~.Obscure Kingdom.~

"What are you doing, Black Mist!?" King Pluto scolded when his son hit the ground on his rear end after he lost his balance when he was forcefully disarmed. He pointed his sword to his neck. "If I were an enemy, I would not hesitate to slit your throat!"

King Pluto was a 96 and muscular due to so much training. He was completely black with long hair that reached the curve of his back. The tips of his hair were red, and as the color climbed up, it gradually faded into black. His eyes were black and gold, and like all 96s, he had red markings that started at his forehead and snaked down to under his eyes. He normally wore a robe of maroon, and that was no exception to when he trained. He had dark brown boots on his feet that seemed to work in any terrain. He was extremely skilled in swordsmanship and expected his son to be good at it as well.

Prince Black Mist snorted and sneered, moving the sword away from his neck with the tip of his finger touching the blade. Black blood dropped from the cut that was made. "Oh, shut up! You know I'm no good with swords!"

Black Mist was a teenager, and the opposite of his father in terms of toned muscles. He was rather slender and feminine-looking. Like his father, he had gold and black eyes and the same red markings. His whole body was black, and his black hair was arched up. Unlike his father, though, he had markings on his cheeks, arms, legs, torso, and back. Gems that served to heal and harm him decorated in pairs on his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. He normally wore two expressions on his face: a playful or knowing smirk or a huffy frown. He straight up refused to wear the adornments for the prince, and he was flat out terrible with swords!

"I don't care!" King Pluto shouted. "You will excel at this skill if you want to participate in the war!"

"Does it look like I care?" Black Mist spat. He got up. "I'm better without a sword, Father. You know this."

"In the battlefield, there will be blades everywhere, and no one will be fighting in hand-to-hand combat. You know this!"

Black Mist kicked the sword away from him and stormed off inside. He absolutely hated using a sword, and it peeved him off when his father tried to train him with the ways of the sword. He was better in hand-to-hand combat, and he trained in that skill every day, but he knew that it would be useless in battle with someone armed with a sword. Still, he could win against them if he tried!

One of the servants came up to him. "My prince, would you like-"

"No." Black Mist brushed past him. "Bring Vector. I'm bored."

The servant nodded and went to fetch the Barian Emperor. Black Mist and Vector have been friends since they were young, so Vector never really gave Black Mist the whole special treatment just because he was a prince! From a very young age, they've been training each other in combat in secret from their parents because they didn't want them to know they were getting too violent. Seriously, their parents were super scary when they were angry. Just like the Dark Number, Vector hated the use of swords and much rather preferred the use of his own Barian magic. That was just fine with Black Mist, for he enjoyed the extra challenge of landing a few kicks while Chaos Winds sliced at him. It was a 96 thing. They loved extra challenges.

Black Mist was waiting at the clearing in the forest, which was their secret training grounds, bored out of his mind. He paced around for a while until an explosion knocked his balance out of whack.

"You little son of a bitch!" he screamed when he regained his feet. "I'm gonna kill you!"

A voice behind him chuckled. "That's what you said last time, but I'm still around."

Black Mist whipped around and put up a wall of ooze just in time to deflect an aerial knife. As soon as he put it down, he saw Vector standing their with his usual cloak still on. He whipped it off to gain more ability to move around.

Vector was a rather toned Barian with pretty much gray skin and lighter hair that spiked up. His eyes were purple, and one could swear that they seemed to look into their soul. Red jewels decorated his hair, wings, arms, legs, and torso. He had black wings, but Black Mist could never tell if they were for flying or just for show. On his forearms were what seemed to be bands of gray and black, and he usually wore some kind of cloth over his crotch for some reason, but the Dark Number wasn't about to venture there. Under his eyes were black spike designs, but the strange thing was that the Barian had no mouth or nose.

Black Mist crossed his arms and gave him a cocky grin. "Ah, there you are." Then, he frowned darkly. "Was it necessary to make me panic like that?"

Vector mockingly bowed. "Oh, I apologize deeply, my prince," he chuckled. "How shall I make up for it?"

Black Mist flicked the place where his nose should be. "How about stop acting like an idiot and relieve my boredom. That would be a start."

Vector laughed and straightened up. "Alright, then. I suppose we drop the royal pretenses as usual?"

"When have we not?"

"Okay." Before he knew what was going on, Vector launched another Chaos Spear right at Black Mist.

Black Mist dodged just in time and even grabbed the handle of the Spear. Since he was a 96, Chaos didn't really affect him all that much. He threw it onto the ground and merely rushed at Vector with amazing speed. He wound up a fist, readying it for a mighty punch.

As soon as he threw that punch, Vector caught his fist and twisted. Black Mist grinned, letting him. To the Barian's surprise, his wrist twisted easily, yet there was no sound of breaking bone or any pain on his friend's face.

"Hey, what's with the face?" Black Mist teased, knocking his other fist right into Vector's face while he was distracted. "Don't you know you cannot let your guard down!?"

Vector stumbled back, grunting. He huffed and got more Chaos ready for use.

~.Cosmic Kingdom.~

King Zeon watched as his son, Prince Astral, focused on the spells he was learning. Zeon wasn't all that into combat, and as a result of hardly any physical training, he wasn't all that muscular, but he made up for that with his amazing spellcasting skills. He was an accomplished sorcerer, and he encouraged his children to take that path. He was tall and sky blue with golden hair that reached his shoulders. He didn't like to wear armor since he was a sorcerer, and he had no need for the armor. Instead, he wore a white robe with gold designs and white boots. His eyes were gold and white.

"Good job, Astral," the king complimented when his son completed a complicated spell.

Prince Astral smiled. "Thank you, Father." He blew what he had in his hand, and a harmless shower of snow of different colors sprinkled to the floor.

Zeon smiled and clapped. "I see you have been practicing on magics for outside of combat, my son. Well done!"

Astral, like his father, was not a fan of physical fighting, and he much rather preferred to use magic. He was slender and feminine-looking, not that he minded. His right eye was white while the other was gold, and his sky blue hair arched forward. His entire body was sky blue and covered with green-ish markings and gems that either soothed or caused pain depending on how they were treated. They were even ticklish! He wore a golden cloak that covered his entire body, and it even served as a cape depending on how it was positioned. For his own safety, Astral had a slender sword strapped loosely to his waist. It was for when he was too close in combat for any form of magic or if his magic energy happened to be completely drained. He was reluctant, but his father knew best. He had earrings dangling on his ears, which marked his royal lineage.

Dainty clapping could be heard from behind the two along with a giggling. They looked to see Astral's fraternal twin Astrid and his mother Astralena. (Note: This is Laurcaty831's character :3 She was kind enough to let me use her! Please, read her stories!)

Astrid, like Astral, was sky blue with a long, dark blue dress that touched the floor. She had the same face markings as Astral, but that was where the similarities ended for the markings. She had green-ish bands on her upper arms and gems on the same places as Astral. Her eyes were the same colors as his along with the same placement of the colors. She was very energetic and cheerful, almost the exact opposite of her twin, who was mellow and intelligent. She wore a translucent blue cape.

Astralena was a beautiful woman with long blue hair and mismatched eyes. Her right one was white while the left was a very light purple, almost to the point of people mistaking it for white. Her skin was sky blue, and she had mostly the same markings as her son. She wore along, white dress with sleeves that flowed out to the floor. On her feet were clear high heels, which clicked on the waxed floor as she walked closer to her son.

"Very well done, Astral," she said, hugging him. "See how much practice pays off when you try your hardest?"

Astral smiled back and hugged his mother. "Yes, Mother."

Astrid ran to him and practically tackled him to the floor. "Can you teach me?" she asked, pressing down on his chest in her excitement. "Can you, can you, can you?"

"As-Astrid!" Astral choked out, grabbing his sister's wrists. "Stop that!" He sat up, careful to not let her fall. He fixed his cloak, which had been thrown off due to her tackle.

King Zeon chuckled. "Astrid, you are far too energetic today," he teased. "Take some sleeping syrup!"

Astrid laughed, straddling her twin brother's lap. "Sorry, Father!" She hugged the life out of Astral. "But he's just too cool!" She really admired him up to the point of being a complete fangirl for her own brother.

Astral chuckled slightly. "Thank you, Astrid. Now, can you please get off?"

Astrid nodded and jumped off. Astral got back up, dusting himself off with an internal sigh. Sometimes, Astrid could be a bit too much for him, but at the end of the day, he still loved her. She was the one that balanced them out.

"Father, can you show me how to do magic?" Astrid's eyes were glowing with excitement, as they always did when she got excited, so the night in the twins' room could get pretty sleepless if she was excited at all.

Zeon sighed, biting his lower lip. "Astrid, you cannot, for your body cannot handle the extreme pressure necessary. You are more fitted for combat and healing."

Astrid pouted. "Very well, Father." Then, the smile returned to her face. "The good thing is that I can still see Astral do the magic!"

Astral snapped, making a flower appear in his hand. He gave it to Astrid with a bow. "For you, my loveley sister," he said with a smile.

Astrid gasped and took the flower. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed, hugging him again.

King Zeon and Astralena chuckled at the sight of their twins.

~.Obscure Kingdom.~

Black Mist and Vector, both tired and beaten, sat on the grass by a lake, tending to each other's wounds after their battle. None came out victorious, which usualy happened nowadays. They didn't much mind.

Vector finished up the last of the bandages on Black Mist and sat back. "There," he sighed. "That was rough!"

"Yes!" Black Mist, who had already finished treating Vector's wounds, laughed. "You've grown stronger, Vector!"

"I can say the same about you!" Vector chuckled. "It's getting harder to hold you back with just Chaos Winds!"

Black Mist grinned. "Yeah. You will have to make up another technique to get to me!"

"Oh, don't you worry about that. I have much more."

Black Mist chuckled. "Okay! I can't wait to see them!"

"Same to you." Vector seemed to be grinning with his eyes. "Your attacks are getting predictable. You'll need to come up with new one soon."

"Yeah, yeah! I'm working on it!" Black Mist waved him off. "Anyways, we should get some rest and go back in the morning."

They got up and went to an inn in their town. They didn't want to go home and make their parents angry. By the next day, they would be better.