It has been two uneventful days for the students of Class 1-4. During that time, Cody met up with Evan and Mia to practice combat while he waited for the physical instructor to come. As he trained, he filled in the two on what had transpired upon his arrival at the DEA Academy doors. Cody shared with Evan and Mia about his newfound friendship with Milo, as well as the incident that occurred during the entrance ceremony. When he told them this, they were having lunch at a restaurant after their training concluded. Interestingly, Evan and Mia were familiar with Lucien Nanami and took the initiative to enlighten Cody about him.
From them, Cody learned that Lucien is a prodigy Slayer who is renowned for his exceptional Eldritch killstreak. As a child, Lucien's skills were recognized and tested by DEA when they tasked him with joining a team of Slayers to take down a Bat Eldritch. As a result, he passed and was immediately appointed as a Slayer. However, Lucien was known for creating trouble among his fellow Slayers and trainees. Evan provided an additional explanation about an incident wherein multiple casualties took place during a mission, and Lucien was held responsible for it. As punishment, he was sent to Morningstar City to attend DEA Academy as a student, hoping he would learn discipline. Once Evan and Mia were finished explaining, the two explicitly urged Cody to keep his distance from Lucien.
Cody was also beginning to notice a pattern within Milo's daily routine. Every morning and night, the purple-haired boy would go to the bathroom to change his attire. He even did this in the boys' locker room, but he hid inside a stall where no one could see him. Cody wasn't sure why he had such a habit, but he assumed that Milo had something on his body that he was uncomfortable exposing. For this, he decided to brush it off and respect his roommate's privacy.
Once two days were up, the students of Class 1-4 started their day by going to the gymnasium, where they would finally meet the physical instructor. Of course, the students had to remove their regular uniforms to don appropriate gym apparel that was distributed by DEA Academy staff. As soon as all twenty students were done changing, they all stood in the empty gym, waiting for someone to come. While they waited, some students were whispering to one another. As for Cody, he was too focused on Milo, who was the only one wearing sweatpants while everyone else wore shorts.
It wasn't long until Milo noticed his friend staring at him. "Cody, why are you staring at my legs?" he whispered, pinching his eyebrows together.
"It's just you're wearing sweatpants and all of our classmates are wearing shorts. Why's that?" Cody replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, well..." Milo hesitated for a little bit until he answered, "My legs get cold easily."
"Okay..."
Suddenly, Cody and Milo heard the gym's door open. As the students turned to their right, they saw Mr. Kim enter the building. They all watched as their homeroom teacher walked until he was finally in front of the students.
"Okay! Listen up, kids," Mr. Kim began. "I know all of you have been waiting for this moment for two days. Now, your assigned physical instructor will finally be here to meet you all." He turned to his left as he heard a door open. "And speak of the devil, here she comes now."
As the students turned to where Mr. Kim was looking, they all gasped. Approaching them was a woman with long fiery orange hair tied in a spiky ponytail. She wore a short-legged and sleeveless gray bodysuit with a red zipper under a black vest, long black gloves, and black knee-high boots with red soles and straps. This woman's most prominent feature was her sharp scarlet eyes, which made her look angry. Most of the students quietly stared at her, trembling at the sight of her. However, Cody tilted his head at her before raising an eyebrow at his classmates' demeanor.
"Oh god, it's her!" Milo whispered with wide eyes.
"What do you mean?" Cody replied.
Grabbing his friend's shoulder, Milo said, "Dude, that's Emma Chandler! She's one of Morningstar City's top Slayers!"
"She is?"
"Yeah! Her Eldritch killstreak is insane and her powers are extremely destructive! Just one look at her and someone will shake in their boots, even a grown man!"
"What is her ability?" Cody asked.
"I think it's some kind of fire-type power. I don't remember. All I know is that Alma fought alongside her once, but that was it. Also, she's intimidating as hell! Last year, an entire class of freshmen saw her and when she spoke, they all fainted! However, only one of them remained standing. I never got that student's name, though."
Cody hummed in response before turning his attention back to the woman called Emma, who was now standing beside Mr. Kim. "For the entirety of your first year of DEA Academy, Ms. Emma Chandler here will be your physical instructor," Mr. Kim said. "Along with your physical training, you will all be tested for your abilities as well as be assigned weapons for you to use during your years as Slayers. I wish you all the best of luck." He made his way out of the gym, but he stopped at the doors and turned around to face his students once more. "Oh, and do be careful around Ms, Chandler. She is a force not to be reckoned with. Farewell."
With that, Mr. Kim walked out of the doors and the gym became silent once again. When the students turned back to Emma, her eyes were looking at them and her arms were folded in front of her chest. But then, the quietness shattered when Emma opened her mouth and spoke in a booming voice.
"You all know why you're here," Emma said as she slowly paced back and forth. "You all have been chosen to join the fight against the Eldritch. You are here to learn the discipline required to become one of us. You are here to learn the value of teamwork. You are here to become Slayers and nothing else. Starting today, you are no longer children. You are members of the Division of Eldritch Affairs."
As Emma spoke, everyone stood still. However, there were a selected few among the group of students that were shaking at the sound of her voice. It was a detail that only Cody could notice, especially with Milo and the bespectacled boy, Nigel. Beside Nigel, Autumn looked at him with a deadpan face before rolling her eyes. Suddenly, his ears heard the rustling of paper and he looked back at Emma, who pulled a folded piece of paper from her hind pockets. The flame-haired woman unfolded the paper and quickly read it before turning back to the students.
"Mr. Kim gave me a list of your names and your powers. Here's what gonna happen: I will call your name from this list and whoever I call will come up here and showcase their abilities to me. That way, I will know who is who. Now, let's start from the top of the list, shall we?" Emma looked back at the paper as her eyes looked at the first name on the list. "Okay, Milo Rossi?"
Upon hearing his name, Milo froze as the other students turned to look at him. But then, he squeezed his eyes shut and then made his way out of the crowd until he stood before Emma.
"Are you Milo?" Emma asked as the purple-haired boy frantically nodded.
"Yep, that's me! Milo Rossi." Milo sheepishly grinned and crossed his arms.
"Hmm. If I remember correctly, you're Alma's brother."
His lilac eyes grew wide in response. "You remember my sister?" he said in a high voice.
"Of course," Emma said, putting her hands on her hips. "Hey, why don't we have a little chat after this? Until then, I want you to show me what you're capable of."
"Right! Here we go!" With a deep breath, Milo pressed both his hands together. When he pulled them apart, all ten of his fingers were connected with five purple strings.
With another hum, Emma brought her face closer to see the strings. "Ah, so you can make strings. What can you do with them?" she asked.
"Um, so far, I can do this."
Milo separated his hands, making the strings snap. Then, he reached into his left sweatpants pocket and pulled out what looked like a wooden yoyo. While a few of the other students giggled, Milo brought the yoyo to his right hand, and from his middle finger, a new purple string formed. The string on his middle finger attached itself to the yoyo and he stuck his arm out, making the round object dangle. With a deep breath, Milo pulled his arm up and the yoyo spun, moving upward to the palm of his hand as a result. Pinching his eyebrows together, he chucked the yoyo and it stopped with the string anchoring it. But when he pulled back, the wooden circle flew to him, hitting him in the forehead.
Meanwhile, a few students chuckled louder at the sight of the purple-haired boy. However, Cody was awed by his friend's skills so far and also concerned for him.
As Milo rubbed the middle of his forehead, he looked up at Emma and said, "Yeah, that's all I know, but I've been practicing!"
In response, Emma smirked before placing a hand on his shoulder and replying, "Good. Keep practicing because it will make you a better Slayer."
"Yes, ma'am." Milo nodded before going back to his classmates.
One by one, the other students of Class 1-4 were called over by Emma. Magnette was called after Milo's turn and to display her abilities, she made the chains attached to the metal beams of the ceiling swing left and right. Three turns later, Nigel was called, but since his enhanced hearing granted him no physical prowess, he only explained the distance of his hearing before Emma stopped him and sent him back to the group. Terry was called after Nigel, and he showed off his supersonic voice by pulling his scarf down and saying one word to his classmates. As a result, they were all hit with a strong wave that could have pushed all of them onto their bottoms. Several turns later, Autumn was called over and by using the air in the gym, she lifted herself at least thirty inches off the floor.
After the other students demonstrated their respective powers, it was finally Cody's turn. As his classmates stared at him with blank faces, he made his way up to Emma. Once he was close enough, the flame-haired woman approached him as her eyes looked back at the list.
"Cody Byrd?" Emma said, earning a nod from the dark-haired boy. "Hmm, it says here on the list that you have a transformation-type ability."
"Yeah, that's about right," Cody replied.
"It also says in your description that you're one of the few late bloomer cases. For this, you were taken in and mentored personally by Mr. Scott Lewis."
Meanwhile, the other nineteen students gasped and whispered to one another as they listened. As for Milo, his jaw dropped as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"That's right," Cody said with a nod.
Putting the list down, Emma looked him in the eye and said, "Show me."
"What?"
"Your power. What can you do with it?"
Cody raised both his eyebrows at Emma before slowly turning to look at his classmates. Upon looking at them, he noticed that they were gawking at him, especially Milo, Autumn, Nigel, Terry, and Magnette. With a gulp, he looked down at his hands for a brief moment. Then, he squeezed his eyes shut and took in a deep breath before exhaling from his mouth. With his eyes still closed, Cody began to concentrate.
During his training with Scott, Mia, and Evan, Cody was introduced to meditation. It was through meditation that he was able to shift both his hands into raven's talons. Tapping into this memory, he concentrated and took several deep breaths, imagining both his hands transforming. As he did this, Cody felt it, the feeling of both his hands slowly changing their shape. He took a few more deep breaths as he heard his classmates murmur, but he ignored him and focused on meditating. After one final breath, Cody opened his eyes and saw both his hands as raven's talons.
With a proud grin, Cody turned back to Emma to show her his hands. The fiery-haired woman took his right hand and brought it close to her face, examining each detail from the claws to the actual hand itself. Once she was done, she let go so Cody could show them to his classmates.
Within the crowd, Magnette whispered to Milo, "Not bad for a late bloomer."
"I suppose that's all you can do?" Emma asked as she got Cody's attention again.
"For the time being," Cody replied as he shook both his hands four times. By doing this, they changed back to normal human hands. "I still have a lot to learn about my powers. There could be more I can do with it, but..."
"Just give it some time." Emma patted his right shoulder. "Keep practicing and maybe one day, you will discover more about yourself."
Cody nodded before he walked back to his classmates. Once he rejoined them, the flame-haired woman smirked before she spoke again.
"I must say, I'm impressed by what you all showed me today. Your powers were outstanding and the way you used them was unique. When all of you start fighting Eldritch on your own, remember this: your powers are your tools, nothing more. Your powers don't define you, it's how you use them that does." Emma sighed and after a short pause, she said, "Now, you're first physical lesson starts now. Fifty laps around the gym, now!"
With that, the students began running circles around the gym. Meanwhile, Emma stood at the center and watched them jog, but her eyes went back to Cody and she hummed at the sight of him. But as Cody made laps around the gym, he was unaware that someone was watching him from the outside of the building.