With this the three young channelers left Hisuii Park. As they exited the boundaries of the public recreational space, they each felt their channeling abilities return to them slowly. Almost immediately Roun’s senses sharpened and the haze that seemed to occupy his mind while powered down lifted, allowing him to think more clearly. But in addition to all of these abilities that returned to him, the most welcomed thing to accompany his ability to power-up was the voice of Synchros once again resonating in his mind.

“A third day of training met with failure, young host?” She teased as her link with the youngster was once again reconnected.

“You’re more stubborn than I thought.” Roun replied mentally, making a conscious effort not to vocalise his thoughts in the presence of Seth and Zadavia.

“I’d hardly call myself stubborn.” He could sense a smile breaking across her gold coloured lips. “Had I been properly summoned, I would have headed the call. However, such a summons never came.”

“Yeah… honestly, forcing you to manifest without being able to channel seems pretty much impossible.” Roun scoffed internally, but his remark just drew laughter from Synchros.

“Forcing me to manifest is—by its very definition—an impossible task.” She corrected him. “With or without your channeling ability, such an action contradicts our union. Our wills are aligned, your desires are mine, no such forcing is required and as such is not within the realm of possibility.”

“I dunno about that.” Roun replied. “My ‘desire’ was to summon you.”

“Your desire was to figure out how to summon me.” Synchros corrected him. “As was mine. I look forward to the methodology revealing itself to you.”

Roun just smiled in reply to her response. “And until it does I imagine you’ll just enjoy chastising me about failing.”

“It is an acceptable consolation.” Synchros replied with light laughter, causing Roun to chuckle audibly.

“What?” Seth replied to his brother’s seemingly random laughter; his eyebrow tipping upwards as the sound left Roun’s mouth.

Roun’s eyes widened at the query, which drew his attention back towards the world around him and away from the conversation taking place in his mind. All he could do was shake his head.

“Nothing.” He replied. “Where are we heading?”

Roun watched as Seth’s eyes widened in response before an incredulous look dawned across his face.

“You haven’t heard a word I said have you?” He pressed, causing Roun to smile slightly and shake his head.

“I’m afraid not. My mind was somewhere else, I guess.” Roun replied casually. “What’s the plan?”

“We’re gonna meet up with my friend Alex at the skate-park to start with, then figure out where to go from there.” Seth reiterated, causing Roun to nod.

“Sounds good to me.” He affirmed as he stretched his arms outwards and allowed a surge of energy to rush into his body. “Aw man, sweet-sweet zeta. I dunno how my mom can spend so much time in these DMZ’ed areas.”

“I don’t think she’s as attached to her abilities as you seem to be.” Zadavia commented. “I know I’m certainly not.” She added, causing Seth to smirk slightly.

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“Few of us are, don’t worry.” He chimed in. “You really can’t be in Genaisa honestly, you’re gonna spend as much time powered up as you are powered down in this city.”

“That sucks…” Roun scoffed loudly.

“I guess.” Seth shrugged. “But there’re probably a grand total of ten channelers in the whole city so the DMZs help the few of us that there are to not stick out as much.”

“What it really does is restricts us to cordoned-off areas that the recreants, who are too scared of our abilities, can easily avoid.” Roun scoffed lightly, but Seth just laughed heartily.

“Yeah, that too.” He affirmed.

“I can’t say I’d blame them though.” Zadavia chimed in. “Even bravers can be pretty dangerous if so inclined. As channelers we pose a constant, credible threat.”

“She’s right.” Seth nodded. “If either of the three of us decided to go on a rampage right now, we could probably do significant damage before they mobilised their Enforcers and took us down.”

“Preventing situations like that is just good governance.” Zadavia added. “These same DMZs that inhibit our abilities also prevent unsanctioned technology from tapping into the city’s energy grid. That includes unlicensed weapons, decommissioned vehicles and outlawed tech.”

“Yeah, but the methodology is questionable.” Roun retorted. “You’re commandeering a freely available natural resource. What’s next, water… air?”

“That’s a bit dramatic, Roun.” Seth smirked.

“Yeah I suppose, but tyranny has to start somewhere.” He shrugged. “I just don’t like being unnecessarily capped – especially because of other people’s fear.”

“Me neither.” Seth nodded. “But unlike you, holed up in your channeler sanctuary with all of your ‘elite’ channeler friends, I can also see where non-channelers are coming from.”

“—and things could be a lot worse I’d imagine.” Zadavia added. “The channeler population is an extreme minority after all; the demilitarised zones could stretch a lot further than they already do.”

“Yeah.” Seth nodded but Roun just laughed.

“Unlikely.” Was his simple response. “We may be the minority, but we wield fairly significant power. Heroics and Legendaries have a lot of political clout simply due to scope of their abilities. Governments keep up happy to keep us compliant… I’m honestly not convinced they’re equipped to deal with a channeler revolution, and I’m pretty sure they know this.”

“Ever the cynic.” Seth just smiled. “You’ve definitely been spending too much time with Kai, man.”

Roun just laughed. “I do sound like Kairi, don’t I?” He chuckled further.

“Actually, from all the time I spend with Naomi, I’d say you sound a lot like your father.” Zadavia chimed in.

Roun just smirked. “Apples and trees, I suppose.”

“Yeah, very much so.” She nodded. “You seem to have taken after him quite a bit – and Seth, you remind me of your mother more than anyone else.”

She watched as her statement caused Seth’s eyebrow to tip upwards slowly.

“I don’t know whether I should take that as a compliment or not.” He replied with visible scepticism.

“Your mother is a wonderful person; perceptive and empathic – those are admirable qualities that she seems to have passed on.” Zadavia explained, causing Seth’s bronzed cheeks to redden slightly. Roun chuckled lightly before opting to save his baby brother from death by embarassment.

“You two seem to get along well these days.” He commented, causing Zadavia to smile and nod slightly.

“She’s helped me a lot since we arrived – everything from smoothing the entire situation over with my parents to getting me adjusted to Genaisa – she’s a godsend.” Zadavia explained.

“Has she told you why you’re all wrapped up in this mess?” Roun inquired, but Zadavia just shook her head.

“Wrong place, wrong time I guess.” She simply shrugged, but Roun shook his head.

“Doubtful. My mother isn’t just a skilled telepath but one of the most powerful – in fact probably the most powerful precognitive on the planet.” He explained. “Things are hardly a matter of chance where she’s involved.”

“Well, Jorna did say she has a thing for ‘strays’, maybe she thinks I’m a stray.” Zadavia shrugged, causing Roun to smile lightly.

“And people call me a cynic.” He chuckled. “Jorna’s a prodigy with a rough past; my mother probably saved her life when she became her legal guardian.”

“Yeah, it’s the same thing with Rueben and Ryuu.” Seth interjected. “Mom’s good at spotting people who have potential and are in bad situations.”

“Yep. Dad brought me up to speed on Jorna’s story; though I don’t know much about Rueben or this driver of hers, ‘Ryuu’.” Roun chimed in. “I’ll tell you this though: if my mom takes an interest in you, you can bet that you’re special.”

Zadavia just smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”