The early morning, the sun shines brightly as the home this pack has claimed their own is lit up warmly by this natural light. In this home, Alston dances around, shaking her head side to side as Dante and Saika dance next to her happily. Music plays loudly as Cole and Tadashi bob their heads to the beat and others chat. Despite the nice weather and delightful atmosphere, someone in particular doesn't seem to be enjoying themself.
Yoko sits on the staircase a bit away from everyone else with their head in their hands. Their leg bounces as their eyes express intense, rapid thought. Yoko is stressed as the words of Maxus ring around in their head. As his voice gets louder, the music and noise around them starts fading out and a ringing replaces it when suddenly, someone breaks their thoughts.
"Yoko." Moshiro calls out. Yoko quickly looks up to see her standing in front of them with a confused look. "What're you doing?" She asks.
"Uhhh… just thinking?" Yoko says back nervously, trying to be convincing.
"You.. don't think about, anything." Moshiro says back plainly. Yoko looks offended despite their stress.
"I think! In fact, I'm rather smart for a dragon. I'm just… slow." Yoko says back, drifting off as they speak. Moshiro watches before turning around and leaning against the stair post.
"Yeah, fine, whatever." She says with a sigh as Yoko looks down anxiously. Moshiro looks at them softly. "You sure you're okay?" Moshiro asks gently. Yoko looks up and smiles despite their nervousness.
"Yep! Never better, bogey!" They say back. Moshiro looks surprised and confused.
"Moshiro." She says with a strange look. Yoko looks confused. "My name is Moshiro, not Bogey." Moshiro says. Yoko stares at her for a moment, confused why she said that.
"I know. That's just a nickname I call people sometimes." Yoko says before their eyes grow wide a bit and they smile nervously, looking away. "At least I think so, right? Haha, what would I know?" Yoko giggles nervously as Moshiro stares at them.
"Huh." Moshiro voices before someone else speaks up.
"Come here, Moshiro. I wanna ask you some more questions, being a Director's daughter and all." Killian calls out with a smirk as Phoenix and Wolf giggle at his words. Moshiro rolls her eyes with a huff before getting up and walking over.
"That doesn't mean I know everything." Moshiro huffs as Yoko watches her walk away. They then look down with an anxious look.
As the pack hangs out and parties, suddenly, an alarm starts going off. They all look around concerned as Tadashi checks his device.
"Uh oh. Teach is approaching the dorms!" He says as everyone scatters.
"Come on! We gotta get back before he finds out!" Killian says.
"Yeah, no shit!" Wolf responds as they rush to the door. Saika struggles to pull the large lever to activate the Jagen Portal. He tries as Cole looks over and quickly pulls out one of his tentacles and yanks it down, dropping Saika to the floor before grabbing him and yanking him through.
The entire pack comes flying through the portal and into the proper dorms as they tumble across the floor onto each other. Just then, Teach opens the door to the dorms and looks at them.
"Oh, good. You're up. Come on, grounding's over. You're free to go." Teach says with a smile, holding the door open, as they all smile back.
"Yippie!" Wolf says as she floats through the door with the others following behind. Alston stretches her arms up over her head.
"Ahh~ freedom at least." She sighs.
"That wasn't too bad. Classes then straight home for a week." Phoenix says happily.
"Yeah, maybe for you.." Killian mopes. As they go, Yoko follows behind them. Teach watches before he calls out to them.
"Yoko. Could you come here for a moment?" Teach asks. Yoko is startled and slowly turns around to look at him.
"No?.." Yoko says. Teach chuckles as he approaches them.
"I need to talk to you." Teach says. Yoko faces him timidly as Teach looks at them with a serious look. "I reviewed the footage of your fight with Keigo." He says as Yoko tenses up but then, a gentle hand places on their head. Yoko looks up surprised as he smiles at them.
"You did good. Although I do not encourage fighting for no reason, challenging the Reps is no easy feat. You fight with power and precision, just be a bit more careful. Your body just isn't built to take punishment like that so maybe try dodging more and not letting people trick you into taking the hits head on. Do that and you'll be just fine."
Teach says as he rubs their head a bit before letting go and nodding for them to catch up with their friends. Yoko blushes a bit and nods back before turning and walking away. As they do, they lower their head feeling even more shame as Teach watches.
The pack walks together as they make their way to the Academy, now free from their shackles. Wolf throws her head back as she basks in the breeze blowing through.
"Feels so nice to be free again." Wolf says.
"Stop acting like you were a prisoner. Us being grounded was a fair punishment for our actions." Cole says back as Wolf pouts at him.
"If I want your opinion, I'll look into that shiny forehead of yours for answers, kay?" Wolf says back as Cole smirks, his forehead shining even brighter.
"What should we do now? Should we go look for missions or just hangout around school?" Saika asks happily.
"I've done more than enough hanging out. Time for action!" Dante says with a determined smile, punching his fist into his palm. Wolf smirks as she looks back over her shoulder.
"Why don't we investigate that door Marcus opened up after our fight that we're totally not supposed to know about?" Wolf offers. The others look at her in shock as she smirks.
"Wolf! If we're not supposed to know about it, why do you? And when did you do that??" Phoenix asks, upset at her.
"I may have snuck off before we were locked down and spied on him. I was hoping to see Marcus pouting some more but instead, I saw him opening this secret door in the wall with a necklace or something." Wolf says, recounting that night.
"It's not a secret. Everyone knows the ASA is built as more than just a school. There's all kinds of facilities all around and many different kinds of higher ups and staff have access to them. He's probably just an exception cause he's Southpaw's son." Moshiro explains frustratedly. Wolf looks a bit upset it's not so secret.
"Well, whatever's down there, it left Marcus pretty shaken up." Saika says as the others look at him surprised. "What? Ivailia heard some things and came over to tell me." Saika explains.
"Did she?" Dante asks as Saika droops a bit.
"In writing." Saika says back with an attitude. Wolf scoffs a bit as she continues walking.
"Tch. Fuck that guy. He could cry me a river for all I care." Wolf says, blowing him off before sharpening her gaze just a bit. "Still, I do wanna check it out." Wolf says softly.
"No, no, no. We aren't checking anything out and we aren't breaking anymore rules. We've caused enough trouble." Phoenix says with a stern tone. Wolf stares at her a bit.
"Sure, whatever you say." Wolf responds as they make their way to school.
Eventually, they make it into the main hall where the mission board is located. Many other students and agents gather around as the pack looks at it.
"There sure are a lot of Torn related missions today…" Phoenix points out.
"I'm not surprised. Villain attacks and organized crime aren't exactly every day occurrences anymore. And with the rise of Torn attacks, it seems we're shifting focus on them now." Alston says. Saika stares at the missions before speaking up.
"I know they come from people who die in particularly unpleasant ways but so many seemingly pop up out of nowhere. You ever wonder where they come from?" Saika asks as he looks at Cole next to him. Without even bothering to look at him, he responds.
"No." He says coldly before turning and walking away.
"Where are you going?" Killian asks.
"To speak with Ms. Nazuna. I have work to catch up on." Cole responds without stopping. Alston sighs and shakes her head before following.
"Teacher's pet…" Wolf mumbles before Killian steps after him.
"He's right. We should probably focus on making up for lost time. You guys coming?" He asks with a smile. Moshiro steps towards him without a word so Yoko quickly follows as they leave.
"I think I'm gonna go eat something first. But I'll catch up."
Wolf says before walking away. Phoenix waves and follows her as Dante and Tadashi do the same. Killian waves back before the pack goes their separate ways. As Wolf walks, her ears perk up a bit, hearing the people talking around them.
"Did you hear? The Directors might be coming to the Academy!" A girl says excitedly.
"No way! Southpaw's number ones! They're so cool! Think they'll train me when they're here?" Another student asks. Wolf watches them as her eyes sharpen.
"Directors, huh?" She says to herself.
"Wolfy, I know that look. You better not be thinking about sneaking around the ASA some more." Phoenix says with a pouty face, snapping Wolf's attention to her.
"C'monnnn, don't you wanna know too? It's like my mom says, you have to always stay curious and question everything." Wolf says. Phoenix looks surprised.
"Really? I've never heard your mom say that." Phoenix says. Wolf looks away a bit.
"That's cause she doesn't. That's just how I feel. My mom's actually the opposite. 'Stay safe and stay content.' is what she always says. She's always been overprotective that way." Wolf says with a soft look. Phoenix listens and understands as Wolf continues but with a bigger smile this time. "But I'm different! I couldn't settle even if I wanted to, haha!" Wolf says happily.
"That's true." Tadashi adds from behind. Wolf looks at him and nods with a sharp smile.
"This academy is tasked with protecting my friends as they become strong heroes. I need to know everything if I'm gonna trust them to do just that." Wolf says determined. The others look at her and smile as Phoenix looks a little conflicted.
"I know it makes you uncomfortable being left out of the loop, but this is different. There are things we simply won't be told and that's probably for the best." Phoenix says softly, putting her hand on Wolf's back gently.
"If it was really that important, they'd let us know. Besides," Phoenix pulls back and flexes her arm a bit playfully. "We're strong too. We can protect ourselves. So let's just focus on becoming better heroes for now, okay?" Phoenix says warmly as Wolf blushes a bit but doesn't say anything back as they continue to the cafeteria.
A different day, the pack is finally back in class. They sit in their seats with their partners beside them as they wait for the teacher to show up.
"Think Professor will have a normal entrance this time?" Alston asks with a smirk while leaning on her hand as Octavia giggles in response.
Just then, the doors open up as Nobody, Nazuna and Teach step through. The class is a bit surprised to see them all together right now.
"Good morning students. I hope you've all had a good week so far." Teach says with a smile. The class responds happily as he continues. "We are all together today to make an announcement. Due to the particularly strange start to your student career here, Southpaw has decided to push your training up a notch. Just to make sure you're prepared for anything that might happen." Teach explains.
"That was his whole reason?" Nobody asks softly as Nazuna quickly looks at him sharply.
"Professor." She says sternly as Nobody keeps looking at the class. Teach moves on, ignoring him.
"Yes, for your own safety, we will be pushing you harder than most other 1st Tier students." Teach says when Wolf suddenly speaks.
"Does this mean you'll finally explain to me why I'm able to shoot lightning from my hands?" Wolf asks directly and clearly. Teach's eyes widen as he turns to Nobody.
"She shot lightning from her hands?" Teach asks intensely but collected and quiet to his coworker.
"I told you she did something in the Tournament." Nobody says casually.
"Not use lightning." Teach responds more frustrated.
"I thought that was obvious." Nobody says back. Noticing the rising tension between the teachers, Phoenix smiles anxiously and looks at Wolf, speaking clearly to shift their attention.
"Well, maybe it's Kozen? That's Base Reception, right? Anyone can do it?" Phoenix says.
"No way. Kozen are very particular to the user. What she does is not that." Moshiro says plainly before smirking a bit. "Besides, Wolf electrocutes herself when she uses it." Moshiro teases. Wolf pouts to her.
"I do not! …And even if I did, Saika probably does the same."
"No, I really don't. When I use my electricity, I hardly feel anything at all." Saika says. Wolf looks a bit upset as Teach looks at them before exhaling.
"We'll… discuss the matter later." Teach says, making Wolf look disappointed and a bit upset. "For now, I want to discuss your training. I'm sure you might've heard around that the Directors are coming back to the academy. This is for you." Teach says as the class starts to get excited, never having encountered one outside of Teach.
"No way! Direct training from the top dogs?" Harley says happily.
"They're so cool." Angie says. Saika looks around and asks Tadashi a question.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm excited but I don't know much about the Directors." He says. Tadashi smirks a bit.
"The Directors are the strongest agents of the entire ASA. Nine hand picked agents by Southpw, all strong enough to not even need partners. They're scattered all around the world, protecting people and keeping the peace where they can." Tadashi explains as outlines of them, vague images, appear in Saika's mind.
"They really are good people. The best of us." Alston says, adding to Tadashi's words.
"Mostly. I've heard about a pair in particular…" Law adds as Wolf glares their way.
"Yeah, whatever you say. Keep telling yourself that." Wolf says openly to Alston who looks a bit offended but only a little. Cole on the other hand gets quite upset with her words.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Cole asks. Wolf doesn't look at him and responds with her eyes closed.
"Whatever you want it to. Y'all can keep praising them like that, won't change the fact that they're just people." Wolf says as Cole gets angry.
"Insulting the Directors is insulting Southpaw. He chose them because they are more than just people. His judgement is superior to ours." Cole says angrily as Wolf looks at him with an upset look.
"Why do you treat Southpaw like a god?" She asks as Cole snaps.
"He's more than a god!" Cole shouts as the others look at him. He pauses and composes himself a bit, still glaring at Wolf. "He's a hero." Cole says as Teach intervenes.
"Well put Cole. Wolf, I'd appreciate if you didn't go out of your way to belittle the things your peers cherish." Teach says to Wolf as she sinks in her seat a bit. "Right. Now, let us explain how this is going to work." Teach says as Nazuna steps forward and explains to the class.