The Kid Kombatants

First Day

Cassie jumped out of her dad's car care-free, pulling her sunglasses over her eyes and popping a piece of cola Hubba-Bubba into her mouth. Johnny Cage rolled down the blacked-out window by the driver's seat. "Have fun!" He called out to his daughter. "I will!" She replied, jogging to the filthy marble steps.
Internally groaning, Cassie Cage looked out for her three closest friends. What's taking them so long? She thought, gnawing methodically at her gum, which was rapidly losing it's flavour. Eventually, Jacqui abandoned her BMX at the small glass bike shelter the Kombat Academy provided, fumbling at the rusty iron chain. As Jacqui lifted her head up, Cassie caught her eye. "Cass!" She squealed, sprinting to her best friend and enclosing her in a slightly-too-tight hug. "Okay care-bear you can let go now..." "Soorrryyy. Where are the guys?" "Taking their time?" Cassie said, raising her eyebrows. Jacqui rolled her eyes. "Let's just go in Cassie. We'll see them later."
They had to sign in the office to be assigned to their dorms. "Cassandra Cage." "Jacqueline Briggs." Fortunetly, they were together. Room 43. On the way to their room, they saw Takeda and Kung Jin. Jacqui screeched and ran to them. "Taki's! Jinny!" Cassie called out. Jin rolled his eyes at their nicknames. "What? Cass got your tongue?" "Ha-ha. So punny." He attempted. "I know right." Jacqui and Takeda were having a very quiet chat, close together. Kung Jin looked towards Cassie, one eyebrow raised. In response, she gave a thumbs up. Forcefully, they shoved the two together, and they immediately drew apart, blushing. Cassie and Jin laughed at them, causing the love birds to blush even more. They were getting attention, now. Grabbing her friend's arm, Jacqui walked to room 43.
"Not cool." She said to Cassie furiously. "We were just helping you." "..." "You like Taki's!" "Takeda." "Same difference." "..." "But you do like him." "Everyone saw!" "But you do like him!" "It was humiliating!" "But. You. Do. Like. Him." "...whhaaaatt....NOOOOO. .." "You're secrets safe with me. For now."
Sitting together for dinner, the Kombatants were in somewhat of an awkward silence. "I can't believe we're here." Jacqui finally said. "Yeah. Like, as soon as those letters came verifying our stay, we trained non-stop." Takeda agreed. "Some of us trained non-stop our entire lives." Cassie said, her voice flat like warm Coke. She'd always wanted to impress her mum, even though she left her. And her dad, she wanted to be like him. "I guess..." Takeda replied. "Am I the only one not surprised?" Kung Jin asked, looking at his friends. "I'm only saying 'cuz we're all great fighters. We'll survive here. We got here easily. Look at the other newbs. We're the best here." And they probably were.