Lucky stood in the center of the school's gym, staring down young Maisie. The room had carts full of dodgeballs, surrounding the girls.
"Ready?" the hero asked the student.
"Ready."
Several dodgeballs started to float up from their respective carts. Maisie was quick to identify them and anticipated. Suddenly, the equipment started flying at her. Maisie dodged the first few with agile dodges and flips. When she found herself unable to easily dodge, she teleported across the room before Lucky's very eyes.
"Good! Your Aura Crystal seems to work smoothly with you," the veteran hero said. "Do you know your limits?"
"Kinda," Maisie answered, still avoiding more dodgeballs coming at her. "I can only go as far as I can see, but I've also been able to feel a connection with people that have strong auras."
"That's a powerful ability. Maybe with enough training you can teleport to places you've been to before or even people you can sense."
"Maybe." Maisie dove onto the floor, already feeling exhaustion from having to repeatedly teleport. She was at her limit and wide open to get hit. Lucky acknowledged the student's position and halted all the dodgeballs a few inches away from her.
Maisie groaned and lay on the floor taking deep breaths. Sweat rolled down her forehead. Lucky placed all the dodgeballs back to their starting positions and helped the student up. "You're gonna fit in quite well here," she said.
"Thanks... Although it seemed like the other girls weren't happy to see me," Maisie shared.
"Believe me, they're good kids. It's just that none of us were expecting that someone out there in the world would come into contact with a lost Aura Crystal."
"I wasn't expecting it either," the student said. "My parents gave it to me as a birthday gift and here I am. They thought it was just a nice necklace."
"What caused it to activate?" Lucky asked her.
"My little sister tripped and fell down the stairs," Maisie answered shakily. "I teleported and caught her before she could hit a single step."
"Makes sense to me. Adrenaline filled moments such as that are guaranteed to awaken a power within you. We're happy to have you here, Maisie."
"I've heard about The Nexus Society, but this is the first I ever heard of Afterschoolers. Sounds more like a school club or an aftercare if you ask me."
"Trust me, Afterschoolers are some of the greatest heroes to ever exist," Lucky told her. "Right now I'm sure they're discussing what to do next in order to welcome you."
Jonas looked upon multiple TV monitors in the hideout. They all showed different Hoirom news outlets, all showing the same story: Nindai and Natalia, fighting rogue heroes alongside four new talents. Across the room, the Afterschoolers were back to celebrating their victory and approval from Nindai. Despite the superb energy in the room, Jonas wasn't all too happy about the recent events.
"You girls made a huge mess of the downtown area," he scolded. The cheery atmosphere dissolved immediately.
"But there was an attack," Luli argued. "Nindai needed our help fighting the rogue heroes."
"I'm sure Nindai and Natalia had the situation under control! If anything you all should have gotten the bus driver out of there and helped contain the scene," he told them. "But instead the news is all over a high speed battle that took up a chunk of the highway!"
"We won didn't we?" Sofia pouted. "No one got hurt either!"
"That's another thing!" Jonas groaned. "One of you could've gotten hurt during the whole thing."
"So?" Miya argued. "You've let us fight the Hero Hunters before!"
"That's different. I was there to make sure nothing went wrong."
"That doesn't seem fair," Invisia told him. "We've been doing alot as the Afterschoolers."
"I sent you four to go on a simple errand. Go to the bus station and find Maisie."
"Well, Nindai was grateful we were there," Sofia sassed. "He even agreed to let us be his sidekicks."
Jonas went silent. He could not believe what he was hearing. The girls stood their ground, still mad at the lecture he had thrown at them.
"What about Obsidian, huh? You're just gonna give up on finding him and roll with The Nexus Society for fame and the fun of it?" he calmly asked them.
"Yeah!" Miya shouted. "Just sitting around here and training has gotten boring."
"Even you, Luli?" Jonas looked to his partner, hoping she didn't share the same ideals as her peers.
"I'm sorry, Jonas... But we need to get stronger."
"Come on, girls," Sofia said. "Nindai might want to see us early." The students all walked out, letting Jonas stand alone and in silence.
By the time Lucky and Maisie returned, Jonas was sitting quietly at the computer. "Jonas? Where are the girls?" Lucky asked him.
"They left... They're Nindai's sidekicks now."
"What?! No. I can't let them do that. I'll talk to them and-"
"Lucky, just leave them be... If this is the destiny they wish to forge, let them... Just promise me that The Nexus Society will take care of them," he requested.
Lucky sighed, but nodded her head. "I promise... In the meantime, can you watch over Maisie? She's Afterschooler material."
"Yeah... I'll keep an eye on her. Maybe she can even help me with my work." Jonas tried to chuckle, but it couldn't hide the tears he had been holding in. "And, uh, happy birthday, Lucky... I wish Mr. Cord could be here to say it to you..."
"He just did." Lucky gave one last smile and made her departure, leaving Maisie to silently stay and comfort her new mentor alone.
