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Light shone through the arch shaped-window, illuminating the whole training room. The sun beams danced around the target, acting like spotlights. A silver arrow flew across the room and hit the target dead centre. A cool smirk played on the archer's lips. She held the simple training bow of silver and blue. After admiring her own work, she spoke in a confident tone, "Not bad eh?"

"Yeah," agreed the young man beside her, "not bad." Then he shook his head and sighed. "But not good either. I'd give it a seven."

"Seven?" She stared at him in disbelief. "I hit the centre!"

"Yes, you did." He walked towards her until they were only inches apart. "But, you fired too slowly and your stance makes you vulnerable.  In a major fight, you need to be quick." He took the bow from her and got an arrow. The moment he had both, he shot, and it hit the centre of the target beside hers. "If you were battling me only with a bow and arrow, you wouldn't last two minutes."

"It's exactly the same!"

He shook his head again. He took her arm and made her look at the targets. Where her arrow hit the heart of its target, his had done the same while piercing through the whole wood it was made of. "See? Not exactly the same. When you hold, you lose power that can make a big difference." He looked at her. "My dear Ysa, you still have much to learn. But you're getting better."

"Don't call me Ysa!"

"Would you prefer Ysabella?"

Ysabella groaned. She started to play with her long shiny black hair, acting all innocent. Her blue eyes scanned him from top to bottom, looking for any possible weak spot. Unfortunately for her, he didn't seem to have one. She struck.

The Agent expected the strike and could've dodged it easily but he decided to play along. Both fell to the ground. She struck again but he stopped her by grabbing her wrist. They rolled on the ground till they were entangled in each other. They laughed and continued playing like children, and soon she was on top of him.

"Beat ya."

"Yeah, sure...." He stood up and brought her up with him, making her shriek. "You're still that little kid from years ago, Ysa."  

"I said don't call me that, Xian!"

The smile vanished from his face. "You know you're not allowed to call me that. If someone hears you—my name's X now."

"But you call me by own name and not my Agent's name."

He chuckled. "But I'm not required to call you by your Agent's name. Well, at least not yet."

"I'm turning eighteen soon and you won't be able to call me 'Ysa' anymore."

He grinned at this and pulled her closer. "I don't care how old you are. To me, you will always be Ysabella Shade, the little girl who wants to be an Agent."

"You're only two years older," she argued. "You have no right to call me a little girl!"

He was about to respond when he heard the doors of the elevator open and they stepped away from each other. "Level 3: Training Centre. Have a great training session..." The robotic voice rang across the room and when the speech finished, eight different melodic chimes followed.

Emerging from the elevator was a guy around the same age as X. The silvery blonde hair of his was a messy nest as usual and his golden eyes seemed extra golden today. His bizarre features did not stop him from being handsome, even X had to admit that. "Hello X." They bumped their fists together and X gave him a pat on the shoulder. The guy who entered looked at Ysabella. "Hello...Ysa."