Tension Of The Coming War

After the bell rang for the end of the school, the students left the gymnasium to head home.

Jake was trying to come up with a reason to tell Jake and Cat about why he wanted to run home from school. "Hey guys, I um... I'm gonna run home" "What! Why?" Cat asked surprised by what he just said. "I'm gonna be the prime suspect to Duke when he finds out what happened to those idiots" "Maybe but we took them out together," said Sky "shouldn't we deal with any aftermath of the whole thing together?" "Thanks guys but I don't want you guys getting hurt because of me. So just stay out of harm's way". After that, Jake was already running to avoid listening to more of what they had to say. 'Phew... Guess I never really realized how far our house was from the school'.

"Jake. Where's your brother?" Andrea asked when Jake stepped through the door. "He's on his way. Why are you home so early?" "Finished what I had to do at work so I decided to come home. How was school?" "Uneventful. Anyway, I'm gonna take a quick shower".

In Jake's room, after taking his shower, he opened his system screen to see how much exp he had received after completing the second quest.

[Quest Completed:Run to school or back home from school]

[Endurance +2, +10 exp received]

[Endurance:17]

[Exp:75/100]

'Not bad,' Jake thought 'I wonder what happens when I level up. Guess there's only one way to find out'.

[Quest Update]

[Run to the Superstar Mall within 15mins=Speed +2, +10exp]

[Lift 30kg dumbbells 15 times=Strength +2, +10exp]

'This shouldn't be too hard, the Superstar Mall quest might be a little bit difficult since it's a 30minutes walk from our house. I'm gonna have to hit the gym to lift those dumbbells, probably after school or weekends. I can handle this'.

The door downstairs had just opened as Sky walked through. "Welcome back," Andrea greeted with a sigh of relief at seeing Sky finally back "what took you so long?" "What is this, an interrogation? I just made a quick stop at a friend's house." "You know you should be more careful. With all these rumours flying around about another war starting, anything could happen." "Alright Dad, the next time I wanna make a two minutes detour, I'll call you."

"You know he kinda has a point," Jake said, coming down the stairs in a hurry "you should at least try to be careful".

"Uh...Hello, you're supposed to be on my side" "Just saying" Jake said with a shrug and headed into the kitchen. Rummaging through the refrigerator, Jake grabbed a can of soda and went for the door to leave the house.

Looking towards the kitchen, Andrea saw Jake aiming to leave the house. "Hey, where you going?" Andrea asked Jake. "I'm just heading out to meet someone" Jake replied remembering the call he had made to Cat asking if they could meet up. She had been surprised initially but ended up agreeing to meet.

"To meet someone or to meet Catherine" Sky teased while making love gestures. "Yeah yeah, say whatever you want. Point is I'm going out."

"Be back by dinner." instructed Andrea "I mean it Jake, I expect you back by dinner." "Okay, I get it."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do" Sky said just as Jake shut the door after he left.

Going to his room, Sky set his bag down on his reading table and laid on the bed facing the ceiling. He could barely see the stars that got illuminated during nighttime which had helped him fall asleep multiple times while he counted them. The stars reminded him of his mother, long flowing blonde hair, smooth skin with a little bit of freckles on her face, average height. He missed her. When he was much younger, they had both slept in his room on nights when he had nightmares or when the stars weren't helping him sleep.

Hearing a knock on the door, Sky sat up. "It's open". Andrea walked in, "Hey son, sorry about earlier. You know with everything that's happening, I'm just super worried". "Don't sweat it Dad, I get it. You're only looking after me". " I appreciate your understanding, I'll try to be more lenient next time". "Thanks Dad". "Well, I'll leave you to it. Love you son". " Love you too Dad".