Later that night, a dinner occurred incompletely. The meal is quiet not until a tall, white and handsome man entered the dining room while wearing his military uniform and with a little girl.
Maj. HYUBIS, GAT – the soon leader of the team. Gen. Peredo looked at him with a smirk in his face. “Gian, do you recognize anyone here in the table?” he asked. “I see some. Like Silas and Zaydi over here, you two haven’t changed at all. Of course, I recognize DJ the menace, JN the bookworm, and Zigmond the smarty pants” Gian answered.
“Let me introduce them then. Zaydi’s kid is Somea and Silas’ kid is Nat. Do you mind introducing yourself and your kid?” Gen. Peredo said. “I’m Major Gired Andrew Tiueco – Hyubis. I’ll be your senior when you enter Prideus. You can call me Uncle Gian when we’re not in the Pride grounds. And this is my second born, Jilliana Astrid. You will meet the others tomorrow” he said.
“Beside Zaydi is his wife, Soamika. While Silas’ wife is not present at the moment” said Gen. Peredo. “I see, Dra. Olivia is on duty tonight. Can we have a meeting when she’s here?” Gired asked. “That’ll be tomorrow morning then,” said JL.
“Uncle Gian, you added a disaster here in our house” DJ uttered, referring to Gian’s kid. Gian chuckled, “Jilliana is more matured now, she won’t destroy your controllers again” he answered. “Very well, these past two or three days, I barely had sleep” he said. Silas joined, “DK, it’s a relief that you only had one kid. His temper is worse, just like yours”. DK answered back, “Yeah right. One is stressful enough, should I add another?”
A few hours later, Olivia entered the house seeing all lights were turned on. She glanced at the clock, it’s already three a.m. She saw the boys having a talk at the poolside. She’s about to go upstairs when her attention captured the boys. “Olivia, we’re waiting for you,” said Gian. Olivia, who;s still wearing her lab coat, went to the poolside to join the others.
“We decided to start the training next week. We have a whole year to spend for this. As for the Pride updates, everything changed except for the program sequence and the weight of training. You see, yours is the youngest. He won’t train like how Endrei trained before, and we don’t have any alternatives in case someone didn’t pass the training. You have all day to decide, do you really want Ziggy to enter Prideus? Gian asked.
Olivia had her arms crossed while thinking. “It’s still a yes for me. Everything changed when I started to join Prideus and I want him to grow practical as well. I’m entrusting you my son, Major Gian” she said.
“I have your word Dra. Olivia Tiueco” he answered. “I think we’ll make it this generation” Zaydi said.
“I heard the Abucays are listed also. Some of them are kids of Elijah Abucay, and their representative is Endrei’s opponent before. Which means, Endrei and their representative is just about the same age,” said JL.
“It’s been so long since I last heard that surname. It is possible that we’ll have them as an opponent in the first round. It’s up to you on how you’ll explain Prideus to your kids. It’s not good that they only treat this battle as a game” Gian said making everyone bothered.
“I’m still keeping a dark secret from DJ. He’s still clueless that he already has an image in the Pride grounds because of the leaked footage 15 years ago” DK said while massaging his nape. JL added, “Even me, I still can’t explain to JN that we left the legacy because of that incident. It’s not that I’m blaming those kids, it’s just that I’m afraid to let them be criticized inside the camp where we can’t enter”.
Gian answered, “Trust me on this JL, I’ll take a hold of those issues especially that Team Abucay did the mess”. He added, “Your kids are knowledgeable enough on the terms Junior Spy and Private. Based on my observation, DJ can be a spy as well as JN. They are keen observants and they come around making silences. While Ziggy can be a Private, he can go around and observe which is queer for a nine-year-old to act that way and besides, he seldomly talk so he won’t expose anything”
“And how about our kids?” asked Zaydi. “I’m still working on it buddy. By the way, you don’t resemble your kid not like us” Gian answered. “Everybody says that, should I make another one?” Zaydi asked while chuckling. The conversation was interrupted when Soamika entered the pool area, calling Zaydi’s attention. “Let me borrow your cousin first, cousin in laws” she said.
The others nodded. Zaydi walked near his wife when Soamika grabbed his husband’s ear and made him go upstairs. DK laughed, “He’s afraid of his wife” he said. The others chuckled; Zaydi is soft while his wife is strong.
The others called it a day, it’s been a long day for them and their future plan is going near.
Olivia entered her room, seeing his child already wide awake. “You woke up early today, five o’clock is still thirty minutes away” she said. Ziggy replied, “I know you’ll be home at this hour, that’s why. And besides, my cousins are awake now too! We have the whole day to play”
She just shrugged. Her kid went outside and approached his cousins. She followed him outside and saw DK’s kid still playing computer games. “You woke up early today Dion” she said. DJ answered but is still facing the monitor, “I haven’t slept”
Olivia disconnected DJ’s headphones from the CPU that made her nephew distracted. He looked at her aunt with fierce eyes. Olivia uttered, “Go to your room now. You have to adjust yourself; you will be technologically detoxified once we send you to the camp”
Gian saw the two arguing. He went near them. “DJ, your aunt is right. That won’t cost you anything. When we go to the camp, you can’t bring your laptop nor your phone. Besides, it will be useless because there’s no internet connection there” he said.
DK turned off the computer. He stood up and faced his aunt and his senior. “I wish I have my mom instead!” he said and went upstairs. “Raising him is so stressful!” Olivia said and massaged her nape. Gian tapped his cousin’s shoulder. “It’s you who knows what’s proper. He’s lucky that he has you as a mother figure. You should rest up; breakfast is in four hours” he said.
Olivia nodded and went upstairs to get some rest while Gian followed DJ in his room to reprimand the kid. Those actions that can’t be done by DJ’s parents are done by them.