*This is the second chapter (yes, I'm actually giving you two chapters for this particular story) and it actually takes place years prior to the first. Just as the first explained some of Zeek's past, this shall explain Myojin's. Again, there may be errors and alterations not included in the final (and currently packed away) copy of this chapter.



Years before Zeek began attending Emerald academy, seven years before he was even born, in fact, a porcupine chire named, Morgan Neisel sat in the streets of Sapphire, staring hungrily at the world around him. Born seven years before Zeek, he was his polar opposite in almost every way. Zeek, who seemed indifferent, emotionless even, and to everyone was small, under sized and under weight, while Morgan, who had dubbed himself “Myojin,” allowed his emotions to control and run him, therefore, while he was just as intelligent as Zeek, he was often irrational and hasty.
Myojin sat alone in an alley of Sapphire City. The people that passed paid no mind to him. He wasn’t sure whether this was for better or worse. If he did come out in the open, he might just have an opportunity to find food, but there was also the chance that he would be found again. Myojin being the smallest and youngest homeless person in the city didn’t help. Others often stole his food and beat him up. He was always scared, but always vigilant. Thus, he trusted no one.
If only he hadn’t abandoned me.
His father had left him alone when he was only five. Now, two years later, that was the reason he was homeless, scrounging for meals, barely alive. He couldn’t remember his father’s name, voice, or even his face. He had no memory of his mother either. She had died trying to give birth to what would have been his brother. She died on the bed. The baby didn’t make it either. A few days after that, his father dropped him off in the alley.
Myojin shook his head and came back to the present and sighed. He didn't have time to worry about that. What's done was done, and there's nothing he could do about it.
I didn’t deserve it, though.
Myojin watched as more and more people passed. He watched long into the night. He had spent that entire day watching as he normally did. He was hungry, but he knew better than to venture out at night. It was most dangerous then.
Besides, he had learned his lesson last time.
Two months earlier, he had tried to find food at night. He was usually really good at evading others, but that night, he was caught. He had managed to find a good source of food. He had planned on coming back again, but he was caught by some of the older bums and was beat until he told them where he found his supply. That had been the worst beating he had ever gotten. It left him with a swollen, black eye, a broken nose, and missing teeth.
Myojin watched the area around him more intensely. His ear twitched at the slightest sound.
Damned Porcupine.
He didn’t even know if his father had been a porcupine. For all he knew, his mother could have been. He just assumed that he was. Porcupine traits were more dominant in males. He stared up at the starry sky and held out his left hand. Covering it was a black glove that extended to his knuckles. His fingers shown clearly. He couldn’t remember where he had gotten the glove, but he had had it for as long as he could remember. He loved the glove though. It felt familiar, friendly even, though he couldn’t understand why.
Myojin rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. Tomorrow would come and he’d find food then. Tomorrow always came, and there were always new opportunities. He was restless, but sleep soon found him.
It was the same as every night. A blur of black and gray. No color, no picture. No hope. And like always, he awoke breathing heavily, his hair matting his face with sweat.
The next morning, he walked around the city for the first time in three days. He was very cautious at first, but soon he fell into sync with the crowd. He went about his normal process of going around asking for food.
Like always, he was brushed off. Like always, he felt that pang of sadness. And like always, he walked off to the next place without a word.
That day should have been like any other, but something happened that day that changed his life; just one of the many events that would shape his future.
While walking down the street, a woman noticed him and ran to him. Myojin prepared himself to flee just in case she posed a threat. When she caught up to him, she offered him something he had never dreamed of having; a home. As it turned out, she was an employee at a local orphanage. It had originally been a shelter for all homeless, but it was bought and converted to an orphanage. She took him to a large building that he had only seen when walking by. He had never known what it was. He could read, but not at a good level. She took him in and soon, they had him registered. Only one detail remained.
“What’s your full name?” the administrator asked.
Myojin racked his brain. What was his name? Morgan, his real first name, was the only part he knew. He had never really paid attention to the rest.
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t know.” He replied meekly.
She ruffled his quilled orange hair and smiled.
“Its okay, Hun. We don’t get too many chires around here anymore. I’m sure we can check the city’s records for you. If you were born here in Sapphire, then we’ll find you real fast.”
She typed a few things on her computer and a minute later, she turned the monitor towards him. Staring back at him was a boy. He had short orange hair and blue eyes. His ears sat atop his head, one cocked to the side. It was a picture of him from when he was five.
“Well, your name is, Morgan Neisel. Your father’s name was Logan, and your mother’s was Rin.”
“Logan and Rin." He repeated the names over and over again in his mind, as if afraid he'd lost them forever had he not.
After getting him administered, he was taken to a room. Inside, there were a few other boys. She left him there with them and let him get used to his surroundings. He quickly learned their names, but paid no attention to them.
He quickly adjusted to his new life, and he found himself comfortable. His mood and health increased rapidly. He spent most of his time reading or writing. Whenever he came to a mental roadblock, he would research his parents. To his surprise, both of his parents had attended Emerald Academy. Even more surprising was the fact that his father had had the second highest scores in his year before he dropped out. His mother, on the other hand, was only fifteen when she became pregnant the first time. They dropped out and had the child, but it died soon after. Myojin couldn’t find anything interesting about them past that. The most he found were yearbook pictures from the academy. He soon gave up on learning about his parents.
The next few years passed quickly for Myojin. He had spent most of his time studying and reading. He passed his classes with perfect scores. For the past five years, he maintained a perfect average. He was now being recommended to the academy. He was sure that his life would change and become even better now.
He was right. His life would get better, but at a terrible price first.
He had spent his morning strolling through the city, getting a grasp at how big everything really was. He had spent a vast majority of his time inside. He had never really paid much attention to the world outside. Now, as he smelled the clean air, he felt the urge to go further. Walk further away and explore more, but he knew better. The orphanage was his source of food and he wasn’t about to risk losing it.
He had no way of knowing that he would lose it that very day.
He returned to the orphanage at around four. To his horror, the entire building was gone. All that remained were a few walls and ash. He crossed the police tape to get a better look. It was gone. He no longer had a place to live. Tears welled in his eyes. His friends were gone. There was nothing left. He felt himself go numb as more and more people approached and began to panic. During the confusion, he was grabbed by his wrist and pulled away. His instincts told him to try and escape, to fight back, but he didn’t care anymore. After being pulled to a sidewalk, the man holding him knelt down and looked him in the face and started talking. It didn’t register. Myojin was too upset to pay attention. His words were a foreign language to the boy. He didn’t catch anything the man said until, “I know your father, Logan.”
Myojin jumped. He looked at the man. He wasn’t a man at all. He was only a little older than Myojin actually. He too was a chire. A hedgehog. His hair was long and a dark shade of brown. His eyes were also blue. He looked stern, but he spoke softly.
“Morgan, I know your father, Logan. He calls himself Spike. I can take you to him.”
“How do you know him? How do you know my father?” Myojin asked.
“He was a really good friend of my father’s before my father died. He’s kinda like my uncle.”
“You can take me to him?”
“Sure, just give me the the word and we'll go see him now.”
“I want to see him,” Myojin said, immediately forgetting about his lost home. If his father was really around, then maybe he'd be able to live with him once again.
“Good, follow me.”
Myojin followed without question.
“I’m Simon, by the way," the hedgehog said, opening the passenger door of his car for Myojin. "Simon Cornelius, but I go by Sion. Do you go by anything, or is it just Morgan?”
“Actually, I go by Myojin, now,” the boy replied, sitting down in the passenger's seat.
After getting strapped in, they drove off. Half an hour later, they arrived at a large house. Sion led him inside. They walked into the main room and there, sitting on the couch against the far wall, was a man. He had long orange hair, to Myojin's surprise, yellow eyes, and the tip of his left ear was torn. It was Logan, Myojin’s father. Sion tried to explain about the boy, but at the mention of his son, Spike grew furious.
“I don’t have no son. My sons all died. The last one with Rin,” he bellowed. Spike left the house without another word.
“I’m so sorry,” a woman said, approaching Myojin. “He always gets real touchy when it comes to his family. Sion should have known better than to be that direct.”
Sion sighed. “That’s my older sister, Maggie. And that’s my mother, Breann,” he said, pointing at the two women hedgehogs. “Annoying bunch really. I’ll actually be gone soon, so you’ll be staying here with them.”
Myojin didn’t answer. He merely nodded his head and watched. He took everything in without a word. They assured him that Spike would come to realize the truth soon enough. Personally, Myojin didn’t care. He had spent most of his life without him. He didn’t need him now. He was only happy that he was still alive.
From that day on, Myojin grew into his new lifestyle. Breann home schooled him. He lived with the Cornelius family, but he never saw Sion, except for holidays and during the summer. He was at the academy, so Sion didn’t have the opportunity visit.
The next two years came and went quickly and Myojin had been accepted into the Emerald Academy. Starting the next September, he would be joining Sion at the academy. During the past two years, Spike still hadn’t admitted that Myojin was actually his, but he was fine with that. Myojin would be leaving soon and he would no longer care for his father. He had more important things to worry about now. He had to get ready for the academy, where his real life would begin.
However, Myojin's time at the academy was as uneventful as Zeek's had been, if not more. He never learned that they had a greater purpose in mind for them. The most important thing he learned, which was vastly insignificant on a large scale, was his family's past. He learned about Spike and Rin's time there. He learned about their friends and even a little on their life before the academy. He also learned about Sion's family. Hiro and Breann, his parents, had attended around the same time that his own parents had. In fact, they were known collectively as the E.A. Seven. However, the entire group actually consisted of nine people. They were quite possibly the most well known group in the history. Amongst them, Jeff, Sion's uncle, and Spike had the highest scores of their year. Hiro, a year younger, graduation year of 2016 was also on the list, but he was outranked by three people, Kari, Katherine, and Ryuzakai, respectively. The following year, the year of 2017 was, the only person from the group that appeared on the list was David, Katherine's brother. Chase, the same year as Hiro appeared last on the list. Rin didn't appear at all. She had dropped out a few months after starting, when she became pregnant for the first time.
Myojin found himself intrigued by this Ryuzakai person. According to what the library's student roster had shown him, he was the smartest students during his time there, and his scores had yet to be beaten. He wasn't administered into the academy the same way as the others had been; he had been selected especially. The report of Ryuzakai continued on to explain that he was at one point an FBI agent, but he now worked as a private investigator. Only two people were known to be able to contact him.
Myojin made a mental note of Ryuzakai. He wanted to meet this man someday. He continued on to the present roster. The top student in the academy was Sion, which surprised no one. Myojin had heard from him and his parents that the government was hoping to use him for some upcoming event that was supposed to happen withing the next twenty or so years, but Myojin wasn't bothered by this.
Myojin went through his four years a the academy, scoring perfectly on everything. During his second year he learned that Sion, who was in his final year now, had finally been outranked by another student named Zeek, whom he had yet to meet. Curious in who could possibly be smarter than Sion, Myojin set off to find Zeek. To his horror, he turned out to be a little boy, only nine-years old. Myojin was furious. The anger he felt was impossible to be described. No words would do his rage justice. He approached the boy, unable to control himself, intending to do something. He couldn't explain his unfathomable rage towards the boy, but it didn't matter anyways. As soon as he had seen Zeek's blank eyes, he cowered down. Something about this boy unnerved him. He left Zeek alone and continued with his studies.
Myojin also met Logan, a year ahead of him, but he hated him almost as much as he hated Zeek, this reasoning being that Ryxil was a complete idiot in his eyes. Logan had stayed clear of him for the most part. Myojin soon learned that he was Sion's cousin. This made him hate the boy all the greater.
Myojin had spoken with Sion very little during his four years at the academy. During their few conversations, they spoke about the world at large. Sion explained how the E.A. was trying to unite the world under a single government and that Sion was the best candidate for getting the job done. Sion also told him about Ryuzakai, who Myojin had begun to develop a strong interest in him. Sion told him about his previous cases and about how Ryuzakai was the smartest person Sion had ever met. As a result, Myojin became even more fascinated with this enigmatic man.
Finally, a year later, Myojin graduated. Unlike Zeek, he had spent the normal four years and graduated at the right age. The school was in an uproar about the top two students. Zeek and Myojin had the highest scores in the history of the academy. Myojin was furious that he was being compared to this boy, but that didn't matter anymore. Soon, Sion was supposed to contact him, hopefully to tell him that he too had been accepted into the Emerald Alliance.
To his horror, he was turned down. Myojin was unable to believe what had happened. Had his past four years been for naught? He had worked so hard, only so he could continue working with his idol, Sion. Myojin closed himself off from the Cornelius family. He barely ate. He never spoke.
This continued for a few weeks until he receive another letter from Sion, telling him to meet Ryuzakai, to learn from him and work under him. He said that it was a better opportunity than the alliance would ever be.
Taking his idol's advice, Myojin contacted Kari, who set up a meeting with the already expecting Ryuzakai. Two weeks later, a day before Zeek met him, Ryuzakai appeared at the Cornelius' door and took Myojin with him. Thus, Ryuzakai now had two possible successors to train; Myojin Neisel and Zeek Randell.