"Your parents got a lot of crap, man," Loyalty said to Joel as they both sat on the trunk of the Chevy, enjoying the cool morning autumn air before the heat and humidity hit full force. He took a puff from a cigarette. "We ain't even start on Megumi's room yet," he strained to say as he exhaled the smoke and held the cigarette to Joel.

"Most of 8-Bit's stuff is small. We just got to worry about her drawing table." He said as he took it. "Didn't you say you called Sakura over to help us?"

"I did. She told me that she had to get ready and to start without her. Ain't like I said we were going on a date or anything."

"That's just what I would expect from her," Joel said as he took a puff from the cigarette and exhaled. "Quick to boss us around, but slow to help us with the work." Another puff, and exhale. "Just remember, that's what you're marrying."

They both laughed while Loyalty took the cigarette. He flipped the silver analog watch over the backside of his wrist. 8:25. She was an hour and twenty-five minutes late. God, what was taking her so long?

"Want some sunflower seeds?" Joel asked, rattling a half-full bag of seeds at him. "You know you want 'em."

Loyalty shook his head. They always dried out his mouth whenever he ate them. "I thought you didn't like them."

"I don't. I hate the way they taste, to be honest," he said as he stuffed a palm full of seeds in his mouth. "I just chew on them whenever I get irritated. It takes my mind off of things."

Loyalty grinned and nodded his head as he surveyed the long concrete drive-way leading to the highway. Every-so-often, a car or two would zip by while they were talking, but it was otherwise ghostly. As he thought about how long they had waited for Sakura, Loyalty began to grow more and more impatient. "On second thought, let me get some."

Joel pour a handful of sunflower seeds into Loyalty's calloused palm. He grabbed a few with his thumb, index, and middle finger and poured them in his mouth. The saltiness of the seeds mixed with an even more salty and bitter flavor made him screw his face up in disgust. It was as if someone had poured idolized salt and lemon salt on a pickle and made him eat it. Loyalty coughed in revulsion as he spit the seeds out. "That junk is disgusting! What the hell was that?!"

"A new flavor that shouldn't have even been thought up," he said as he tossed the bag over his shoulder, "salt and vinegar."

Five minutes passed. Then ten. With each passing minute, Loyalty's patience began to dwindle. He had expected this kind of tardiness from Ian, and partially expected it from Sakura, but this was the latest that she had ever been without letting someone know that she wouldn't make it. His irritation began to drift into worrying. Something must have happened to her. "I'm gonna call her again, just to be sure." He pulled out his phone and began to scan for her name in the contacts, until Joel stopped him.

"Wait, dude, there she is. Or her parents, at least."

Sure enough, when Loyalty looked up from his phone, there was her family's cherry red minivan drove down the driveway. His slight panic drifted with the cool autumn wind as the minivan stopped in front of them.

Out of the driver's seat appeared Joel's youngest uncle, Ichi Kimachi, dressed in a tucked in white dress shirt with a black tie designed with white zig-zags. His short black hair was neatly combed down and his round glasses gleamed in the rising sunlight. On the other side of the car was Sakura. Her long hair danced with the wind as she made her way towards the front of the van. She wore her black, form-fitting unitard and a pair of black basketball shorts.

"Well, now. If it isn't my favorite nephew," Ichi said as he limped towards them with that mischievous grin of his. "And my future son-in-law is here, as well. Staying out of trouble, I hope?"

"It's not like we always get in trouble, unc," Joel said. While Sakura was shorter than Joel and Loyalty by a few inches, Ichi was shorter by at least more than a foot. If he were side by side with Megumi, they would probably be the same height. His deep, baritone voice contradicted against his short, scrawny appearance.

"Do I really need to remind you of how you two abused your powers once you became Journeymen?"

Neither Loyalty, Sakura, nor Joel needed reminding of that. Joel made the Apprentices believe that the school was haunted by using his telekinesis to make objects or other people float, while Loyalty used his chlorokinesis to make the trees grow faces and speak to them. Needless to say that nearly half of the Apprentices considered dropping out after the first day. It was fun.

"Are your parents' around, Joel? I'd like to have a word with them. It's very urgent." Ichi's grin faded as he readjusted his glasses.

"They should be in the living room. That's where they were when me and Loyalty was moving the rest of their stuff in. Unless I'm mistaken," he turned to Loyalty, "weren't there supposed to be a third person helping us, Loyalty?"

"I believe there was," Loyalty said as he stroked his short beard. "Isn't that right, Sakura?"

She gave a sheepish laugh. "I'm sorry guys, but I overslept."

"I seem to remember saying that this was urgent, did I not?" Ichi said as Joel opened his mouth. "You can argue with each other later. Right now, you three need to attend our discussion as well."

"What's it about?" Sakura said as she, Joel and Loyalty followed Ichi towards the front door.

"An outbreak of Edge Walkers on Amity. To be more precise, in Amita."