Grounded for Life

by Supremechief

Chapter 6: Just Different

Grounded For Life

By: Supremechief

Chapter 6: Just Different

***

‘…as the war between good and evil dragged on, Nyx and her crew of rookies continued their crusade against the Legion of Nightmare.
As the battles between good and evil rage across the land, the line that divided good and evil had become more obscured. Sky Knights began to sell out their designated Riochts to the legion in order to gain favour with the dark lord of fear incarnate. While at the same time former Legion generals were deserting their post in protest to their former master for encouraging the use of immoral conduct in warfare. It seemed as if the war was no longer about who was right or wrong but rather who will be the last one to survive and rebuild from the scraps. But in the end the hatred that had been growing on both sided from the betrayals and loss of loved ones had grown past the breaking point. Even if the leaders of both sides were to convene for peace there will be too many individuals who will be all too eager to fan the flame of war just to have an opportunity to seek revenge. Admits the uncertainty of alliance and trust however, Nyx and her Midnight Guardians stayed true to their oaths.
As they continued to challenge to Legion in late years of the war, word reached their ears of a third party entering the war. Reports have been floating around both sides of the war of a rouge group composed of three ponies had been systematically attacking and killing powerful political and military leaders on both sides. To the Legion these ponies were terrorist, to the Sky Knights they were opportunist taking advantage of the chaos that had spread to the four corners of the land. They have called themselves the Grim Ravens and at the helm of this rouge group was…’

A sudden screech caused Steelbolt to jump up from his bead as Mihawk interrupted Steelbolt from his late night reading. It was a hot summer night in Cloudsdale which was making it difficult for Steelbolt to relax and fall asleep. As a result, Steelbolt had decided to catch up on some reading from his favourite book. It has been a while since he read from this book for fun of it rather than a study material.
About two months had passed since the ‘Best Young Fliers’ competition and when Steelbolt gained a new drive to make an artificial way for all ponies to fly. Since then, Steelbolt had been wholeheartedly spending much of his free time trying to develop his flight suit. Even though Steelbolt had plenty of imagination to try new things, he learned that to make his dream come true sooner he had to expand his knowledge. As a result he had been visiting one of the many small public libraries in Cloudsdale frequently as he began his self-imposed studies. After all those visits and self-study sessions, Steelbolt had accelerated his understanding of mechanics and aviation by months ahead of the average colt.

Now however, be had been hitting a creativity block over the past few days. As a result of not knowing what to try next for his next model he had been taking time off to do things that required little thinking such reading books out of enjoyment, playing with Mihawk in the park or just having fun like a colt his age should be doing instead of trying act like a student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.
Mihawk screeched again causing Steelbolt to put down his book as he scanned his room for his pet in the dim light of a bedside lamp. The first place he looked at was Mihawk’s perch just across the room which just lay bare showing no sign of the baby hawk who had a fully grown into a full sized flying predator since the day Vetrini brought him home. As he was about to look at another possible place for Mihawk to be hiding out when the hawk let out another screech that would not require Fluttershy to translate it as a call of urgency. Snapping his neck to the source Steelbolt saw that Mihawk was in a frantic state on the window sill making gestures to Steelbolt to look outside.

Giving a slight yawn as the reading had done some of its work Steelbolt crawled out of bed and made his way to the window as he hoped onto his hind leg to get a better look outside. While he may not have the same long range eyesight as Mihawk there was more than enough moon light and starlight for Steelbolt to see that out in the distance there was appeared to be… nothing but empty Cloudsdale streets as fare as pony eyes can see. But still, Steelbolt wondered why Mihawk was so riled up.

“Mihawk, I trust you that there may be something of interest out there that I might find interesting.” Steelbolt said with disinterest. “I don’t see why you are ruffling up your feathers over this. It is late and let us both do ourselves a favor and…”

Before Steelbolt could finish, Mihawk took off into the night.

“Hey! Mihawk! Wait up!” Steelbolt called out after his friend as he struggled to climb out of his window to chase after him. Unfortunately, his room was on the second floor of the house which resulted in him landing in his mother’s flower garden.

Steelbolt sighed as he thought about being thankful that the flowers and the soft custom garden cloud was able to soften his fall. However he began to think about what his mother would think when she sees her gladioli trampled. “This is why, in flight 101: ‘Always be aware of your surroundings.’”

Once Steelbolt dusted himself off he scanned the area to see where Mihawk was. To his surprise Mihawk up in the sky hovering with Luna’s moon directly behind him. This made an easy find as his silhouette in the moonlight made him stick out like a sore hoof in the clear night sky. To Steelbolt, it was odd for Mihawk to take off then pick out a not too subtle place to hide. He worked so hard to get Steelbolt’s attention, he lured him outside and then he made sure that Steelbolt will not lose sight of him. Just what this hawk was trying to pull was without a doubt suspicious.

As Steelbolt was about to call out for Mihawk to return to him the bird of prey took off again in its previous course, far past from what Steelbolt could see from his bedroom window. To him Mihawk’s persistence to lead him away from his home looked almost obsessive. From what Vetrini told Steelbolt, hawks have perhaps the best eyesight of any bird of prey that would allow them to objects in the distance as if they were right in front of them. So it was clear to Steelbolt that Mihawk may have saw something about the group that may have been some concern. Though, as far as Steelbolt knew about pets they do not usually get worked up unless they detect a threat to their owners. So what kind of threat could Mihawk have seen that Steelbolt could not from the safety of his own bedroom?

“Wait a moment, how long have I been chasing Mihawk?” Steelbolt asked himself as he came to a screeching halt. Looking back he saw that his house was no longer in sight. “Great way to use that head of your Steelbolt.” He said to himself sarcastically, “You went chasing after your pet for who knows how long and got yourself lost.” Looking up he sees Mihawk hovering about in the air just within eye shot so Steelbolt could keep track of him.

Steelbolt shook his head as he continued to run after Mihawk. For a moment Steelbolt had considered just staying put and just wait out Mihawk to give up this game of cat and mouse so they could just go home. After all, Mihawk was perhaps the only way he was ever going to get home now that he was lost.

While it did seem that Mihawk was leading Steelbolt somewhere and would only continue his flight path as long as Steelbolt did not lose sight of him, Steelbolt came to the conclusion that Mihawk was going to make sure that Steelbolt gets to his destination one way or another. So as stood to reason the sooner Steelbolt gets to where ever Mihawk was leading him the sooner his pet will lead him home
“And I am going to pluck so many feathers off of him when this is over he is going to need a sweater to keep him warm.”

***

The chase continued for some time until they came to a vacant area of which was far from any building in the city of clouds in which Steelbolt came to an unusual sight. A bit farther from his location he was able to see a group of colts wrestling with each other. But they were unlike any of the colts Steelbolt had seen before as all of them had wings that were bat like instead of normal feather wings that all pegasi ponies should have.

But there wings were not the only things unusual about these colt’s appearances. Instead of dots their pupils were slits like a cat or a dragon. Their coats were dark shades instead of the usual bright and colourful shaded of the ponies Steelbolt usually sees. Their ears had more fur on them but that could just be due to them not trimming that area for some time. The last and perhaps the most intriguing difference between theses colt’s features and his own was they all had a pair of fangs poking from their upper lips.

Steelbolt tried to stay low as he continued to observe them. He did not know why but he could not shake off this feeling that this was what Mihawk was trying to lead him to. For what reason Steelbolt was unsure of but speaking of Mihawk Steelbolt had been too focus on the strange colts in front of him that he failed to notice that Mihawk was no longer in sight.

“What are you doing spying on us day walker?” But Mihawk’s desertion would be the least of Steelbolt’s problems as he turned around to see the source of the voice behind him.

There stood a bit bulker colt than the ones Steelbolt had seen earlier and from the look of his eye’s he was not too thrilled on being spied. He had dark crimson red eyes, a neutral grey coat and a black mane. As Steelbolt stood up to face him he then realized how much taller and older this colt was as he easily stood a head taller than Steelbolt. He could not help but feel inferior to this colt as he tried to explain himself.

“I-I-I’m sorry I did not mean to spy on y-y-you.” Steelbolt stuttered as he struggled to get words out of mouth. “I-I was chasing my pet hawk that lead out here from my home and now,” Steelbolt looked around trying to find Mihawk only realized he was truly by himself on this. “I appear to be lost now that my pet had abandoned me.”

Steelbolt swallowed as he analysed the mess the he was currently in. He was far from home, his pet had abandoned him, he was face to face with bat like colt who looked like he was going beat him and due to his physical limitations there was no chance of him running away from this. Then again this colt was perhaps somepony who just did not like bring spied on and maybe he could help him get home.

“S-so i-if you could be so kind as to direct me to the direction of the northwest

The bat colt smiled, but not in a compassionate way. He looked over to where the other colts were called out to them. “Hey boys, I think we have ourselves a new ‘sparring partner’.”

Steelbolt looked around to see who this colt was talking to and to his terror there were three other bat colts surrounding him.

‘I’m doomed.’ He thought to himself. After all he may be young but he had enough wits to understand that when you are called a ‘sparring partner’ and everyone was against you the more correct term of your position was ‘punching bag’.

Steelbolt tried to position himself to fight back but his hooved refused to move to a proper stance. Instead they were moving closer together as he felt his legs become weak under his weight forcing him to shrink down into a ball.

‘Why is this so hard?’ he thought to himself. When he stood up to the Strom brothers he was able to stand his ground let along beat them. While true that these colts were bigger than the brothers they were not that big to intimidate him by sheer size alone. Thinking back he recalled what he had felt during that encounter with the brothers. All that anger, all that frustration, all those negative emotions that he had kept in check for so long bursting out of him in a deranged rage was not with him at this moment. He had nothing to fuel any anger towards these colts and with the seemingly inevitable beating he was going to get the only thing he felt was fear.

The bat colt snickered amongst themselves as they closed in closer to Steelbolt, taking their time just to see how much more he would cower before the real fun can begin. When the lead colt was about to deliver the first blow a female voice caught all of their attention.

“What is going on here!”

Steelbolt looked towards the sound of the voice and just as quickly as she had caught their attention she appeared in front of Steelbolt with her back towards him and the moon at her front Steelbolt can only make a sharp silhouette of here figure. From Steelbolt’s estimate she was perhaps a year older than him and from here wings and apparent extra fur on her ears she was a bat pony just like the colts.

“Aww come on Mid’, we were only going to go a couple of rounds with him.” One of the colts told the bat filly in a playful tone.

“Don’t act innocent. I know about you parents night supremacy ideals.” The filly said with a clear sound of dislike towards the colts. “The attacks on day ponies as they head home during sundown and those who are out during the night, and I thought the return of Princess Luna would be the starting point of our kind returning to common knowledge and to renew a lost friendship.”

Now Steelbolt was lost, this time in his understanding what was happing. Were these bat ponies a secrete breed that were hidden before the reveal of Princess Celestia’s lost sister returning to the throne? And what was this night supremacy? It left a bad taste but Steelbolt did not know why. Whatever was going on at least this filly was not going to hurt him, hopefully he thought as he managed to get himself up.

The lead colt frowned as he approached the filly, even though Steelbolt’s vision was mostly blocked by the filly he could still make out the colt’s expression which was now more menacing than sinister compared to earlier.

“Are you openly saying that you would defend a day walker? I was only going to make him ache before letting him go but if you smash him into the cloud he stands on then I will forgive your insulting talk of befriending the day walkers and let him go with a broken leg.”

Steelbolt made a dry swallow as he feared that his apparent protector was going to turn on him. Just when he thought he was saved he was going to be in more trouble than he was in before. A dark flame began to spark in his heart silently hating the filly for making his night worse.

“If not then you’re then one who will be broken while he gets a one way trip to the surface.”

The spark that Steelbolt had was not gone and now faced fear. He had seen a few of his sister’s action movies and from what he learned was that when ‘one way’ was used a part of a threat it does not mean that he was going on a trip.

The filly turned around to face Steelbolt as he prepared for the worse. To his surprise her face appeared to be gentler than the other bat ponies once the glare of the moon was no longer obstructing her appearance. Her turquois slit eyes, dark purple mane and a dark coat that bordered from the darkest shade of grey to pure black. Even with her fangs sticking out from her upper lip she emitted no aura of fear at all.

“When I give the word run.” She whispered to Steelbolt who now looked at her in some confusion. What was she talking about? Was she going to help him escape? Steelbolt did not have much time to think about it as the filly turned around to face the bat colts again. Readying herself in a fighting stance it was clear what her decision was, she was going to defend Steelbolt.

The colts closed in towards Steelbolt and his filly protector when she surprised everypony with when she took down the lead colt by tackling him to the ground. With such a sudden surprise that their leader was in trouble they forgot about Steelbolt bolt and turned their attention towards the filly that had the upper hoof on their leader.

“Go now!” the filly shouted when she saw that she had all the attention on her no. Steelbolt was hesitant for a moment but when he realized that she was offering herself as a decoy to allow him a clear escape route he bolted.

But Steelbolt did not get far as when heard a loud female grunt he took a look around and saw that although this filly was holding her own against four other colts she was clearly at a disadvantage against superior numbers.

Steelbolt was uncertain on what he should do. He had no practice in martial arts like these bat foals seem to have an understanding of and he did feel the berserk rage he felt that day with the Strom Brothers to motivate him to let it all out either.

He was unsure what to do. The filly was doing this so he could escape so going back would be making her sacrifice for standing up to the bat colts meaningless. However Steelbolt’s good conscience was not allowing him to leave her along and let her get hurt because of his careless act of wondering out the middle of the night just to chase his upset hawk.

As he was pondering on what his action should be he overheard the bat colts argue shout to the filly.

“Why do you defend a day walker? It is because of them we our kind had to spend a thousand years in exile.”

“My father told me that he and my mother were forced to live like criminals. They were kind ponies and yet the day walker threw rocks at them at any opportunity.”

“Even after Princess Luna’s return only the families of the military class were allowed to leave the settlements.”

“So why risk your flank for such a hypocritical breed? They promise friendship and cooperation but we have been neglected whenever we outlive our usefulness.”

The bat filly was panted hard as trying to fight four older bat ponies have had forced her to pull every move she knew just to minimize injury to herself. In the response to the colt’s question however she smiled.

“Because my hero, Kard De Ponteci of the night guard said, ‘The better ponies are not the strongest but rather the one who knows how to forgive and seek peace and understanding. For those who were given the strength to fight were burdened to not only protect their own kind, but all who call this world home.’”

The filly’s speech touched Steelbolt’s heart for a bit. He recalled a time when he and his father would occasionally play a game of chess.

***

During one game he was losing badly when his father made curious question. “Steelbolt, who would be best represent the king in real life?”

“What do you mean Dad?” Steelbolt asked looking up from the board. The game stood with Steelbolt capturing half of his father’s pawns along with a knight and both rooks while his father had captured almost all of his pawns, his queen, both knights and a bishop.

“Sometimes a pony can be compared to a chess piece on this board.” Paragrim says as he moves his knight to a new position. “Take this knight for example. It is not a very powerful piece but with its ability to jump over and past other pieces it makes it the most versatile. Kind of like how a captain should be in the guard. He cannot be limited to a single strategy but must keep an open mind and become versatile in order to get past any obstacle.”

“So I take it you think of yourself as a knight?” Steelbolt smiled as he moved one of his rook pieces into a position to capture his father’s remaining knight. After all his father was in officer for the Equestrian Rangers so he had to lead his own team back when he was in the field.

“Not exactly.” Paragrim smiled as he made his move. “You see Steelbolt unlike you who are more like a rook, as you so often take a direct approach to challenges much like how a rook can only capture a piece with a headstrong frontal attack, I take a more… indirect approach.” With that he picked up his bishop from across the board and catching Steelbolt by surprise as it moved towards his rook to capture it. “Therefore I see myself as the bishop. While the rook always takes the direct approach by moving along the rows and columns allowing it to easily capture enemy pieces, the bishop’s ability to move diagonally allows it to sneak past enemy lines with less difficulty. This in turn makes it an ideal piece to use to exploit weaknesses in enemy formations much like how my unit operates in the field. Unlike the guard which would attack the enemy head on, the light infantry would sneak past enemy lines and attack targets that are vital to the enemy. Although we are not as involved in the heat of battle, our success is just as important to winning a fight.”

Steelbolt thinks about what his father had said as he watched his rook being removed from the board. He could not deny that he would often capture a piece the moment it is exposed which often end with him falling into a trap while his father would plan multiple moves ahead which also allowed him to capture Steelbolt’s queen early in the game with little warning.

“So I’ll ask again, who would be the king in this world we live in?”

Steelbolt pauses as he tried to think of a way to turn the time of the game back to his favour. “Well the princess I think. She is the most important pony in the land much like how the king is the most important piece.” Steelbolt said as he moved his remaining rook to better defend his king.

Paragrim lets out a small laugh as he plans his next move. “Yes, that what many new recruits thought when they first joined the military.” Paragrim then sits up as he does a mocking impression of a fresh recruit, “‘Celestia is the ruler. We must protect her at all cost.’” Steelbolt laughs a bit at his father before he takes his seat at the other end of the board. “However she is more like queen. And I’m not saying this just because queen and princess are female titles. The queen best represent the princess because with its omnidirectional ability it is the most powerful piece in the game much like how Celestia is the most powerful pony in the past millennium.” Paragrim said as he picks up his own queen and moves it into position to put Steelbolt’s king in check.

But Steelbolt was not fazed, although his king is in danger from his father’s queen it was the in direct line of sight of his remaining rook. Taking the initiative he moved his rook away from his king and captured his father’s queen.

As Paragrim watched as his some removed his queen from the board he continued with his talk. “However since the princess is not the king, Equestria can still stand even if she were to fall.”

It was then Steelbolt realized he fell for his father misdirection. “Therefore,” his father began as he picked up a pawn to move it into Steelbolt’s back row, “In time a new leader will rise in time, and lead us to the future. Checkmate.” With the new queen on the board Steelbolt king was in check again but this time there was no escape.

Sighing in defeat Steelbolt tipped over his king signalling his lost. “So Dad, if Celestia is not the king piece, who is?”

Paragrim walked over to his son and gave him a hug, “To those who have served for a long time it is all the ponies who live in this country that are the most important to protect. But to me… it’s you, your sister and your mother who are my king piece.”

***

Returning to the present Steelbolt saw the filly continue to wear down from her attackers. She was still able to stand her ground but at the moment she was visibly slower than she was before. She was no longer able to avoid all the hit the colts were throwing at her and less than half of her own throws hit there mark as well.

Mustering up the courage to help her Steelbolt charged head on and threw himself at one of the bat colts. The colt that he tackled first was one that was going to attack the filly from behind and thanks to Steelbolt’s blindside attack he managed to catch the colt off guard and stun him long enough for Steelbolt to land a luck blow to put him down for a while.

The other three colt became distracted to see a day walker get the drop on them which cost them another colt as the filly made a quick jab into one of their stomachs causing him crouch over from a sudden depletion of air and pain. Now with a two on two fight, Steelbolt and the filly against the lead bat colt and one of his partners, Steelbolt saw this as an opportunity to escape. With the remaining colts a bit worn while he was still in the warmup phase he can easily outrun them even if they have an aerial advantage if they give chase. However the filly he came to help him escape was in worse condition. She was exhausted and more banged up from having to fend off multiple opponents at once. If they can end the fight quickly however then they can get away with little problem considering Steelbolt and his partner will be the only ones to can still move.

As much of a long shot that plan seems it now appeared to Steelbolt more like a challenge. A challenge Steelbolt could not help but find a disturbing yet thrilling emotion as he looked at his partner with an apparent look that caused her to become confused but soon responded with a nod.

They charged towards the remaining colts with Steelbolt surprising everypony with a sudden short increase of speed as his life depended on it as he took on the reaming support bat colt while the filly took on the leader. With a surge of alien excitement and a discard of some self-restraint the Steelbolt had tried to practice since his fight with the Storm bothers, he quickly overcame his opponent with a head on attack but not without having to take a few hits to the chest and into his sides as his recklessness left him opened to too many counters. The filly on the other hand finished up with her opponent with a more discipline approach as she kept her movement fluid as she dodged her opponent’s strikes and countered attacked with quick jabs into her opponents more vulnerable areas.

With the last two bat colts down Steelbolt saw that the other two that were down earlier were getting back up slowly. Although his gut was encouraging him to keep going as his mind was becoming more clouded from a sense of thrill a last bit of his mind reminded him that the reason they were fighting was to get a clear get away. If he stuck around too long then he would be in a losing fight.

Shaking his head as he cleared up his thought he turned towards the filly and said, “Let’s go before they get back up.”

The Filly looked at him odd like she did earlier but again she nodded in agreement and she started to fly off while Steelbolt followed on foot.

***

“I think we’re in the clear now.” The filly said as she landed in front of Steelbolt.

Steelbolt looked behind them as he took in his surroundings. They were in a park of some kind with some playground equipment and some open patched of cloud for a field game but most of all there were none of those bat colts in sight.

“Phew, it has been a while since I had to run like that.” Steelbolt said as he slumped into the cloud beneath him.

“Taking your less than muscular physique I would agree that you don’t normally…run?” The filly said with confusion as she realized what Steelbolt said. “What did you mean run? You’re a pegasus. You should have been flying during our little escape. What kind of pegasus chooses not fly?” She asked in an angry tone as she could not believe the level of stupidity of a pegasus choosing to run instead of fly when making an escape.

Steelbolt lowered his head in shame making the slightly older filly feel a bit guilty thinking she was perhaps a bit too harsh on him. The began to think that he was perhaps a late bloomer who’s wing still have to grow to a sizable length before they can even begin to fly. When she thought about it however she could not see much of his wings at all. Granted it was still night but her kind does have some level of night vision so if his wings were useable she should have seen them.

She was not however prepared for what Steelbolt said when he finally answered her question. “The kind of pegasus that does not have wings.”

In disbelief she rushed over to his side and gently ran her hoof along his back trying to feel any sign of a wing. But she found nothing. Not even a nub of where the wings would have been attached to the back would be present. To her surprise his physical anatomy was more like and earth pony and not a pegasus.

Feeling the continuation of her hooves prodding his back Steelbolt decided to just move on the humiliation he was going to receive. “Go on laugh. The only earth pony who can walk on cloud or the Pegasus born without wings take your pick. Bring on the freak chant I doubt I would hear anything new.”

The filly looked at him confused. Why would he expect her to laugh? There was no joke and it was no nice to laugh at other ponies unless they are laughing too. “Why would you say that? I would never say that to somepony with such a birth defect.” She said.

“Thanks for making me feel better.” Steelbolt said sarcastically.

“What I mean is that this is no laughing matter.” She said as she took a seat beside Steelbolt as he remained slumped in the cloud. “You see my parents often warn me on not to make myself known to other ponies except those of my kind. They told me that our kind’s appearance,” she said as she extened her wings for Steelbolt to look at, “had long been treated as some kind of plague. We have long been treated as monster when we have no intention of hurting anypony.”

Steelbolt looked at her again. Seeing her wings and her fangs she does capture the image of monsters his sister talked about in her movie collection and could see how that would make her an outcast if she were to come to his school. Parents telling there foals to stay away from her, other students insulting her because of her appearance. Even though she could have faced similar hardships if she attended her school she at least knew there was a large group that could accept her. After all that would be easier, to just stick with a group that she could blend in with. With a bunch of other bat ponies to be around with she would be… treated… as… normal.

Steelbolt looked away. Was his mother not so different from what he thought about this filly just a moment ago? To be concerned for her well-being because she was obviously different from the other foals he knew? Maybe he found somepony who perhaps understand him that was not a relative.

“So you can see I know what it is like to be different by appearance so I am not going to make fun of your lack of wings.” She said as she finished her talk.

There was a moment of silence between the two before Steelbolt decided to break the silence. “Hey,” he said to get the filly’s attention, “thanks, for saving me from those colts. I think I would have been a goner if you had not become a decoy for me to get away.”

“Well you could have gone a few rounds yourself seeing how you took out two colts with more year of fighting under their belt than you obviously do.”

“Well fighting is not my thing. In fact I rather avoid considering the last time I got into a fight I nearly done something I would have regretted.” Steelbolt said as he got up while looking down recalling perhaps his worst moment.

Seeing that it was a topic this colt would not to share a silence once again came over them as they watched the night sky. It was then the filly remembered something important to do but the colt beside her shared the same thought.

“We have not a proper introduction have we.” Steelbolt asked.

“No.” the filly answered.

“Then let me go first.” Steelbolt said as he walked in front of her. “I am Steelbolt. That’s one word and I was not given a second name.” He said as he extended his hoof in a gesture of greeting.

The filly took the hoof into her and replied, “Midna. Midna Guard.”

Author's Note:

Finally after three rewrites, multiple writer blocks and loss of motivation the sixth chapter is finished.
For some notes the two new character I introduced I left a clue to what there roles would be in the future. if your the type of person who like to think about characters keep any assumtion out of the public comment.
Also for the chess game scene is a reference to Naruto where Asuma Sensei and Shikamaru are playing Shogi prior to Asuma's death which to me was one of the most emotional deaths in the series after Jaraiya and Itachi.
Another Note this chapter was completely not previewed as I may have left a bad impression on TP-Night after a very bad first draft back in December. so if it appears weak I am more than welcome to hear tips as long as it is messaged and not commented.
So thank you for reading and have a great summer.