Down a different hall of the academy, a man walks along as others whisper around him.
"Is that him?.."
"What are they doing here?.."
As they whisper, a woman walks along next to him with a sharp toothed smile on her face. As they walk, they are unbothered by the whispers around them.
"I hoped they wouldn't show up…"
"Those two are as bad as a common villain…"
The people whisper. As the purple haired man and pink haired woman walk along, another man looks around nervously. He adjusts his glasses as he stands timidly, mumbling to himself, looking as if needing guidance.
"Averi." The purple haired man calls out. This yellow haired, skinny man turns and looks at the two before perking up a bit.
"Ah- Axe! Komori! You made it! Oof-" As the man speaks, he is bumped into and stumbles over. Axe, the purple haired man, chuckles a bit.
"You seem so out of place. I thought we grew up here?" Axe says as Averi looks at him, adjusting his glasses.
"Yeah, well, this place is always changing and getting busier every year, so.." Averi says when suddenly Komori jumps onto him with a big hug.
"Ahhahaha! I missed you, Ave! It's been so long!" She shouts happily.
"2 years, 8 months and 22 days to be exact." Averi says back as Komori puts him down.
"I'm glad you're here with us again." She says warmly.
"Yes, quite. I was concerned when I got the message. It was so strange, I knew I had to follow protocol and come here first. I'm pleased to know at least you two thought to do the same." Averi says as he looks at them.
"Come on. Let's go find Teach and report back to Southpaw. Surely he can explain and tell us why we're here." Axe says as he walks ahead. Averi and Komori follow close behind. As they walk away, a peculiar looking little girl watches them with sharp eyes before walking off.
In the entrance hall of the South Range, Southpaw's office, the three walk when suddenly, someone calls out to them.
"Hey, you." The high pitched voice speaks. They stop and turn around to see the girl from before standing behind them. They stare for a moment before Axe speaks.
"Eh? What do you want, shortstack?" He asks as the girl gets angry. She shouts and kicks at him but Axe just holds her off the ground in front of him with a sweat drop. As the girl struggles, Averi speaks up.
"Though I feel the term shortstack might be said with a hint of mockery. I fail to see what he said that was incorrect." Averi says as Axe puts the girl down. She turns and looks at Averi with a glare as she pulls up her sleeve aggressively.
"Why don't I help you get a closer look?" She asks furiously before someone else enters the situation and grabs the girl by the collar and lifts her off the ground.
"Woah now, leave the skinny guy alone, Floppy." The large, muscular person says as the girl, Floppy, gets angry again and kicks and shouts.
"Why does this keep happening?! Put me down, you brute!" She shouts as the person looks at the others.
"Long time no see, guys. How ya been?" They ask with a smile.
"Taiju, good to see you again." Axe says as they clasp their hands together firmly in a greeting. Floppy calms down and is let go as she adjusts herself. Averi leans over and whispers to Komori.
"You'd think she'd grow more mature with time.." He whispers as Floppy vein pops but takes a sharp breath and exhales.
"Whatever. I'm a Director just like you guys. I don't need to deal with this." Floppy says before Komori hugs her tightly and happily rubs their faces together.
"Awww! I missed you too, you cutie patootie!" Komori says as Floppy blushes and allows this to happen. Taiju then looks at Axe.
"You find Teach?"
"Eh, heard he was teaching a class right now. Figured we'd catch up with him later." Axe responds. Taiju chuckles.
"That old bastard." They say with a smile.
"Well, are you just going to stand there chatting or come in?" Southpaw's voice booms through the hallway with a playful tone. The Directors gather themselves and enter the South Range.
"Hey now! If it isn't my prized agents! It is so delightful to see you together again!" Southpaw says excitedly.
"Where's the rest? Callutang and the others?" Taiju asks.
"Dunno. Didn't see them on my way in." Floppy says.
"Strange. Callutang is usually so quick." Averi says.
"I know how busy you Directors can be. No matter. We can catch up with them later." Southpaw says. "For now, let's discuss business." Southpaw says as the Directors all straighten up. "There is an important matter I wish to discuss with you. As well as what it is I'll need each of you to do in regards to the matter." He explains.
"I take it, that's why you sent for us with such an odd request? And why you're not here right now?" Axe asks as Komori looks at Southpaw closely.
"Oh, you're right! He's projecting right now!" Komori says, noticing the small bits of light coming off his body.
"That is correct. Unfortunately, this matter is of the utmost importance and requires my intervention as well. Otherwise, I'd be there to greet you personally. You know how much I value each and every one of you." Southpaw says warmly. Taiju blushes and wiggles their fingers together as Averi rubs the back of his head.
"Oh stop, sir. You're making me blush." Taiju says as Averi giggles. Southpaw chuckles and smiles before getting a more serious look.
"Now listen closely. I am only going to be able to explain this once. Teach already knows his assignment. Once you leave this room, what you hear stays here and in your souls, got it?" Southpaw says as the Directors nod before Southpaw begins his discussion.
"Okay. Since there's nine Directors, each of you will be trained by one specifically. The pairings will be made based on skills you lack or strengths to improve." Nazuna says as Teach listens to someone tell him something in his ear before sweating a bit and leaning to whisper in her ear.
"I guess only five of us have shown up so far. Southpaw says to work with that for now.." Teach whispers. Nazuna smiles awkwardly as she looks bothered.
"Ooookay, there are only five Directors so some of you are going to double up with your teachers. They can handle it, I'm sure." Nazuna says as the class gets excited.
"I'm so excited! I hope I get to work with my favorite Director, Goliath!" Galen says excitedly as Ivailia smiles at him, lifts her fist with her pinky and thumb pointed up and shakes it towards herself a couple times saying 'Me too!' Killian smiles and looks at Phoenix as she smiles back.
"I hope I get someone like Teach." Killian says.
"Yeah, that'd be nice. I want someone kind. A good hero who can show me what I should strive to be." Phoenix says with a smile before it cuts to her walking down a hall with a dreading look. "Why?…" She mopes.
"Hahaha!" Wolf laughs loudly at her as she groans.
"My luck is usually so much better than this…" Phoenix whines as Killian pats her on the back.
"Hey, it's not so bad. At least yours comes with two! That's cool, right?" Killian supports when Moshiro scoffs openly.
"Yeah right. Speak for yourself. I'd literally rather go blind than work with these two…" Moshiro says angrily as Wolf stops laughing, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Oh main. That's so funny. Axe and Komori sound cool but it's so much better that both of you got stuck with them too!" Wolf says as they both glare at her. Wolf then looks at Yoko walking with them. "At least we'll enjoy ourselves, right?" Wolf says while bumping Yoko with her shoulder. Yoko smiles awkwardly back.
"Yeah!.. They.. sound strong." Yoko says softly as Wolf stares at them with her big eyes, her smile softly dropping.
Eventually, the pack makes it to the cafeteria for a break. They get their food one by one and gather at the place they usually sit. As they eat, Yoko pokes around a chicken nugget on their plate as Wolf watches from across the table. After a moment, Wolf speaks to Phoenix next to her.
"Yoko's been kinda down lately. Have you seen that?" She asks as Phoenix subtly looks over before responding.
"Yeah, I guess so. Maybe something happened with them and Moshiro." Phoenix suggests.
"Moshiro would've said something. You know she doesn't like dancing around things." Wolf says. Phoenix hums in response, thinking too, before responding.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. But we shouldn't force them to open up. Yoko can talk about it when they're up for it." Phoenix says, but as soon as she finishes, Wolf speaks.
"Yoko, you okay?" Wolf calls out. Yoko looks up surprised before sweating a bit.
"Yeah, why?"
"You look down. What's wrong?" Wolf asks as Killian and Alston look at them.
"Now that you mention it, you have been rather quiet." Killian says.
"And you didn't even come dance with me yesterday." Alston says. Yoko looks nervous before smiling at them.
"I'm fine! Really! Just thinking about some stuff. Nothing to worry about, see?" Yoko says before shoving a handful of nuggets into their mouth. The others laugh as Wolf stares.
"I guess we can at least keep an eye on them since we got partnered up with them." Wolf says as Phoenix blushes a little and smiles warmly.
"Right."
"Hey, wait. Moshiro! I want to ask you something." Killian says with a smile to her.
"If you ask me about your powers again, I swear to gods, I'll throw this table at you right now." Moshiro threatens as Killian giggles.
"No, no. It's about Teach." He says as Moshiro's look softens a bit. "Since we got assigned to him, I wanna know more. He's trained us for years but never talks about himself. We didn't even know he was a Director until recently! Of all people, you've gotta know something about him!" Killian says excitedly as Tadashi looks at her too.
"That'd actually be really interesting. I never even thought about him like that." Tadashi adds.
"Yes, learning more about one of Southpaw's Directors would be very beneficial." Cole says too. Moshiro looks around and sighs as everyone wants to listen.
"Fine. What do you wanna know?" She asks.
"Tell me everything! How long has he been a Director? How strong is he really? How did you meet him? Give me the scoop!" Killian says, leaning on the table in anticipation. Moshiro sweats a bit at his excitement but continues.
"I'm not going into my backstory, but I'll say a little. He's been a Director for a long time. Like, really long. He's never told me exactly how long, but apparently he's been around for quite a lot." Moshiro says as the others look in excitement.
"Ohhh, so that's why he never tells us his age. He's like super old, hehe!" Saika giggles as Killian bumps his arm.
"Being a Director's daughter must be so cool." Alston says, leaning on her arm. Moshiro blushes a little and clears her throat.
"Well, being his student is more important." Moshiro says.
"Is that where you learned your moves?" Yoko asks softly, getting more invested in the conversation. Moshiro looks at them surprised before nodding.
"Yeah. The style I use is one he mastered a long time ago. He uses a different one now. Actually, the one I use is the same one he used to stop the Caspian War 40 years ago." Moshiro says, feeling a bit confident since her friends are so intrigued by her words.
"He stopped the Caspian War?" Wolf asks, finally getting into the conversation. Killian smirks at her.
"I knew you were interested." He says as Wolf rolls her eyes.
"That war was huge. There was a major terrorist group trying to take over District 9. But I thought it was handled by the ASA's soldiers?" Wolf asks. Moshiro shakes her head and smirks.
"Not soldiers. Soldier. Just him. He was all the academy needed to send." Moshiro says as everyone is in awe. "They said that when he was dispatched there, he was in the middle of lunch, so he showed up with nothing but a toothpick from his sandwich. And with that, he toppled an army of 50,000 people, most of whom were Type users too. A war that waged for 2 years was stopped in 20 minutes."
Moshiro tells with pride, progressively beaming more and more out of her. As she listens, Wolf's eyes begin to shine a bit more as she hears this story of the man who has trained her most of her life.
"He really did all that??" Saika asks excitedly.
"Only with a toothpick, no less!" Alston says too.
"Well, it's certainly possible he used his Forge Type powers too, but I still believe it how it's told." Moshiro says.
"He's a Forge Type?" Tadashi asks.
"Yep. A Forge Type: Staff - The Staff of Scales. He controls the length of it and anyone he hits with it, if evil, feels twice as heavy every time." Moshiro explains.
"What an interesting power. I thought Forge Types only created weapons." Phoenix says.
"No, Forge Types, like Myth Types, sometimes come with special abilities or properties." Cole explains. Tadashi hears this and looks at his palm with an almost disappointed look.
"Is there anything else?" Saika asks. Moshiro thinks for a moment before smirking.
"He can play the guitar." She says. Everyone stares at her for a moment before shouting excitedly.
"WHAAAAAT??!?!"