I looked at the wooden door in front of me, took a deep breath, and knocked.

“Come on in,” Came a voice from inside the room. I looked beside me, where Drake was sitting in a chair against the wall. He smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up. I opened the door and walked in. Troy and Tyfoonica followed close behind me. The members of The Council

“Thanks for coming, Tyfoon.” Tinjur said, smiling. “I appreciate you and Tyfoonica coming on such short notice. Myself and the other Council members have been very busy as of late, and when we had a small opening in our schedule, we wanted to take advantage and meet with you. We’ve been wanting to discuss something with you for quite some time.”

“It’s no problem at all.” I replied. “Besides, I try to take advantage of any opportunity to get out of my dimension for a while.” I joked. Everyone in the room laughed.

“We don’t have too much time before we must reconvene our meeting with the galactic leaders, so we’ll jump right into it. As you know, all of The Council members have taken a special interest in your since you were born. Your ancestors have held the position of The Chosen One for many centuries. This isn’t because of some special bias The Council has with your family, it is simply because with all criteria considered, your family has time and again shown that they are most suited to serve in the position of The Chosen One. This is something that’s really quite astonishing if you think about it. Out of the billions of people all throughout the galaxy, your family has been chosen above them all. Not just because of their raw strength, which tends to the hereditary to some degree, but because of their self-control, their integrity, their character, their perseverance, and so many other qualities.” Tinjur paused for a moment to allow other members to chime in if they wanted to. The next to speak was a Council member named Zorukai.

“For many years,” he began, “we’ve been closely examining members of your family because of this fact. This is the reason we have paid close attention to you throughout your training with Tyfoonica. It may not seem like it since most of your time is spent training in your own dimension apart from the rest of the galaxy, but we have been watching you very attentively any opportunity we have had. We have kept constant communication with Tyfoonica and Troy about you. We have discussed in great detail everything from your strength and ki training to your personality and character. We are all together when I say we are very happy with what we have seen and heard.” Heads nodded in agreement around the room.

“Your situation is very unique in several ways.” Tinjur was speaking again now. “For one, you are much younger than anyone that has been considered for The Chosen One before. However, due to the need the galaxy has of someone to take leadership as The Chosen One, this is something that, if you are found to be worthy of the position, we would be willing to overlook. However, the most obvious unique factor is that, unlike all other Chosen Ones from the Tyfoon family line, you were not raised by your parents. That makes who you are as a person very interesting. Tyfoonica has raised you very well, but in the end he isn’t your father. And, just as importantly, he has never been The Chosen One. Sure, he has been involved with the affairs of The Chosen One across different generations, but he himself has never had to deal with the pressures and responsibilities that position has. Being raised by someone who is actually The Chosen One allows for you to learn from someone who has learned by experience all the things that one encounters in that position. They can also learn about the threats the galaxy has and how to handle them in the most effective way. The physical training is important too, as The Chosen One has always been among the most powerful fighters in the galaxy.

All of these things, which are so important in the training of The Chosen One and no doubt one of the reasons so many of your ancestors were selected for that role, were absent in your upbringing. Despite that, your strength to this point in your life is remarkable and among the best in the galaxy for your age. Your maturity at all stages of your life has been much more developed than average for your age. Your ability to control your ki is very impressive, and perhaps most important you possess integrity and personal character reminiscent of so many of your ancestors before you.

“Your age and being raised by Tyfoonica isn’t the only thing that made your case unique, however. We created your dimension as a place of refuge for you and Tyfoonica to live and train to ensure you would not be a target of the Doomaki or any other groups seeking to destroy the family line of Tyfoons. You are the last of your family. You have no siblings, and no direct relatives to carry on your name. Considering the role you family has had in the past in protecting the galaxy, we knew there would be those who would want to put an end to you. So we did everything we could to prevent this, and simultaneously we wanted to ensure you could grow up with the best training in the event you would grow into someone that could follow in your father’s footsteps as The Chosen One.

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“While this was necessary, it presented a problem for The Council. That is, it took out the real world element that most people have naturally in their lives. We weren’t able to see how you interact with the world, how you handle confrontations, how you deal with trials and tribulations. There are so many things that people normally have to deal with that you’ve been shielded from, even if unintentionally. There hasn’t been any opportunities for you to exercise leadership, which is essential to being successful as The Chosen One. Your abilities and traits, while impressive, have only given us a partial idea of who you are as a person. You are on the path to becoming The Chosen One. But because of the weight of this decision, we must be beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have chosen the right person. That means these areas of your life that have essentially been unassessed due to lack of opportunity must be evaluated.” I was working hard to take all this in and try to figure out where they were going with this.

“How do you plan to do that?” I asked. It was Troy this time who spoke up.

“That is what The Council has brought you here for today. To present you with an opportunity.”

“Thank you Troy.” Zorukai said, nodding at Troy. “The best way we can think of to determine if you are fit for the position of The Chosen One is to put you in the field, dealing with the things The Chosen One normally is responsible for handling. We want to pair you up with Troy so you can experience and be involved in the things that the Peacekeepers have to deal with on a daily basis. This will give you hands-on experience with serving in a capacity similar to what The Chosen One will be responsible for. It may also give us an opportunity to evaluate your combat skills in real world situations. In short, this will allow us to evaluate all the areas that we’ve previously been unable to assess. Troy will give us periodic updates to let us know how you are doing, and that will help us determine if you are indeed going to be a good fit for the role of The Chosen One.” As Zorukai paused, Tinjur chuckled softly.

“Although we may be getting ahead of ourselves.” Tinjur said. “This is all assuming that you are interested in potentially becoming The Chosen One.” He paused in anticipation, awaiting my response.

“Of course, there is no greater honor or service to the galaxy that I can think of than serving as The Chosen One. It is something I have thought about every day of my life since before I can remember. I have always longed to follow in my father’s footsteps, and my ancestors before him.” I closed my eyes and looked down for a moment, taking in the moment before I continued. “I would be very grateful to have the opportunity to work with the Peacekeepers to further my training and gain valuable experience.” The members of The Council all smiled and looked around at each other.

“You said something just now, that ‘there is no greater honor or service to the galaxy’. That sentence epitomizes the reasons we believe you possess the personal character we are looking for in the position of The Chosen One.” Troy said approvingly. “Many people view The Chosen One as a person of power, authority, leadership, strength, all of which are true. But you view it as an honorable service to the galaxy, which is exactly what it is. Being The Chosen One is more than being a powerful leader. Dictators and tyrants can be powerful leaders. But The Chosen One is a protector of the galaxy, whose decisions and services are dictated based on the overall good of the galaxy, not a personal agenda or power trip. I look forward to working closely with you as you continue to develop into the leader I feel you are destined to be.” As Troy finished speaking, the members of The Council stood up and Tinjur spoke once again.

“Wonderful. That settles it. I’ll have you and Troy work out the details, but you two can start working together as soon as you’d like.” Several congratulations came to me from different council members around the room. I glanced over my shoulder at Tyfoonica, who was beaming. I smiled back at him. I turned toward him and started to make my way toward him, but before I got to him, I stopped and my smile faded. Tyfoonica’s smile turned to a look of utter dread. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face, and he looked flushed. He slowly looked toward Troy, who was looking at Tyfoonica as well with the same ghastly expression. I was confused, just seconds earlier they had both been elated over the news of The Council’s decision.

“Tyfoonica, what’s wro-” but before I was able to finish my question, a flash of light followed by a huge explosion tore through the room, tearing the entire wall where the door had been into pieces.