The principal waited outside of the nurse’s office and greeted Marty with a handshake. He had on a suit and tie, a pair of gray slacks, and a cthulhu slug on his shoulder. He had green eyes, and a scar across his cheek. He was covered with sweat and looked nervous. So incredibly nervous that Marty was worried. Why did he want to see him?

“I’m sorry about your recent fight. I heard you actually won yesterday against the boys over at Monsoon High? How did that feel? Many of our students can’t. Which is why I’m here to see you.”

“I know I won. But me and Dragona couldn’t do much against his older brother.” He patted his head, and found the little guy comfortably nestled above him. “Nonetheless, at least they didn’t kill him.”

“That would have been a violation of the Octet’s laws. You know how much trouble that would be.” He took out a paper and handed it to Marty. “Here, take a look at this. It’s an offer. Will get you and your mother a little closer to the shore. The next hit is coming in a few days. I’m afraid you’d be homeless otherwise.”

“I can reach a sea master at the swamp today. I don’t need your help.” Marty didn’t want the principle’s help. He was known for being corrupt and funneling money from the school into his failing blacksmith business. “Me and my mother have been fine forever. And I’m afraid of helping you. The students here don’t have the best opinion of you.”

“Ah, very blunt. Well, I’ll be honest. We need you.” Allen leaned down, his black beard nearing his face, and a gentle yet menacing smirk appearing on his countenance. “There is something big about to happen. And if this school contributes, we get more funds allocated by the local government. I heard even the Octet’s daughter is going to give out the rewards. Saw her photograph in your locker, yeah?”

“You think that will change anything?” Marty still was a teenager, so to him being able to see her was enough to change his mind. He had met her once a long time ago when his mother had been staying with a royal knight, underneath the moon, and they’d promised to see each other again to discuss having another date. They had been ten and yet he still thought about her smile. Of course, it changed something. “How did you know? Was it just from the photograph?”

“Kid, I have a lot more secrets than you can imagine. I’m in charge of more than blacksmith shops. I’m in charge of dealing out weapons so we can keep this island a float. Now, And some underground joints… So… do I have a yes?”

“You promise my mother and I can get a new place to stay at?”

“Not yet. You must do well today after school. Go to the location on the back of the card. A car will pick you up” He wiped the sweat off his forehead and took a deep breath. He gently let go of the card and put it into Marty’s hands. “Look kid… I’m counting on you. We need the funding… As you know, I like to use this school’s funding for other things.” He was definitely a straight forward asshole. “My business needs some new muscle. You might happen to be a young trick.”

“Thank you for coming to visit him.” The school nurse smiled and gently pat Marty on the shoulder. “Now, go back to your classes? Go to the location on the back of the card after school?”

Marty looked at the nurse, and saw the blush on her cheeks. It all made sense now, why he spent so much time in the nurse's office even though he had a wife. He rolled his eyes and gently placed the card in his pocket. His arm stung, and the nurse had done little to stop the sharp pain in his abdomen. And yet, he couldn’t help but smile.

In school, things weren’t that bad. He actually had quite a few friends. There was Hannah, Leo, and Xavier to hang out with. And then there was his best friend, Garrold. After a few classes with them, they ate at lunch together and the entire time at the table, eating poor man’s sushi, nori with sea critters and rice, he started to wonder about the situation with the principle. If he needed a student with a low level aquatic beast to help out, it meant that it had something to do with kids fighting. But there were no public competitions , and any school fights would be weeks away, which could only mean that it had to do with his supposed criminal enterprise. That meant if he did go he’d be signing up for something dangerous. It was no secret that the principal sold weapons to pirates, and some even said he sold weapons to other federations. Nonetheless, he had a flashback of his mother being toyed with three years ago. The image of a royal knight pushing her into the wall and holding her down while she begged and screamed for him to let her go returned to his awareness. Of course, he hadn’t violated her, but he sure as hell did embarrass his mother. He didn’t want her doing something dangerous again!

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“You are literally more quiet than a slug.” Hannah pinched Marty on the arm. “What’s going on? They hit you hard in the head today or something?”

“No, it’s an offer I got from the principal. I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but you guys I trust.” He was at the table with Leo, Xavier and Garrold. Garrold was almost five feet eight inches tall and had on all black clothes with tea colored skin.His other two friends were white like him but with extremely dark black hair. Hannah was next to them, eating some mashed potatoes. He really wanted their feedback, but he was worried they wouldn’t keep it a secret so he hesitated. He body started to sweat. He wanted to retract his statement but he couldn’t. “ You know I sometimes just speak my mind too much. You promise?”

“Just tell us,” Gerrold said. “The quicker yout ell us, the better the advice we can give you.” Gerald’s intelligence was not a secret to anyone at the table. He regularly got perfect grades. Marty changed his mind. Gerald might be the perfect one to figure out if he should go after school or not. “My father told me about the principle. I’ll let you know if its safe or not.”

“I think he wants me to do something illegal. He gave me a card and told me to meet him after school.”

Marty took out the card from his back pocket and looked around. The other students were too busy eating in the cafeteria to mind him. There had to be at least thirty tables each with ten kids garbling down as much food as possible. Some had green plates which meant they’d gotten free meals. And just like him, many had various types of aquatic beasts on their bodies. A child roughly his heaght walked by with a king fire crab snapping its claws at a specific fish it didn’t like. He almost forgot about Dragorna for a second and looked up to make sure it was there. It seemed to be sleeping to try and gain some of its magic back. He sighed and looked at Hannah. Why was no one saying anything?

“What… what’s with the silence.”

“He gave you a golden business card. I’ve heard of these…” Gerrold said, his voice full of amazement. “Wow, these can be used to get into his clubs! So cool! My father said these can be sold for a thousand clams! Enough to get a small house away from the rising tide! He must really trust you! Geez, you definitely have to go now!”

Gerrold didn’t answer in the way he expected. Marty got the card back and stuck it further into his back pocket. The aches had started to go away and his head had stopped beating so much. And then a headache started. He looked up and patted Dragorna’s warm tendril. “Buddy, mind making the pain go away?”

Swoosh!

A second later, a cooling sensation spread down Marty’s forehead and his headache dissipated. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at Hannah. She’d gotten awfully quite. “What, are the rest of you not going to say anything?”

“I can’t believe he gave you a gold card. The principal must really see something in you and Dragorna. We might never see you again.”

“You’re insane.” Marty shook his head. “There is nothing special about me.”

“I recommend you go,” Gerrold smiled widely. “Haha, my own friend, getting invited to a gold institution.” Gold institutions were places where only middlc class or rich people could go. There, you could eat the best food, participate in auctions, and even buy new aquatic beast gear. He had always wanted to get something for Dragorna, a special type of food to see if he could get stronger, but wasn’t like the rich kids, nonetheless he beat them the same. He really should go? He felt his courage rising. “The principle must see the value of Dragonra. Isn’t that right pal!”

“HRRROOOO!” Dragorna made a proud noise. Everyone laughed.

“Well, I guess that means he agrees,” Leo chimed in. “I’m quite glad you have him, frankly, otherwise, we might have lost you to the sea already. But then… no swamp today?”

“No, you guys go alone,” Marty looked at the clock. There was no time left. He looked out the window and saw a tsunami beginning to rise up. It smashed against the stolid steel walls controlled by the Octet’s Monolithic sea beasts. Alas, even with their defense, soon more of the island would disappear. “And might I add… you all better be safe today… No fighting any sun beasts too difficult without me around. Dragorna won’t be able to heal you, and your Rose Starfish… It weak against fire… Try and stick to fighting in the mountains against the grass fiends…”

Grass fiends were one of the types of beasts that the sun god had sent to the island. Long story short… they used rocks and not fire. And Marty was pretty sure he was about to be late. He went to class with Hannah and sat down but before he knew it, the class was over.

Time passed quickly and soon he found it was time to meet the principle.

A limousine pulled up to the school. He was completely in shock. He’d never rid in anything nicer than a bike his entire life. Even when his mom was with the royal knights, he never got to get into a luxury car. Most of his rides had to rely on good old aquatic beasts pushing them, but this one had a high level water gate shifting engine. He could hear it purr. It made him excited. This was insane. That was only a ride for a royal knight's family. And yet… here he was, about to go into a limousine. The principal rolled down the window and held out his hand.

“Give the card if you want to go with me. It’s yours once you get in, but just so you know… things won’t be easy if you follow me.”

‘“What do you mean? I thought you just wanted me to help you fight someone?”

“Yeah, but it’s illegal. Which means once you get into this car, no more telling your friends or asking them for advice.” He opened the door.

Marty handed him the card and slid onto the cold black leather. He felt nervous. Did he just suggest someone listened to his conversation with his friends? He looked around at the interior, trying to ignore that feeling of guilt he felt about talking to them about it. To his surprise, there was quite a lot of normal things in the limousine. There was a television, a wine cooler, and three masked men sitting across from him. Wait, how come I didn’t see them? Who are they?

“Excuse me… principle… what’s with the company?”

“Those people are here to educate you on what happens if you talk about us…” The principle snapped his fingers. “Now driver… please take us to Golden Gate House will you?” The principle tossed Marty a bag… “And here kid… Look inside that bag… That’s just a little present from us to you… Consider it a small payment on what's to come if we’re right about that beast on your head…”