The First Tests

The following days Haido didn’t show up to the Square Cavity. While everyone was worried, they figured that she would have her first tests of the year soon too, so maybe she simply had to focus on those. It was strange, however, for her to leave Kaito alone for so long. Especially, since Kaito himself seemed to be doing worse than ever.

“Shouldn’t you stay home, Kaito?” Amene suggested, seeming less hazy than usual.

“I’ll be fine…” A trembling, curled up Kaito said. “It’s just the nerves for tomorrow.”

“It’s okay to miss Haido.” Kaden told him comfortingly.

“I can be strong on my own too.” Kaito said back firmly, lowering his head between his knees.

After that, none of them said much more.

Things were quiet at the Ryoman residence in the week before the tests, as well. Kaden's parents were out for work most of the days which meant that Kaden could study for his tests, without having to look over his shoulder constantly. One day, however, Rowena got home early.

Kaden scrambled to get his books off the table, when he heard the door open. He had been studying for his Deception test and had just laid open a paragraph called “The perfect lie”.

“Mom, you’re home early!” Kaden nervously exclaimed, seeing Rowena appear in the door opening, still in her hero costume.

The suit was bright and colourful, to invoke positive feelings, though it had taken some damage now, it seemed.

“Ah, yes,” she said softly, “we only took care of a few rooks, but your father was called in for another villain.”

She sank down into a chair and took off her mask.

“I fear your father might’ve been right when he said something was going on. Villains seem to be showing up more than ever.” She explained to Kaden worriedly. “Just like back then…”

Quickly she turned her face and formed a warm smile on it.

“Nothing for you to worry about, okay?”

Kaden nodded worriedly.

She sounded tired. As she slumped down more in the chair, she let out a deep sigh. Kaden thought this was very unusual for her, and wondered if something else was bothering her. He quickly felt guilty at the thought of her worrying about him, on top of the numerous villains she had to fight, and thought of a plan to possibly cheer her up.

“Uhm, mom?” Kaden said quite quietly.

His mother did not hear him and kept checking her watch, worriedly. Kaden moved a bit closer, cleared his throat, and spoke again.

“Mom?” He asked, a bit louder.

She looked up at him like she had forgotten he was even there, and quickly removed the worry off her face.

“Yes, what’s wrong, sweetie?”

“Well,” Kaden thought of his words carefully as he spoke, “A gym test is coming up soon, so I wondered–”

Before he even finished his sentence, Rowena jumped up, seemingly having regained all her energy. She was positively beaming at Kaden.

“Of course I’ll help you! That’s what you were going to ask, right?” She replied.

Kaden nodded happily, seeing that his mother had indeed cheered up.

“It’s been too long since we trained together.” She said reminiscently.

Kaden nodded.

Together they went to a spot near the pier. A nice quiet place, where nobody would bother them. It was just Kaden and his mom here.

“I assume we’ll be working on your throwing speed again, then?” Rowena asked.

Kaden, who had not thought this far ahead yet, just nodded.

“Alright then, I’ll go stand over here.” Rowena told Kaden, as she sprinted forward to the spot she was talking about.

“You try to hit…”

She looked around on the ground and took a few rocks.

“These.”

Kaden nodded once again, readying himself. Rowena lobbed a rock toward Kaden, who threw out a Negative Bubble as hard as he could. Slowly it travelled forward, barely leaving his hand before the rock bonked on Kaden’s head. Disappointedly, he rubbed the spot where the rock had hit, and let out a sigh.

“It’s okay! We’re just getting started!” His mother shouted at him from the distance. “I didn’t hurt you, right?”

“I’m fine!” Kaden yelled back, readying himself again.

Bonk.

The rock had hit his head once more.

Rowena kept throwing rocks, and they kept hitting Kaden, though they did more damage to his self-worth than his head. Eventually he sat himself defeatedly on the ground.
Rowena ran over towards Kaden.

“Time for a break, maybe?” She said nervously, and looking slightly guilty.

Kaden nodded, even though he felt like he would need more than just a break. He looked at his hands, wondering what was wrong with them. His mother handed him a bottle of water and urged him to drink from it. Nervous about the intense way she told him to stay hydrated, he gulped it down a little too fast and almost choked on it. Kaden let out a gasp, and Rowena giggled.

“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.” Kaden said softly, after a while of them sitting together, catching their breath. “I swear, I’m throwing as hard as I can, they just won’t go any faster.”

Rowena pondered for a moment, as she was patching up Kaden’s head, then spoke.

“Maybe the force of the throw isn’t the issue.” She told him. “As similar as your bubbles are to mine, we are not the same person, therefore the composition should be different.”

She put her hand to her chin.

“Meaning that the properties of the bubble should be different also.”

Kaden looked at her, slightly confused.

“What I am trying to say is, our bubbles behave differently, so throwing harder might not work for you like it does for me.”

Kaden let out a sigh and looked down at his hands once more.

“If only you could invert your bubble speed, huh?” She said comfortingly, while patting Kaden on his back.

“Wait, that’s it!” Kaden thought, standing up excitedly.

If everything his bubbles touched inverted, then throwing with more force would only do the opposite. It would make them slower.

“What’s wrong?” Rowena asked, surprised at Kaden’s sudden excitement.

Kaden held out his hand, and with as little strength as he could muster, threw out a Negative Bubble. It promptly shot forward and zoomed over the water into the horizon, rippling the surface as it passed. Kaden let out a stunned gasp.

“Did I do that?” He mumbled, staring over the water to where his bubble had sped off.

“I don’t know how, but you did!” Rowena said happily, also having stood up.
Rowena gathered as many rocks as she could and hurried back over into the distance. She kept lobbing rocks, and Kaden hit every single one of them, turning them into a stone mush. She kept throwing until it was dark out, and they were finally satisfied with the training.

Both of them were hungry, out of breath and their arms were sore, but Kaden felt happier than he had done in a long time.

That night, after dinner, he fell down in his bed, and without any worry, dozed off to sleep. He had a dream, where he and his mother fought off some faceless villains together, except his mother’s bubbles had turned into rocks instead. Team Not-So-Bad had joined them now, forgetting the fact that they were supposed to be the villains. Even his father joined in and punched a few bad guys.

The next morning, after happily saying goodbye to his parents, Kaden went off to school, which was now located under a trapdoor, behind the old abandoned factory.

Kaden was so happy, that he almost forgot that his first tests were today. History of Villainy, Deception, and Gym.

He met up with Satoku, to go over the subjects again.

“Okay, so what was that guy’s name again?” Satoku asked hastily, chomping down a piece of chocolate in one bite.

“Saisho Fortor?” Kaden assumed.

“Right, he was the brother, or the villain?” Satoku asked, with a full mouth.

“Villain.” Kaden answered.

“And when did he get defeated again?”

“I don’t think anyone knows the specific date.” said Amene hazily, apparently having been with them the entire time.

Satoku gulped and stuffed the chocolate wrapper in his hoodie pocket.

“Right, right,” he then said, as he frantically scribbled something on his palm.

Before he could ask his next question, the bell rang, signalling the start of class. Everyone went inside, ready for their test, except Kaito, who came running in at the last second.

Kaden did not have time to worry about Kaito, however, as much as he wanted to. He suddenly felt immensely stressed about the test, even knowing that he learned for this particular one quite well.

“Why do the nerves always have to come right before.” He thought to himself, as professor Kokoro put the test papers in front of him.

Kaden took a deep breath and read over everything.

“I can do this.” He whispered to himself.

To his surprise, he found that he knew almost every question. History of Villainy, much like his following test Deception, went over in a breeze. He knew the signs of a liar pretty well, because he realised he did a lot of the tells, when talking to his parents about school. Before Kaden knew it, it was already time for his last test of the day, the Gym class test. Unfortunately, that was the one he was dreading the most.

It seems Kaito feared this particular test as well. He looked a sickly green, and his hair was droopy, unlike the usual messy hair he had. Even his shaking seemed more than usual.

Kaden went up to him, in an attempt to comfort him.

“Kaito, are you okay?” He asked carefully.

Kaito jumped and almost fell backwards, before Kaden caught him. Kaito wrestled himself out of Kaden’s grasp quickly and shook his head.

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Kaden said softly.

There was no response from Kaito.

Amene too, went over to him. The usual haze that seemed to be over her snapped away when she saw the state he was in. She kneeled down to try and be at eye-level, but the sheer size difference between the two made that hard.

“Kaito?” She said carefully, grabbing both of his shoulders.

He slowly looked at her, wide-eyed. Before either of them could say anything, professor Slechtsnor walked up, to tell everyone to change into their villainous suits and meet at the indoor field on the top floor. Reluctant to leave Kaito alone, they did as they were told.

The field was large, maybe the size of two football fields. It seemed to be laid with real grass, and the sky-blue ceiling, combined with a light that resembled a sun, made it almost feel like they were outside.

The sparring pairs were chosen randomly, by the teachers that would judge them. Ocume Slechtsnor, Kokoro Shibu, and Juzon Gradus, the maths teacher.

Kaden didn’t mind being paired up with anyone, but one person. Anyone except Shisu Kageyona would do. He held his breath when his name was called out, thinking about possible strategies he could use for everyone. His opponent would be,

“Duplex against The Monster!”

Kaden looked over to where Kaito was huddled on the ground. His chance of winning might have increased, but he was worried about Kaito, who seemed on the brink of giving out. He’d just have to do his best to make Kaito look good, while showing off his new improvements. Yes, that was a good plan. He nodded confidently.

First up was Amene, or Floodstorm, against Natashi Endo, or Bloodshot.

Bloodshot flung her blood at Floodstorm, but before it hit her it was replaced by Bloodshot herself. Kaden looked over to where she had just stood, and she had vanished from her place. With her power, Blood Trail, she can instantly teleport to the place she left a blood drop. Bloodshot threw a punch at Floodstorm, but to everyone’s surprise, she dodged it effortlessly. Another punch, and another dodge. Floodstorm swept her hair and water flowed out, catching Bloodshot and holding her in place. She teleported back to where she had originally stood, but it seems Floodstorm knew this was coming. She directed the water, which spouted out in the direction of Bloodshot, pushing her forcefully against the wall until she gave up. Amene had won.

The judges discussed what happened and rewarded the points.

27/30 for Amene, and 18/30 for Natashi.

Next were Mystic and Occult, who’s psychic powers were so evenly matched that they made each other pass out. To everyone else, it looked like they were just staring at each other, however.

They each received 10/30 points.

After that Gin, Silver-Tongue, against the Emerald Inferno. The Emerald Inferno, with their pyrokinetic power, managed to singe Silver-Tongue’s hair, after directing green flames in his direction. It seemed that Silver-Tongue's suit was somewhat fireproof. He ran towards the Emerald Inferno, who kept lobbing green fireballs at him, which bounced off and ignited the grass. When he was close enough, Silver-Tongue convinced them to forfeit, making him the winner.

He received 20/30 points, and Emerald Inferno 25/30.

Kaden looked over to Kaito, who looked paler still, now that his turn was closing in. He wanted to go closer. Comfort him in some way. Tell him that he'll help in any way he could, but Professor Slechtsnor kept glaring at him every time he moved.

Kaden thought it would be best to stay quiet, lest they both get into trouble.

Next up were Satoku, 100-Metre Dash Man, and Anoyo, Supremacy.

Supremacy pulled out a gadget, but before he could even use it, 100-Metre Dash Man had zoomed past him, with both arms extended, while yelling,

“Grounded Aeroplane Dash!” At the top of his lungs.

Supremacy shot backwards against the wall and was instantly knocked out.

Kaden assumed this must be the new move that Satoku had been talking about.

Satoku received 25/30 points, and Anoyo 5/30.

Then it was Nobiagiri, or Shisu’s turn. He was up against a large muscular kid, who used psychokinetics to enhance his muscles. He charged at Nobiagiri and started punching at him, but without effort Nobiagiri dodged. He laughed as the muscular kid missed. He was playing with him. Then, after he had his fun, Shisu made a motion with his hands and flung his opponent away.

Shisu had received full points.

“You lost the moment you stepped onto the field.” He chuckled, as he rejoined the students on the sidelines.

Lastly it was Duplex against the Monster. Kaden against Kaito.

“I’m sorry Kaito,” Duplex thought, “I want to help you, but I can’t hold back.”

He clenched his fist.

“I will show the world, what I’m made of, starting with this class.”

When they gave the signal to start, Duplex held out his hand and shot forward a new move he thought of, while practising with his mother the day before. He thought of it after the rocks had hit him on the head so many times. He called out,

“Solid Air!”

A bubble shot forward, straight at The Monster, and as it travelled, the gathered air turned solid. Right before it hit him, The Monster ducked. At least, Duplex had assumed it was a duck.

As Kaito laid there motionlessly, however, he realised that it had not been a duck at all.

Kaito had fainted.