Orphans Will

Ketsuo Takeshi and Yoshiro Uchida were just two teenage orphans who had nothing and were hated by all. Until their fishing raft leaves them shipwrecked on an island that holds a mysterious portal that sends them to the future. Join them as they face conflicts of the future, discover why they are there, and uncover secrets about themselves that even they didn't even know.

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Orphans Will: End Days Arc (SPOILER READ AT OWN RISK!

Ketsuo and Yoshiro were just two teenage orphans living on one of Japan's small fishing Islands. In a time where orphans were looked down upon and abused, they never found acceptance, and were always hated. They were taken in by a cruel old woman, and they had to work 24/7. Ketsuo enjoyed using spears, and small wooden knives, while Yoshiro enjoyed the use of his hands, and his mind.One day however, while fishing, they were hit by a storm, and ended up shipwrecked on a mysterious island. There was a portal on the island. When the boys inspected it, the portal sensed the power from the two boys, and allowed them entry. Passing through the wasteland between times, they saw versions of the future. Ketsuo saw himself as a hunter, much older in age, and Yoshiro saw himself with a wife and kids. They passed the wasteland and went through the portal. The portal sent them to 2014 New York City, and they were instantly arrested. Brigadier General Lance Ackermann released the officers off of them, and saw potential hidden within Ketsuo and Yoshiro. He took them in as his own after explaining to them that they came in World War III, and will be trained in an elite section of super soldiers. Ever since Ketsuo entered the new world, he was tormented by incomprehensible nightmares of war and destruction. Most of the nightmares ended where he was looking at himself, with eyes pitch black, and pupils as blue as cold electricity, so he first felt afraid to join the military, but realizing there was no other choice, Ketsuo and Yoshiro signed up. He trains them in hand to hand combat and resonance, which is a source of energy. From their personalities, Ackermann saw that Ketsuo had static resonance: The ability to manipulate electricity, while Yoshiro had air resonance: The ability to manipulate air currents and create air blasts. After training them for a good amount of time, he calls the Vice Admiral, Ryuu, to take them to Lance's old Master: Sensei Fujimoto. Fujimoto was an accomplished resonator, and specialized as a resonance blacksmith, as well as being a master spearman, and ice resonator. Fujimoto helped Yoshiro craft armor tailored to perfectly fit his body, and release strong air blasts from his chest, and enhance agility. Ketsuo, who was still tied and held back by the past, wanted to become a spearman, but after having all of his spears break due to the fact that he couldn't pump resonance into them, had to let go and leave the past and create a broadsword with a mysterious resonance spilling into the creation of the sword, and out of Ketsuo. Ketsuo's eyes turned black, and his brown pupils sparked blue. After seeing this, Fujimoto made Ketsuo meditate, where he spiritually traveled within the sword, and met with a figure who looked similar to him, but with a hood on. The hooded figure explains that Ketsuo still has a lot to learn, and that the power deep within him, and the sword will be quelled until he experiences the love and loss. The hooded figure mentions something called the Orphans Will, but sends Ketsuo back to his body before he can ask any more questions. Ketsuo is somewhat at peace for the moment, and him, Yoshiro, and Ryuu, leave Fujimoto for the Meteor Tower, which is an underground facility that holds the Resonator team 2 base, and the portals. There he meets Dante, Brian, and Sasha. Brian is a nice man, who was once a priest before he went into the military, and Yoshiro instantly feels a connection towards Sasha, but Dante is shown to be arrogant, hostile, and cold towards the other members, including Ryuu, Ketsuo, and Yoshiro. After getting in an argument in the training room, they fight, but Brian, Rin (Ryuu's prodigy), and Ryuu intervene to tell them that Lance's resonance team had failed to conquer China, and they were going to Tokyo to discuss. It is at that moment that Ketsuo learns that Ryuu has a type of observation resonance where he can predict the moves of opponents just before doing them, and can sometimes translate emotion into words. He then talks about Rin, who is a prodigy about the same age of Ketsuo, Yoshiro, and Sasha. Rin can take over two types of resonance. A healing one, and an intelligence one. She makes up the plans, and her plans never fail. Under any circumstances. Upon arrival in Tokyo, Lance becomes enraged at the sight of Dante, but is cooled when Ryuu has it under control. They then get their next mission. Attack Russia head on. Get to their base, and destroy their military base. After one of Lance's squadmates mentions what happened to Mexico, the room goes silent. On a plane, Dante's backstory is given, or at least part of it. He explains to Ketsuo his life before the portals, but does not mention the fact that he killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers, as well as one of Lances's squadmates.

So that's the summary of the already written part, this is what has yet to come. Shit about to get real

When they arrive, Lance, Rin, and Ryuu go to create a plan. During this time, Sasha and Yoshiro get close. She explains how she never had a family, and when she went to a forest to gather berries, she saw the portal. She said ever since then, she was ordered around as the military's dog, an elite archer. They bond over their similarities. The plan is to just hit straight on. Ketsuo, who has the hots for Rin, says that if her plan doesn't work, if they get out alive, she has to agree taking her out on a date. She says that all her plans work, so she accepts the bet. They attack, but realize that they are hopelessly outnumbered when they get through the fortress. Ketsuo stays back and creates a diversion for the others to escape. As he is being carried away, He notices a man coming out of one of the portals, in the gear of a knight. When he steps out, the portal itself started to disintegrate. The leader of the military mutters that that was their last portal. Ketsuo is then tortured for information on the United Alliance until he eventually cracks. He mutters the password to the Meteor Tower, crying, and broken. At the moment when he was all alone, his pupils sparked blue, and his hearing intensified. He heard of a plan to attack the meteor tower. Meanwhile back at the United Alliance secret base, everyone is torn up emotionally that Ketsuo was taken. Even Dante gives his respect towards Ketsuo. Lance, who was not present during the attack, discusses with Yoshiro, a spy mission. Lance, Yoshiro, and the rest of the teams were going to sneak into the base and get Ketsuo out, while Brian used his main terrain attack God's Wrath to create a distraction on another side of the fortress. The plan ends in a success, except Ketsuo was tortured so much, he was broken beyond the point of being able to speak. They leave Russia and go back to the Meteor Tower. Rin, depressed that it was her plan that got him into this situation asks Ryuu for advice. He says that the only one who can be able to heal his mind is her. She starts to spend more time with Ketsuo, and she starts to fall for him. When she mentions losing the bet, everything Ketsuo learned comes to fruition. He explains to Ryuu and Lance of the attack, but they couldn't call reinforcements because there wasn't enough time. Russian Resonance Team attacks the Meteor Tower with the last of their resonance troops, but fail in an amazing defense by the United Alliance resonance teams. Ketsuo paralyzes someone before they reach the portal, and goes to aid Lance above ground, but finds Lance impaled by the sword of the Russian General. Ketsuo taps into his hidden potential in a fit of rage, and battles the General. Ketsuo, who was against killing the entire time up until this point, kills his first person. The general in his last breaths says that the world will not remember this war in time, but Ketsuo will. Lance is laying on the ground, bleeding to death in front of his friends. Ketsuo is crying, but Yoshiro says to stop. Yoshiro says that because Ketsuo is a leader, and because it would go against what Lance would want, Ketsuo mustn't cry. At the funeral, Ketsuo leaves flowers at Lance's  tombstone, goes into his car, and has a mental breakdown: Screaming, having tears flow out of his eyes, and hitting the steering wheel multiple times.

To be Continued...

That's the plot of the First Arc! There are about two-three other arcs to come out!

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Orphans Will Chapter 17 Rough Draft

The flight there was about 6 hours. Ketsuo wanted to get a little closer to Moscow, but Rin said it was for precaution that they hold their base far enough. Everyone was sleeping on the plane except for Ketsuo and Dante. Dante was reading a novel while Ketsuo was watching a movie. 

Hmm maybe I should go and talk to Dante, I know nothing about him, and I feel like everyone is keeping some secret, thought Ketsuo. Ketsuo walked over to Dante's aisle,

"Is this seat taken?" Ketsuo asked, acting as friendly as he could to someone he was about to fight the previous day. 

Dante rested the book on his lap and looked up at Ketsuo, "What do you want worm? I have nothing to say to you."

Ketsuo partially ignored Dante and sat next to him, "Look, whether you like it or not, we are going to have to work together to end this war. The end days will come. You won't have to talk to me after we're done, but I want us to get along for the time being."

Dante sighed, "So you want to get to know me then?"

Ketsuo nodded with a warm smile.

"I can't tell you all of my story though. You have yet to earn my complete trust."

Ketsuo's smile dropped to a flat frown, "That's good enough I guess."

Dante chuckled, and fiddled his fingers through the book.

"I born into a noble family, and was raised as a knight. I earned the title of an advanced swordsman at a young age, and I..." Dante closed his eyes, "I set out to explore."

Dante took a deep breath and continued,"I set out on an expedition through Europe, and ended up in Sicily, near what the people in this age call now Mount Etna. Etna is a volcano, but I didn't know that at the time," Dante stared at Ketsuo, and Ketsuo swore to himself he saw a fire within Dante's eyes, "The volcano erupted. If there wasn't the portal, I wouldn't be alive right now."

Ketsuo pieced it together, "You have a fiery temper, and you're portal was at a volcano. No wonder you're a flame resonator."

Dante nodded.

"You're an advanced swordsman... If you're so advanced, then why am I you're leader?" Ketsuo asked.

Dante had a flashback. He was with Resonance team one, hidden with them in two thousand foot soldiers. Their boats landed on the Mexican beaches. Everyone was sitting in their seats, ready for business, to fight the Mexicans. The footsoldiers were ready to die, knowing that this would be like a Normandy mission. The base was right outside the safe doors of the boat. Everyone felt prepared, and content in the face of death. Everyone except for Dante, who was holding his head and muttering a word. Dante remembered that day, he didn't sleep for weeks, and it showed on his face. A never ending amount of tears were pouring out of his eyes. 

"Oi, Dante," Aquillo said when the boat stopped, "For them it's Normandy II, but for us, its operation downfall."

Dante wasn't focusing on Operation downfall, which was the code name for their mission, which was to topple the Mexican military in this one battle. The drug war had beaten Mexico to a pulp, and their reason to get into this war was to try to bring the economy, and the pride of its people back to form. 

Lance showed up, his terrain gauntlets were ready, and they were as sharp as knives, "Dante, why are you by the way? Resonance team Two is supposed to arrive later."

Dante put his head in his hands and lied, "I.. I was assigned to this team for this mission. Vokril... He can handle the team for this mission."

The doors opened. Soldiers ran out, guns blazing. The machine guns and artillery were raining down on the United alliance soldiers. 

Lance punched the sand, and the sand around him turned into solid earth. The machine gunners in their bunkers started to fire at Lance, but the bullets, which were not created out of raw energy like resonance, disintegrated when they got within his radius. Rhalia pushed her glasses up, and pointed her titanium staff at one of the bunkers. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled, and the end of the staff unleashed an incredibly lethal gust of wind that destroyed the concrete of the bunker, as well was people inside. However, more and more foot soldiers were dying by the minute.

James, who was the molecular resonator for resonance team one at the time was covering for Dante while he was having his emotional breakdown, "Dante, come on, we need your help, more people are going to die unless we do something about it!"

The word "die" triggered it. The rage that Dante was feeling at the time, the grief, the regret, the jealousy, everything unleashed.

"VOKRIL!" Dante screamed as tears evaporated from his cheeks from the massive amount of heat generating from his body. The resonance became present like a very thick, powerful aura around him, turning the sand around him into glass instantly. Electricity spiraled around his body, the waves crashed on the beaches even more angrily then before, and flooded the beach, and the wind around him ripped through parts of his clothes. Dante pointed his finger at one of the bunkers and with a a scream, a molecular beam shot through his fingertip and disintegrated the entire bunker. Foot soldiers around him had their skin bubbling from the intense heat.

"WHAT?! He's using more than one type of resonance?" Aquillo shouted over the loud wind. 

"Baby, come over here! Stay away from him!" Celestia cried at James. 

Lance started to form a sphere around him, Rhalia, Aquillo, Celestia, and Liana, "James! Come on! Before I close it!"

James started to walk towards the sphere, but the wind was strong, and the heat was thick. James was strong, but the resonance was breaking his body apart. The heat was turning his skin red from burns.

"Hurry up James! I'll Help!" She charged a strong ball of water in her hand and released it at James, "Pulse Bomb!" 

The water exploded and coated James with water, allowing him to make it closer. But he was too late.

The resonance that was charged in Dante's body exploded, and a shockwave wasted the beach. Lance had no choice but to close it, leaving James outside. The terrain was good protection, but not good enough. The rock burned, and the terrain turned into what it originally was:sand. 

An hour passed, and Dante woke up with the hot sand kissing his cheek. His body was charred from the intensity. "Vokril.... I'm sorry."

Dante looked to the right, and his eyes widened, James was only a few feet away from him, but his body was nothing but bone. The skin and muscle was singed clean off. He saw Celestia crying over her dead boyfriend, Liana was in fetal position crying because she couldn't help him in time, while Aquillo was staring over his friend, with tears in his eyes.

"You fucking monster! What the fuck was that? You killed...." Aquillo choked on tears, grabbed his trident, "You killed my best friend! I'm going to fucking kill you!" He was about to throw it at Dante, but Lance caught his arm. 

"He will pay for what he did Aquillo, but you killing him will not make you any better than he is," Lance said as he focused the sand around Dante to become a large terrain pyramid that pinned him to the ground, Lance was crying as well, "If justice isn't served, I'll be the one to kill him!"

Tears cooled Dante's hot face, and he looked up to the sky to ask god why is this happening to him, but what he actually saw made him scream in absolute terror. There were no more foot soldiers, only bodies, and as for the bunkers, and the rest of the military base, there was nothing left. 

Dante snapped out of his daze, and he looked at the young, curious Ketsuo, "You are going to have to earn your stripes before i can tell you why." 

"Boy, what he plans on telling you is only the tip of the iceberg," Ryuu murmured.

Both Ketsuo and Dante snapped their heads toward Ryuu, as he had his arms crossed, and his eyes closed while sitting in his seat. 

Bastard thought Dante, I forgot about his resonance ability, he must have sensed my distress.

"Well, at least I now have something else to work for, I really want to hear the full story." Ketsuo grinned.

Dante looked pale, "And... I guess I'll be waiting then,"

Ding Dong! We will be arriving at the base in roughly 15 minutes. We hope you have had a fun and carefree flight here with us.

To be Continued...

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Orphans Will Chapter 16 Rough Draft

The ride to Tokyo in the helicopter was perhaps the most awkward voyage any of these soldiers had ever had. Ryuu was chatting up a storm, Ketsuo, Yoshiro, and Dante were locked in a death stare, Sasha and Rin were awkwardly watching them staring at each other, and Brian was snoring. 

By the time the chopper landed, everyone was about to strangle one another. 

"Ryuu-kun, you said that Lance needed reinforcements, what happened?" Dante asked.

"Did you not hear the debriefing that I gave you guys on the way here?" Ryuu got red with anger, "Russia intervened again, and they have a private on their team."

"A Private? So a private is sent to the team of the Brigadier General, and I'm stuck with the loser squad?" Dante started getting angry too.

"Silence you. Dante, you deserve to be on the rookie squad for what you've done, so shut it." Ryuu interrupted. 

They went inside the communications tower that they landed just outside of. When they walked in, Lance was sitting in the main lobby, reading a magazine while sipping a juice box. He noticed that they walked in and set the magazine and the juice box aside. 

"Boys, it's been a while!" Lance hugged Ketsuo and Yoshiro, "It's so great to see you again!" Yoshiro said. 

Lance looked to Ryuu and gave a salute, then a handshake, "Sir."

"Your boys have been through a hell of a lot," Ryuu smiled, "And I predict your news will make it even more interesting."

Lance nodded in agreement at Ryuu. He turned to the rest of the team, and his eyes were sizing Dante up and down, "Where have I seen you before..."

Lance's eyes widened, "No... You... Why are you still here? Why you are with my boys? Sir! I request some information!"

Dante was staring at Lance, "Lance Ackermann. So we meet again, how was your team after that unfortunate death. How is that new private I heard you had to recruit."

Ryuu slapped Dante in the back of the head and told him to shut up, "Lance, we need information. Dante is my responsibility. Don't worry about him."

Lance took one last glance at Dante, and nodded at Ryuu. He led them through the hall, "We used our new recruit to help clear the Beijing military base. No civilians were harmed. Our new recruit got about a quarter of the way through before he tired out, idiot. His resonance abilities are quite powerful, but he hardly has any potential. His limit is clear. Russia's forces came in very quick,and we had to retreat."

"What's the boy's name?" Ryuu asked.

"Private Gallant Octavius Alexander Turner. We call him Private Goat."

Lance stopped walking when they reached the end of the hallway. He opened the door, to a large office with five people in there. There was a teenage boy on the floor crying, with two girls laughing hysterically at him. The two girls were quite tall. There was another male and female talking to one another away from all the commotion, they were the first to notice Lance, and shouted, "UP!" to get everyone to stand and salute. Everyone did, except the boy on the floor. 

"Idiot! Stand and salute!" The older male shouted, "It's bad enough you failed the mission for all of us, the least you can do is stand and salute!"

"Honestly, I believe all the blame should be pinned on all of us. After all, i wasn't the idiot that convinced Lance to retreat. I still think we could have taken all of them on."

"YOU HARDLY FOUGHT! YOU PASSED OUT IDIOT!" Screamed the older male with a red face.

"Fine... The rest of you could have taken all of them at once," Said the boy on the floor.

Lance walked in and grabbed the boy by the neck and flung him to his feet. Lance was furious with the kid, "GOAT! FIRST YOU MESS UP AND NOW YOU ARE GOOFING OFF?"

Private Goat cowered at the sight of the brigadier general. Lance was showing all of his anger, "I NEVER FAILED A MISSION! AND I FAIL WHEN YOU COME!" 

Goat was crying in fear, "Sir I am sorry! I didn't mean to! Please keep me i swear I'll do better!"

Lance calmed down, "To be fair, we should have been more prepared. You are still not off the hook, but you are not the full problem," He turned to all of his subordinates, "Ketsuo, Yoshiro, this is United Alliance Resonance Team One. The idiot on the floor is Private Goat."

"Yo, whats up?" Goat waved.

"The guy yelling at him is Aquillo," Lance pointed at the man with silver hair. He looked broad, and strong, quite the opposite when compared to Goat, who was small, and thin. He looked like the type of guy to give orders rather than take them, while Goat just looked like a class prankster.

"Oi, Oi," Aquillo winked.

Lance closed his eyes and sighed, "These pain in the asses are Celestia and Liana."

"Idiot we're not pain in the asses!" Both girls hissed.  Ketsuo noticed that Celestia was a blond haired girl, very similar to Rin, except Rin was more quiet. Ketsuo had tried to talk to Rin before, but before he could talk with her, he would choke, thinking of the time when she punched him in the face to prevent him from attacking. Liana looked in every bit, different than Celestia. While both girls had pretty strong builds, Liana was slightly darker in skin and had a dark blue hue in her hair. 

Both girls were hissing at Lance until he gave them a disgusting death stare that had both of them shut up, "My right hand man is Rhalia," Lance pointed at the woman. She looked around the same age as Lance, and had short, dirty blonde hair. She wore glasses, and a woman's suit. She looked as much of a professional as Aquillo and Lance. 

Rhalia pushed her glasses more up on her face, "Right hand man? I'm a woman sir."

Lance ignored Rhalia, "We will not attack China this time. We will send average front-line foot-soldiers to China. It will be great if they can beat the Chinese foot soldiers and take Beijing, but we will be using them as a cover. Rin, continue?"

Ketsuo looked over to Rin, This is her plan? Incredible. 

"The soldiers will be used as cover as we bombard Moscow. We have a base with a mach 2 fighter jet waiting for us. We used Resonance Team 1 as a diversion for us to set up the base. Wash Rinse Repeat, except we will win for this one." Rin said confidently.

Ryuu was leaning on the wall thinking, "Rin, you should go with them. Lead them into the battle, I have confidence that you can handhold them to doing the dirty work. 

"Of course sir." Rin flipped her hair back. 

Brian spoke for the first time since they walked into the building, "Question. Resonance Teams 1 and 2 are going to be entering together correct? I would like some background information on the Russian Resonance Teams if you have any?"

Sasha interrupted, "They don't really have teams. Mostly its just one big section. They have two generals that can go toe to toe with us, although I can't remember their names. All of their other capable fighters were decimated in... Mexico."

A silence filled the room. Brian, Dante, Lance, and Ryuu looked down at the floor and swallowed. Rhalia had an angry look in her eyes, and Celestia was whimpering in sadness. 

"Anyway, rumor has it that they have been getting even more powerful fighters than the ones in Mexico from their portals." Sasha finished.

"Then this is our small window of opportunity," Ryuu with optimism, "I'll inform the United Alliance of our potential game changer, everyone move out!"

To be continued...

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Orphans Will Chapter 15 Rough Draft

Ketsuo stood at the doorway speechless after Dante walked past him. Under normal circumstances, Ketsuo doesn't fear anyone, but this is the first feeling of uneasiness he has had in a while. Something felt off about Dante. Ketsuo turned to Ryuu, who was gritting his teeth,

"That idiot doesn't even deserve to live," Ryuu growled, "He's a disgrace, and a threat."

"Sir, we all know that. But regardless of what he's done, we need him," Brian turned to Ketsuo and Yoshiro, "And we need them as well." 

Yoshiro had his hands clenched to a fist every since Dante even started talking, "If he acts up, Ketsuo and I will show him who's boss." 

"As of right now, not a good idea," Ryuu objected, "Technically, Dante is stronger than everyone in this room with the exception of me. Like i said, he is only under your leadership because he was demoted." 

"Why was he demoted by the way," Sasha asked, "You keep on forgetting that I only showed up a few months ago."

The Vice Admiral's face turned dark, "That information, is classified. I am not allowed to speak of it, but he can tell you if he is comfortable enough with you."

There was a deep silence in the room. Sasha pouted at Ryuu, Ketsuo swallowed, thinking about all of the possibly bad things Dante could have done to get himself demoted, and Yoshiro was questioning just how powerful Dante really was. Brian, crossed his arms, and looked down, because he knew everything.

Ketsuo walked out of the office and went to the ping pong table with Brian, who had asked for a match to change the subject of the conversation. 

"So, what's your story than?" Ketsuo asked Brian.

"I was a pastor," Brian explained while he was searching for a ball, "I was on my way to the United States when pirates boarded our ship. There was a storm however, and I was left shipwrecked."

They started playing, Ketsuo served the ball, but it was a slow, sloppy serve, and Brian took advantage of it and spiked the ball, "I am a terrain resonator, like the Brigadier General."

Ketsuo's eyes widened, "Really?! Do you use gauntlets as well?" 

Brian shook his head, "No I do not," Brian picked up his wooden staff, which was resting on the wall, and displayed it to Ketsuo, "This staff, is my weapon. It is the showcase of my strength, and my pride as a man of god."

Brian served the ping pong ball with incredible velocity, and it caught Brian by surprise when Ketsuo returned the ball with just as much power.

"If you are a man of god, than why are you participating in this war?" Ketsuo asked.

"I desperately want there to be peace in the world. An everlasting peace. A peace where anyone can believe what they want to believe, a peace where everyone has strength, but no one fights. A peace that creates a smart world. That is my motive. In order for that to happen in the future, I must do something in the present. Ending this war, and rising through the ranks of the military is essential for me."

Ketsuo served the ball, much better this time, at Brian. Brian spiked the ball as hard as he could, but Ketsuo returned it with a slightly slower speed, both of them were volleying back and forth. Brian hit a curve ball that was bounced onto the table and and curved so that it was going to bounce off the side. Ketsuo panicked and managed to hit it, but it hit the white line and bounced off, forcing a draw.

"Phew, not bad. I like you, Brian." Ketsuo grinned while wiping his face from the intense game.

"Agreed," Brian laughed.

"I wonder what the training room looks like," Ketsuo pondered. He looked over to Yoshiro, who was sitting at the table drinking some water, "Yoshiro come on we're gonna check out the training room!"

Yoshiro drank the rest of his glass and walked over to Ketsuo, "Alright, let's go."

"Where's Sasha?" Brian asked.

"The bitch that bumped into me is laying on the couch, watching tv." Yoshiro grumbled.

Ketsuo smacked the shit out of Yoshiro, "Idiot! She is a member of our team, you shouldn't call her a bitch!"

"I'm sorry but she was rude!" Yoshiro wailed out, "Let's just go to the training room. She can catch up!"

Brian sighed, "I agree, Ketsuo let's just go. Sasha's a stubborn girl, she is just as pissed as Yoshiro right now. Wait for her to cool down."

Ketsuo gave a dirty look at Yoshiro, but closed his eyes and nodded to Brian. Ketsuo turned around and opened the door to the training room.

What they saw was a large white room, approximately the size of three football fields left open for training. Dante was in the training room, unleashing blast after blast of flame at target dummies set up in the room. He turned around, and frowned at the three of them.

"Worms like you don't belong in here when I'm around. Leave," Dante turned around to talk down on them. He had a real smug, arrogant look in his eye.

Yoshiro gritted his teeth, "Hey bastard, why don't you leave?! Who said you have sole possession over this room?"

Dante glared at Yoshiro, "I don't waste my time on weaklings such as yourself. You have no control over me," Dante turned back and continued to train.

Ketsuo grabbed the hilt of his sword, and Yoshiro took off his overcoat, showing his tight armor, "Come on Yoshiro, we won't take shit from this guy!"

A ball of focused wind formed in Yoshiro's hand as he brought his hand back, and threw the ball like is a baseball pitch. The ball traveled and hit Dante in the back, ripping his ruby red jacket. 

Dante turned around and his eyes bore into them like a flame that would never be put out. Dante pointed his sword at them, and orange-red sparks were emitting from the black blade, "Lesson number one: I train alone," Dante said in a very low voice. Dante slashed his sword at Ketsuo and Yoshiro, and a flame blast from the slash targeted them. Ketsuo barely dodged it, while a blast of air from Yoshiro's chest managed to clear a small amount of the fire that was going to attack Yoshiro. 

"God's Wrath." Brian muttered as he tapped his staff onto the ground. The ground rumbled and 20 meter tall walls went up in three to divide Yoshiro, Ketsuo, and Dante. Yoshiro, who was standing in front of Brian was dumbfounded. He screamed and let loose an incredibly large amount of wind resonance at the wall, but as soon as the resonance left his hands another wall formed in front of Yoshiro and the wind repelled and blew him back to where Brian was. Brian shook his head while chuckling. 

Ketsuo, who was divided just like the other three, took his sword out, and charged it up with enough resonance to take out the wall. Before he could think of attacking it, he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He turned around and saw a really pretty girl, with brown hair, and hazel eyes, "Who are you? You're not Sasha."

The girl grinned and punched him in the face.

Dante was frowning at the wall, "So he used God's Wrath huh? I'm surprised he could use it for something like this. Very well," Dante sheathed his sword, and pointed his finger at the wall, "This isn't much of a problem to take out." A blast of fire exploded out of his fingertip, and all of the walls were incinerated. "Now, to take care of my 'leaders'," He looked around to see where he could point his fingers, and was incredibly shocked to find the girl who was with Ketsuo, "Rin? What are you doing here? When did you get here?" Dante pointed his finger away from Ketsuo, because he wasn't going to fire on Rin, and let go a beam of fire fired at Yoshiro.

Sasha jumped in, with a bow and arrow, and fired an Ice arrow with enough resonance to quell the fire, "Asshole as he may be, there will be no casualties here, Dante. Calm down," Sasha said. 

Dante looked around, and grunted as he put his hands in his pockets, "Fine. I'll calm down for the time being."

Ryuu opened the door, "Hey, everyone. Aww you guys are having a party and no one invited me?" A lone tear went down Ryuu's manly face. 

FAR FROM IT, thought Ketsuo,Yoshiro, Dante, and Brian. 

"Well anyway, now that you guys are sort of acquainted, I have your first assignment as a team," Ryuu said.

"What's the assignment?" Ketsuo asked.

"Lance and his team have returned to the country. Their mission was a failure, they said something came up in China, and that they need reinforcements," Ryuu stated, "You guys are the reinforcements."

To be continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 14 Rough Draft

"Here we are. The United Alliance Resonance Team's secret base, the Meteor Tower." Vice Admiral Ryuu Asahiro woke both of the boys up, "Damn, one thing both of you boys like doing is sleeping."

Ketsuo awoke peacefully for the first time in months, 

"Ugh... Where are we?" 

"Just outside of Mount Fuji," Ryuu said. The car was parked in an open plain, nothing that looked like a base or a tower was spotted.

"Uh Ryuu-San?" Yoshiro asked looking around, "Are you sure this is the right place? Meteors are high in the sky when you see them pass, so shouldn't we see a high ass tower?"

"That's where you are wrong boy," Ryuu stepped out of the car, and took out his cutlass. He swiped at the dirt the Japanese word for Destiny. 

"Boys, its been our destiny to change the world. It is our destiny to bring to peace and end this war, and all other wars," as Ryuu finished writing, an elevator rose from the ground and opened, "Here is the tower."

Ketsuo and Yoshiro followed Ryuu into the elevator, and they went down thousands of feet.

"So its an underground tunnel! Wow!" Yoshiro said in awe as he was looking out the window of the elevator. They saw two enormous portals, that stood around 4 thousand feet tall.

"The Meteor Tower holds portals? Doesn't that make this place the largest target?" Ketsuo asked.

"We can't keep the portals outside. If we do, anyone can mess with the past. We need to prevent them from destroying our only sources at retrieving advanced soldiers. We are very limited in resources, that is why they are underground. It is completely hidden, and the Russians will never find the password." Ryuu said, staring at the portal, "Lance and his crew are taking care of China right now. They had recently intercepted a message from the two countries about a massive attack. Lance's task is to infiltrate and destroy the capital of China."

Yoshiro grit his teeth, "Are they going to be okay? A less than 10 man crew against the Chinese military? That sounds preposterous." 

"Preposterous as it may seem, you underestimate the power of your first mentor," Ryuu added, "Lance is a Brigadier General for a reason. The Chinese would have been easily defeated if Russia hadn't come to their aid. Resonator team 1 will succeed."

The elevator stopped at the bottom floor. The doors opened, and the three of them saw a very majestic scene. 

A recreation center with ping pong, a refrigerator, a large television, and video games. There was a door that said training room, and another that said office.

"Awesome!" Both boys said with sparkling eyes. 

Ketsuo and Yoshiro were about to sit down and start playing the video games when Ryuu grabbed both of them by the back of their shirts, "You idiots, you're not here to play just yet. You have your team waiting for you in the office." Both boys slouched in disappointment. 

Ryuu dragged them to the office door and dropped them in front of it, "You will open the door." 

Ketsuo reached slowly for the knob when Yoshiro pushed him aside and kicked the door down, he sprinted into the room but did not see one of his new members and bumped into her. They both fell on their asses, "Hey! Watch where the hell you're going, idiot!" They both said simultaneously. They both paused and stared at each other for a brief moment before Yoshiro got up and helped the girl to her feet. She was a slightly tan girl, that was short but in perfect shape. She resembled that of one of the Olympic athletes in the time prior to the war that Ketsuo and Yoshiro read about out of boredom. She was staring at Yoshiro with these pissed off, dark green eyes that slightly captivated him.

"Who are you?" Yoshiro asked.

The girl, who had a bang covering her left eye, flipped her hair back so that she can see Yoshiro with both eyes, "My name is Sasha Penberr," She walked away from Yoshiro and sat alongside the other members of the team. Ketsuo stared at the long oval table. The man that was sitting across from Sasha was a tall, muscular young man. He looked slightly older than both Ketsuo and Yoshiro, having a slight goatee patch. The man wore a large green overcoat, with a large wooden staff resting on his lap. He was grinning, "Well, it's about damn time you three showed up here," The man stood up, and gave a bow, "Brian Butler, at your service."

Ketsuo nodded to Brian, "Hello all of you. My name is Ketsuo Takeshi, and this is Yoshiro Uchida. We came from the portals a few months ago. I specialize in static resonance, and I'm a swordsman, while--"

Ketsuo was interrupted by the hooded figure sitting at the head of the table,

"So you're a resonance swordsman huh? That's nice. Just nice. To me, you are all just silly worms given power to abuse," The hooded man lifted up his hood. A beautiful, blond haired man who looked to be in his mid twenties. He was frowning at the the two boys, then he turned to Ryuu, "You put me as just another member on this squadron, Ryuu-kun? This punishment is too much don't you think?"

"Silence your tongue, Dante. You know damn well why you are not a leader. You are lucky you even have a second chance, you are lucky you didn't even get a full investigation, and you are lucky you are even alive right now!" Ryuu scolded Dante. 

Dante rolled his eyes and gave off a grunt, "I don't know if I can ever allow this guy to become my leader. We'll see." 

Dante got up from his chair, and Ketsuo noticed a sword that started to flicker on and off with a bright orange flame. Dante walked out of the room, never losing his glare at Ketsuo. Yoshiro, swallowed, as the room got an intense, stale air to it. 

Right before Dante vacated the room, he whispered into Ketsuo's ear,

"You'll prove yourself to me eventually, you little pest."

To be continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 13 Rough Draft

Ketsuo came to after that supernatural and otherworldly experience, “What the hell was that all about?" 

Ketsuo walked down the stairs with sheathed sword bouncing off his hip. He felt a new sense of confidence, knowing that he can now use his own creation. 

"Hey, boy,” Ryuu spoke. Ryuu was dressed in his military uniform, “Have you done it?”

“I didn’t learn much from, but the power should be turned down,” Ketsuo nodded to Ryuu, “Say, Ryuu-san, what do you resonate?" 

Ryuu, who was leaned up against a wall, gave a slight giggle, "I am not a resonator in the sense of fighting. I am a resonator in a sense of evaluation.”

This caught Ketsuo by surprise, “What? What do you mean? You’re Vice Admiral! Surely you must be powerful." 

"I am boy. I didn’t acquire my position through mere talk. I earned my title,” Ryuu took out one of his twin swords, “Can you answer a question for me?" 

"Yes Sir.”

“Can you explain to me what resonance really is?” Ryuu put the sword back in its sheath and waited for an answer.“ 

Ketsuo swallowed, "Resonance is the hidden energy in everyone’s body that allows the resonator to achieve certain powers. Only a select few can resonate.”

Ryuu shook his head, “That is a correct,and incorrect answer, boy,”

Ryuu pointed to his chest, “Resonance is the power is and isn’t a hidden energy. The people do not know they have resonance. Only a select few know how to activate it. A resonator does not achieve certain powers from using his or her own’s resonance. Resonance enhances abilities, and not just combat abilities at that, boy,” Ryuu then pointed to his head, “Resonance is also compatible with the brain. Lawyers and doctors for example unknowingly use the resonance that manifested in their brain to become successful. The military openly welcomes any resonator in UA territory, and only the elemental resonators are in their own team. I am one of the rare resonators. What I lack in elemental firepower, I gain in evaluation and velocity resonance. ”

“What is that Ryuu-san?” Ketsuo asked.

“Evaluation resonance,” Ryuu pointed to Ketsuo, “Is the ability to sense the resonance of other people to a maximum degree. I am a master dual swordsman as is, so while I was disappointed in that I couldn’t have any combat resonance, evaluation worked to my advantage. I am not only able to sense energy, but my evaluation of the battlefield is so acute, I can even predict moves before they are even thought of. Like a chess match. As for my velocity resonance, I've trained so much to the point where my body can react as quick as my mind. I can foresee any attack from any one fighter I focus on, and be able to parry and strike whatever I foresee in time.”

“Was your power so incredible that you were able to skip ranks?” Ketsuo asked in awe amazement.

“No boy,” Ryuu chuckled, “I met a girl, about four years ago. I think she is about your age now. Her name is Rin Kimura. She is one of the most powerful girls I’ve ever met.”

“Rin Kimura… Where have I heard that name before…”

“Rin Kimura is a dual resonator. Like me. She is a prodigy in both tactical strategy and restoration resonance. She has helped me countless times when I needed it.” Ryuu said.

Ketsuo paused for a moment, “How did you become the Vice Admiral? What was your advantage?" 

Ryuu grinned, "You’ll meet them soon enough. We are leaving for Tokyo tomorrow. You and Yoshiro are to meet the members of your squadron.”

Ketsuo was a little confused, “I don’t know anything about the military. How can Yoshiro and I lead a team?”

“You will take orders from Lance and I until we see you can act independently. Then you will be promoted.”

Fujimoto was gushing over the TV screen. He was watching cartoons while Yoshiro was eating lunch, “Oooo they’re sooo cute!” Fujimoto cooed as he saw little cartoon puppies whimpering on screen.

“Erhm, Sensei?” Ketsuo was trying not to laugh as he was watching his stone cold, wise Sensei, acting like a child.

“WHAT?!” Fujimoto boomed angrily. Ketsuo fell back on his ass in fear, “Oh, it’s you. Hello young one. I take it you have understood the sword?”

Ketsuo’s hand gripped the handle of the sword, his knuckles turning white from the amount of force he put in frustratingly, “No Sensei. If anything, this raises more questions." 

Sensei looked at Ketsuo sympathetically. Sensei saw a simple young man in front of him, but behind that facade was layers and layers of complexity that even Ketsuo himself didn’t know, "I don’t think there is anything left for me to teach you. Lance taught you well, and I only refined your techniques and skills. Experience will complete the rest of your training,” Fujimoto got up from the sofa and shook Ketsuo’s hand, “Be careful. It is a DANGEROUS world out there. Until we meet again." 

Sensei turned to Yoshiro who had just finished his meal, "Get up Yoshiro, it is time for you to leave.”

Ketsuo saw a different Yoshiro. He didn’t change much physically, but he was more quiet. He stood more confidently than before. Ketsuo didn’t need to hear Yoshiro boast about how good he was, the pride oozed out of his pores without him having to do anything. Yoshiro had his armor on at almost all times, it fit his body perfectly and was never to tight nor to loose. He walked to the closet and grabbed a large trench coat, and the proceeded to button it all the way, so that only his face and boots were showing, “I’ll return, Sensei, and when I do, my power will dwarf yours!” Yoshiro pointed at Sensei while shouting, and walked out the door. Ryuu followed him outside, starting the car and closing the door behind him, leaving Ketsuo and Fujimoto alone. 

They both chuckled, “Who knows how much the both of you will change when I next see you. I’ll have to spar with you the next time we meet. Good luck.” Fujimoto said.

Ketsuo smiled at Fujimoto, “Till next time Sensei.”

Ketsuo let go of the handle of the sword, and walked outside to meet with Ryuu and Yoshiro.

To be Continued…

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 12 Rough Draft

This battlefield was different than the others that Ketsuo remembered from his dreams. He wasn't in a forest, he wasn't retreating to an abandoned, torn down high school, he wasn't looking at the aftermath of a battle. He was over them, literally. He could see resonators bombarding each side with flashing beams of fire, electricity, and water. He could see each individual duel between every weapon wielder. Ketsuo swallowed, and looked up at the sky, which cast a familiar pink glow. He looked back at the battlefield, and saw himself fighting. The fighting Ketsuo kicked an enemy soldier into a large group, and looked up, staring at Ketsuo through flashing pupils as jolting as electricity itself. The Ketsuo in battle then turned his head and stared at the edge of the battlefield. There were two gigantic portals on each end, and one of them was active.

Ketsuo blinked, dazed and confused, he analyzed his surroundings. 

The room was cool, and slightly damp. Dust grazed the wooden floor. It would've been a pitch black room if it wasn't for the room having one window that had sunlight fill the room. That sword of his was relaxing in its sheath, propped against a wall. 

Ketsuo had dozed off in a chair directly across from the sword, "Oh yeah... Fujimoto put me in here..."

The night before...

"You do know it was impossible to engrave that number on the hilt don't you? How did you manage to do it?" Fujimoto asked Ketsuo.

"I don't understand it either. I can't explain most of what has happened the past few months!" Ketsuo spoke, "I just put all of my resonance into that sword as per your instruction  Sensei."

"But at the end, your resonance skyrocketed. For a split second, it seemed more powerful than any other military resonator I've trained... Say.." Fujimoto tossed the sword, already in its sheath, to Ketsuo, "Unsheathe the sword, I'm curious about something."

Ketsuo unsheathed the sword only for an unbelievable amount of resonance to engulf Ketsuo's body. "Ryuu-san what is that?!" Yoshiro shouted as they were spectating, "I don't know boy, but it looks like he's put more energy into that sword than he can handle!" Ryuu shouted. 

Ketsuo glanced at the blade itself, and saw those eyes in the reflection again, What is that? Ketsuo thought. Suddenly the sword started to get more and more powerful until Ketsuo was forced to sheathe it.

"I understand now." Fujimoto said, "You have yet to understand your weapon. Let the weapon teach you." Fujimoto motioned Ketsuo to walk inside with him. 

Fujimoto lead him to a dark room, and placed the sword on a wall, and pulled up a chair facing the blade, "I want you to meditate, be at peace with yourself. Find yourself in that blade, and understand what makes it and you so powerful."

Ketsuo lifted the sword, still in its sheathe, and swung it around. He was treating it like it was a spear with the exception of not throwing it. Moving a sword like a spear worked out flawlessly in that the sword felt as light, if not lighter than one of his spears.

"What the hell are you?" Ketsuo unsheathed the sword.

The spark that came with the blade as he unsheathed it temporarily blinded Ketsuo with the amount of electric resonance the sword actually contained. Ketsuo shut his eyes, but when he opened them, he was in a desert, with a pink sky. 

This looks so much like my dream, Ketsuo thought, But where are the portals? 

Ketsuo looked around, it looked like he was in just another barren land, like in his dreams. All of a sudden, a strange, hooded man showed up. 

"Hello Ketsuo," The hooded figure spoke. This man was slightly taller than Ketsuo, and had his entire body covered in clothing. He had his hood up, and he wore a large trench coat that hid his body. All Ketsuo could see was the mouth; a grin that was more sincere than anything he saw from the past, and the future. 

"Who are you." Ketsuo asked. He could not feel any resonance emulating from this guy, but he felt so intimidating to Ketsuo. 

"You surprised me when you created that sword. I had expected you to mature a lot more before you would even think of creating a weapon with such resonance. You are not yet prepared to learn of the truth." 

"What truth?! I just wanted to be able to use the sword. The power in this sword is too high for me to even contain, and who are you? What is that power that I get when I open the sword? These dreams that I am having, what the HELL do they mean? Why am I he--"

The man lifted his hand up, as if to silence him, "You will find those answers in due time. I will deactivate the Orphans Will from your sword and leave the power hidden dormant in your body. You will open it when you are ready. For now Ketsuo, you must find your own path. You must live your life the way you want to live it. Shape yourself into who you want to be, and you will learn the truth, and gain the power when the time is right. You are more experienced than I thought, but you will need more experience before you can see me again." He's going to need a lot more experience before he can use our power, the hooded man thought to himself. 

Ketsuo looked at the hooded figure with confusion, "What have I learned from this? Sensei told me that the sword would teach me everything, and your telling me I'm not ready? I've been more ready for anything than I've ever been!"

"You have yet to realize the joys of life before we can tell you. If you were to learn now, the amount of information given to use would probably break you." The hooded man said, "Don't worry, you will know when and how to come back later, and I'll be waiting. Farewell."

"Wait--" Ketsuo was interrupted by the amount of light that exploded from the hooded man, a blinding light flashed, and in an instant, Ketsuo was back in the dark room. It was now night, and the light from the blade which illuminated the room started to fade. 

Ketsuo sat in pure darkness, assessing and analyzing everything that had happened just now. He had the sheathe in one hand, and the blade in the other. 

"What did he say," Ketsuo whispered to himself, "About deactivating something in the blade? What truth does he mean?"

To Be Continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 11

Crack! Snap! 

Electricity fired out from Ketsuo's fingertips like a beam and detonated like a web. Hmmm, Ketsuo thought, A technique that makes a beam, and another that makes a static web, interesting. 

Ketsuo brought his palm back and after taking deep breaths, shot his palm upward. Focusing all of his concentration and making a beam like an extension of himself, he was able to control the beam and not have it dissipate to a web. The electric beam flew into the atmosphere and faded away when he dropped his concentration.

"Ryuu-san, did you see that?" Ketsuo shouted in immense pleasure. Ryuu who had been watching the whole thing grinned, "Very good. Soon I will be throwing targets at you to hit, but for now, just keep on shooting and concentrating your resonance. Only until Yoshiro is finished building his armor with Fujimoto."

Ketsuo slumped his shoulders and looked at Yoshiro angrily, "Hey hurry up over there!" Ketsuo then walked off and continued his training by shooting off electrical beams for a few more hours.

"He's finished!" Fujimoto called out, "With this armor, Yoshiro should be one of the best wind resonators around!"

Yoshiro stepped out of the armor closet.

Yoshiro looked much taller. His boots had a ruby red primary color with a gray secondary line going down the boots. He wore dark red sleeves that had slivers of titanium on them. the sleeves ran down his arm all the way to the edge of his knuckles to form titanium gauntlets. His front and back were protected by a tight sleeveless titanium mail that looked too much like regular clothing. Yoshiro's hair blew as with activation of his resonance, the gray and red glowed for a brief second, and Yoshiro was moving at incredible speeds. Speeds so fast that he couldn't control it and almost hit a tree.

"Granted you still need work, but you're speed problem is now fully accommodated. Ketsuo," Fujimoto flipped his ice white hair back and pointed at Ketsuo, "You're up."

Ketsuo walked to his master and asked, "Master, may i grab 22 of your thinnest titanium spears?"

Fujimoto rose his brow, "I thought you were going to give it up. You cannot resonate with the weapon that is holding you back."

"I want to put 22 titanium spears into the making of the sword so that I can never forget my beginnings, and I can leave them behind at the same time."

"Clever. Go ahead," Fujimoto sighed, "Restore your energy, grab the spears, and come back. It is impossible for me to engrave the 22 on the titanium, but I can go so far as to make the hilt and melt the spears for you. You will put the spears in and power me to smith the sword with your resonance."

Ketsuo grabbed the spears from the weapons box, looking at the shiny, sturdy, featherweight spears with a frown, "This is the last time I will ever use you like this," His frown began to turn to a smile, "But it will mark the beginning of new uses with you." He remembered the future he saw going to the portal, when he saw himself hunting with a spear, The future is ever changing isn't it? He questioned himself.

"Ketsuo, are you ready?" Fujimoto had the hilt still heated, "Put the spears into the slot right over there!" Ketsuo dropped the 22 spears into the melting pot. The titanium on the spears slowly began to melt until it was a thick, creamy looking substance. Fujimoto poured the liquid titanium into the frame of the broadsword, and both watched and waited for the titanium to slide down the frame and kiss the head of the hilt.

"KETSUO! NOW!" 

Ketsuo knew his goal. Embed his resonance into the hot titanium before it cools.

"GAAAAAAAA!" 

Ketsuo put his hand over the hot of the metal and forced his hand over the liquid and shot out a seemingly endless barrage of Lightning Beams. The metal started to glow a faint blow as he was constantly shocking it.

I have to get stronger! Ketsuo thought, I need to prove to people that someone like me, with nothing, can go as far as I want to! I am going to find my peak... And surpass it!!! Ketsuo looked into his reflection in the metal and saw his pupils spark blue as the rest of his eyes went black. 

He did not look away.

Ketsuo shot the last of the resonance that he could muster through the metal, having lightning overcome the titanium and light up the night sky. When they finished, Ketsuo was panting heavily, on his knees.

"Bravo, boy!" Ryuu-san laughed and patted Ketsuo on the back.

"Great job bro. I knew you could do it!" Yoshiro grinned a deep smile.

Ketsuo laughed as well through the panting, looked up at his master, and asked, "How did I do?"

"Incredibly well. You're sword..." Fujimoto took the sword out of the frame, and exposed it to everyone.

A broadsword, with a more purified look than anything Fujimoto has ever seen. The blade sparked every once in a while, causing Ketsuo's master to proceed with caution. Fujimoto noticed something that surprised him however. The hilt was crafted to near perfection, and had something engraved on it.

"You're sword... It has the number 22 on the hilt..."

To be Continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 10 Rough Draft

"Master Fujimoto, the last thing I want to do is attack you," Ketsuo frantically stated, "I was just stating a fact: I am a master spear wielder."

"Boy, have you used spears in the past?" Fujimoto asked as he grabbed his long, white glossed spear from a nearby shelf and started swinging it around.

"It is. I realized that I can never forget the past, so I will never use another weapon, to remember who I was before. Yoshiro and I were born with nothing. We were hated on the island, both in the orphanage and out. This is all of I have at not forgetting the amount of abuse that we took. Scars don't he--"

Master Fujimoto exploded in speed at Ketsuo, with Ketsuo only having a slight moment to react. Ketsuo grabbed one of the 22 spears out from his hip pouch and and managed to parry the swing just in time. Sparks illuminated the air around them as Ketsuo was pushed to the defensive. Fujimoto used his Ice Resonance to transform his spear in mid swing. Ketsuo went to parry, and his spear shattered. Shocked, Ketsuo grabbed another spear from the pouch and parried against the ice spear, only to have it shatter again. He back-flipped and grabbed another spear, "Damn, how much was that? 2 already? He's going to take all of my spears out, but I don't have a choice. I can't resonate with a weapon yet." Ketsuo gritted his teeth. Trying to get a little more of an offensive edge, Ketsuo surged to Fujimoto. He sliced his spear at Fujimoto, only for Fujimoto to smash it with his spear. Ketsuo grabbed four spears, and while circling around Fujimoto, began to heave his spears at Fujimoto. The master easily crushed all of them with a single 360 degree twirl.

"Damn!" Yoshiro exclaimed, "So this is what resonance weaponry is?! Vice Admiral Ryuu, Ketsuo doesn't stand a chance against Master Fujimoto at all."

"Well of course," Ryuu gave out a small chuckle,"Fujimoto was among the first of the resonators to come to the past. In the past he was a weapons specialist who had lost his family in a war that he was fighting. After that he said he traveled the world in search of enlightenment. And that's how he found the portal. He trained the Brigadier General how to fight,and you know how strong Lance Ackerman is."

Ketsuo was back on the defensive and was dodging instead of parrying. Damn, I only have two spears left... Ketsuo thought. At that very moment, Fujimoto lifted the tip of his ice spear, and it flashed a pure white light so bright that it blinded Ketsuo. All Ketsuo could do was fiddle the spears into his hands and use his last two to block the oncoming attack. If it wasn't for Ketsuo sensing the incredible resonance of his new master in front of him, he would've been sliced apart. The force of the blow was strong enough to not just disintegrate the last of his spears, but to smack him down into the ground.

"As someone who came from the past, I understand what you are feeling. I was once a man who used many weapons, but I had to leave my old ways of living. You are right in that scars don't heal, but they can fade you know," Fujimoto helped Ketsuo up, "You could not resonate with spears because they are the last of what is holding you back. They are your reminder. It is time for you to leave the past behind. If what you said was true, then there is nothing for you there, and that is not bad. Remind yourself of the past by living a good life in the future."

Ketsuo shut his eyes, thinking of everything that had happened from the moment he fearlessly stepped into that portal until now. How was I so willing to give up everything, and no I'm not. Good things are happening to me now, I might as well take advantage of it. 

"Master, I think I'm ready to create my weapon of choice." Ketsuo spoke up as Fujimoto was walking away.

"What would that be?"

Ketsuo remembered that dream he had. A broadsword that was the cleanest steel he had ever witnessed. He remembered those eyes of his that made a chill run down his spine like a waterfall. A sword with the number 22 embedded in the hilt, crying his name through his dreams, into the his head. He felt re-energized just thinking about it. Fujimoto stared at him, studying Ketsuo's expressions.

"I want to make a broadsword. And I want to put the number 22 on the hilt."

To be continued...

[ap86]

Orphan's Will Chapter 9 Rough Draft

The battlefield was vacant, no bodies remained, but the weapons used were still stuck in the ground.Blood still exuded from each blade in the ground to make a shadowy ruby color. Ketsuo had looked down, a sword was in his hand. Confusion coiled around him like the lightning that shot through his arm when he trained against his master. Where were his spears? He couldn't fight to his full potential without them. The sword felt very different. It was a far reaching blade. Ketsuo eyed the sword with amplifying curiosity. The handle was comfortable, and easy to grip, and the blade, looking sharp enough to make air bleed, was a fresh, sparkling steel. He was able to see his reflection off the blade, and saw those black eyes with the blue electrifying pupils. The sword was released by his hand in shock. Ketsuo looked around, scanning the area for SOMEONE that he knew. He saw terrain gauntlets laying in the soil. The sun was beating a scolding heat on Ketsuo as he looked everywhere for anyone.

But then the sun was gone.

Ketsuo gazed up as the sun took refuge behind the clouds. The air grew cold and stale, then Ketsuo felt it.

He saw the light swamp around him, bright orange flames began to flicker. Ketsuo felt a heat hotter then that of the sun. He turned around, only to see an explosion of orange flame overcome him completely....

Ketsuo freed his eyes from the nightmare that he had just witnessed. Yoshiro was passed out drooling on the window seat, as Ketsuo was sitting in an aisle seat. Ever since I started training, these nightmares come back to me. Why? Thought Ketsuo as he he rubbed his temples in stress, And they've been getting worse and worse ever since I had opened my powers. 

"Hello, this is your captain speaking," Ketsuo woke Yoshiro as they listened to the captain, "We are now entering Tokyo. We hope you enjoyed your flight, and we hope to see you again." 

Both boys trembled in fear as this was their first plane ride. They fainted as they flew up, and when the plane landed, they screamed all the way.

"Whew! Thank god that horror was over! Twenty something hours on one of those things was too long." Yoshiro stretched after they got their bags. 

Its been a month since they both unlocked their powers. They did not need to use emotion to activate their powers. Ketsuo and Yoshiro you could use their power at will. Lance told them that the Vice Admiral will oversee them as they train with his old master. "Lance said that after we do advanced training with his master, we will be instantly assigned to a resonator team by the Vice Admiral himself," Ketsuo envisioned, "And then we will be the best there is, and we will be known throughout the ages as heroes!" 

They walked out of the airport where they saw a large man holding a sign that said Yoshiro and Ketsuo.

"Hello, we are Ketsuo and Yoshiro." Ketsuo said to the man.

This man towered over them for he was well over 6 feet tall. The definition of his muscles stood out from the long black button down shirt he was wearing. His short black hair was gelled flawlessly. Both boys knew that this man was the Vice Admiral instantly. "Indeed you are. Brigadier General Ackerman mentioned what you two looked like," the Vice Admiral broke out into a grin and held out his hand, "I'm Vice Admiral Ryuu Asahiro. Welcome to my home country, and soon, welcome to the military." 

Ketsuo grabbed his hand to shake it, and Ryuu felt the hidden power almost instantly. Wow, Ryuu thought, Who would've thought that a 17 year old boy would have this much power.

"We lived on an island close to Midway." Ketsuo said lightheartedly. 

Yoshiro stepped forward, and although there wasn't a breeze, Ryuu felt a chill down his spine, This one as well?!

When they got into the car, a fancy Cadillac, Ryuu spoke the plan, "You two will be set to a team very much like yourself. We have military personnel training the other people that will be on your team. You are to meet with Lance's old master for a little bit. He will help you forge a weapon of your choosing, and proceed to train you on how to integrate resonance into the weapon." 

"We don't need to make weapons," Ketsuo responded, "I just have to sharpen up 22 spears and I'm fine. Yoshiro doesn't use weapons."

"Let the professional truly be the judge of that." Ryuu said rigidly

They arrived to the small house. The house was of traditional Japanese make. 

Master Fujimoto was meditating on his porch, "I knew you would come." He said acting all philosophically. 

"Master, we told you that he was coming." Ryuu's soldiers slumped.

"That's how I knew." Fujimoto stood up, a slender man, no taller then the boys. It's been a while since I had last trained somebody, Fujimoto thought. Perhaps they will be the crown jewel of everyone I've tutored.

"We will start right away," Fujimoto led them to the backyard, where he had his blacksmith area. "A little medieval yes, but bullets do not affect us resonators. Have you two ever used a weapon? I use a spear," Fujimoto withdrew the spear from the strap on his back, and showed a titanium long spear. In just a second it turned into all ice.

"I use a spear as well!" Ketsuo shouted gleefully, "But I can only use 22." Ketsuo picked up a handful of steel spears, and a strap. "I am best with twenty two spears." 

"You can only create one weapon. Not twenty two."

"Sir, I am going to have to disagree with you there. I am near flawless with spears of this amount and quality." Ketsuo responded. He wanted to learn how to resonate perfectly with his spears. He wanted no other weapon. However he kept on thinking about the sword from his dream. 

"Fine, boy," Fujimoto sighed and then grinned, "Allow me to prove you wrong."

To be continued...

[ap86]

Orphan's Will Chapter 8 Rough Draft

Yoshiro paced back and forth, praying to God that he doesn't get his ass kicked, "You just knocked Ketsuo out! I doubt I'll be able to do anything!" 

"Bravery. Fearlessness. Those are the traits to being a soldier, as well as a hero." Lance pointed his glove at Yoshiro, "There are some things in life where you will have to hit things head on regardless of whether or not you win or lose. Now..." Lance used the Earth to propel himself foward, terrain gloves on and all, and was in an instant in front of Yoshiro, "Let's see what you're capable of!"

Lance launched a barrage of punches at Yoshiro, who was able to block each hit. From watching Ketsuo's fight with Lance, Yoshiro knew that he would have to be able to hit Lance on the side of the wrists in order to minimize damage while blocking. Yoshiro, knew he had wind resonance, but he did not know how to activate it. Yoshiro thought back to all the times he was stubborn, and remembered every success and loss that him and Ketsuo had as boys. He thought of how his pride stood up for them growing up as orphans. He performed his first counterattack on Lance. Yoshiro grabbed Lance's wrist, and palmed his chest. Once the palm of his hand had made contact with Lance's chest, a gust of wind exploded and thrust Lance several meters.

"I did it!" I awakened the power like Ketsuo!" Yoshiro then proceeded to do a victory dance until his mentor arose.

"Impressive. Very good indeed Yoshiro. Now use your resonance with your hand to hand combat knowledge." Yoshiro nodded and started to cautiously send slices of air at Lance through quick kicks and bursts of punches. Yoshiro was going much slower then his normal attack speed because of his inexperience in resonance. Lance grinned and was effortlessly dodging the the attacks. "I've trained you well in hand to hand combat, but you still lack in speed!" Lance sped up his movement to the point where Yoshiro was seconds slower than his master. "You're going to have to be a lot faster if you are going to fight in the United Alliance Resonator Team!" Yoshiro was knocked to his feet, "Yoshiro, you still show fear. You are afraid to use your abilities to your full potential. Don't worry about anyone else! Go all out!" 

"I'm not afraid!" Yoshiro shot a blast of wind at Lance, causing him to side roll away from the blast. Yoshiro jumped up, "My pride is strong enough to overcome my fear!" He imagined himself as the wind itself, able to move freely wherever it wanted, "I have no need to be afraid in a world that is not as hard as the one i was raised in!" Yoshiro sprinted at Lance, grinning, "I have no fear!" his speed increased as the wind pushed him forward and he used all his resonance to aim right at Lance's stomach. Lance caught the punch, but the air was so strong that it shattered the palm part of the glove. Lance lifted his knee and brought it up against Yoshiro's chin. yoshiro flipped back and was knocked out, as limp as a rag doll. The remaining gauntlet slipped off of Lance's muscular arms. He walked over to his chair, sat down, and grabbed a drink from his cooler, a juice box. 

"Both of you boys have more than enough potential and resonance to surpass me." he glanced over at the unconscious boys, "When you wake up tomorrow morning, the training will only intensify now that you have completely unlocked your resonance. You will need to learn how to control your power completely." After his drink, Lance took out his cell phone and dialed a number, "UART Code 1022. Please phone me in with the Vice Admiral."

To be Continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 7 Rough Draft

"The past is the past!" Yoshiro shouted at Ketsuo, "You shouldn't be held accountable for them hating you. It's not your fault!" 

"But do you expect me to just forget what had happened to us for the past 16 years?" Ketsuo rose up, "Do you expect me to just forget how those assholes treating us? Publicly beating us in public, stealing our hard earned food, calling us worthless scum all the time?"

Yoshiro paused. He instantly remembered all of those memories that he left behind in the past, "But that past isn't apart of us anymore! The General cares about our well being more than anybody at home ever did. Wounds heal man."

Ketsuo turned his back to Yoshiro, and showed him the scars on his back. A thin line ran diagonally across his back, "You're right about how wounds heal. But scars don't heal Yoshiro. The past will always be apart of you. It's what makes you who you are.You can try to change all you want, but it won't matter in the end." 

Yoshiro grinned as Ketsuo walked away, "Good, the anger is releasing itself slowly" Yoshiro thought, "Releasing the energy trapped within the bottle, how genius am I?" At that moment, from outside he heard a boom, "Get out of the bath Yoshiro you're dead!"

Yoshiro for the first time felt an actual fear of death. Crying in fear, he jumped out of the tub of ice water and ran out the door. He left his towel for he knew that it would slow him down. He was running up the stairs when Lance, who was at the top, noticed Yoshiro had no underwear or towel on. They both paused and stared at each other in silence.

"WHAT THE FUUU-" Lance's scream was drowned out by Yoshiro slipping and falling down the stairs, covering his private parts.

After that ordeal, they went outside to train. They worked on footwork, played sports, and sparred some more to increase their reaction speed. Their reaction time had decreased by 60% which is an unheard of number even for prodigies. They had learned to sense another's resonance, no matter how low it might be. Sensing resonance helps with fighting a fast opponent, you just need to follow their resonance. The next week, Lance decided to teach them to actually resonate.

"Alright, today you will learn to focus your energy to resonate out from the palm of your hands. Ketsuo, you mentioned that you had a feeling like this when your ship got wrecked?" 

Ketsuo nodded, "I felt this surge of energy rising inside of me. What I thought I did was instinct. I threw my spear a couple feet in the air to protect us from the lightning that was going to hit our ship." 

"You will start first then," Lance gaped at Ketsuo, "I haven't fought in a while, so I might be rusty, at least produce me some amusement, and show me what you can do." 

Lance launched himself at Ketsuo. Ketsuo aimed a kick straight at Lance's neck, but Lance dodged and put both hands on the floor. He used his earthly connection to form terrain spikes that were advancing towards Ketsuo. Ketsuo was dodging each one of them, and jumping backwards each time, but he kept his eyes on Lance. Ackerman formed his signature terrain gloves, which are gauntlets formed from the earth, and made into a substance as heard as steel from his resonance. 

A small flashback into Lance's back story shows how he created the terrain gloves. It was similar to how he is training Ketsuo and Yoshiro to how he was trained by his master. Sensei Fujimoto, a Japanese resonance legend, trained Lance when he was 17. Fujimoto was a legend because of his ice spear. He was incredibly skilled as a spearman and the fact that he was only 26, granted him a lot of respect. Lance could never beat him, but he learned how to resonate from straight up combat. The gloves were made to directly combat the spear. and prevent frostbite from the ice coldness. 

Ketsuo was dodging the gloves heavy, but quick swing. The blades at the end of the knuckles were dulled so that Ketsuo would not be killed, but it looked hard enough to easily break a few ribs. 

Lance snarled at Ketsuo, "Come on Ketsuo, hit me! Fight me! Don't just run away! Don't run away like you did to the past!" 

Ketsuo felt the wave of energy overcome him like it did when their ship got wrecked and remembered the anger that was bottled up inside, and decided to let it out in one punch. 

"Shut up!" Ketsuo's electric resonance wrapped around his right arm like and sent a chill down Yoshiro's back. He watched in awe as his friend charged in aggressively and fearlessly punched the right gauntlet straight up knuckle to knuckle. The resonance fled his arm and exploded on impact with the gauntlet. A shock wave from the impact surrounded them and like a bubble it popped. Yoshiro was flown back many feet as well as Ketsuo and Lance. Lance stood up, bruised but not harmed enough for anyone to win. Ketsuo charged up both arms, and advanced on Lance. Lance was dodging and weaving and then counterattacked Ketsuo by blocking his kick and punching him in the face, however Ketsuo surprised Lance by grabbing his arm and using it as leverage to do a flip kick in the same direction. Lance managed to duck under that one and throw Ketsuo, but Lance could see this boy surpassing him in the next few years. 

"I've had my fill of excitement, now I'll end this." Lance motioned at Ketsuo to come at him with all he had, and Ketsuo charged up his right arm only, and put in all of the resonance that he knew he had into that arm. He charged at Lance. Lance felt the hair on the back of his neck tingle with the amount of power that the kid had, and he isn't even really tapping into the vast ocean of potential that he has. 

Lance clothes-lined Ketsuo to the ground as he was running towards Lance, and was knocked out on impact. "You still have much to learn. Your power runs on your anger, but what will happen when you run out of hatred? You need heavy meditation young one."

Yoshiro was flabbergasted. He just witnessed a resonance battle. He saw his best friend unlock his resonance, only to get knocked out by someone far stronger. What scared him the most was that he was NEXT.

To be continued...  

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 6 Rough Draft

Ketsuo and Yoshiro stood as straight and tall as the pillars of the portal as they were skeptically examined by Lance. 

"In a fight with resonance, the person with the best body structure wins. Your body must be that of a bamboo, although if you become an aggressive fighter, then leaning forward will help you." Lance paced back and forth, walked over to Ketsuo, and through a punch directly at his face. The fist flew to Ketsuo like a rocket, and Ketsuo had barely enough time to block it, but as he did blocked Lance's right hand, Lance's left hand punched him right in the gut. The pain was heavy, and made his whole body ache, "You're first lesson is to increase your reaction times, as well as counter attacking as soon as possible. Do not give your opponent a chance to attack. You two will pair up," Lance sat down in his chair, grabbed a juice box out of the cooler, drank it with a little kid face, and then boomed in a manly voice, "BEGIN!" 

Everything went silent. Even the wind stopped blowing. They stared at each other, figuring out, when and where to attack. Yoshiro knew that he was obviously more experienced in the hand to hand combat category because he never so much as touches a weapon and Ketsuo knew that he was faster then Yoshiro and would be able to counterattack more fluently. Ketsuo, sprinted towards Yoshiro and threw his hardest punch at Yoshiro's face, Yoshiro jumped to the right, and tried to kick Ketsuo in the rib cage, which was temporarily open. Ketsuo grabbed Yoshiro's leg and threw him a few feet into the muddy ground. Yoshiro decided to take the offensive and lunged at Ketsuo. Yoshiro thrust a barrage of punches at Ketsuo, but Ketsuo was using his speed to dodge every blow without fleeting from his position. A low sweep kick went towards Ketsuo's legs, and as he jumped to dodge, Yoshiro pounced on Ketsuo and heaved his strongest punch. The blow landed, but as soon as he punched him, Ketsuo, grabbed Yoshiro by the neck, yanked him down, and headbutted him so hard that the both of them were knocked unconscious on impact.

"Very interesting. Very interesting indeed. They are equals in near every aspect except what Ketsuo did at the end was highly advanced in reaction time and quick thinking. Not a bad fight from either. Of course they will both need to bring up their reaction speed, as well as their fighting strength. Yoshiro has the potential to be truly outstanding, but Ketsuo...." Lance paused, staring in bewilderment, "I can't see his potential yet. His power is clouded. Will he even have a peak in the first place?" 

Ketsuo had found himself in a similar nightmare, except they had already retreated. Ketsuo was walking down the hallway of an abandoned school that his squadron had taken shelter of. Lance and Yoshiro were no where to be seen. Most of the squadron were injured and crying. The air was so cold that even the fire felt like ice. Ketsuo huddled up into the trench coat covering his special resonator uniform. As he went to walk to the bathroom, all of the soldiers, injured or not, stood up and saluted him as he walked by. Even though Ketsuo had never met these people prior to his nightmare, he felt warm tears creeping down his cheeks as his mind was screaming for someone to explain to him what is going on, and to help him. He walked in to the bathroom, and it was so cold that there wasn't even a stench. He looked into the mirror, and dazed into his hazel brown eyes as he could hear voices telling him that he will always be alone, and he will always be hated. Ketsuo closed his eyes to try to block the voices out from his head, but when he opened his eyes, they white part of his eyes were black with a blue circle glowing in the middle. The next thing Ketsuo knew, he was being swallowed by an avalanche that ate the school...

Ketsuo awoke in an ice bath. His body was sore from moving around so much in his fight with Yoshiro. Across from Ketsuo, Yoshiro had just came to. 

"Ketsuo, I think you won that fight." Yoshiro admitted defeat.

"No, you landed the first hit, therefore you won." Ketsuo insisted.

"How about you two just call it a tie?" Lance walked in, "You guys will have about an hour longer in this bath, and then its back to training. You two won't be fighting until your reaction speed is reduced and you two both find a way to neutralize the opponent as quickly as possible."

"Damn General give us a break! We know what we have to do so don't pester us!" Yoshiro shouted, getting frustrated quickly. 

"I am giving you a break. You have one more hour," Lance smiled and then his eyes started to glow red in a comedic satanic glow. A purple aura flared around him, "Get up after an hour, and I will KILL you both." Lance quietly walked out of the room, and slammed the door shut.

All Yoshiro could do was just stare in terror and slowly wiggle his way into the ice water for protection against the Brigadier General.

"Hey Yoshiro, I've been having these really strange dreams lately. I don't understand them at all." Ketsuo explained the dream to Yoshiro, who in turn said, "I can't explain them either. Maybe all of the feelings of hatred you had bottled up from the past is coming full circle. Let go of everything we did and everything we were from the past, accept who you are." 

Ketsuo stared down into the water that he was soaking in, clenching his fists and teeth, not from the cold of the bath, but from pure anger and frustration.

"I can never forget the past Yoshiro."

To be continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 5 Rough Draft

"Urghhh!" Sweat coated Ketsuo's shirtless body as he was sprinting in personal training. Yoshiro was tagging right behind him, panting heavily, "We've been running for 3 hours!"

"Shut up Yoshiro if we get through this training, we can further understand who we really are inside," Ketsuo gasped for air after speaking. The two boys finished running and walked to where Lance was.

"Lance, we finished our cardiovascular exercise, what next?" The two boys had been under the tutelage of Brigadier General Lance Ackerman for the past three months. They have been doing nothing but running, "You need to have both mental and physical stamina if you are to become a resonator. Both of you haven't even tapped into a tenth of your potential." Lance had said one day after the boys ran. 

"Good, now we can actually get to work. You two are clueless in the resonance field. Tell me, what feels most connected to you? What are you're personalities really like? What were you particularly good at in the past?" Lance, Ketsuo, and Yoshiro, walked into his house. Lance lived in a nice little farm house. He paid people to take care of the crops because of his military service, and he has flats all over the country and in Japan and the UK, but he prefers his farmhouse. Ketsuo and Yoshiro sat down while Lance had prepared homemade energy drinks for them, "Ketsuo, you will start off by telling me what you think of Yoshiro." Lance grabbed a pen, and a notebook.

"Um, well, Yoshiro had been my only friend for as long as I can remember. We lived in the same orphanage, and since everyone hated us, we only had each other." Ketsuo glanced at Yoshiro, then back at Lance, "Yoshiro is very strong willed, loud-mouthed, and arrogant. However he uses those traits to mask how incredibly clever he is. He can assess something much quicker then I could, and he makes the logical decisions most of the time. I was the one who pushed him to go through the portal with me. He never used any weapon of any sort except his hands. When we were growing up, absolutely nobody could tame him but myself. He rebelled and despised the people that hated us while I had kept it bottled up." 

"Interesting..." Lance was writing in his notebook, highly concentrated in what he was doing. He looked up, "Yoshiro, its your turn now."

Yoshiro gulped down the last of his energy drink, let go a sigh, glanced at Ketsuo and nodded, "Ketsuo was quiet growing up, but there was always this type of aura that he had that made me follow him wherever. I would probably be in the town jail if it weren't for him leading me another way. He knows how to push you to your limit and beyond. With time he went from being shy, to being dominant. Through his sheer talent as a marksman, and the power that he could put behind a spear, he earned a little sliver of respect from the townsfolk. He influenced me to join him in the portal after all."

"Hmm I see..." Lance jotted down the final piece of information into his notebook and set it aside, "As a special military operative, it was my duty to understand what resonance an early recruit may have based on personality and actions. Yoshiro, you have wind resonance. You do not use any weapon but your hands. Like Ketsuo said, you are hard to tame, kind of like wind. Wind is impossible to catch, but air is all around us. You are willing to stay behind your friends, like the wind blowing at their back, giving them a slight push into the right direction."

Yoshiro was so shocked by what he had just heard that he had a gaping mouth and derp eyes, "I guess you're right Lance. I've never used anything but my hands whenever I would get into fights as a kid."

"Ketsuo," Lanced cleared his throat, "You're expressions of dominance, leadership, influence, power, and willpower grant you lightning resonance. You strike with accurate, powerful blows to gain the respect of your peers and your enemies. The way Yoshiro had described you with how you gained respect of the townsfolk proves your power. Also the way you described yourself as bottling emotions shows you have lightning resonance. You said you were more than above proficient in the use of spears, but I am here to teach you the basics. You will learn how to be a master of hand to hand combat as well as your resonances. In time, you will learn to incorporate both."

"Question sir," Ketsuo asked with deep authority in his voice, "What resonance do you have?"

Lance pulled his bangs away from his face so that the boys could see his warm, yet so cold face. He had a golden smile, the smile of a man in his late twenties. He possessed a muscular face, and through his facial features alone showed that he was among the elite in the United Alliance. His eyes were lukewarm, like he had witnessed much loss and despair, but also that he had seen much happiness, and was like a rock: nothing would shake him, "The earth feels like the extension of my body. I am immovable and peaceful until I decide to attack. No matter how much pain I see, I will never give in. I specialize in terrain resonance."

The boys grinned at their instructor, and nodded in complete admiration and agreement, "So what are we gonna learn now?" 

"You boys will learn how the basics of hand to hand combat, and then exertion of your resonance. Work hard and the fruits of your training will pay off beautifully!" Lance boomed as he walked out the house with the boys at his heels.

To be continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 4 Rough Draft

Explosions and fire lit up the night. Ketsuo and Yoshiro stormed the broken battlefield. Their ears rang with screams of their fellow soldiers, and were one of the two-hundred soldiers currently alive. Spear in hand, Ketsuo sliced at an enemy soldier's ankles, shoved him in front of another soldier, and pierced both of them with his medium sized, metallic spear. The crimson blood sprayed Ketsuo in an what seemed to be an endless spray. Meanwhile, Yoshiro is bashing a soldiers face in with his fists. From the light of the wildfire going on around them, Ketsuo saw the soldiers face turn into nothing but a blood pool. Ketsuo shouts and screams at Yoshiro to leave him and press on, but his voice was drowned out by the amount of soldiers screaming for their mothers, wives, and children. Yoshiro, looks up at Ketsuo, with black, lifeless eyes, lifeless, empty eyes glaring through Ketsuo's very soul. Ketsuo turned to run, but saw himself standing in front of himself, with black lifeless eyes.

Ketsuo woke up in a cold sweat. Sitting up in his comfortable bed, he stumbled to the bathroom to check the mirror. His eyes were the normal brown color that they always were. Taking in a sigh of relief and realizing it was just a dream, he ran his hand through the his his incredibly short buzzed hair.

"Yoshiro, wake up, we have to meet the General today," Ketsuo grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Yoshiro, "Get dressed, we need to be at the Classic American Diner in about 20 minutes."

It was a cool, rainy, April morning in New York City. The rain was nonstop and cold, and thunder erupted with loud booms and echoed throughout the city. 

"I could hardly sleep last night," Yoshiro snuggled in his warm, dark purple rain jacket, "I can't stop thinking about what that Ackerman guy was saying about us being soldiers," Yoshiro eyes were barely visible through his long blond hair, "Is there a war going on or something?"

Ketsuo put his hands in the pockets of his emerald green sweatshirt and stared at his shoes, "I don't know. I had nightmares of us killing people. We killed so many people," Ketsuo looked at Yoshiro and muttered, "No matter what happens, even if there is a war and we are thrust into the front lines, we cannot lose our humanity."

The General met the two boys at the Classic American Diner. Ackerman was ordering just about everything on the menu and was chowing it down at an incredible speed.  The boys ate just as fast, considering the fact that the only thing that they ate all their life was either fruit, catfish, or bread. After their expensive massacre of the kitchen, Lance had ordered three cups of coffee, and the conversation began.

"So, General, please explain to us why we are here in the first place." Ketsuo had first asked.

"We are currently in a third world war. Japan, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom allied themselves to form the United Alliance. The United States defends their part of the North America, Europe is currently scanned by the United Kingdom, and Japan watches over Asia. Russia, China, and Mexico have formed the Grand Pact to fight and defeat the United Alliance for natural resources and to be the planet's main authority. Mexico was was defeated not too long ago, however, currently, Russia and China are holding their own against the United Kingdom and Japan. The real explanation to why you're both here has to do with some history on the portals. The United Alliance was closing in on Moscow, and a victory in the capital of Russia would have forced the Chinese to surrender as well," Lance took a sip of his coffee and sighed, "But just before the UK could clean sweep the war, Russia and China had either found or created those portals in the Himalayan Mountains and a hidden base under Moscow. Resonators from the past came to the future and helped the Grand Pact drive us to a current stalemate."

"Resonator? What's that?" Yoshiro asked, "And how do you know that the base is under Moscow?" 

"We found a hidden bunker when we thought we were doing our last raid before claiming victory, but they had resonators hidden underground in the hundreds. If a soldier has enough resonance, he or she has no need to worry about bullets. Their resonance will completely negate the bullet, and some have enough energy to incinerate the bullets themselves. A resonator is someone with an abnormal amount of energy surrounding them. The amount of resonance in one man's body is decided by the amount of potential that person has."

Ketsuo froze where he sat. He remembered the small passage written on the portal, Those with the potential, are allowed to enter a new world. Did that make him a resonator.

"The United Alliance is tired. We want to end this war once and for all, and Russia and China have no intent on signing a peace treaty." Ackerman yawned and stretched in his seat. 

"One final question," Yoshiro pressed on, "Why are you offering to help us, and why are WE gonna be soldiers? The portals can be opened so you can recruit all of the super soldiers you want. Ackerman laughed, "I have been the head of 1st team of resonators so I can totally sense the amount of potential radiating off of you boys. The 2nd team is going to need a set of leaders to stay in check." Ackerman winked. The general stood up, his clean cut, grinning face suddenly turned into a frown. His slightly long hair,flipped back and his eyes looked cold and calculating like the day they first met, "Now get up boys, we have work to do."

To be continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 3 Rough Draft

"Get on your knees! Drop your weapons! Put your hands up!" Soldiers were barking orders at the boys. 

"What the hell is going on here?" Ketsuo screamed in terror, "We didn't do anything wrong, we're completely innocent!" 

"Silence you fools!" A voice boomed from behind the curtain of soldiers surrounding Ketsuo and Yoshiro. 

The soldiers lowered their weapons and had made way for the Brigadier General. 

"Allow me to introduce myself children. I am Lance Ackerman, Brigadier General of the United Alliance Military as well as the head of Resonator Team 1. What business have you in this time period? State your reasons if you have any!" The general glare at Ketsuo and Yoshiro with calculating eyes, but his voice sounded as if he had pitied them for accidentally travelling forward in time, "We haven't set out for soldiers from your time period."

"We were shipwrecked sir, and we found this portal on the island we were on. It was either this portal or death." Yoshiro shouted, "I have a question however. Why is there a portal like this in the first place?"

The general softened his gaze. He looked at the portal, then to the boys in disbelief. "You boys opened that portal? That is a Sector 7 portal, meaning that only the strongest, and most well experienced group of soldiers can open that portal. The United Alliance could always use more soldiers, and I can explain everything to you boys in a more private location, perhaps brunch tomorrow morning?"

Ketsuo snapped at the general, "As if we would join you to fight as some dog. We don't want any part of a military we know nothing about!"

"But you boys have nothing. I can see it in your eyes. You were hated since birth, and in turn, you've hated everyone else back. I was once like you, I was headed for a dark path where only pain and destruction awaited for me. But I enrolled in the military, and honestly, it changed me," the brigadier general gave a slight grin, "I'll fill you in on everything you've missed that's important from the past five or six years, then I will train you to be the most elite soldier that you could possibly be."

Ketsuo took a quick glance at Yoshiro, who was deciding what to do. Both had already agreed to leaving the past because they had nothing to leave. They nodded in agreement, there was no turning back. 

Ketsuo stood up and put his hands in his pockets, "Alright Ackerman, you win." Yoshiro took a sigh and stood up as well, "We're in."

To be continued...

[ap86]

Orphans Will Chapter 2 Rough Draft

Orphans Will Chapter 2 Rough Draft

The time portal was a large intimidating stature. The opening to it was transparent. Ketsuo and Yoshiro stumbled towards the portal curiously. Ketsuo’s spears had scraped both his and Yoshiro’s hands when their boat was crushed. The dark red blood had made a small trail from the white sandy beach that they had crashed upon. 

"Where are we and what is this thing?" Ketsuo had asked, cautiously inspecting the grand portal.

"I don’t know, but a better question would be what is that on the end pillar?" Yoshiro pointed towards a flat screen stuck horizontally to the end pillar statingThose with the potential, are allowed to enter a new world. 

"Those with the potential…" Ketsuo stuck his hand out, now blanketed and sticky with blood onto the flat screen surface. He took a deep breath, and thought of the flat surface as a part of his own body, like how he treated the spears. A scan showered the flat screen and eyed him with approval, and the portal was activated. A blue glow emitted from in between the two end pillars and the glow began to swirl like a whirlpool.

"Ketsuo, don’t go in there, what will happen if you die?" Yoshiro asked, with a small tinge of frantic.

"Don’t worry, you said it yourself. We wouldn’t be missed. People despise us and treat us like garbage as is. There is nothing for us to leave in this world other then this world itself." Ketsuo took a deep breath and walked through the portal, forcing the portal to instantly close as he left the Old World. 

"Ketsuo… You idiot! We had each other! Dammit!" Yoshiro screamed in anger, and threw down his bloody hand onto the flat screen scanner. Yoshiro focused on all of the frustration and anger of being hated, and was able to be approved by the scanner. As he waited for the portal to open, he jumped in, only to knock into Ketsuo.

"Ketsuo what the hell?!" Why were you just standing there?!" 

"I was waiting for you to come."

"How did you know I would come?" 

"I’m not stupid you know. You’re my best friend, and we’re always gonna hang by each others side till the very end." Ketsuo said with a grin.

Yoshiro sighed, ” Well, that is true. So where are we?” They had landed in an empty wasteland. The sky had a pinkish hue to it, the grand was all a light shade of dirt, and it looked like it could have stretched for miles, but in front of them was a Portal. 

"Look, another portal all of the way over there," Ketsuo had said, " Let’s go through, maybe it’ll lead us somewhere cool." 

"I’m guessing approximately a 200 meter walk." Yoshiro groaned. They slowly walked towards the next portal. The portal showed pieces of their future. Ketsuo saw an older version of himself, taller, and much more confident looking. The older Ketsuo looked to be hunting with a steel spear. Yoshiro had seen the older version of himself. The older Yoshiro wasn’t wielding anything, but was shown sitting and meditating. Both of their futures showed promise, peace, and happiness, but the meditating was something Yoshiro was appalled by.

"Can you believe this nonsense? Me meditating? If this is the future me, then I must be boring as hell."  

"It looks like we won’t need to get scanned by the portal because we’re already inside," Ketsuo tightly gripped a spear in his left hand and tossed another spear to Yoshiro, "We have no idea who will be behind this portal waiting for us. Be prepared." They nodded in agreement, and simultaneously jumped through the portal.

Where they landed was in a facility, with 30 armored, soldiers pointing their guns at them, yelling at them to put their hands in the air, drop their weapons, and get on their knees. This was not like the future they had seen from the portal at all. 

To be continued…