We're Supposed To Be Training

Day 1 Of Spirit Training:

Chase and Akilah continued to struggle with the very first step of training.

“I don’t know why I’m still here on the first step. I should be with my bae right now.” Chase looked over at Amora with puppy eyes as Amora laughed, blushing all the while.

“You two disgust me.” Akilah tried to focus her hands as she felt that she was close to finding a breakthrough. She closed her eyes to focus harder.

Out of nowhere, Akilah was knocked onto the floor.

“1-0! Get me next time!” Taro yelled from across the gymnasium.

Akilah opened her eyes to see a tomato red Kai on top of her. In response, Akilah’s face grew red as well.

“Get off of me!” Akilah pushed Kai off of her with strength that Kai wasn’t expecting, toppling him onto his back.

“O-oh, s-sorry.” Kai stumbled over his words as he stumbled over his feet as well.

Akilah got back to training as she tried to forget about the last minute of her life. Kai watched Akilah get back into the meditation position with her hands out.

“Should’ve watched your surroundings, idiot.” Chase whispered to Akilah jokingly.

“He should’ve watched where he was going.” Akilah tried to come back into focus as yet another voice was heard from behind her.

“You-”

“What?” Akilah turned around in annoyance, ready to hear whatever insult Kai had to throw at her.

“Your palms are supposed to be up.” Kai said nervously.

“What?” Akilah asked, confused.

“Your palms are pointing away from you but they should be pointing up. It makes your muscles more relaxed.” Kai pointed at the way Akilah was holding her palms away from herself.

“I knew that.” Akilah said as she changed her position. She clearly didn’t know that.

“You’ll get it in no time now-” Kai was interrupted as Taro grabbed his arm.

“What are you doing man? I’m already done warming up.” Taro dragged Kai back to their side of the gymnasium.

Akilah looked at the pair in confusion. She didn’t know why Kai had tried to help her, especially after what happened between them and Hendrix. The look she got back was from Taro, a look that clearly said ‘stay away from my brother’.

Akilah turned back around in frustration.

“What was all that about?” Chase whispered in confusion.

“It’s not worth the effort to find out.” Akilah said as she let out a huff.

To her surprise, as soon as she focused, she could feel her Spirit concentrating in her hands. She opened her eyes to see purple glowing from her hands.

“Woahh! Akilah, you cheated!” Chase yelled, amazed. Chase’s yelling attracted Bloom’s attention who came over to investigate.

“Great job, Akilah! You can come with me, I’ll explain what the others are doing in the next step.”

“Dude, are we serious?” Chase said as he was left alone at step one.

On the way to join the others at step two, she looked over at Kai, who was looking back at her. Kai gave her a thumbs up as he blushed. He was quickly punched in the face by Taro, a product of him not paying attention. Akilah let out a little snicker.

Once they got to the new group, Jessica explained to Akilah what the objective of step two was, trying to talk over the sound of Alex scolding Kai and Taro for being too rough.

“I knew you would get it, Akilah!” Vida high fived Akilah.

“What color were your guys’ hands when you concentrated Spirit?” Akilah asked as she concentrated Spirit into her hands once again.

“Mine was pink!” Amora said excitedly, as pink was her favorite color.

“Mine was green.” Vida smiled.

“Like the plants always getting caught in your hair.” Hendrix said jokingly as he took a leave out of her hair. Vida laughed with him.

“What color was yours, Hendrix?” Akilah looked over to Hendrix as he looked down at his hands.

“Oh, I thought everyone else’s Spirit was black as well. It’s like it was sucking the light from around it.” Hendrix concentrated Spirit in his hands to show the group.

“Interesting.” Jessica observed Hendrix’s Spirit as she wrote on her clipboard.

“So, Akilah. Have you thought of your mode yet?” Jessica turned to Akilah as the rest of the kids all sat down in meditative positions.

“Intelligence. I’ve always wanted to be smarter.” Akilah silently reassured herself.

“You were always reading those dumb books.” Hendrix snickered.

“They weren’t dumb, you would know if you read one.” Akilah laughed.

“Alright, then your objective for this step is to find a way to materialize that idea. That’s what the rest of the group is doing right now as well.”

“Alright.” Akilah began to think. How could she bring the idea of intelligence into an object?

“It’s alright, Akilah. I chose love, and Vida chose life. So we’re on the same level as you.” Amora said shyly. She had thought her mode was stupid up until Vida had assured her that love was a great choice.

The day went on with no real improvements. The four at step two kept trying to materialize their modes, while Chase gained more frustration as he was stuck at step one. Kai and Taro continued to rough each other up in their own unique version of sparring.

Later in the day, all of the kids lined up at one of three washing machines in the entire compound. This was the only one they were allowed to use.

The kids had to use it everyday since they came to the compound with only one outfit, while also using the spare pajamas that Alex and Bloom had from some of the members of the compound that left. Hendrix had his signature patched pants and band tee in hand, Amora had her baggy pink hoodie (of which she stole from Chase) and her baggy jeans, Vida had her green crop top and bell bottom blue jeans, Akilah had her leather pants and high waters, and Chase had his blue hoodie and his baggy jeans.

On the other side of the hallway, to the five’s dismay, they could see the brothers Kai and Taro walking down the hallway with their black jeans and black t-shirts in hand. Kai was first in line on one side, and Akilah was first in line on the other.

Kai waved awkwardly towards Akilah and Akilah gave a cordial wave back.

They sat there for a few seconds as they saw who should use the machine first.

“You can-” Kai tried to get a word out.

“No, you can go first.” Akilah let out a cordial smile as she stepped back.

“You could’ve gone first, girl. You don’t have to show these guys any empathy.” Vida whispered over Akilah’s shoulder.

Taro saw Vida whispering and gave her a sharp look, which Vida gave in return.

Once Kai was done with his clothes, Akilah used the machine next.

“Alright guys, see you tomorrow.” Akilah said as she walked past her friends and towards her room.

Surprisingly, Kai caught up to her.

“Could I talk to you?” Kai said nervously.

“What? About what?” Akilah said, confused.

“Just wanted to talk.” Kai said as he rubbed the back of his buzzcut head.

“I guess.” Akilah and Kai turned a corner.

The other four looked at each other in confusion as they watched this happen.

“What the fuck is going on?” Taro asked the other four as Chase shrugged in response.

“Follow them?” Hendrix asked.

“Yeah.” The others said in unison.

The group got to the edge of the wall and peaked over just enough to see but not enough for them to notice.

“Sorry for the way my brother acts around you and your friends.” Kai said as he continued to play with his short hair.

“It’s fine. Thanks for helping me with my training. It actually worked!” Akilah smiled. She was starting to see that Kai wasn’t so bad. Maybe he was just influenced by his brother.

“Yeah no problem. Oh uh, anyways” Kai did something that no one expected. Kai took something out of his pocket and got on one knee.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” Kai showed a candy ring to Akilah.

“WHAT?!” Akilah yelled.

Chase laughed from behind the wall as the other three friends began to laugh with him.

“This fucking idiot.” Taro came out from behind the wall.

“Ever since I laid eyes on you I-” Kai’s speech was cut short by Taro, who grabbed him by the collar of his pajamas and started dragging him down the hall.

“Yeah, we’re done here.” Taro continued to drag Kai down the hall.

“No, wait!” Kai held the candy ring out like Akilah was his long lost lover as she stood there in utter shock.

“What the fuck!” Akilah managed to utter through her shock. Her friends continued to laugh as she stood there with her mouth wide open.

“Let’s get some rest guys.” Vida said as she tried to halt her laughter.

Day 2 of Spirit Training:

The next day, the kids gathered along with everyone else in the compound to eat breakfast in the cafeteria.

As the five sat down on the table, Amora put her hand out to Chase.

“Am I ever gonna have some apple juice to myself?” Chase groaned as he handed his apple juice over Amora, making her grand total 6 apple juice boxes.

“When I’m dead.” Amora said cheerfully as she popped open her first box.

“Let’s talk about the whale in the room.” Chase pointed at Akilah.

“Its the elephant, and I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Akilah said as she began to munch on her scrambled eggs.

“I’m not talking about an elephant, I’m talking about Kai. What were you gonna say if he didn’t get dragged by his neck?” Chase put his hands together like a professor as if the rest of the table wasn’t trying to get past the stupidity of the sentence before.

Akilah ignored the question as she felt a mysterious sensation on the back of her neck.

“He’s staring at me isn’t he?” Akilah said as she tried to not notice. The rest of the group made an obvious look towards Kai and Taro, which caused him to act like he was never looking.

The group bursted out in laughter.

“Hey guys! I’m happy to see you’re all having a good morning. Now, time to make it even better!” Bloom sat down at the table with her signature smile as she continued to talk to the group.

“Who’s ready for a field trip!” Bloom smiled excitedly as the group began to cheer.

“Where are we going?” Vida asked.

“Oh, it’s a small trip. Kai told me how you five only had one pair of clothes, which makes sense since you guys came here in a rush. So he thought it would be a great idea if the seven of you went out on the town to buy some clothes for you guys! The compound has enough money saved up from selling the extra produce from our greenhouse, so you guys can use that money.” Bloom was just as excited for the kids as they were for themselves.

“Awesome! I’ve never seen D.C. up close.” Vida exclaimed.

“I’ve needed some new clothes, anyways.” Amora picked at her baggy hoodie.

“What’s wrong with the hoodie I gave you?” Chase said, puppy eyed.

“Nothing, babe. I can’t wear this everyday, though.” Amora chuckled at Chase’s face.

“Wait. Did you say seven?” Akilah grew concerned.

“Yeah! Kai thinks it would be a good bonding experience if you five were joined by the two brothers. Kai seems like he really wants to get to know you guys, isn’t that amazing?”

The other four kids tried to hold back their laughter as Akilah sank into her chair.

“Alright then! Be ready in an hour. We’ll pause training until you guys get back from your trip. Now go get ready!” Bloom got out of the chair and waved goodbye to the group.

The seven of them met at the entrance to the compound.

Kai shuffled over to Akilah and silently tried to give her the candy ring from last night, which was silently pushed back towards his chest by Akilah.

“Alright, get in.” Alex yelled at the kids as she tried to start up the raggedy van for the 10th time.

The kids gathered into the van like a clown car. After the car finally started up, they were on their way.

Halfway through the drive, Bloom started speaking from the passenger seat.

“Alright, kids. We’ll drop you off at a mall near a hardware shop that me and Alex will be in. Make sure to meet at the entrance to the mall in three hours.” Bloom turned around to make sure everyone heard.

“Yes ma’am.” Taro said with his arms crossed, trying not to get too close to anyone that wasn’t his brother as Kai ogled at Akilah.

Once they finally got to the mall, they stumbled out of the car, ready to go shopping for the clothes they so desperately needed.

“Alright kids! I hope you have fun!” Bloom waved, but was tapped on the shoulder by Alex.

“Look across the street. Don’t make it obvious.” Alex said as she stared from the corner of her eye.

“I see.” Bloom whispered.

A correctional officer from the correctional forces seemed to have his eyes on the kids while speaking into his radio. This worried Alex and Bloom, but they tried not to make it obvious to the officer as to not escalate the situation.

“We’ll spin around the block and watch from afar.” Alex said as she drove the car off.

“Alright then. Let’s get this over with.” Akilah said with a groan.