Chapter 7 | The wrecked mini-Store

"Well, how did it go for registering for the factions?" Steven asked Jel. "Did you name it something cool?"

"Yeah, I named it lakeside retreat." Jel smiled. "I think it's a cool name."

"Yeah, it is a badass name for a faction that's going to take down Hacks!" Steven said raising his fist to the air in excitement.

Jel remembered that there wasn't any information on Steven's brother. It was strange that there were no records of him in the district. He thought by now that his older brother would try to find Steven, but it seems like it's up to Steven to go look for him. "Say, Steven, I wasn't able to find any records of your brother while I was there, it's almost like he hasn't been to this district," Jel said worriedly.

Steven lifted his gaze at the blue sky and smiled shifting his gaze to Jel.

"I'm sure my big bro can take care of himself; he is awesome after all."

Steven didn't feel the worry to care about Chris anymore. Now that he had Jel on his side, he felt more self-assured with himself.

Jel and Steven continued walking in the direction they came from. Finally, they could see a clearing in the trees and could hear the sound of streaming water.

"Hey isn't the river ahead of us where the place that lonely shop was?" Steven asked.

The two boys finally came out of the forest into the side of the river. But on the other side, was a broken-down Shak covered in Debris and ashes. In the middle of the trash, laid Huddy knocked out with her clothing tattered and scratched like she was attacked.

The boys hurried over the river and ran towards Huddy to check if she were still alive. Jel dropped down on his knees checking Huddy if she were still alive.

"Thank god she's just asleep." Jel sighed closing his eyes in relief.

Steven bent down and pulled her cheeks attempting to wake her up.

"Hey Huddy, wake up," Steven said in an annoyed tone. "Or else I'm going to toss your body in the river."

Huddy grunted and mumbled slowly opening her eyes. "What was that?" she muttered rising from the ground.

"We found you here sleeping in the middle of all this wreck, what the heck happened here?" Steven asked

"Oh, yeah. Some members of Hacks were here with a lad who seemed to be their leader." Huddy said brushing the debris off of her. "They pillaged all of my supplies and destroyed my store, proceeding to knock me out before they left. Of course, I tried to fight back but it was useless."

"No way, so members of hacks were here after we left? man, if only we stayed a little longer to fight them off." Steven said with disappointment

"We're sorry for leaving early Huddy, if we stayed a little bit more, we could've fought them off and possibly saved your shop," Jel said with a regretful tone.

"Nah it's alright pumpkin, I saved enough money to invest into an actual bigger store!" Huddy said lifting the mood.

"Wow, that's great!" Jel said with excitement.

"Do you know what they looked like?" Steven asked Huddy.

"Unfortunately, I can't remember, they must've hit me hard enough to make my memory fuzzy," Huddy said scratching her head. "Although I can remember the leader was wearing white goggles and was wearing a blue color pallet.

"That's great, we can use that to our advantage to track them down and gain more information," Steven said.

"Huddy tag along with us, are you not in a faction yet?"

"No, I'm not," Huddy said. "I'll join your faction as long as I'm not involved in any stupid fighting."

"Uh, well I can't promise you'll be any safe but okay." Steven awkwardly laughed. "So anyway, let's head to Rey's house and make a plan."

"Right," Jel said beginning to walk again through the forest with Huddy and Steven trailing behind. Finally, they arrived at Rey's house by sundown. Steven knocked on the door and notified Rey it was him. "Yo, Rey, it's Steven."

Footsteps slowly got louder from the other side of the door. Finally, the door creaked open, and Rey peaked through. "Ah, Steven it's you again!" Rey said noticing Huddy behind them. "I see you brought a new friend along. Well, come on in." Rey said opening the door wider letting the trio inside.

Steven and Jel took a seat on the couch and Huddy stood silently in the background with her arms crossed.

"So, what brings you here?" Rey asked. "Did you finally make a faction?"

"Yeah, we did!" Jel said. "We came back from the Hub and found our friend's Shop destroyed. She says Hacks did it." Steven added.

"So that's why you brought that new friend of yours over here," Rey said. "You guys made a faction to fight against Hacks, and now you need a way of expressing a declaration of war."

"I thought it was simple as just kicking their ass?" Steven said.

"Well, it would be simple as that but showing some type of declaration of war is a way of hitting first," Rey said. "And if the hit is hard enough then you'll surely have an advantage."

"So, what exactly should we do?" Jel asked. "I mean we barely have information about Hacks or their whereabouts."

"It's simple as kidnapping one of their members, better yet, turning someone in higher power against them," Rey suggested. "It needs to be something that will immediately ring a bell."

"I see. It will be our signature Suprise attack!" Jel exclaimed punching his fist up in the air.

Rey faced Steven with serious eyes. "Steven, why exactly are you doing this?"

Steven paused for a second, and then scratched his head. "Well, I guess it's because hate people like them." Steven smiled. "My duty as a swordsman is to eliminate not only demons but beat up bad guys without any question."

Rey stood up in shock from what he just heard. His eyes lit up instantly in a sort of amazement. "Y-You're one of those heroes!?" Rey said in shock.

"Heroes?" Steven questioned.

"My mother used to tell me about swordsmen that saved her village from an attack from demons. Their swords and weapons weren't normal like they were somewhat enchanted." Rey explained. "Is that sword you have sheathed on your belt one of those enchanted swords?"

"That's right," Steven answered.

"I knew there was something about you that was going to change this District." Rey smiled before sitting down. "I trust in you that you will defeat Hacks, no, I KNOW you will defeat them." He added with more faith than before.

"Hehe, thanks." Steven laughed.

Rey had extreme confidence in Steven. The reason he was born was that swordsmen like Steven saved her from the terror of demons. He could only appreciate and thank Steven though he wasn't a part of the swordsmen that saved his mother that night. He could only ever envy those chosen heroes with those powers to save lives like knights in shining armor.

"The terror of Hacks will soon come to an end. That faction will not know what's coming to them." Rey thought to himself.

Meanwhile, hidden in the prime district a man sat in a room.

"Give me the description of the swordsmen." The young man said sitting ominously on a fancy chair as the red samurai wearing a dragon mask walked in kneeling on his knees.

"He seemed to be a teenage swordsman. I had no choice but to retreat since he was too fast for me." The samurai stated.

"Tomorrow scout the area and search for that swordsman. I will not allow any insects that could become a threat to Hacks in this district. I trust that you will finish the job, my second in command." The young man commanded.

"I promise that I will not disappoint your boss." The samurai promised.

"This district is mine, and only mine." The young man stated. "And don't you forget that."