into his UHG laptop, Raphael and Chiot begin talking to each other in hushed tones. “Hey Chiot,” asks Raphael in a quiet whisper. “do you have any idea why this guy's skin color is like this?”

“That guy is an Aquarius. They're natural born leaders, all of them.” whispers Chiot back. “He's probably the head receptionist here. Now pay attention, he'll probably send you in in a few seconds.”

Once Chiot has finished whispering to Raphael, the receptionist shuts his laptop and looks at both of them. “Raphael Horizon Danteo, is it? Your registration correspondent will be along shortly, please take a seat and wait for them to arrive.”

Raphael and Chiot nod towards the Aquarius receptionist and walk away from the goldwood desk and back towards the left-most wall from where they were. They both take a seat on the bench nearest the desk and wait as the registration correspondent does whatever they are doing before getting to them.

Time passes by slowly as Chiot and Raphael both wait for whoever is going to be meeting them. Eventually Chiot starts to feel slightly tired. He pushes his head and back towards the back of the bench as he rests his eyes.

Raphael, on the other hand, spends most of his time looking down at the ground. Time ticks slowly by as Chiot sleeps and Raphael waits. Seconds turn to minutes, minutes turn to hours.

Three hours have passed and Raphael is becoming inpatient. Almost completely unable to wait any longer, Raphael pushes his head upward and is about to brace himself to get up.

Once Raphael's head is braced upward, he notices that there is a woman in her late-teens in a UHG uniform staring at him. “Raphael Horizon Danteo?” she asks as she stares at Raphael, waiting for a response.

“Y-Yes?” answers Raphael, almost unsure of why this stranger knows his name. He is enlightened to the situation, however, once the girl begins to speak.

“My name is Teruin Algo Hughs, and I will be your registration guide for today.” says the girl in a trained, militaristic tone. “You have already been signed in by the head receptionist, so if you will please follow me, we have some tests to complete.”

Seeing as Chiot isn't needed for any of these tests and he is sound asleep at this point, Raphael decides that he will just let Chiot sleep until he gets back. After turning to look at Chiot and then shooting his head back towards Teruin, Raphael says “Alright, let's go then.” and rises from his seat.

“Then please follow me, Raphael.” says Teruin before turning around and walking back towards the reception desk with Raphael following right after her. Both Raphael and Teruin walk right past the reception desk and go straight towards the door to the desk's right.

Teruin opens the door for Raphael, waits for him to go through, and then shuts the door behind him. “Before we continue on, I must give you a brief description of the testing process.” she speaks in a dignified and practiced tone. “Your registration tests for joining the UHG will comprise of five courses as follows: An intelligence test, a physical combat test, a magical combat test, an accuracy test, and a reflex test. They will be carried out in that order by UHG members that will become part of your UHG squad, depending on whether you pass them or not. Your standing in the squad depends solely on how well you perform in these said courses. Do you understand everything I just told you, Mr. Danteo?”

Raphael looks back into Teruin's metallic, purple eyes and nods with a serious look on his face. “Very good.” says Teruin as she walks past Raphael down the hall and opens up the first door to the five testing rooms. “Now, the person who will give out the first test is through this door, please proceed inside.”

Raphael gives Teruin a nervous “okay” and proceeds down the hallway and in through the doorway that Teruin had indicated. Teruin then walks into the room behind him. Although Raphael is confident about his abilities, there is one thing that bothered him about the first test. Even though he is quite powerful, he is still only twelve-years-old and has never left his home planet until just a few days ago, so he isn't very confident about his outer-world intelligence.

The first test chamber is a small, twenty-by-twenty room that is lit up by overhead LED light rods. In the center of the room is a light, plywood table with a seat on each side. On one side of the table is a relatively tall, middle age, blond-haired man who is sitting with the back of his hands against his chin. The man has a relative eagerness in his eyes that can only come from a need to get out of desk life and into real-life action. In front of the man is a clipboard that has a large amount of Q and A questions printed on it.

“Mr. Raphael Danteo?” says the man as Raphael enters the room and Teruin shuts the door behind her.

“Yes, that would be me. Raph would do just fine, Mr....” asks Raphael as he walks to his seat and sits down with a nervousness in his body.

“My name is Henry Oskerine. I'm an information expert that will be working for your UHG squad if all goes well during this and the other tests.” says Henry as he sorts through the clipboard that is on the table. “Now, Raph, was it? I have been informed through your UHG registration papers and through Brigadier General Johnathon Lendlock that you are the Guardian for the Key, is that right?”

Raphael looks towards Henry and says “Yes” in a firm tone.

Henry looks back at him over top of his clipboard and eyes him from head to chest. “Well,” he says as he leans back in his chair. “according to the lore that surrounds the Guardian, you would fall closely into the appropriate time frame. In your papers, it says that you are twelve-years-old and you were born, at least very closely, around the time frame that the Key was born. To find out whether you were born on the same date and the same time as the key, it is going to take a lot of mathematics and calculations about both your planet and the Key's planet's year system and speed. Aside from that, I was told in your papers that you have just recently gone off-planet and your world is one of the secretive types, so I imagine that your knowledge of the outside universe would be rather limited. Because of that, I'm not going to make this test difficult. To tell the truth, You're probably going to learn a lot from this test.”

“So, in other words...” says Raphael, unsure of what this test really means. “this test is more along the lines of a lesson...?”

“Yes Raph, that is one way of putting it.” answers Henry, knowing full well that intelligence tests given to minors and those that have only gone off-world just recently would normally be done similarly to this. “Now first off, from what I have read from your papers, you have been fighting the Demu for only the past two days. How strong was the last Demu you faced?”

“Um, let's see,” says Raphael as he ponders to himself over the massive HEC scout that he had faced the day before. “what was that guy's name... ah, that's right! His name was Ponretin, and he was a HEC scout, I think, and some kind of fire master.”

“Hmm, so you've already faced a HEC member....” says Henry as he strokes his chin, an element of admiration for the Guardian over such an early feat showing in his eyes. “I have to tell you, Raphael, taking down a HEC member this early on in your life and so early on in your ascension into Guardianship is very impressive. Now, throughout your career as the Guardian, have you ever heard of the Reapers?”

“The Reapers...?” Raphael starts trying to delve into his mind for any kind of hint from anyone about these 'Reaper' creatures, but finds nothing that would have given him any kind of hint about them. “No, I don't believe that I have.”

“Okay, then let me tell you what the UMA knows about them.” says Henry as he shifts his papers on his clipboard. “They are an illusive kind of Demu that have their own physical, moving world. Their only purpose is to weaken our defenses and take worlds outside of the Demu's zone of control. I would tell you more, but I have a feeling that now wouldn't be the perfect time for you to know everything, so I will just skip on ahead to the magic portion.”

“Raph, what do you know about magic? Tell me every little speck of information you know.” asks Henry as he begins checking off boxes on the clipboard.

“Well, I did learn a little bit about magic yesterday. As far as I know, there are two types of magic. There is light magic, which comes from the gods of the universe, and there is dark magic, which comes from the demons of the universe. Light magic has a white outline to it and dark magic has a black outline to it. Magic is a gift from the gods, that I also know, and some members of the UHG have magical abilities. That's as much as I know.”

“Well, Raph, you do know a good amount of details about magic for your age.” says Henry as he flips through his clipboard. “There is one thing you left out, though, and that is that to actually be able to use magic, you need to have something called 'potential', which can either be unlocked by itself over-time or by a dire situation. It also can be unlocked by someone who already has unlocked potential. Next up, what do you know about nanobots and friendly fire technology?”

“Well, for one thing, I have already taken the nanobot transfusion.” says Raphael as he shifts himself in his chair. “For the friendly fire stuff, however, I know little to nothing about that. I've never even heard of it before you asked me about it.”

Henry lays the clipboard that he is holding down, since for this subject he is confident in his current knowledge. “Friendly fire technology is used in every UMA-made fire-arm, artillery, or melee weapon. The weapons and bullets are all enchanted and equipped with special phasing technology that will allow them to link with their wielder's mind and phase through their wielder's allies without injury. It was first thought up around three hundred thousand years ago by the Omerit empire and took a few thousand more years to be fully developed and circulated through the UMA and the UHG, not to mention the other RMCs that dot the universe, which stands for Religious Military Corps. Which brings me to my next point. Raph, how much do you know about the Omerit empire and the RMCs?”

“I already had the Omerit empire explained to me by others, but I don't know anything about RMCs. But now that you mention it, I do know that the gods of each religion are fighting back, so it doesn't surprise me that religious groups would rise up.” says Raphael as he looks dead at the clipboard that is laying on the table.

“The RMCs were brought up by followers of multiple religions and each of them are considered to be elite fighting groups corresponding with the UMA.” says Henry as he takes a smokeless, electric cigarette out of his uniform's shirt pocket and places it to his lips. “The UHG, however, was the first created and looked-to elite organization of the UMA. Whenever the UMA needs specialists or superb fighters on the battlefield, they call us first. As for the RMCs., there are the ORDF, which is Odin's Ragnarok Defensive Force, the ZCC, which stands for Zeus' Centurion Corps., and the RH, Ra's Harbingers, just to name a few. Now for a question, and this will be the last part of the intelligence test. Tell me everything that you know about how the DuskWar started, Raph, and then you may continue on to the rest of the tests.”

Thinking back, Raphael does remember June mentioning how everything started with her ancestor and the Demu world. Seeing as he has basically been given a word-for-word explanation of exactly how everything started and continued up to the current day, Raphael decides that his knowledge of the current question is strong enough to give a good answer.

“The DuskWar started around a million years ago when the Devil of Many decided to lay siege on the universe and take it as his own. He sent some Demu through the cracks of the Demu gateplanet, and I believe their leader was someone called Zard, to find some way of opening the gateplanet to hell's gateway. They found June's ancestor, who had the ability in her bloodstream to be able to open and shut the gate, and tricked her into opening the gate to bring her husband back from the grave. When they arrived at the gateplanet, she opened the portal to Hell and the Demu started pouring out. Right after she opened the portal, Zard stabbed her in the back and left her to die as the Demu flooded out of the portal. The rest of June's immediate ancestors left on a ship before the Demu arrived and traveled all the way across the universe to escape the Demu. I don't know what happened after that though.” Raphael says to Henry, reciting what he remembers

“I'd like to tell you right now exactly how the UMA found June a few years back, but I think it would be a topic that she would rather discuss with you personally.” Henry takes his smokeless cigarette out of his mouth and places it back in his pocket. He then stands up from his seat and motions for Raphael to get up as he continues to speak. “Stand up Raphael. You did well, but there is still a great deal more that you must do before you are officially considered a member of the UHG and you are made my commander.” Raphael rises from his seat and looks to his right as Henry's head turns towards Teruin. “Teruin, would you please escort Raph to the next test chamber. I have a few things left to pack up for when he pass.”

“Yes, Mr. Oskerine.” says Teruin as she bows towards Raphael and Henry, she then raises her gloved hand to open the door she was standing in front of.

Before Raphael exits, Henry gives him one last statement. “Mr. Danteo, I would like to let you know something about your next test-giver. Although he may be a bit intimidating, Ram is really a good man at heart and would not hurt anything that doesn't deserve it. One thing about him that you should be aware of, however, is that he judges the people he serves under depending on how physically strong they are. This next test will be a true test of your strength, so be prepared to fight with everything you have. Good luck, Mr. Danteo, and I truly do hope that in the future we will work as comrades in arms.”

Raphael chuckles at Henry's statement. “Don't worry, Henry, I don't expect to be turned down for this.” With his last words, Raphael turns around and walks out of the door Teruin had opened for him while waving goodbye to Henry as he leaves. Teruin shuts the door behind her as she leaves, leaving Henry alone in the room. Seeing as there is no reason to remain in the room and that he has a lot of things left to do, Henry presses a button underneath of the room's table, making it fold up into itself and disappear under the floor's panels. A few more moments pass and the panels that were underneath of the table open up, making the secret passage out of the room appear. Henry sighs to himself and then proceeds down the stairway, stopping to look over his shoulder towards the closed door before he leaves.

Outside of the testing room, Teruin says to Raphael as she shuts the door to follow her as she immediately turns to her side and begins walking down the hallway. After the intelligence test, Raphael is beginning to feel enlightened by the entire experience. His knowledge of the UMA and the UHG has been elevated by his talk with Henry, and he isn't going to let the knowledge he has gained go to waste.

Raphael and Teruin continue down the hallway and make a hard right around a corner and down another hallway. As Raphael follows Teruin, he notices a few strands of brown hair poking out of the back of her beret. While they are walking, Raphael also notices that Teruin is only slightly taller than him. He makes a rough calculation that she is five-foot-one, which is oddly spot on.

Soon enough, they have reached the next testing room. Teruin stops Raphael with an outstretched hand as they near the doorway. “Raphael,” she says to him. “this next portion of your testing process will be the physical combat test. If you believe that you are not physically fit enough to complete this portion of your registration, please tell me before we proceed into the room. Raphael, do you believe you are physically capable of completing this test?”

Her question about his physical capabilities would have been a good inquiry just a few days ago. Before his entire ascension into guardianship, Raphael was a scrawny weakling and he knew it. But now that June and the DuskWar have come into his life, Raphael has finally become the superhero that he has always wished that he could be. With faith in his fighting abilities, Raphael firmly nods his head and says “I'm ready”.

Teruin gives Raphael a smile, the first one that she has ever given him, and opens the door into the physical combat testing chamber. She keeps the door open and motions for Raphael to enter. Raphael says “Thanks” as he enters the room. Teruin goes in after him and shuts and locks the door behind her.

The inside of the physical combat testing chamber is similar to a gym. There are punching bags on the sides of the room along with racks filled to the brim with green laser weaponry. The weapons contained on the weapon racks are all melee weaponry, ranging from swords to spears to claymores, but the blades of the weapons are all made out of green lasers.

On the far side of the gym-like chamber is an extraordinarily tall man, about seven to eight feet tall, who is wailing on a punching bag with his bare fists. Suddenly, he sends out a massive punch that sends out a shock-wave throughout the chamber. Raphael does not realize it at first, but the man's fist has literally gone straight through the punching bag from front to back.

As the man retracts his fist, he looks over to see that Raphael has arrived. “Ah, so the child is here for his initiation?” says the bulky man in a clear Russian accent. “So little one, you want to become a UHG fighter like me. Ha, well best of luck with that. Before we begin, I must ask for your name.”

“My name is Raphael Horizon Danteo, sir.” answers Raphael as he watches the massive man walk from the destroyed punching bag over to a gigantic green laser warhammer that was laying against the right-most wall. “And if you read my registration form, you would know that I'm the Key's Guardian.”

“What? You're the Guardian!?” says the eight-foot-tall man in amazement. “A puny little man like you is the Guardian...!? Well then, I suppose that having you in my squad would be helpful, but I doubt that you are ready for battle at your young age. None-the-less, my name is Urt Ramski, and I will be your physical combat examiner for today. Now, grab a weapon off of one of the racks so that we might begin.”

Obeying Urt's orders, Raphael walks over to his left and pulls a green laser-bladed spear off of a nearby rack. “Teruin, what do you think of this little one? Do you think he is really worthy of being a UHG member?” Urt asks Teruin plainly.

“Urt, do I have permission to speak unprofessionally?” she asks as she crosses her arms.

“Please do, little Teruin. I do prefer your natural nature more than your professional tone, so please, speak out of context.” says Urt as he adjusts his military gloves.

Suddenly, the calm, professional Teruin that Raphael has only seen before is replaced by a rowdy, more punk-type persona. “Honestly Urt, from what I seen in his registration papers, he does have all the charactaristics o' the Guardian. He may just be a little kid right now, but he is just only twelve-years-old, and we've all gotta start at some point. I've been contacted by his communication tech, and she's told me that his squad is going to focus on vision quests for a while. We've needed more o' them anyway. Them vision quest's have started overflowin' down here, so this could be really helpful for the UHG. O' course, they're not in this for the UHG. From what I seen in his report, his squad is goin' to be more about endin' the war than helpin' out any specific organization. So, I personally believe that this squad can either be a great success or a massive fail.”

Urt suddenly bursts out laughing. “Ah Teruin, you always have a way of making me laugh. It is not to insult you, it is just the way that you speak that makes me laugh so.” Urt then turns to Raphael while gripping his green laser hammer in one hand. “Alright Danteo, this is how the test will go, this will be a one-on-one melee combat training exam. Whether you win or lose, it does not matter. You will be judged purely on the effectiveness of your fighting abilities. The weapons that we will be using are simply training phase weapons, meaning that the blades or hitting points of our melee weapons are made out of materials that will phase completely through us and will make a 'beeping' noise when they hit either of our skin. Now Danteo, prepare yourself!”

Urt and Raphael ready themselves into their combat stances and they begin strafing around each other. They stare each other down, waiting for either one to make a move. Suddenly, Teruin says “Yo, when ya two goin' to start fightin'?” which makes Raphael's head jolt towards Teruin's location. Seeing the weakness in Raphael's defense, Urt darts forward to Raphael and slings his warhammer down on him with all of his force.

Raphael sees Urt's split-second assault in the nick of time and flings himself to the side as the warhammer comes down full throttle. Urt sees Raphael's speedy dodge and is impressed. “You will not get away that easily!” he screams as he swings his low-hanging warhammer to the side. Raphael sees the warhammer coming and extends his spear to the side, blocking the warhammer's head and pushing him a few inches to the side.

Using every bit of angelic might that he can muster, Raphael shoves Urt's warhammer forward and away from him. Urt's warhammer only backs off a few slight inches, and then comes hurtling back. Luckily, Raphael expected that and puts himself into a counter-clockwise spin that leads to a crouch after he had pushed Urt's warhammer away. Urt's hammer goes right over his head, clearing Raphael of any damage.

Raphael then lunges forward from his crouching position towards Urt with his spear pointed for his gut. Before Raphael's spear can strike true, Urt sidesteps out of the way of the spear's tip. Urt then uses the back of his warhammer to hit Raphael once over his head. Just as Urt had said before, the warhammer makes a 'beeping' noise as it goes through Raphael's head.

“Hold on, young one, we must speak.” Urt says as he steps away from Raphael. “From what I can see from this test, you are very agile and alert. Also, you are well-learned for the amount of time that you have been out on the field. Even though you were not able to beat me on your first try, you did remarkably well against a veteran member of the UHG. As I am going to be your squad leader when your registration is over, having one that is as young as you but also who is as well-adapted to the battlefield will be very beneficial to our group.

“Urt,” says Teruin, who has been watching from the doorway during the entire fight. “ya do know that he's probably goin' ta be our leader, right?”

Urt begins to laugh again in a deep tone. “Nonsense little Teruin, the UHG isn't stupid enough to put one with so little combat experience in a command position over one so decorated as myself.” Urt then turns back to Raphael while holding his warhammer loosely in his hand. “What do you say, little Danteo, how about we go at it one more time? This time I will be on the defensive, so hit me with whatever you have.”

Halfway through Urt's sentence, Urt swings his warhammer into his other hand and braces himself into a defensive position. Obeying his instructor's orders, Raphael leaps towards Urt with his spear extended in both hands over his head.

Raphael slams the blade of his green phase spear right into the shaft of Urt's warhammer, the force of the collision makes a small shockwave that shifts the dust on the surrounding floor away from them in a complete circle.

A few seconds after Raphael's phase spear hits Urt's warhammer shaft, Urt pushes Raphael away with a forward push of his warhammer. “One more” says Urt to Raphael.

Raphael comes at him once more, this time opting for a parallel strike. Urt sees Raphael's spear coming and blocks the parallel slash. Raphael's spear slides off of Urt's warhammer, but Raphael uses his momentum to spin around and slam his spearhead into Urt's warhammer once more. In between the two strikes, Urt is pushed back a few steps.

Urt pushes Raphael's blade away with his warhammer shaft and spins around to block another spear strike to his other side. Raphael begins using his head after that one strike and opts to do something more extreme.

He leaves his spearhead against Urt's warhammer shaft and holds the end of his spear in his left hand as he spins around on his toes. As he comes around full-circle, he leans backwards and shoots his right leg out from underneath him straight towards Urt's unprotected gut.

The force of his kick is enough to knock the wind out of Urt and make him drop his guard. Seeing the opportunity, Raphael re-situates himself and leaps into the air with his spear held high.

He comes down with a mighty slash, the green phase spearhead cleaving straight through Urt from head to toe, making a 'beeping' noise the entire way. Urt staggers backwards from the hit and falls down to one knee moments later.

Urt stays knelled on the floor for a few moments after Raphael hit him. Raphael starts to notice a low chuckle coming from Urt's direction. Suddenly, Urt's head launches up in a massive uproar of laughter. “Very good, little Danteo!” he shouts after his burst of laughter. “You will make a great addition to my squad.”

Urt lifts himself to his feet and walks over to the nearby wall. “Be assured, Danteo, that you will not be pulled apart from Twara once you become part of my UHG squad. Once you are fully indited, me and the rest of my squad will make our way to your bunker. But as I said before, I will be your commander, so you will still be taking orders from me. Although you will still be the commander of whatever you call yourselves.”

Thinking back on the last few days, Raphael starts to realize that he never gave his group a name. Although he knows that he should have a discussion with the rest of the group before making this decision, Raphael can't help but name his group out of retaliation. Since his group is basically founded around June and is meant to defend her against all threats, Raphael is able to decide a quick and effective name. “We're the JB, Urt, which stands for June's Battalion. You will become part of June's Battalion once these initiation courses are over.”

“The JB?” says Urt out of curiosity. “ The June's Battalion.... Heh, I guess that will work. Although I probably could think of a few better names if I really put my mind to it.... Anyway! Teruin! Me and Danteo are finished with the test, so will you please escort him to the next test chamber, since I must pack my things for the trip.”

“Be happy to Ram-man.” says Teruin in a playful tone, then turning serious a moment later. She opens the door she is in front of and motions for Raphael to leave. “If you would please, Mr. Danteo.”

Raphael obeys Teruin and leaves out the door without saying anything to Urt. Although Urt believes otherwise at the moment, Raphael knows that it would take more than one field of specialization for him to become the leader of the group. Since Raphael is taking a test in five different categories and he is doing rather well considering that he is now just moving on to the third part of the testing phase, Raphael makes an educated guess that he will be a shoe-in for the leader position of his UHG squad.

After exiting the test chamber, Teruin stops Raphael before they move on. “Before we move on, Mr. Danteo, I would like to tell you that you will not hear me using the slang that you heard earlier when the testing phase is over. As long as we work together, I will only speak the way that I am speaking to you right now when we are together.”

Raphael lets out a slight chuckle at Teruin's remark on her own speech patterns. “Listen Teruin, I don't care about how you speak, it doesn't bother me. You talk however comes natural to you, whether it would be your defined military tone or the other way that you speak.”

Teruin is amazed at Raphael's words. Throughout her entire military career, she has never once seen a commander applicant ever not show any care about exactly how dignified her tone is. As far as she knows, she is the only one in the UHG who speaks the way that she does and does it naturally. Raphael does not know it at the time, but Teruin has actually been looking for a commander like him for an extremely long time. She's seen commander's go by one after another that were always stingy on discipline and correct speech patterns, but she refused every time when she was supposed to become part of their squad. This time, however, this young boy of only twelve years may be the exact person that she has been looking for for so many years. All this, she decides, will be concluded in the next test.

“Follow me, Mr. Danteo, and we will continue onto the magical combat testing portion of your registration.” says Teruin after getting herself back together from hearing what Raphael had to say. Raphael follows after Teruin down a large hallway stretch before they take a swift left turn at the end.

“So, Teruin, what got you into joining the UHG?” asks Raphael as they walk around a corner and into another brightly lit hallway.

“I would tell you, Mr. Danteo, but it is more of a personal matter for me and I will only tell you if you become my commander.” says Teruin in a defined tone before stopping Raphael in front of a doorway. “Now Mr. Danteo, how well do you know your way around magic?”

“Um,” Raphael thinks back to the past few days and starts counting the few actual times he used magic. He counted them out slowly in his head and concludes on a number. “I've used it about two, three, maybe four times, but I do know the spells I've used pretty well.”

“Mhm. Well, let's see just how well you know those spells.” says Teruin as she opens the doorway into the room. She knows deep down that this one test will show whether or not Raphael is the real commander that she has been looking for for so long. She motions with her right hand for him to enter and goes in after him.

The inside of the room looks truly majestic and completely different from all the other rooms that Raphael has seen in this complex. The room almost looks like a nature preservation the way it is built. There are trees and grass and dirt blanketing the room in every direction. Raphael can also see a small river going through the middle of the room, splitting the room into two separate areas. Although the walls, however, are made out of steel plates. Along the steel-plated walls, Raphael can also make out large air ducts situated in three pairs along each of the room's walls.

Stolen story; please report.

“Judging from what I heard during your intelligence test” says Teruin as she shuts the room's door behind her “you do have a good grasp on how magic works. This test, however, will judge exactly how well you know your current magic and how powerful your magic is.”

“And exactly how are we going to do that?” asks Raphael as he looks back at Teruin.

“For this test” says Teruin as she scoots past Raphael and walks over the small river, stopping right after she crosses and turning around to face him directly. “I will be your instructor. I am a highly powerful earth mage and have fought many other magic users, so I will be able to judge your magical power easily. To make sure that you use your powers to the best of your abilities, I will be fighting you in a magic-only combat test. Please, do not hold back, because I will not!”

Teruin grabs a hold of her military beret and throws it to the side, letting her shoulder-length brown hair flow down. Raphael can see a metallic glint in her eyes as she says “Prepare yourself Guardian!” Moments later, she motions with all ten of her fingers, lifting them upward. As her finger's lift, the ground underneath of her shifts. Ten small rock needles burst up from the ground and begin levitating in the air around both of Teruin's hands evenly.

Although Raphael doesn't want to, he knows that he needs to fight Teruin to move on with the registration process. Before he can even mutter a single magical word, Teruin launches a single one of her rock needle's toward Raphael. The needle flies by his face and lands in the metal wall behind him. Raphael feels the air rush by as the needle flies past his cheek, but does not feel any pain whatsoever.

This, of course, is because Teruin is using light magic and cannot harm a creature of the light with her said magic, which would be Raphael.

Although Raphael knows that Teruin can not harm him, he still places himself on full alert. Teruin launches two more earth needles toward Raphael, but he dodges them easily while chanting his icicle spell.

By the time Raphael has finished chanting his icicle spell, Teruin had launched the rest of the needles that were assigned to her left hand. She then proceeds to reload in a sense, bringing five more earth needles under her control in her left hand.

Raphael dodges another earth needle from Teruin's right hand with a flip and sends out one of his icicles towards Teruin mid-flip at remarkable speed. Even though Teruin knows that both of their magics cannot harm one another, she still does a quick turn to the side, allowing the icicle to fly clean by her.

Before Teruin can launch another one of her earth needles toward Raphael, Raphael shoots another icicle at her while running to his right. Teruin doesn't expect another attack so soon and feels it go through her left hand while she is still turned to the side. Even though the magic icicle does not hurt her, she can still feel the cold sting of the icicle as it goes through her hand. The bitter sting is so severe that she throws her left earth needles down and slings her hand underneath of her right armpit.

“Damn Guardian,” she says as she holds up her right hand to tell him to stop. “Yo magic really freaking stings. Yo enemies are going to have their damn hands full dealin' with dat shit. Can ya give me a sec'? I gotta warm my hand up.”

Raphael gives Teruin a happy smile and a grunt of agreement. He was actually quite impressed with himself, he didn't expect his magic to be as powerful as it already is. He looks down at his one remaining icicle and wonders whether he should still leave it out or put it away.

He eventually decides that he doesn't need his icicle anymore until Teruin is ready to fight again. But there is still a small problem on Raphael's side. He doesn't know how to deactivate his icicle spell, or any spell for that matter.

Before Raphael can think any further on the premise of deactivating spells, an arrow made completely out of rock lands next to his foot. “That's one o' the great things about magic.” says Teruin with a bow made out of conjoined rocks in her hand. “Ya can create whateva ya want from them. Whether it be bows or swords, you're always equipped.”

Raphael makes a smirk after Teruin finishes speaking. Although his magical abilities are limited at the current time, he still is able to create a battle plan using everything he has. With a swipe of his hand, he launches his last icicle dead towards Teruin's torso. She easily dodges the blow with a backwards flip, but that doesn't jar Raphael's plan in the slightest. Raphael leaps into the air moments after launching his icicle and extends his left arm out to his right side. Using the only other magic he knows, he summons up his flamethrower spell and sends it out in a sweeping motion towards Teruin. By the time Raphael has summoned up his flamethrower spell sigil, Teruin has finished her flip and brought up a physical wall of earth.

Even though the rock wall blocks the flamethrower spell with ease, it nearly drains Teruin of all of her magical energy. Teruin drops to one knee after the flaming barrage and her rock wall disintegrates to the ground. Being the gifted earth mage that she is, Teruin is able to regain her energy quickly.

Raphael lands on one knee behind Teruin and is ready to continue proving himself to his instructor, but Teruin screams out “Stop!” before Raphael can motion forward. Seeing as the test is now either over or they are about to take another brake, Raphael lowers his combat stance and waits for Teruin to tell him what to do next.

“Raphael...” says Teruin through gasps and wheezing. “I think you're the one....”

“What?” asks Raphael with a cocked brow. Teruin's sudden words made him think deeply about what Teruin truly expected from this test.

Teruin looks up at Raphael after regaining her composure and then stands up. “Sorry about dat, man. Just a sudden outburst, nothin' else.” She then moves to her left, crouches down and grabs a hold of her beret. She gives it a quick flap and then lays it on her head. “Anyway, the test is over and you passed as far as I'm concerned. Not only that, but I would be happy to be part of your squad now.” she says, switching back to her military tone.

“Raphael, if you would please follow me to the fourth testing chamber.” Teruin then proceeds to walk past Raphael towards a wooden door behind him.

As she has done before, Teruin allows Raphael to exit the room first before going through herself and shutting the door behind her. After firmly shutting the door, Teruin begins walking down the forward pathway. Raphael can tell that Teruin has changed in some way after the test. She has this odd look on her face that is almost reminiscent of happiness, even though she doesn't happen to be smiling. Raphael had glanced a look at her face before they began walking again and could see a slight tinge in her eyes that gives him a feeling that he isn't just a normal recruit in her eyes anymore, that to her, he is something else. Raphael wants to ask her what is going on, but decides to hold that off for a later date.

Teruin is happy, it turns out. A type of person that she fantasized as having as a leader for so long has finally arrived. Not only that, but she is going to be part of quite possibly the most important branch of the UMA that has ever popped up during the course of this war, and she is damn proud to be part of it.

Raphael and Teruin proceed down the hallway saying neigh a word to one other. Although Teruin's face is blocked to Raphael's view, Raphael can almost make out a smile on the borders of her cheeks, but as it also turns out, Teruin is smiling, thinking out the great adventures that she might have during her time with the June's battalion, and oh so grand they will be.

Before either of them know it, they have reached the fourth testing room for the accuracy test. This time, however, Teruin doesn't even ask him any questions before they enter. She is simply just too engrossed in the thought of the person that she would soon call commander.

With a smile on her face as she imagined them destroying a Demu fortress together, she grabs the door's knob and quickly opens it. Raphael then follows in close behind, still wondering why Teruin has changed so drastically and quickly.

The inside of the room is rather simple for an accuracy test. The room is made similar to a shooting range with walls filled with guns on the sides of the room where the shooter's, well, shoot. Waiting inside the room is a girl slightly above his height, probably around five foot two, Raphael concludes. The girl has light blue hair that is exactly the same pigment as June's, but it only goes down to shoulder length. The most defining aspect on her is the fact that she has an eye-patch on her left eye with a spherical-like lens in the center. Even though the lens is heavily tinted, Raphael can just barely see past the green glass and make out a bright blue iris on the other side. Just like the rest of the UHG members that he has seen, she too is wearing a green beret and uniform. “I suppose that your're the new recruit?” she asks Raphael while eyeing him through her eye-patch.

“I suppose that I am. My name's Raphael H. Danteo, you can just call me Raph for short.” says Raphael as he stares straight back at the blue-haired woman.

“I honestly could care less about your nickname.” she says while adjusting her gun holster. “ Let's get this over with. 'Names Rift Isto and I'm going to be your instructor for this test. Aside from that, I'm also going to be your main contact for the UHG once your fully registered.”

Even though it is slightly hard to detect over her military tone, Raph can sense a slight coldness to her voice. This is obviously a woman who has seen a lot of things over her life, and probably isn't willing to discuss them any time soon. “This is an accuracy test, correct?” asks Raphael as he examines the nearby gun rack. “What kind of weapon am I going to be using?”

“The curriculum for this test states that you can use whatever weapon you want on these racks. All you need to do is pick a weapon and fire a full mag into the target at the end of the weapon range. After which, we'll see how well your accuracy is based on how close you came to hitting the center target and then you'll be sent on your way to your next test. As I said, quick and simple.” says Rift before she motions her head towards the weapon rack to Raphael's right. “Go ahead, pick one so you we can get this over with.”

Raphael examines the weapon rack to the right of the door he used to enter the room. The rack contents consist mainly of pistols, magnums, and a few machine pistols, along with a few clips of ammo for each one. Deciding quickly, Raphael picks a random magnum off of the wall. Underneath the gun is a label that has the words 'M77-revolver magnum'. He looks at the magnum with a quirked brow. The gun looks extremely similar to a .44 magnum from his world, aside from the fact that it has a five-cylinder barrel instead of six and it is slightly larger than a .44.

“An M77. Powerful gun, but not that many bullets. You do only need one shot to take someone down, however, which more than makes up for the lack of ammo. Perfect choice for the test, Raphael.” Rift says before snapping her fingers and the dark shooting range lights up row by row until the entire room is visible. At the very end of the room is a single, red and white circular target. Raphael judges the distance to the target to be around forty to fifty feet away.

For some reason, Raphael immediately knows all the functions of the magnum and how to unload and reload the gun. He clicks the button on the left side of the gun and the cylinder flips off to the right side. He counts each of the bullets and then flips the cylinder back into place. He holds the gun out in front of him in both hands and aims down the iron sights. He squeezes the trigger inch by inch until the gun finally goes off. The bullet lands underneath the bullseye by about five inches, landing almost at the edge of first white and the second red.

Readjusting his sights, Raphael fires again, this time aiming a few inches higher. The bullet hits right on the edge of the bullseye. Rift cocks her eyebrow, impressed to see his second shot be so accurate.

Raphael adjusts his aim a second time and fires once more. This time, the bullet hits an inch underneath the exact center of the target. At this point, Teruin has a large, happy smile on her face. She knew before that this was the person that she would be happy to have as a commander, but now she's giddy to fight alongside him.

Raphael's next two shots fire in rapid secession, landing perfectly in the center of the target. Raphael then says “Clear” while placing the M77 down on the bulletproof glass table in front of him.

“Alright, Raphael, let's see just how well you did.” Rift presses a nearby button on the wall and the target moves forward to them on an electronic holder.

When the target is a few inches in front of the bulletproof glass, Rift moves over to where Raphael has been firing and pulls the target to her for closer inspection. Rift makes a grunt as she examines the cloth target. “Three bulls-eyes, a near bulls-eye and a shot in the middle of first white and the second red... Not bad, if I do say so myself. Alright Raphael, you passed in my book. Now move on to the next test while I talk with the master of the UHG.”

Raphael gives Rift a nod as Teruin moves behind him and opens the doorway. Like before, Raphael exits first with Teruin exiting afterward. Rift watches them as they leave, but once the door is shut, she collapses against the bulletproof glass. “By Ra's mantle,” she exclaims to herself. “that was amazing! That M77 was meant to be have incorrect ironsights! He didn't even tried to readjust, he just hit anyway!” she then looks towards the shut door with heat in her eyes. “So that's what the Guardian is truly capable of....”

Outside of the shooting range, Teruin motions Raphael along as they begin walking again. “That was rather easy.” thinks Raphael “I hope the last test is just as easy.”

Little does Raphael know that his next and final test is going to be the most difficult and most exhaustive of them all.

Teruin leads Raphael through the hallways without breathing but a word to him. Raphael doesn't know why, but Teruin has suddenly changed. Her mood has improved compared to when they had first met and she now has an air about her that is identical to that of a schoolgirl who has just learned that she aced a test. Something is telling him that if she and him are going to work together, this Teruin is going to stay around for a very long time.

The two of them loop around a wall and continue on until they eventually stop in front of a regular-sized iron door. Before Teruin presses her hand against the door, she looks back toward Raphael.

“If you have been keeping track, Raphael, then you would know that this is going to be the final test. After this last test, I will escort you to the initiation chamber, where you will wait until the master of the UHG has made their final review. This test is an agility test, so you are meant to last for as long as possible until you are hit. The arrows that will be shot at you are phase arrows, like the weapons that Urt fought you with. Do whatever you must, but try not to get hit. Are you ready?”

“Yep,” says Raphael after cracking his neck. “hit me with your best shot.”

Teruin gives Raphael a smirk before opening the doorway and motioning him inside. The inside of the room is relatively dark, either because there are no lights turned on within the room or the metal wall's are painted black. Raphael calmly walks into the room and is surprised to hear the iron door slam shut behind him without Teruin joining him inside.

Suddenly the entire room lights up, showing the dark metal walls that are encompassing the room. On the other side of the room stand three soldiers. Two of the soldiers are completely clad in UMA plate mail while the soldier in the middle is wearing a UHG military outfit that comes standard with every UHG member.

The UHG member is Raphael's exact height and is wearing nothing to cover her face. Her hair is tied back behind her head in a tight, spiky ponytail and is the color of a light purple. Past the bow and arrow that she has pointed towards him, Raphael can make out a pair of bright blue eyes.

Before Raphael can react, a phase arrow flies straight by his cheek and lands with a thud against the metal wall behind him. He can feel the air rush by him as his eyes follow the arrow fly violently by his head. Raphael can tell by the pure power and accuracy of the arrow that this woman isn't an amateur with a bow and arrow, she's a specialist.

“That...” she says as she pulls another arrow from a quiver that is fitted on her back waist. “was just a warning shot....” With a tip of her bow, she indicates to the other shooters to begin firing. “Fire!” She yells as she fires another shot in between Raphael's feet.

Raphael takes off across the room as he attempts to dodge the incoming arrows. The first arrow land's dead center where he was only moments ago while the second arrow trails behind him, landing in the wall just a foot behind him as he runs.

The UHG girl isn't going to make the same mistake that her comrade's have. She lines her arrow up a few feet in front of Raphael, intent on hitting him as quickly as possible. The arrow takes flight just as Raphael turns to see where the next arrow is coming from. He notices that the UHG girl is aiming ahead of him, and in retaliation he throws his feet out from underneath of him.

Raphael does a slide underneath of the arrow and watches as it lands in the wall over top of him. If Raphael had not seen the arrow, he knows that it would have landed clean in his arm, meaning that the test would have been over just like that.

All three of the shooters line up shots at Raphael as he lays on the floor. As they fire, Raphael sends out a kinetic push from his feet that sends him flying across the room and away from the impending arrow shots. By the time Raphael is halfway across the room, he flips his hands behind his back and rolls to his feet.

Raphael looks toward the shooters and sees them lining up for another shot. He dodged a shot aimed for his head by ducking down and then he runs full force toward the other wall. The second UMA shooter fires at his lower left leg, forcing Raphael to throw his leg out mid-run to avoid the shot. He lands to see the UHG girl lining up her shot with his chest, but she is also holding a second arrow in between her right pinky and ring finger and a third in her mouth.

Seeing as she is the best shot out of all of them, rapid shots coming from her would just about assure his defeat. Deciding to go out with a bang, Raphael focuses his reflexes and waits for the arrow to be shot, not moving a single inch. The UHG girl looks toward him with a corked brow, but fires none-the-less.

On pure instinct, Raphael's eyes follow the arrow as it flies toward his chest. He begins to move his right hand upward when the arrow is about halfway to him. With as much concentration as he can muster, Raphael snatches the arrow when it is only a few inches away from landing in his chest.

As the UHG girl loads her second arrow, Raphael spins around on the balls of his feet and moves to a standing position as he goes. He also slings his arm backwards and throws it forward as his body turns to face his shooters. Raphael, it seems, throws his arrow at the same time as the UHG girl fires her own. The arrows pass each other as they fly through the air. Raphael's arrow lands clean in between the eyes of the UHG girl while the UHG girl's arrow lands in his chest, forcing both adversaries to fall back in pain.

Hearing the buzzer overhead, the UMA soldiers, following the rules of the test, lower their weapons. The UHG girl rubs her head for but a moment before launching herself up and vaulting over the divider between the shooter and the target. Raphael lays on the floor, examining his chest for any possible wound that he may have suffered from the hit.

Before Raphael even notices her, the UHG girl picks him up by his collar and slams him up against the back wall. “What the hell was that!?” she screams into Raphael's face, clearly angered by his retaliation. “Didn't you listen to the rules? This is an agility test, not a combat test! You were NOT supposed to attack me! What the hell were you thinking!?”

“Sorry,” Raphael says softly back to his aggressor. “I just acted on instinct....”

The UHG girl lowers Raphael to the ground, but still holds an angry eye toward him. She takes a couple calming breaths before speaking to Raphael again. “Besides the assault,” she says while rubbing her forehead. “you did incredibly well. I would even say that that was the best evasion time that I've seen since I got here.... Anyway, since we are probably going to be put into the same team, we mine-as-well get the formalities over with right now.” The UHG girl holds out her hand to Raphael as a greeting gesture. “My name's Quib Triha, and it's a damned pleasure to meet someone who can catch one of my arrow's barehanded.”

“It's nice to meet you, Quib.” says Raphael as he shakes Quib's hand gently. As he shakes her hand, he takes a special note of how soft her hand is, despite being an archer that doesn't use a wrist guard. “My name's...”

“Raphael Horizon Danteo. Your friend's call you Raph.” says Quib, interrupting Raphael mid-sentence. “I read about you in your papers. You and me are going to have a lot to do once your fully registered into the UHG. Well anyway, you're done here, so you should follow Teruin to the initiation chamber.” Quib motions to one of the UMA soldiers with a tilt of her head. The soldier gives her a quick nod and presses a button on the nearby wall.

Moments later, Raphael hears the iron door that he had used to enter the room earlier unbolt and push open. “You should get going,” says Quib with a pointed thumb toward the doorway. “I'll meet you at the initiation chamber. Oh, and best of luck, commander.”

Raphael smiles at Quib before turning to his right and walking out of the room. Quib's eyes follow Raphael as he leaves, and once he exits and the door shuts behind him, Quib walks back to the shooter's area and vaults over the barrier. She places her bow back on the wall rack and tells the soldiers “You're dismissed” before walking out of the door and out of the shooter's area.

“So we're done now?” asks Raphael to Teruin as they start to walk down a relatively quiet hallway.

“Almost, Raphael.” says Teruin as she starts to increase her walking speed. “Now I need to bring you to the initiation chamber, and then you need to wait there until the UHG master is prepared for the ceremony. That can take anywhere from ten minutes to a few hours, it all depends on how prepared he is already and how long it takes to process the information from your tests.”

“Do you think I'm going to become the commander of my squad? I mean, I know I'm young, but is it still a possibility?” asks Raphael as he continues to follow Teruin.

“I honestly believe that there's no way that you can't become a part of the UHG with how well you performed on your tests. Becoming the leader of your squad, however, is something that I'm not completely sure of. If it comes down to it, the leader of our squad would either be you or Urt, but that's only because Urt has far more military training and has been with the UHG for many years. It can honestly go either way, but it will be up to the master in the end.”

As Teruin finishes her sentence, she notices that they have now arrived at the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway is a pair of silverwood doors with windows in the upper center of each of them.

Teruin opens the door for Raphael and gives him a few final words before he enters. “Raphael, this may take a bit of time, but after the ceremony you will be a full-fledged member of the UHG and have a squad to call home. Also, I would like to say that it will be an honor to work under you as our new commander, if you are assigned that position, of course. Now please, go into the room and have a seat. The ceremony will begin shortly.”

Raphael says “Thanks, and it will be a pleasure to fight along side you in the future.” before walking into the initiation chamber. He gives Teruin a wave before she shuts the door and walks away down the hallway, out of sight.

Raphael then turns his attention to the room he is now in. The room looks similar to an auditorium, There is a stage to his right and there are metal folding chairs situated in rows in front of it. The flooring of the chamber is made out of wooden planks from some kind of tree that Raphael can't identify. There is another door on his left at the center of the wall. He can see other UHG and UMA members coming through the doorway. The walls are made out of a stern, white metal, that reflect the rest of the room in their frames. The chamber is lightened by a series of florescent light rods that go in ten sections from the left side of the chamber to the right along it's ceiling.

As Raphael examines the room for anyone familiar, he notices a familiar brigadier commander walk through the left doorway, followed by the pilot/medic that escorted him to the UHG main building earlier.

“Oh, Lendlock came for my registration, didn't expect that.” thinks Raphael as he walks over to Lendlock and Chiot. “Hey Lendlock,” he says while waving to them from across the room. “I didn't expect to see you here. Did you come for my registration?”

Lendlock gives Raphael a friendly wave as he comes closer while Chiot gives him an earnest nod. “Why else would I be here.” says Lendlock in honesty. “Besides, you did save me, my ship, and her crew. The least I can do is come along for your registration hearing. So Raphael, how well do you think you did?”

Raphael catches up to both Lendlock and Chiot and follows them to the front row of seats. “The girl who gave me my test's said that I was a shoe-in for becoming a full-fledged member, but she said that she wasn't sure whether me or the guy who gave me my physical combat test would become the leader of the group.”

“Really....” says Lendlock as he takes a seat at the center of the front row of chairs. “Did you get a name from your physical combat trainer? I may just have some information on how likely it will be that you will become the leader or not.”

“I think the girl who gave me the test called him...” Raphael thinks back deep into his head in an attempt to remember his exact name. “I think it was... Urt Ramski? I do remember the girl calling him 'ram-man' or something like that.”

“Ramski... That name does sound familiar...” Lendlock's face suddenly jolts with remembrance. “You might actually have a little trouble beating him....” he admits “He is a highly decorated UHG member, and is the sole survivor of his last squad. He's also one of the few people who were chosen for the anti-aging treatment, just like Miyra, if memory dictates. Then again, you are the Guardian and are learning your abilities very quickly, so it's going to be evenly matched between the two of you.”

“Well shit....” says Raphael as he takes a seat to the left of Lendlock. “Whatever, I'm fine which ever way this goes. Plus, I'm still going to be the leader of the June's Battalion either way.”

Lendlock looks at Raphael with a quirked brow. “June's Battalion? So that's what your group is going to call themselves. Did you already go over this with the rest of the squad?”

“Nope.” says Chiot as he takes a seat to the right of Lendlock. “Miyra did say something about discussing the name of the group later, but we didn't get to it. I'm a little surprised by this, to tell the truth. I honestly thought that you would go over this with the entire squad, kid.”

“Sorry about that, I needed to get a name out quick for Urt. We'll discuss the name more at a later date.” says Raphael to Chiot. “Hey, why isn't the rest of the group here?” asks Raphael, expecting some kind of complex answer from Chiot.

“They all have some kind of excuse for not being here.” says Chiot as he goes down the list of reasons in his head. “Yen still has to fill out some blank spaces in her report to the Omerit Empire over what's happening at the bunker, while June, Miyra, and Sherah all have a combined excuse of making this weird group called the JPB. By the way, do you have any idea what's going on with that? I hadn't heard anything about it before today.”

Raphael kneels his head down as he thinks about whether he should tell them the truth or attempt to block it out. Eventually, his good nature prevails. With his face still and emotionless, and his head still knelt down, he speaks. “Miyra believes that, based on Sherah's actions, that she is being possessed by a Demu. The JPB was only established as a way of keeping an eye on her until the Demu surfaces, then we'll uproot it and get Sherah back to the way she's supposed to be. She's been getting progressively worse since the last time we were on your ship, Commander Lendlock, and now she's become a geyser of frustration. If all goes according to plan, we'll be able to save her. For now, all we can do is keep June safe and wait. I really wish that this wasn't happening, but we have no choice but to go with the punches and deal with it when it's here....”

Lendlock and Chiot look toward Raphael, amazed that he believes that Sherah is being possessed. Although, deep down, they know that this is true.

The group stays in an uneasy silence for a while until the overhead speaker suddenly bursts out, saying that everyone needs to “settle down” three times before the overhead light's dim.

Everyone's attention turns away from their conversations and over to center stage.

A man looking as if he is around seventy years old wanders on to the stage from stage right. He is holding a cane and has a white beard that goes down to his abdomen. On top of his head is a sage's hat from olden times.

The man makes his way to center stage with the rest of Raphael's testers following in suet. He stops in front of the on-stage podium, with Raphael's tester's stopping behind him in a single file line.

“Attention, all those that are at attendance.” He speaks into the podium's microphone. His voice is raspy from age, but the background of his voice shows the prowess and honor of a long standing military man. “Today we have gathered here for the registration of a powerful new commander to our ranks. Although he may be new to this universe, and he may be young, he has still shown incredible prowess and strength despite the odds that are stacked against him. He is the one and only Guardian that has been chosen by the God of Many to defend our only hope of survival. With great honor, I ask that Raphael Horizon Danteo would please come forward to the stage....”

Raphael, on instinct, immediately raises himself and walks up to center stage next to what he perceives as the master of the UHG. “Raphael Danteo,” he asks. “do you truly wish to be a member of the UHG, along with all of the responsibilities and privileges that come with it?”

“Yes, I do.” answers Raphael, staying firm and at attention, not moving a muscle.

“Then repeat after me, Raphael.” says the UHG master before saying a speech that comes straight from his heart. “I pledge myself...”

“I pledge myself...” says Raphael as soon as the UHG master finishes speaking those words.

“To this universe...”

“To this universe...”

“For all my life...”

“For all my life...”

“And to defend all those that are innocent or of the light...”

“And to defend all those that are innocent or of the light...”

“With everything in my power, 'till the day I die...”

“With everything in my power, 'till the day I die...”

“I shall always fight for the honor and preservation of the UMA, the UHG, and all those innocent within my universe.”

“I shall always fight for the honor and preservation of the UMA, the UHG, and all those innocent within my universe.”

After reciting the UHG vow, the UHG master grabs a golden badge off of the podium. He says “Hold out your hand, Raphael.” to which Raphael holds out his right hand towards the UHG master. He places the badge in Raphael's hand and firmly closes his fingers around it. “Congratulations, Raphael, you are now an official commander of your own UHG squad! Go now behind these curtains and meet with your squad, they will tell you your next step as a UHG commander.”

Upon that note, the men and women who had tested him then take their leave of the stage, exiting through the curtains.

As Raphael leaves the stage, he hears the audience applauding him and cheering his name. As he looks behind him one last time before leaving the stage, he takes notice of what looks like the shadow of a person at the corner of the room. From what he can make out, it is the figure of a young woman in her late teens. She has deep purple hair and her eyes... her eyes are not visible in the room's lighting. She is wearing a black robe with a white cloth shirt underneath with a pair of white pants. The most discerning fact about her is the fact that she is nearly transparent. It literally takes every bit of concentration that he has to make out almost any of these factors that he has seen.

As suddenly as she had appeared, she mysteriously vanishes into thin air. Raphael does a double-take as he goes behind the curtains to make sure that he hadn't seen things. As oddly as it may have seemed to him, it seems as if nobody else in the room has even acknowledged that she was even there.

What is even odder is the fact that Raphael found this woman oddly attractive. He has never seen her a single other day in his life, or anyone who has anywhere close to similar facial features. As he leaves the stage, he has this feeling that she is in danger, and that he needs to protect her. “Who was she?” he thinks as he turns his head to see his UHG squad standing in a straight line with their arms to their sides in a military fashion.

Teruin walks forward from the center of the formation and provides Raphael with a salute. “We are all here, sir, and we're ready for you to lead us to our new home.” she says before falling back into the line.

Raphael tilts his head down and sighs out of his nostrils. He looks back up with a smile on his face. Just as he had figured, all of his instructor's are part of his UHG squad. They are all there: Henry, Urt, Teruin, Quib, and Rift.

“Alright guys, let's get one thing straight.” he says while leaning his back against a wooden crate. “This military operation that I'm the leader of is a purely free-willed group. Which means that no matter how little military edict you have or how you act or how much training you may have, you will still be accepted. In other words, Teruin, feel free to speak however you wish around me or anyone in the base, okay?”

Teruin's face bursts out in excitement at Raphael's words. He is the person she was looking for. “Do ya really mean dat, Boss-man?”

Raphael chuckles to himself before speaking again. “Well, I guess I'm Boss-man now, hehe. Does anyone else have any objections to the way that things will be run from now on?”

“Why the hell were you voted in as the captain!?” Urt's sudden outburst catches the entire group by surprise. Urt is generally the calm, cool, and enthusiastic one of the group, but he has now become angry over being picked as the second in command. “I clearly am older, more experienced, and more well-learned then you, but yet you were picked as the leader? I will not have this!”

“Urt, would you please calm down!” Henry pats Urt on his right shoulder in a calming gesture. “You weren't there for the whole discussion over Raphael's leadership role in our squad, but the master decided to make Raphael our leader because he showed an amazing amount of combat prowess and incredible reflexes in the tests. And that's along with the fact that he had only gained his powers a few days ago. The master also told us, and I quote, 'If he has gained these abilities in only a few days, imagine how strong he will be in a year. Picking him as the leader of his squad is a sure shot.' So don't feel to bad about it. You'll still be the leader, except you'll be taking orders from Raphael.”

“That's what I'm mad about, Henry! Can you not see!? I was waiting for the Guardian to appear just so I could...” Urt suddenly holds back his words, realizing that they would be hurtful and are completely wrong. He wanted to say that he wanted to give the Guardian orders, but he now realizes that that is just wrong of him. After a long pause, Urt speaks once more. “Nonetheless, I'm still not convinced that this little man should be the leader of our group, and the only way that I will be proven wrong is on the battlefield.” Urt raises his oddly large hand toward Raphael and points his index finger towards him. “You, little Guardian, have a lot to prove to me and the other members of this squad. Prepare yourself for the worst.” Urt then turns his back to his squad, throws his rather large rucksack over his shoulder and walks away from the group, leaving out of the stage exit on the other side of the room.

“Crap, I didn't think that he would take losing to me that hard....” proclaims Raphael as he stares at the door that Urt had exited out of in anger. “He does still realize that he's the second in command of the squad, right?”

“He should. He was told that he was second in command before we left for the registration.” says Quib as she rubs a red mark at the center of her forehead. “Me and Teru' have known Urt for a long time and he has always wanted to be the squad leader for the Guardian since he lost his last squad. He's been training non-stop since three years ago in hopes of being more powerful than you, but I guess that wasn't enough....”

“I suppose that that does clear up a few questions...” says Raphael as he looks down and strokes his chin. He looks back up and his eye's center on Quib's injured forehead. “Sorry about earlier, Quib, I don't know what I was thinking....”

Quib giggles to herself while adjusting her suitcases straps. “Ah don't even worry about it. If anything, you just showed me how strong you are by grabbing one of my arrows. I am one of the strongest archers at the UHG, so catching an arrow that I shot mid-flight is actually quite amazing.”

A voice from behind the curtain suddenly breaks up the conversation. “Hey kid, what do you think of being a UHG member?” Raphael immediately identifies the voice as Chiot, based solely on the ruggedness of the voice's tone.

Surely enough, Chiot appears milliseconds later from behind the curtain, followed by Lendlock. Rift looks at them with a cold stare. “Hey civies, you're not allowed back here! This area is for UHG members only!”

Raphael shoots a cold glare back at Rift. “Rift, those two are personal friends of mine. The guy in the blue jumpsuit is the medic and pilot of June's battalion. The man in the UMA admiral suit is my UMA contact Jonathon Lendlock.” Raphael then shoots a glance over to Chiot. “By the way, Chiot, what is your last name?”

“Ninkinine. Head family of the Merchant Guild Nink Inc.” responds Chiot proudly.

“Wait, so there's already other people in your group other than the Key and her bodyguard?” asks Quib in confusion. For some reason she doesn't understand, she had believed that June's Battalion was a three-man group before Raphael became a UHG member.

“Besides June and Sherah, both of which are the Key and her bodyguard, there's also three other people in the group along with random soldiers and personnel. There's Chiot Ninkinine, our medic and pilot who's here right now. There's Miyra P. Sinnt, our Taurus engineer. And there's Yen Porint, the team's head communicator. I'm hoping that the group will expand further in the future, which is part of the reason why I wanted to be a UHG member. You know the saying, the more the merrier? Well that is basically what's going on in this organization....”

“Yo Boss-man,” asks Teruin as she grasps her military tote bag. “Can we get movin'? We all need to head home and move in, ya know?”

“Ah, of course. Sorry for the delay everyone. Start making your way to the portal room while I speak to Lendlock and Rift.” says Raphael as he gives everyone a thumbs up with one hand and points toward the door with his other hand.

Everyone in the room says “Yes sir.” before walking out of the rear stage exit. Raphael, Lendlock and Rift all stay in the room to discuss a few more formalities before they leave, however.

“Hey, do you guys have any idea where Urt went?” asks Quib to the rest of the group.

“If you want my best bet, then I would say that he left for the portal room. We should start heading there too.” says Chiot. “By the way, do any of you kids know how to get out of here?”

“I'd be happy to show the way, Med-man.” Teruin announces as she points down the hallway and begins walking with the rest following in tow.

As they walk, Henry begins speaking for the group about Raphael. “Chiot, I understand that you have been with June's Battalion since day one, so what can you tell me about their origins and the way that this group operates?”

Chiot takes off his goggled hat and scratches the back of his head while he speaks. “Well, there really isn't much to say, honestly, but here's what I know for a fact for our history: About two weeks ago, I was given a mission from Omerit command to pilot a vessel to a world that has never been effected by the war. Aboard that vessel was the Key, who had a vision from the God of Many that her Guardian was on that planet. Also on that vessel was the Key's bodyguard, a Taurus engineer, and my assistant Huro. The vessel was hit as we were coming into the planet's atmosphere by a Demu partical gun from a ship that had been trailing us, and then we had to make a crash landing. Huro didn't survive though....”

“Man, that's sad....” says Teruin over her shoulder as she leads the group around a corner and through a doorway.

“Anyway, Chiot, continue please.” asks Henry.

“As luck would have it, we landed near the Guardian's backyard. He witnessed the crash, I suppose, and came running over to investigate the ship. I'm not completely sure about all of the details, since I was still pinned to my seat when the Guardian left, but I did witness a massive explosion and passed out for a few minutes. About an hour passed and the Guardian appeared in the cockpit fully awakened. He ripped me out of my bent seat and then we went back to his house for cover until the UMA escort came. In between that day and today we've had to deal with a whole shit load of stuff. We had to deal with a secret government organization that attempted to capture us, a battle on-board the U-MASS Starlooper, a battle with a HEC member that the kid killed with a sword point to the skull, and Demu assassins. Right after the assassins, the kid had to come here, so that's pretty much all that's happened up to now.”

“Wow, sounds like you guy's been havin' a lot o' fun, heh.” proclaims Teruin as she pushes open another door and is surprised to see that she has already arrived at the main hall. “Oh, well what do ya know, we're already here. Come on, Urt's waitin'.”

Teruin leads the group through the main hall to the doorway on the other side of room. Inside the portal room is Urt, who has been waiting anxiously for the group to appear. “Ah, I see you have finally scurried back. Where is the little Guardian? Did he abandon you all to go about his own business?” says Urt to his squad while signaling to the portal tech to start up the portal generator.

“Come on Urt, he's our leader, at least show a little respect for him!” says Quib with her fists to her hips.

“I will respect him when he proves himself, and he hasn't yet. I don't care about his status, he must be proven on the battlefield before I accept him as our leader!” says Urt back to Quib in an increasingly angry tone.

The group becomes quiet after Urt's outburst. They stand in the room without saying a word to each other as the portal generator starts up. Right as the portal opens to the JB bunker, Raphael appears at the doorway with Lendlock.

“Oh, I see that you already have the portal up and running, awesome. You guy's ready to head home?” Raphael asks as he walks in front of the portal generator and points his thumb toward it.

Raphael gets mumbles from his group and a few nods. He waits for a second before shrugging his shoulders and spinning around to face the portal back home. With a motion of his hand to signal his squad to follow, Raphael walks through and head's home, now a full-fledged UHG commander.