The Disciple's Xbox

"Hum! Mellow Bars! They have the greatest taste of all time! A perfect blend of melon and chocolate flavors, jam-packed with nutrients!" Ghost's eyes lit up as he took a bite of the scrumptious Mellow Bar.

Captain Price popped open a bar in curiosity, biting off a tiny piece in reservation. He froze, and his eyes went from skepticism to bewilderment and lastly infatuation within a couple seconds.

"This... this is amazing!" he yelled as he munched the rest down feverishly while it felt like his entire world was spinning. It was almost as if there were clouds brewing all around him, circling him as they lifted his very being off into the starry sky, prompting him to break out into a freestyle.

"The Mellow Bar, it's so damn sticky. My girl on me, she gave me a hickey. Bout to get high real quick. Hash, weed—let me take my pick. Then I hit the bong. Mind tossed around like it's ping pong. Eyes open to the Astral Plane. Yeah, this is my Novocain."

Ghost was surprised at the freestyle, while Roach and Wolverine erupted into applause.

And then, to their astonishment, another round of clapping could be heard from someone outside of their group.

Taking a look at this newcomer, their eyes locked onto a small figure who appeared to be an Afghan boy. His clothes were on the messy side, with visible tearing around the hems of his clothing.

Noticing their glances, the boy's face reddened like a tomato while he almost started off in a different direction.

"Wait!" Captain Price yelled out as the boy's foot froze mid-step.

"Ye-yes?" the boy asked timidly, his high-pitched voice like that of a squeaker's over Xbox mics.

"You like that freestyle?" Captain Price felt his interest in the boy pique.

"Yea-yeah... I've always wanted to join in and show the world my freestyles, but it's hard to do that here in Afghanistan...." he mumbled.

"Well, how about you become my disciple?"

The boy quickly agreed, but as they introduced themselves, Captain Price soon came to realize the boy had no name.

"No name? Well then, how about we call you Lil Ghani?"

The boy tilted his head, "Ghani? Ghani is actually a strain of marijuana...."

Captain Price froze, but then quickly burst into a rambunctious laughter, "Hahaha! That's the perfect name for a disciple of mine. Come along, Lil Ghani. I'll make you the greatest freestyler in all of Afghanistan!"

Lil Ghani quickly agreed, kowtowing respectfully to Captain Price, then rising and standing behind him like a little chick following a hulking hen.

The two made for an odd duo, though on closer inspection they gave off similar auras to that of the father and son duo of Kratos and Atreus.

Wolverine observed the scene before asking, "Isn't anyone wondering why a random boy in Afghanistan can understand and speak English?"

Roach shook his head dismissively.

"Listen here, brother. There's only one thing on my mind this 4th of July weekend—and it's that Statue of Liberty ass!"

"I-I don't know how to respond to that... Maybe your traditional beliefs in the US differ from that of Colombia's... Wait, are you just trying to deflect from what I asked?"

"No, brother, I just want to get home in time for that ass. I'll show you what I'm talking about when we get back home."

Wolverine made a quick mental note, feeling that he absolutely had to find out what Roach was talking about when they returned home from their mission.

'Was the Statue of Liberty's ass that good?'

"Alright, alright! Let's keep it moving!" Ghost intervened, leading them into the city.

All this while, they were oblivious to the two guards who lost their lives to their forbidden arts. Only in the future would they learn just how dangerous the seemingly innocent movements of The Devil's Ballet were.

Ahead was the city, filled with old houses that one would easily recognize from the various Call of Duty maps. In fact, Ghost felt these homes were exact replicas. They were definitely copying Call of Duty, and he would be sure to report this upon returning home.

Thankfully, this city wasn't a complete ripoff, as the Nuristan region was much more lively with lush vegetation and green growing all throughout the land, the beautiful crystal-clear water that formed a long river, and the mountainous structures.

Smiling, Ghost took a single step into the city—

Pap-pap-pap-pap!

Several shots rang out and with his keen eyesight and highly-functioning mental capacity, Ghost could see the bullets traveling in his direction slowly as he sidestepped to the left, just barely dodging the bullets as they grazed his right leg.

Of course, the bullets were travelling at their normal speed, and it was only thanks to the great distance between him and his adversary that Ghost managed to dodge these four shots.

Ghost felt the wound with his hand, wiping the slight traces of blood away to reveal... a perfectly fine leg.

"Heh. My recovery speed is off the charts." he snickered coldly, tracking the bullet's trajectory, 'Twenty meters to the right, second building, red in color, out on a patio.'

Raising his head sharply, Ghost locked eyes with an Afghan soldier off in the distance.

The soldier felt his heart freeze from Ghost's hollow gaze, desperately screaming out for backup.

"INVADER! INVADER!"

'That's not good!'

Ghost didn't take a single extra second to think, drawing the Beretta M9 from his holster as he raised it steadily, firing one shot.

POP!

The bullet traveled straight ahead, piercing the man's skull, but Ghost felt something wasn't right.

'That was only a hitmarker!' he cried out as he fired another shot, hitting the man's body as it fell back with a loud thunk.

'Now that's a confirmed KIA.'

Captain Price shot him a thumbs-up, "We need to keep our guard up. A couple shots aren't worth mentioning here, but him yelling "invader" is sure to draw an entire crowd onto us."

Roach echoed his thoughts, "Maybe we can find an old place to take refuge."

Lil Ghani was twiddling his fingers, "Uh... We can go to my place! It's not much, but I have an Xbox!"

"An Xbox... you have an Xbox...." Ghost asked with dried lips, his voice gruff like a man dying of thirst, but his eyes were reignited with the flames of hope upon seeing what appeared to be a pool of water.

"Yeah... I only have Rocket League installed though...."

"Only Rocket League? Did I hear that right...?"

"Yeah... sorry...."

"ONLY ROCKET LEAGUE?!"

"I'm-I'm sorry!"

"You better be sorry. You don't talk about Rocket League like its something dreadful! Rocket League is the greatest in all of life. It is life. It is death. Rocket League is my everything."

It was at this point in time that the rest of Ghost's squad knew... Ghost was becoming Master Kenchiro. At this point in time, they were practically one in the same. Their sanity was all but gone.

Captain Price looked at Lil Ghani, "Lead the way, boy."

Lil Ghani nodded quickly, leading down the dark city streets.

While it was rather dark out, the city streets were lit by a combination of torches and modern lamps, an odd combination of light sources.

And to Ghost's surprise, the streets were nearly vacant of people. Any time they actually managed to come across another human, the person would run for their dear life, perhaps frightened by their squad.

Lil Ghani felt a burst of happiness, feeling like he was a VIP as his own royal guard formed from macho men followed behind him.

'Try and mess with me. Anyone! Come and try something, see what happens!'

"Boy, are we almost there?" Captain Price asked.

"Uh-Yeah! Just up ahead!" Lil Ghani stumbled over his words, shaking the conceited thoughts from his head.

And up ahead was a rundown building which should be condemned. It was simply... uninhabitable! It definitely had several alleged code violations! Even the door was hanging off the hinges and the glass windows were shattered!

But just when they thought Lil Ghani was going to stop at this rundown house that was on the verge of falling apart... he walked past it, leading them just slightly beyond—to a mansion.

It was gorgeous, the absolute cleanest as several servants and caretakers were out taking care of the placing and trimming the hedges. A large gate marked the front lawn, and there were even gargoyle-like statues along the front roof of it. Such decor was incredible.

'A mansion....'

Ghost rubbed his eyes; he had to be day dreaming right now.

There was no way Lil Ghani lived in this mansion! He was just a nameless boy until a few minutes ago!

"This is my house." Lil Ghani said, hanging his head low in shame.

The group were stunned.

Hanging his head low in shame? He's sandbagging himself! How could someone be ashamed of such a home?!

Something was wrong, no, everything about this was wrong.

"This-this is your house?" they exploded into wonderment.

"I thought him understanding and speaking English was unbelievable... but what the hell is this?! Someone! Pinch me!" Wolverine almost burst into tears.

Seeing everyone else in shock, he pinched his own arm. With how strong his flesh was, he could barely feel it, even when utilizing all of his strength as a Super Soldier Formulated freak.

Even so, it was enough to know that... this was reality... and this was Lil Ghani's actual home—it was a mansion.

The mansion in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan—absolutely beautiful.