The Gate Guardian

Night Nineteen...

Age 1991

Hero and Max stood in front of the large golden gates that blocked the pathway to the Enforcers building.

"Umm..." Hero made a slight face. "Is that a robot?"

In front of them stood a large buff man in a pure white suit. He had long blonde hair that stood up on the end like a pointed blade and dark skin. His arms were folded over his massive chest and his eyes were shut. He stood in front of the massive Golden Gate and simply stood there unmoving not moving an inch.

"Hmm... Strange." Max muttered. "Maybe he's a- What the hell are you doing!" He slapped Hero's hand which had began to stretch out to poke the man's nose.

"Oww!" Hero dropped his hand and made a face. "I was gonna poke him. Maybe he has an On, Off switch."

"He's not a God damn robot!"

"Well, what is he then? Because Heaters or no, it is still pretty cold and this guy is just standing out here perfectly still in a weird and creepy pose not doing anything like a massive creep!"

"I don't know." Max shrugged. "Maybe he is dead?"

The man began to make a face as his eye started to twitch. Neither of the two boys were paying attention though as they both came up with their crazy theories.

"Or!" Hero said excitedly. "Maybe he is a Bestia Macht in the shape of a human and we have to kill him to proceed! I'll go for the throat you go for the-"

"He ain't a Bestia Macht!"

The man continued to make a face as his foot began to tap on the stone floor hard enough to crack it. The two boys still didn't notice him even as the ground began to shake.

"Or maybe he is just a human and we need to wake him up?" Max asked shrugging. "Nah that's lame..."

"Or! Maybe he is a God in the shape of a man and we have to kill him to proceed."

"I think you just want to kill him."

"Maybe he is a tree in the shape of-"

The man began to lightly growl but still, the two kids failed to notice him being completely caught up in their game.

"Or," Max said rolling his eyes. "He's probably just some idiot trying to look cool so he did a cool pose and is waiting for us to address him so that he can act cool and scary to new recruits."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Or-"

"Damn it will you two just ask me a question already!" The man yelled shaking the entire city. Hero and Max fell back landing in the snow as they stared up at the very angry man. "Seriously you're just standing there not doing anything!"

Hero let out a gasp before his eyes narrowed. "He was just trying to look cool..." He muttered.

"What a total disgrace to cool people everywhere." Max also muttered.

It seemed they agreed on something...

The man held his head in shame and let out an annoyed sigh. "Can we just get this over with you damn brats..." His giant arm came down as he held his hand out. "Letters and names." He announced loudly. "And tell me what color the envelope is."

Max slowly stood up and reached into his pocket pulling out a blue envelope. He handed it to the man who took it. "My name is Max. No last name. Blue?"

The man let out a grunt and pulled out a tiny stamp which he placed gently on the envelope with care. It changed into a bright green color and was enveloped by bright yellow flames burning up and turning to ash. "No last name huh. You an orphan on the streets? Shame you aren't a girl. Then you could have joined the Red Sisters." The man said in a simple tone as he began stomping the dust into the ground putting the flames out.

"Yeah... Moving on," Max said in an uncomfortable tone. He quickly changed the subject. "What was that just now? And do you really just need to see the letter and name?"

"Yes." The man grunted. "You see. We here at the Enforcers don't really know how it works ourselves but our Great and Noble Master, Master Storm, of the Noble family of Storm, one of the Twenty Sacred branches, personally makes those letters and gives them to several trusted members who will go out and give the letters to people he deems worthy to try out. If a normal human were to look at the letters then they would simply appear as a white blank envelop. But if people who have a lot of potential are chosen then the envelope will appear as a light blue. The stamp causes it to burn. Red flames mean the person is lying. Yellow flames means they are telling the truth. Besides that though we really don't have a reason to make our security that hard to pass... Day of the entrance exam means all twelve Captains, and all twelve Vice-Captains are going to be here today. Honestly, I'd feel bad for whatever poor sod broke our security and got in... They'd be obliterated in seconds."

"Magic!" Hero said with wide eyes.

"I have to agree..." Max muttered. "That does sound like magic..."

"It's not magic it's an advance form of science that-"

"Nah it's totally magic."

"Now it is your turn boy." The man grunted over to Hero.

Hero handed over his blue envelope. "It's blue I guess. Oh, and my name is Hero."

"You got a last name or you an orphan to?"

"Law."

"Hero Law huh..." The man said lighting the letter up. It turned into a bright green flame as he crushed it once again. "Let me guess. You have a Transformation Type Attribute right. Ha that's just a little joke-"

"I do. How did you know?" Hero asked making the man go silent.

"Really?" The man gave a look of surprise to Hero. "It was a bit of a joke. There was an Enforcer a few years ago. Her name was Hiroshi but she often went by Hiro, or Hero as well. She too had a Transformation Type Cursed Life Technique that affected her right arm. She was the Vice-Captain of Squad One until she and the Squad One Captain at the time were killed in action during a mission, rest their souls. Taken out in a secret mission involving some kind of lab that was experimenting on kids..."

"Really?" Hero said scratching his chin. "What a coincidence. You said she was in the first Squad right? Max mentioned that to. What does that mean?"

"You really know nothing huh..." Max said giving the boy a dirty look.

"I know how to juggle. My dad taught me when I worked as a clown with him." Hero shrugged. "Wanna see-"

"No." Max let out a sigh as he folded his arms and began his lecture. "The Enforcers are filled with several powerful warriors many of which make legends for themselves such as the Nines, or the Storms. In this group we have twelve squads and in these squads we have one squad that is above the others. The First Squad. The highest rank of an Enforcers Squad. And with these Squads there was a single Captain in the Squad One who stood out. You see we've had several powerful legends. But... There was one man who is regarded as the greatest Enforcer. A man said to have slain over one hundred million Bestia Macht, battled the twelve Samurai from the Nation of White, and held the position of First Captain. Okami Otoko, he held this title until he was unfortunately killed in action from a Bestia Macht attack. The strongest Enforcer-"

"Oh cool I know that guy. He was like my first master but hated training me and spending time with me. Dad always bad talked him behind his back."

"-he truly held the title of... Wait. Did you say, You knew him." Max and the man continued to look at the stunned Hero who threw his arms behinds his head in a casual manner.

"Yeah. He was okay I guess. He tried training me for a year or two but I could never convince him to let me join his squad, and dad told me not to bother with the Enforcers, but he went and got himself killed so I don't have to listen to him. Anyways. Then the Master Kidnaped me and from that point on I went through hell. So can we enter or?"

"Uhh what?" The man asked processing what Hero just said.

"I asked if we could enter?"

"Oh! Yes! Of course!" The man said quickly. "I'm sure you two boys will do fine on the entrance exam and join a Squad."

"That was something I was curious about," Max muttered. "Everyone who has a blue envelope has potential right? And I heard that the Enforcers are a small group. Less than two hundred members designed to guard the entire Nation. Wouldn't it make sense to hire everyone with an Equation? It sounds like they are in desperate need of recruits?"

"Hmm." The man let out a hum and scratched at his beard. "You see that's a tricky question. On one hand yes. We are in desperate need of help. There are nearly three hundred cities, towns, and villages that are all in constant danger of Bestia Macht, or rouge groups. However... Our leader... Well... Master Storm is odd... You'll come to learn that he can be very... Let us say... Superstitious in his beliefs. He would have been replaced but... Well, the crazy bastard just doesn't die. I think he's been in charge for nearly three hundred years now. God knows how his body hasn't shut down... But. Despite his old age he always seems to get the job done. Because of that the previous Emperors who have the final say in Enforcer decisions, and the current one, are all willing to let his odd rules and requests slide. One such is the amount of members. For whatever reason, our Master only allows for Twelve Squads of Enforcers, and only twenty five members in each Squad at a given time, and on recruitment days like this, each Squad is only allowed to recruit up to five members. Also these rules sometimes change if he just feels like it... Meaning in total there will only be three hundred and five Enforcers at a given time, and only sixty members will be able to get in today since twelve squads and a squad can only have five people. Twenty Five in each Squad which is One Three hundred, Master Storm himself, and then his four Sacred Beasts equals Three hundred and five members in total. No one knows why he refuses to have any more... Because of our shortage, we often have to require aid from the church and request the Red Sisters back us up. A reason we believe he does this is to find the Heart. You see somewhere out there in the world there's an Equation that is beyond any other stronger than any other power. This Equation was made out of God's Heart. If we find it we can end the Bestia Macht once and for all... However for all we know a person in the Enforcers could already have it. No way of telling. So we believe he doesn't let the weak in for fear one of them would have the heart and accidently get it destroyed. Course that logic is also flawed but we are talking about a crazy old man with memory loss problems so who knows why he does what he does..."

"That's..."

"Weird. Yeah. There are loads of stuff I hope get changed when that old man finally does croak. Still though. I got to admit he is doing a good job. Weird rules and all."

"I see... So only a total of Sixty people can even be chosen for the exam this year?" Max asked.

"And around three hundredish letters are sent out." The man shrugged. "Ahh well. You two will soon learn what kind of hell you're signing up for. Good luck..."

"Ominous!" Hero announced. "So how do we get in? I don't see the door."

"Yes, it can't be helped." Max sighed. "Get on my back-"

"Yeah, no..."

The man let out a chuckle as he turned away from the boys and placed his hands on either side of the bars. "We have a certain rule to get in. One that hasn't been met by anyone but me. Koto Mina, from Squad Two!" Had grunted as his muscle began to budge and a section of the gate began to rise up. "This thing weighs nearly... Three... Hundred thousand pounds! Or nearly one hundred and fifty tons. I alone am the only one who can-" He let out one last growl as he raised it above his head. "Lift it."

"Cool..." Both boys muttered.

"Maybe he's the heart?" Hero joked.

"Oh for the love of God please step in! This really hurts to hold!"

Both boys quickly stepped under the raised gate as the man let out a heavy sigh and dropped it to the ground causing it to sink into the floor slightly. He let out a deep breath and wiped some sweat off his forehead.

"Well... Good luck... To... You... Boys... I need to sit down... Doing this all day hurts... I'm about at the point where I stop caring who gets in..."

"Thanks, big guy!" Hero laughed waving his hand.

Max folded his arms and turned to look at the large building. "So... We finally made it." His eyes slowly darted over to a wall which was filled with several signs all listed as 'rules' that he suspected were important. "Ahh. the rules sec-"

"Well let's go!" Hero announced grabbing Max by the back of his jacket and dragging him away.

"W... But what about the rules?" He asked wildly.

"Meh. Screw 'em."

"You can't just-"

"Yeah, I can. I'm named after a famous Enforcer remember. I'm Hero Law bitch!"

"Wow, that went to your head instantly..."

"Sure did! I'm badass!"

Hero pulled the kicking and screaming boy into the building as they finally stepped in, to the Enforcers H.Q.