It's been about a week since the group arrived in Tokyo. The minor injuries that they sustained during the infiltration of the D.C. compound had mostly healed.
"So, what do you think?" Alex had just finished explaining the idea of Jason's 'missions' to Bloom. The two women were sitting outside on a bench next to the makeshift graveyard. They had made it a habit to come out there for some peace and quiet.
She wrapped her coat around her chest as she thought.
"I don't know. Those kids are a bunch of wildcards." Bloom smiled to herself just thinking of the antics they've gotten into.
"You're not wrong. Jason said he'll have to split them up so they can fit into the usual groups with one or two more seasoned kids." Alex nodded as she put her arm around Bloom's shoulder.
"Wait, Jason won't be with them? I don't know, Alex." Bloom leaned into Alex.
"He said he and Molly don't like to use their Modes, ever since… Manny." Alex stared at Manny's headstone.
A few seconds of silence passed before Bloom spoke.
"See if Jason has an easy one. We'll see what the kids think."
In Chase's room, the group of Chase, Amora, Vida, Akilah, Taro, and Kai sat idle, bored out of their minds.
"I wonder when training is gonna start. Do they do that over here?" Kai lay upside down on Chase's bed.
"I heard Jason talking about missions or something. Sounded kinda interesting." Taro threw a baseball up in the air, catching it and throwing it up again.
"Does anyone know where Hendrix is?" Amora shot up, realizing they were missing someone.
"Probably with Molly." Chase said as the girls went silent, looking at Vida for her reaction.
Vida looked up, then immediately looked back down at the book she was reading on native Japanese flora and fauna.
Suddenly, the door to the room swung open, revealing Molly.
"Hey, have you seen Hendrix?" Molly crossed her gaze from one side of the room to the other, looking for anyone that would answer her question.
"Nobody knows. Why do you want him?" Vida spoke bluntly, keeping her eyes on her book.
Molly went silent for a few seconds, trying to gauge the tone of the response.
"Um, just curious. Alright, see ya." Molly closed the door without waiting for a response.
Vida's grip on her book tightened. She read the same line three times before calming herself down.
After a few seconds of silence, Molly opened the door once again.
"Also, my brother wants you in the gymnasium." Molly closed the door.
The kids exchanged confused looks.
Once the group got over the confusion and gathered themselves in the gymnasium, they saw Hendrix talking with the kid who escorted Bloom and Alex to the graveyard on their first day in the compound.
"...They're mostly just small escorting jobs, rarely do they ever get too dangerous." They heard the small blonde kid explaining something to Hendrix.
The blonde kid was petite, with large green eyes and long, curly hair that hovered above their shoulders. A tight t-shirt and bell-bottom jeans gave him a strangely feminine, retro look.
Taro got excited, sliding into a smooth-talking position next to the blonde kid.
"Hey there, pretty woman." Taro smirked while raising his eyebrows, quietly waiting for an answer.
The blonde kid chuckled, then stopping once he noticed Taro was actually waiting for an answer.
"Oh, you're serious. I'm a boy, is it not obvious?!" The blonde boy grew concerned as Taro fell to the floor in embarrassment.
"Hey, you can still go for it, bro! He didn't say no!" Kai yelled with innocent support.
"Glad to see you've already gotten comfortable with Slim!" Jason exclaimed as he entered the gymnasium.
"Your name is Slim?" Amora asked the blonde boy, trying to distract him from the sound of Chase holding back his laugh.
"Uh, yeah, haha. It's just a stupid nickname my friend gave me when we were little." Slim sighed.
"He and his mission partner are gonna be guiding you guys on your first couple missions, with me helping you guys on the backend." Jason smiled at the group.
"But first, I'd like to gauge where you guys are at. We're gonna do some small sparring sessions between the nine of us. Well, nine once my mission partner gets here-" Slim's speech was cut off by a deep voice entering the gymnasium.
"Yo Slim, shut the fuck up." A very well-built, tall boy walked into the gymnasium. Slim's eye twitched as he tried to keep his mouth shut.
The tall boy wore a beanie on his head. A mustache and goatee combo covered his face. His surprisingly large muscles were covered in black tank top and grey sweatpants to match. He looked very much like the bodybuilders the kids had once seen on ads sprawled across electronic billboards.
"No need for crude language, Biggie." Slim tried to keep a polite face while the tall boy plopped himself onto the bleachers a few feet down from where Hendrix sat.
"Your name is Biggie?!" Chase finally gave in to his laughter.
"We used to yell those names at each other when we were kids. Came back to bite us when everyone started thinking they were real." Biggie scratched his head through his beanie, annoyed at the name.
"No cussing!" Slim waved his finger at Biggie.
"What is this, a church?!" Biggie yelled back.
The two quickly entered a yelling match as Jason stepped in awkwardly to take over the conversation.
"So, we're gonna go ahead and start sparring. After talking with Alex and Bloom, they said they've come up with the perfect matchups, lemme see." Jason fumbled with a piece of crumpled paper he pulled out of his pocket.
"Speaking of them, where are Bloom and Alex? They're usually here when we train." Akilah asked.
"Oh, I told them to go enjoy the city. We're gonna start without them, but they'll be back in time to see the results. Now, for the first matchup! Lemme see here," Jason squinted as he tried to read his own chicken scratch on the paper.
Amora began to get nervous as she realized she had never relied solely on her combat abilities. She couldn't even fathom how she could hold her own in a one on one setting.
"Oh god, how have I not thought about this before? There was always someone I could back up, how am I going to do this on my own?!" Amora's mind began to race as she hid her hands inside her oversized hoodie in nervousness.
"So, we've got Amora against Chase," Jason's first matchup shocked the two. They looked at each other in utter confusion.
Amora began to feel her chest grow tight. Her opponent being Chase only made her anxiety worse.
"Then we've got Akilah against Taro," Jason's second matchup didn't seem to phase Taro, but it piqued Akilah's interest. It initially seemed like a random pairing until she thought of what she and Taro went through during the infiltration.
"Third, we got Vida against Kai," Vida furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity. She couldn't see the correlation. She looked to her left to see Kai giving her a thumbs up from across the group.
"Wait, that leaves out-" Vida's thought was interrupted.
"Lastly, we've got Hendrix against Biggie. This one was up to me." Jason smiled at the group as they all turned to Hendrix. "We should be good to go. Everyone get ready and don't kill each other!"
"Hendrix is gonna kick ass." Chase whispered to Amora.
"Word's gotten around that you went toe-to-toe with an Advisor. Let me see what you've got, punk rocker." Biggie tapped Hendrix on the shoulder with a heavy hand, making Hendrix twist his upper body with it.
"Sorry about Biggie, he's-" Slim was yet again interrupted.
"Slim, shut the fuck up." Biggie casually commanded. Slim made an annoyed face at him while he was looking away before continuing.
"As I was saying! You'll be alright, Hendrix. Biggie wouldn't leave you with any injuries." Slim tapped Hendrix's shoulder as well, way lighter than Biggie.
Vida realized that both sides of the matchup expected their friend to win with no difficulty. Vida and her friends couldn't fathom someone stronger than Hendrix, while Slim whole-heartedly thought there was no way Biggie could lose.
"This might get out of hand. Every time Hendrix has gone 'all out' he's lost himself." Vida's mind flashed back to his fight with the Advisor. "I'm sure everyone at the compound has heard that Hendrix fought an Advisor, but no one knows how much of himself he lost."
In the center of Shinjuku, Alex and Bloom walked down a bustling street full of every type of civilian.
They watched as happy families, tired businessmen, and curious tourists rushed down the street as the two women walked leisurely.
"I hope it all goes well for the kids." Bloom's face was ridden with worry.
"Don't worry, babe. You know how strong they are." Alex shook Bloom's shoulder jokingly.
"If one of them didn't come back from a mission, I don't think I'd be able to go on." Bloom's voice lost volume the more she spoke. She kept her eyes on the ground as she wrapped herself in her coat.
Alex turned to her, trying to figure out what to say.
"That won't happen, Bloom. I have faith in those kids… Jason knows you didn't want to see them fight right now, we're supposed to be enjoying the day out."
Bloom looked up to the seemingly infinite shops, restaurants, and clubs that lined the street.
"Yeah, you're right. Let's have fun!" Bloom's smile seemed to resurrect itself in an instant.