What it means to be a Hero

Standing on top of a pillar in an isolated settlement lies M1ke looking through his binoculars as if he is desperate.

"Not here either. Looks like they were here however. But they got away before we got here. There must be some clues as to where they are. Keep looking for those" M1ke says with a serious look in his eyes to his subordinates as they say, "Yes sir!" and jump from building to building in search of this certain someone.

From a distance, a man in a black cape on the ground is looking through binoculars of his own towards M1ke's direction with a creepy smile on his face.

"You guys are never gonna find the boss at this pace." He says with a creepy giggle.

Scene then shifts to the site of the Military Enlistment exam grounds…

"All eligible participants who've had their documents submitted and all physical and mental aptitude tests done may enter through this door to the real site of the military enlistment exam." The speakers spread throughout the exam grounds blast the sound of the announcement loudly to catch the attention of all candidates.

"Alright Tommy. This is the first stepping stone to you becoming a legend." Tommy says to himself in his head as he clenches his fists with a smile and walks with the other candidates through the gate.

Once everyone is set in place, the gates immediately get closed. Standing in front of everyone is a guy looking like what can only be called a Samurai who clears his throat to gather all attention towards himself as he continues to say, "Now that the gates are closed. I hope all of you realize that there is no going back. That's the first code a soldier must follow, that is, to always be prepared to walk in the face of death. This is because a soldier who runs away is only what we can call a subject to shame.

I am General Hideyoshi Takeda of the first division of the war management unit. Today, I will be the one to assess your capabilities and decide which one of you is ready to pass onto the next stage. Each stage will get harder and harder which is why I am chosen as the first level examiner due to comparative leniency

 Each year, to keep the feel of the exam fresh, we appoint new examiners from higher positions of our vast military. However… That is not to say that my test is going to be any easier. Each and every level of the exam has a death rate that keeps going up. That's right. You could die in this exam if you take one wrong step. But worry not, this level has a death rate of only 70%."

Upon hearing the death rate, an expression of shock surrounds the face of the thousands of participants standing there with exceptions like Tommy and a few others who just think he is bluffing.

"If there are no further questions, the exam shall begin-" Takeda tries to say but immediately jumps back as a sword hits the ground and shatters the area on ground Takeda was standing on just moments ago as he looks towards the direction the sword came from and gets horrified at the sight he has to behold.

"Oi Takeda. You didn't think we'd let you off the hook for long did you? Us samurai had refused to swear allegiance to the military yet YOU joined them. You're a DISGRACE to our creed. By joining the military, you gave up your loyalty to the motherland and sullied it with the stain of those alien creatures in the name of fake peace." A man in pitch black samurai robes says from the top of a nearby tree as he jumps in front of Takeda to get hold of his sword.

Immediately, Takeda takes his own sword out as a violent clash of swords begin.

"It wasn't us samurai who refused the ways of the military, IT WAS YOU! Us samurai had decided long ago that a change is imminent. We are supposed to be honorable warriors. All you are is a scumbag who is only a shell of the best friend I once knew. One who only draws his sword out for senseless slaughter when the code of us samurai has always been to protect!" Takeda says while clashing his swords with this stranger who had interrupted the exam.

"THAT IS WHAT I AM DOING TAKEDA! I AM PROTECTING THE HUMANITY FROM THOSE FILTHY ALIENS THE MILITARY HIRES AND PROTECTS! THEY KILLED OUR KIND ONCE AND THEY WILL SHOW THEIR TRUE COLORS AGAIN!" The samurai screams as he takes the upper hand in the clash of the swords.

"MY MEN! TAKE THOSE EXAM CANDIDATES HOSTAGE AND KILL ALL THE ALIEN ONES IN THERE! WE WILL USE THEM FOR RANSOM AND MAKE THE MILITARY LEAVE THE MOTHERLAND!!" The samurai continued screaming.

"STOP! YOU'VE LOST EVERY SHRED OF THE HONOR US SAMURAI STOOD FOR! TO INVOLVE INNOCENT YOUNG MEN INTO YOUR FEUD IS BEYOND BLASPHEMY! I WILL HAVE TO EXECUTE YOU NOW TORU MIYAMOTO! YOU ARE NO LONGER WORTHY OF BEING CALLED A SAMURAI!!" Takeda screams back as he draws his sword upwards and sends the samurai Toru's sword flying into the air backwards.

"You are one to talk… But as a samurai… I ALWAYS COME PREPARED!!" Toru screams as he draws a second sword and clashes it with Takeda again.

"ALL CANDIDATES! RUN INTO THE FOREST AS FAST AS YOU CAN! THAT IS WHERE THE FIRST EXAM WAS MEANT TO BE! BE WARY OF THE DINOSAURS THOUGH!" Takeda screams while fighting Toru, who looks towards his many incoming henchmen and turns his head to tell them to follow the candidates into the forest.

"What does he mean by dinosaurs??" A clumsy candidate asks the fellow candidates as they run through the forest but much to his dismay, he gets replies like, "HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW BUDDY?? FOCUS ON RUNNING!!" 

Just then, a nerdy candidate carrying his laptop continues saying, "About 40 years back, there was a lab here once focused on the study of dinosaurs. They managed to revive them but something went wrong, the whole facility got destroyed and the dinosaurs were left free in the forest without anyone to tame them and over the years they managed to increase their population by a lot… It got so hard to manage that the military just had to close this forest off altogether…"

Upon hearing this, everyone screams and runs even faster…

"Real dinosaurs!? That's so cool! Why didn't I know of this place before!? This first day of the exam is not sounding like a boring physical aptitude test after all!" Tommy thinks to himself with a huge smile on his face as he jumps through the trees of the forest at astounding speeds. Speed so fast that by the time the candidates hear him, he's already gone, like the sound of thunder coming after the lightning strikes.

Meanwhile back at the fight scene between Toru and Takeda…

Their swords continue clashing violently which send such strong shockwaves in each other's direction, that they cut through all trees in a 30m radius. The clashes get so violent that the shockwaves start crossing the 50m mark as the distance between Takeda and Toru turns into a 10m circular runway of swords clashing at least ten times per second.

However, as the distance of the circular runway reaches a circumference of 15m, their swords emit light as they stand in place.

Just then, green bubbles form around the air surrounding Takeda's sword repeatedly and rush towards Toru who strikes his sword towards the ground and starts running towards Takeda while dodging his green bubbles and shattering the ground as he covers the distance between them.

As Toru finally reaches Takeda, he draws his sword from the ground upward with a flashing yellow light surrounded by blue sparks as the ground beneath both Toru and Takeda shakes into oblivion and lead into a huge clash of both swords that sends the two of them flying several meters back with blood popping through the tip of their lips and the ground underneath turning into a huge crater from the forcefield of the clash.

The two of them then take a stand barely injured at all while wiping the blood under the tip of their lips as Toru continues to say, "You've grown strong since the last time we fought Takeda."

"And you've grown sneakier despite the ground shaking ability of yours. Yet your movements still do resemble a samurai." Takeda replies as he places his hand that is holding the hilt of his sword in front of his head with the blade parallel to his face, and places his other hand behind his head and forming a sign which can only be called something resembling a snake ready to bite through his palm.

"Oh, so we're getting to that already? I wish this fight could've lasted longer since it'd be the last…" Toru replies as he lifts his second sword that went flying back a little while ago, strikes them in a cross and slides them from on top of each other and onto the ground beneath him as they shine with the same bright yellow light and blue sparks surrounding them.

The two of them simultaneously scream, "IMAGINARY POWER!!", as Takeda screams "AIRBORNE ACID TSUNAMI!!", and Toru screams "ZONE OF REVERSE POLARITY!!!", as a giant green wave of pure acid comes sweeping through the forest and burning all trees apart but gets caught up in a zone of yellow light making it look like waves inside a sphere. Takeda immediately however, manages to surf through the waves inside the giant sphere of yellow light on a giant sword.

"Hah, looks like we've both found counters to each other. I cannot fight your imaginary power with my geo energy and you can't possibly fight me while you're floating without a direction inside my zone of reverse polarity, but the way you can surf on all that green acid inside my sphere makes it sound all the more interesting." Toru says as he whirls around the sphere created by his imaginary power while clashing swords with Takeda who is surfacing around the edges of it.

"But how long can you keep surfing through my imaginary technique Takeda… All you can do is scrape the edges while I can strike from anywhere… I am still at an advantage." Toru continued.

"Long enough Toru! Focus on the fight!" Takeda replies as both him and Toru take the fight to otherworldly heights.

Meanwhile back at the forest…

"HAAAAHHHH!!!" Tommy screams as he unleashes a visible blue forcefield through his palm and sends a dinosaur flying back and crashing onto three trees and breaking them.

"You good?" Tommy continues after saving one of the candidates lives' who then replies, "Thank you… I thought I was gonna die today…"

As Tommy makes his way through the forest, he gains quite a large following from the other candidates, who follow him around because of the fame he has accumulated in a mere year of training as well as the charisma he possesses that just attracts them to follow him as if he is a great leader.

"Hey! I see the exit! We made it, Sir Tommy!" One of the followers Tommy had gained speaks up as Tommy and the gang jump through the forest trees, rushing towards the exit.

"Yeah I see it too! And don't call me sir! We're supposed to be rivals here y'know!" Tommy exclaims.

"Yes sir!" The guy screams back which makes Tommy do a facepalm mid air.

As all of them reach the exit, military personnel stand there to greet them, "Welcome soldiers. You've come a long way surviving the sudden attack at the exam premises. Come this way to the next level."

As some start to leave, Tommy looks back and sees one of the samurai who were hunting the candidates down being chased by a dinosaur, starts running in that direction and kicks the rather small dinosaur in the face and scares it away with a grim stare.

"Some samurai you are buddy. Entering the forest for the task of catching us but ending up prey to a dinosaur. Quite pathetic if you ask me." Tommy says to the samurai with a cold stare as he looks down upon him.

"I know… But despite knowing that… Why did you save me…?" The samurai mumbles.

"Well. I'm a hero. I see someone in danger, I instinctually save them… It is not for me to decide whose lives I take…" Tommy replies as he looks with sunlight peering onto his face through the gap between the leaves of the trees above.

"So… How many people are there still in danger? You were tasked with hunting us down. You must've seen the number of candidates who got to run and the number of your own people right?" Tommy continues.

"Yeah… At the start, we managed to catch about 300 candidates. About 500 made it to the other side like you. Around two thousand or so ran away by climbing through the closed gate somehow... And another 200 candidates and about 50 of the men I was with, still haven't made it…" The samurai replies.

"Alright… I know today's mission…" Tommy says as he stretches a bit and continues, "Time to save 200 lives…"

"Wait, I'll go with you… I owe you one for saving my life there…" The samurai requests to tag along.

"You sure? Honestly, whatever, we got lives to save, we should hurry!" Tommy speaks back.

"That boy… Despite being of royal lineage, he is putting his life on the line to save some mere peasants… So the whole news of him saving people wasn't just for publicity… I could be wrong… But if royalty is literally gonna put its life on the line, it'd be dishonorable to my name that I don't do the righteous thing either…" The kid who was intrigued by Tommy's news before the exam thinks to himself and speaks up to Tommy saying, "I will join you too. As someone joining the military, it would make no sense to run away from saving lives."

"We'll join you too boss! You got us so far, we'll help you with anything! It is part of our duty as heroes!" The followers Tommy had gained speak up.

Just then, the military personnel standing there exclaim, "But then you wouldn't be able to get to the second level!! You would fail this year's military enlistment exam! Do you really wanna put your lives on the line for something you'd never even be known for? Because this area is restricted from the public. Anything happening here, never gets out. You could DIE in vain… Think about it…"

After hearing this, some candidates start having conflicting thoughts about quite literally saving their fellow candidates' lives or going through with the exam they had risked their own lives for already.

"I've already made my mind up. I don't care if I fail. If joining the military means I gotta turn a blind eye to saving as many lives as I can then what's the damn point of being in it? I don't care if this doesn't get out. A grumpy old guy once told me… To be a hero is not about others knowing you did something good… It's about you knowing you did the right thing… Being a hero… is a gift by itself…" Tommy says as he starts running towards the locations of the many lives that were still in danger, spread throughout the forest.

Hearing the words Tommy had said, motivates many of the candidates there to clench their fists and tag along with Tommy in saving the many lives that were still in danger as they scream, "WE ARE HEROES TOO!! WE WILL HELP YOU SAVE THEM TOMMY!!"

As almost everyone leaves, the military personnel get a smirk on their face and give each other a high five as they say, "Looks like we've got a world record number of candidates passing the first level of the military exam this year. Especially that kid… He seems special…"

As Tommy and his gang of nearly 500 candidates run through the forest and save lives of their fellow candidates from dinosaurs, Tommy encounters a large one this time.

He leaps through the face and kicks the dinosaur on various parts of his body but he is just rock solid and immune to all hits. Seeing the strength of the dinosaur, he decides to run and disappears immediately which confuses the dinosaur.

"Looking for me buddy?" Tommy reappears and taunts the dinosaur which makes the dinosaur chase him down until he gets his foot stuck in a junction of trees Tommy had set up while he had disappeared and then comes flying down onto the fallen dinosaur's tail screaming, "DOUBLE IMPACT!!"

Upon being hit by such a strong move, the dinosaur's mouth gets wide open as Tommy strikes a tree between its teeth and then breaks another tree to hit its head and make it fall unconscious as he sweats after such a mammoth task.

As everyone cheers, another dinosaur sneaks up behind Tommy and ready to devour him point blank by tilting its head but just then, the kid from before who first agreed to join Tommy after the samurai did, grabs its tail, slams it onto a tree, lifts a bounder and strikes it down onto the dinosaur to kill it.

"Sheesh, didn't have to go all the way but you saved my meat out there… Guess I can't complain about you saving me from a mutated dinosaur haha…" Tommy replies with an awkward and sweaty expression on his face.

Just then a huge yellow and green colored shockwave is seen from a distance.

"You go, I'll stop the dinosaurs from getting there!" The kid exclaims to Tommy, who nods at him with a smile and says "Gotcha! Thank you! I owe you one dude!", which leaves the kid with a shocked expression on his face for some reason.

"Some of you stay here and make sure the few candidates that are left get out safely! I'll take a few with me and check out if someone is in danger from the site of the shockwave!" Tommy exclaims as he and a gang of about a hundred people run through the forest.

Meanwhile, back at the fight between Toru and Takeda…

"Quite surprising that you've managed to survive as long as you have… Takeda…" Toru speaks with a large cut starting from his left shoulder all the way to his abdomen while a huge amount of blood leaks from his mouth and acid burns surround his arms.

"And I am going to win Toru…" Takeda replies while still surfing through the light sphere with a cut running in the opposite direction of the cut Toru has while having many trauma's and bruises all over his body.

"Quit being so overconfident Takeda! Don't forget you're still in my realm! Once you're all tired and off balance, you're gonna lose all sense of direction and be at my mercy! I can fly in here as long as I want without expelling much binding energy or hurting my brain." Toru screams.

"It is you whose sense of direction has lost Toru!" Takeda screams as he strikes the same pose of taking his hand holding the hilt of his sword in front of his face, the blade parallel to his mouth and the other hand behind him making a sign of a snake about to hunt its prey down.

"IMAGINARY POWER! AIRBORNE ACID TSUNAMI!!" Takeda screams yet again and a giant tsunami of acid comes rushing through a major part of the forest and burning everything away as it gets closer to the sphere.

Tommy and the rest of the gang get astonished by seeing half of the forest get suddenly reduced to nothing. A bunch of them including the dinosaurs start running to the opposite direction while Tommy and the gang don't let their pace of movement be disturbed and rush to aid whoever could be in danger in the shockwave zone.

Takeda's imaginary technique finally reaches the light sphere and starts swirling around it as Takeda screams, "AIRBORNE ACID WHIRLPOOL!!!".

The acid starts turning into the shape of a hurricane and throws the sphere into the skies and turns into a snake shaped wave swirling it even higher into the air as Takeda continues, "I told you Toru… IT IS YOU WHOSE SENSE OF DIRECTION IS LOST!!"

"YOU SCOUNDREL! YOU SUMMONED ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE ACID WAVES TO CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF MY REVERSE POLARITY ZONE EXTERNALLY! WE BOTH MIGHT DIE YOU MORON!!" Toru screams.

"Correction Toru, it is only I who will live!" Takeda exclaims as he sync's the wave inside the Reverse Polarity Zone with the wave outside which lets him surf his way out of the sphere and into the world of where his sense of direction is normal.

Using his second wave to spin the Reverse Polarity Zone's light sphere in the air, he uses the first wave to fly above as he accumulates all the power of the wave into his sword which makes it glow with green light and comes dashing down into the direction of Toru.

"I see your plan Takeda… But if I die here… So will you… Hitting the reverse polarity zone with so much pressure from the outside will reverse the direction of your attack right back at you… So even if my light sphere breaks and I die drowning in the sea of your acid, you would also die along with me!!" Toru exclaims as he charges up the light sphere and charges right into the direction of Takeda's strike with his sword right at the edge of the light sphere.

Right before the hits could connect, Tommy suddenly appears between them and spins his hands through the air which reverses the direction of their attacks and sends them flying into the opposite direction.

"Looks like I got here in time… And that saves… About two lives…" Tommy says with sweat all over his face as he gently flies down.

Takeda then comes running towards Tommy's direction and screams, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU KID! YOU COULD'VE DIED BETWEEN OUR STRIKES!"

Toru then comes in walking and interrupts Takeda's lecture saying, "Relax Takeda, that flying cowboy kid did the right thing. We got too carried away in our act that we let our fighting instincts do the talking until we both died. He saved our lives today."

Takeda's face gets red in embarrassment as he sighs and says, "You're right Toru… I'm sorry for scolding you kid, but I still meant what I said. You could've died. You're quite reckless."

"Well save that for later… WHAT DO YOU GUYS MEAN BY ACT???" Tommy speaks starting from a calm tone of voice but immediately switches to screaming.

"Oh. All of this 'takeover' thing by a gang of rogue samurai was all staged. We are all part of the military here. Toru over here is my best friend, rival and also the General of the Armed Terrorism Prevention unit, which is why we got so carried away in our fight... We were just trying to see how resilient and brave you guys would be and if you would save your fellow candidates even if they were your rivals. The losers would not just be those who ran away by default as well as those who got caught obviously, but also those who refused to save their fellow candidates." Takeda replies as if nothing had happened.

"And you guys won. Congratulations." Toru continues as he claps along with all the candidates and military soldiers disguised as rogue samurai who got saved today, who say "Thank you for saving our lives soldiers!"

As the cheering goes on, Tommy waves his hands to all lives he had saved and the crowd who had followed him all along lift him into the air and scream, "TOMMY! TOMMY! TOMMY!"

The kid meanwhile who first agreed to join Tommy in saving all those lives after the samurai also did, watches from a distance with a mild smirk on his face.

"Maybe he is different…" The kid says on a call to the same strange man wearing a black cloak who was seeing M1ke and his subordinates from a distance in the isolated settlement.

"No Björn, all the royal lineage is evil. Look at what terror they had brought upon the universe through their so-called 'righteous' military… All of them must pay… All of them… Especially that brat… Don't disappoint me again Björn… Or you're out of this!" The cloaked man replies as he hangs up and sneaks onto M1ke's gang from behind a wall with a creepy smirk on his face.

Björn stands there with a frown after the man had hung up on him in such a tone of voice.

To be continued in Chapter 14…

[Characters]

1. Hideyoshi Takeda

Age: 31

Description: He serves as the general for the first division war management unit which is assigned to stop any semblance of external and internal wars while also being the first line of defense and offense in case a war does erupt. He was born in a family of nobles and samurai and was taught to embrace the way of the samurai, ever since he and his best friend Toru could wield a sword at the young age of seven.

Appearance: He has shaggy black hair and a slight beard. He wears a straw hat as well as gray and white robes, while also carrying a Katana with a red colored hilt and a blue ribbon sticking out from its end. He has a scar around his mouth.

2. Toru Miyamoto

Age: 31

Description: Descended from the blood of Musashi Miyamoto himself, Toru Miyamoto was born to a conservative samurai family. He serves as the general of the Armed Terrorism Prevention unit which is responsible for annihilating any and all groups who try to rebel against the military. He also has a long history of nearly fighting to death Takeda but despite that, they've been best friends since they were toddlers.

Appearance: His black hair covers one of his eyes that has a scar on it. He wears black and dark gray robes and carries a katana with a blue hilt and a red ribbon sticking out from its end.

3. Björn

Age: 12

Description: A shady kid that has some sort of resentment for the royal lineage yet seems to mellow out towards Tommy for some reason. He also has contacts with a black cloaked man who is seemingly the fugitive M1ke is looking for and may act as a key in finding a man named Sina.

Appearance: He wears a headband with metal spikes and has silver eyes, black hair and wears a green colored jacket over a sleeveless black vest and black trousers. He also rocks black shoes with red laces.