Tarou's Magic

It's the next day, just me, Shin, and Hiro in the club room, all waiting for Tarou to arrive.

"So, what do you think it is?"
"It's gotta be magic right? Has he already learned magic?"
"As far as I remember, he was only training back when we visited the HQ, what do you think Hiro?"
"Either way, it'll be interesting, if it's magic then he's progressing quite fast, Gaia must be one great teacher."

We wait a little longer until finally the star of the show arrives.
"Hey guys! Are you ready?"
"We BEEN ready."
"Heh, then follow me to the gymnasium, Gaia is there too."
'She is? It must be about magic. To progress so fast, he's stronger than I thought, or just extremely determined. Either way, impressive.'

...

We soon arrive at the gymnasium
"Everyone's here, right? Go ahead leader boy, show us what you got."
"Yes coach! Actually this is something that I've had in the back of my mind since the first training session you gave, heck, when you gave us the tour of the HQ, I kinda wanted to show it."
"You did?"
"Yes, but what you said was good, expanding my knowledge doesn't hurt after all!
Anyway, what I wanted to show you is magic, obviously, my magic. I based it off of what happened back then, and... Actually, I'll just show you first."

Tarou turns around towards the empty gymnasium, takes a deep breath and seemingly starts focusing, almost murmuring something unintelligible under his breath.
We wait patiently, until it finally happens, he opens his eyes, moves his arms to grab something invisible from his back and seems to throw it with all his might.

"SNOW STORM!"

The moment he says that, an explosion begins centered around the area where the invisible thing was thrown, powerful enough for us to feel the blast a bit, before it goes back to being calm.
'Woah, he actually did it...'
"Congrats, that was amazing!"
"Kazu's right! THAT WAS SO COOL!"
"Congratulations."
"Heh, what can I say, I guess I've got an amazing coach to thank."

As he says this, Gaia speaks up.
"Go ahead and explain it then."

"Oh right, well just like you said back then on our first training, I just kept gathering power, so this time I gathered enough and then threw the 'backpack' onto where I wanted the explosion, before triggering it with the spell name. I know, it's kinda basic but-"
"No, that was good, that showed good grasp of the basics. I'm impressed by your progress."
"But I haven't even been able to do it with just my mind... How DO you trigger spells without saying them?!"
"Ah, well, you sort of envision the spell name in your head, and you sort of send it out, but it's honestly quite difficult, you can basically only do that to spells you've mastered and have their names basically carved in your mind, even if you're mighty powerful."
"So that's how..."
"Actually, some spells are also simply too strong to be able to accomplish that with them, and might even take a lot out of you.
No matter how far along you are, be sure to still be careful."
"Yes coach!"

'Only those you've mastered? Does that mean I've mastered teleportation? It's just become like second nature to me.'

"By the way, why did you name the spell Snow Storm?"
"Because of how you taught it! You said to imagine snow all around, right?"
"...Wow, that's... Amazing. It's my honour."
'Is... Is Gaia blushing? That really is amazing...'

"So coach, does this mean I can finally get into that little heroes program?!"
"Hm, you can try out, if you do good then absolutely! But remember, despite complaints about the name sounding like it's a program for younger heroes, it absolutely is not, it's open to everyone, so don't expect it to be a guarantee either."
"Understood"
"Great! Well, I do believe if we rush we can make it to the HQ and you can start trying out!"
"REALLY?! LET'S DO IT!"
"What about you guys, you coming?"
"Hell yes, we wouldn't miss it for anything, we'll support you Tarou!"
'I've never seen something like this, I definitely gotta check it.'
"Yeah, for sure."
"Ok, follow me then, and don't lag behind too much! We'll be running there!"
"What?!"
"Baited again..."
"YES COACH!"
'Running? I'm already regretting this...'
"Damn."

...

Gaia and Tarou run ahead, reaching the HQ before us, meanwhile us three start lagging behind, but finally do arrive at the entrance some time later, all of us out of breath.
"So much running..."
"Oh? hello Kazu."
"Huh?... Oh... Hey Echo..."
"You... know him?"
"Kazu... Already making connections..."
"You three sound out of breath, let me guess, Gaia had you run here?"
"Yes..."
"It's for the try outs with your friend isn't it?"
"Yeah... Where is-"
"Gaia is waiting for you inside, follow her."

We go inside and look around, we see Gaia sitting in a corner, reading, until she spots us.
"Finally! You guys took a bit, I sent Tarou ahead and then came back to wait for you, come with me."

We follow her until we arrive at the training grounds. There he was, Tarou was showing his magic and skills over on the arena side of the grounds.
"There he is, let's sit on the benches, come on guys."
'Huh, how about that...'
"Is that Thunder?"
"Oh you know him? Yeah, he's the one giving the test for the try outs."
"Didn't think he'd be up for it."
"He wasn't, some time ago he let these two girls out, so I made sure he learned his lesson. Honestly... the worst part is he lied about it!"
"A hero like that lied? What'd he say."
"Yeah what was it?"
"He tried saying it wasn't him, can you believe that?"
'Not him?'
"What do you mean?"
"I had encountered these two fighting each other, so I quickly defeat them, and that's where I realize these two should have been in jail until their hearing, I ask them and they say Thunder let them out."

'She's talking about Red and White, I had almost forgotten about them.'

"I know that they were young, actually about your age, but still, they need to go through due process either going to jail afterwards, or being let out under house watch, or whatever would have happened."
"Are they... In prison right now?"
"Not prison, jail, which is a different place, and yes, though their hearing is coming up soon."
'Still there, ok.'
"Anyway, I confront him and then he starts denying it, so I check the footage and it clearly shows him escorting them out! He starts saying it's not him, but the evidence spoke for itself, he even tried using some lame excuse like the outfit having a tear. I was honestly speechless.
Long story short, he will now be doing these for a while."
'Well, that's one way to get demoted... I think that's what happened at least.'

"Ok, good enough, you pass the magic trial."
"YES! Did you hear that guys?! I did it!"
"Calm down there, first you'll need a hero name, and next you'll need actual experience, though it's just for little heroes, so just go around doing some good deeds or something."
"A hero name... How about... Snowball?"
"Snow... ball?"
"Yeah! Because that's what my magic is based on!"

I look towards Gaia, only to see her blush again, before she starts whispering to herself.
"...You don't need to base everything around my teachings..."

'I think she's getting a little embarrassed, I'd count that as another one of Tarou's power.'

"Well, if you're sure about it.
Alright Snowball, go out there and... do good I guess, that's it from me for now, since I still need to do more of these... So stupid..."
"No worries! I'll make sure to do my best!"
"Yeah, you do that. Oh, and don't worry about making sure you have a hero with you or something, if you do good, we'll hear about it."

Just then Gaia speaks up.
"Don't worry, Kazu will also be keeping him company from time to time! Isn't that right?"

'Signing me up for stuff without asking me... Well, since it's this, I guess I don't mind.'
"Yeah, sure."
"See? I knew it."
"YAY! Thanks Kazu!"
"Don't count us out either! The new club leader will also make his appearance from time to time! And I'm sure Hiro will too!"
"Yeah, though I wont talk about myself lamely in third person like Shin."
"Hey now! That was cool, what do you mean?!"

"In any case, keep doing good for a couple of days, after that Gaia will invite you back to hear if you pass."
With that Thunder leaves.
'A couple of days of watching his back, shouldn't be too hard.'