The next day after school, Marcus found himself riding in Elissa's car back to their safe house.
"So are you ready for "football" practice?" Elissa asked with a laugh, "I heard Kenji wants to delve straight into conditioning."
Marcus rolled his eyes and leaned an arm against the car door. "conditioning huh? Isn't this a little early?"
Elissa nodded. "Oh absolutely, but we only have three months to get you shaped up before the entrance exam."
Marcus glanced at Elissa with a contemptuous expression, "You're joking right?"
Elissa shook her head, "Nope, and to make matters worse, you'll be competing against cadets who trained for a year at minimum."
Elissa grinned as she pressed her foot down on the accelerator, the car engine revving loudly with newly gained speed, "it gets my heart pumping just thinking about the excitement."
Marcus groaned as he grabbed at his jaw, "The last thing I feel is excitement, but I already poked the hive so I'll deal with the bees."
Elissa's grin widened, "I think I'm going to steal that."
Marcus sighed as he slumped down into his seat, he doubted that he could go from a lazy student to a battle-ready examinee in three months, no matter who was training him, however, he knew talking with Elissa any further wouldn't result in anything.
They soon arrived at the same house from yesterday, except this time Kenji was already outside, dressed in a black skintight suit with a pair of neon green shorts.
"What is he wearing?" Marcus asked in bewilderment, as Elissa parked.
"I have no idea." Elissa said as she exited the car, "But it's Kenji, so I'm certain it's useful."
"My confidence is skyrocketing," Marcus murmured sarcastically as he followed Elissa out of the car.
"Welcome back Marcus, ready to get started?" Kenji asked as he tossed Marcus a skintight suit similar to his own.
Marcus raised an eyebrow as he examined the suit, "what is this?"
"It's a little something I call a blood flow regulator, or BFR for short, and it does exactly what the name implies."
"And you want me to wear this, why exactly?" Marcus asked skeptically while massaging the rubbery threads of the suit.
Kenji grinned, "It'll essentially help with stamina and muscle development by restricting blood flow to certain areas, think of it as running with ankle weights on, it's perfect for the intense workout plan I've planned."
Marcus gulped down a blob of saliva as his eyes widened, this wasn't just a simple exercise, they were going to fucking kill him!
"Hold on a minute Kenji, what about the academics?" Marcus asked nervously, hoping to avoid this training for as long as he could.
"I can't train for something I don't understand."
Kenji gave Elissa a knowing look before grinning deviously, "Oh that's the best part, Marcus! We're going to do both, at the same time!"
"What?!?" Marcus exclaimed in shock.
He took a step back and turned towards Elissa's car, he considered hopping in and just driving off, but would he even get away?
No, they would've caught him before he could even reach the door Handle.
"What happened to that determination Marcus?" Kenji laughed as he approached Marcus, "about how you lived your whole life for yourself, how you were looking to change that? Hmmmm?"
"Well that was before I knew you'd try to kill me, I'm willing to face Eldritch horrors never seen by man, but this?"
Marcus held up the BFR suit and shook it, "this is premeditated murder."
Kenji chuckled as he placed a hand on Marcus's shoulder, "Look, I get this isn't appealing, but we're on a time crunch, three months isn't a lot of time, so shortcuts were inevitable."
Marcus nodded as he looked down at the suit, "I get that, but can't we just wait for next year's exam?"
Kenji opened his mouth to speak, but before any words could come out, Elissa stepped in.
"Absolutely not, you will compete in this year's exam and you will dominate the competition, got it!"
Elissa's eyes burned with such a raw intensity, that Marcus could nod his head in agreement, his resolve was shaky at best, but on Elissa's command, he fortified it.
Though he didn't know it at the time, this was only the beginning of changing the very nature of his character.
"Fine." Marcus muttered reluctantly as he began heading towards the house, "Let's get this over with."
After changing into the suit and slipping on a pair of purple shorts, Marcus emerged from the house, he struggled with adjusting to the tightness of the suit, tugging at it periodically to alleviate the discomfort.
"Looking good Marcus," Kenji said with a smile.
Kenji then turned to Elissa and gestured towards the house, "Let's get started."
Kenji led Marcus to the backyard, where several obstacles and gym equipment were placed, Elissa followed along with a tablet and a few other items they'll use to help Marcus learn. "So first up is stretching," Kenji said as he pointed to two mats placed before a chair."
"What's the chair for?" Marcus asked.
"It's for Elissa, she'll be teaching you about our organization while we stretch." Kenji answered as he reached his mat, "We're also doing multitasking training."
Marcus sighed as he reached his mat, "jeez,
This is just the first day?"
"Stop being such a wuss," Elissa said as she sat in front of them.
Kenji chuckled as he began to do arm rotations, "Alright Marcus first up is arm rotations while learning about the history of anomaly correction."
Marcus rolled his eyes as he began rotating his arms, "Alright I'm listening."
Elissa nodded as she began reading, "The first anomaly that was ever recorded was on May 1, 1896, in Glasgow England, it manifested as a spontaneous hole that was about 2 meters, or seven feet in diameter, and bottomless, it lasted about three days before the rift closed, leaving behind a crater that was 7 feet in diameter and almost 20 feet deep."
"Switch to neck rotations," Kenji said to Marcus as he began rotating his neck.
Marcus nodded and began rotating his neck as Elissa continued their Lesson from the comfort of her chair, "the incident was reported to the police, but nothing of note came from it, so the man who found the strange anomaly, decided to take matters into his own hands, he…."
The training continued on like this for about four hours, with Kenji picking a new exercise every twenty minutes or so, by the time training was finished, Marcus was lying spread eagle in the grass wheezing, dripping in sweat with a head full of knowledge he wasn't sure he cared to know.
"I think that was a great first day, what about you Marcus?" Kenji asked with a grin as he continued jogging in place despite the training being over.
"I… hate you," Marcus said between breaths as he slowly sat up, he continued to breathe raggedly as he tried to catch his breath, his entire body was aching. His muscles were strained causing his body to tremble on the slightest of movements.
"I love you too," Kenji said playfully, "anyway, the good news is that you did well on your first day, the bad news is it's gonna get worse."
"Worse?" Marcus asked in disbelief, "It's going to get worse than this?"
Kenji nodded as he finally stopped jogging, "Oh yeah, it's not just physical and mental training we have to work on, but the rules of dealing with anomalies and rifts, basic combat training, and so much more."
Marcus felt as if he was about to pass out just thinking about it, "I'm not going to survive an I?" Marcus asked honestly.
Kenji sighed, his expression turning serious, "Marcus this isn't supposed to be easy, I've made that abundantly clear, the things we deal with are dangerous and unpredictable, so if you want to quit then I'll allow it, but if you want to stand with us, then I can't…. No, I won't go easy on you."
Marcus strained his neck to look up at Kenji, his eyes had a determination and intensity that was similar to Elissa's if not greater.
After a brief moment of silence Marcus finally nodded, "ok Kenji, I'll keep that in mind for the exams." Marcus said with a grin.
Kenji smirked, "That's the spirit!"
The following days were more of the same brutal training, each day Marcus was pushed to his limits, both physically and mentally.
After about two weeks Kenji began throwing combat drills into the equation, not with physical weapons, but with his body.
Kenji wasn't the only one either, Elissa also began picking up the pace with the knowledge he'd need to learn, her lessons becoming more intensive and crucial for Marcus's development as a cadet.
After about a month of training, Kenji decided that it was time for Marcus to finally witness a real mission.
The announcement came on a crisp Saturday afternoon, Marcus had just finished his combat training with Kenji, and was now bent over grasping at his knees and coughing up blood, "ugh," Marcus groaned as he wiped the blood off his face, "did you have to punch me so hard?" Marcus asked as he struggled to straighten up.
Kenji chuckled as he looked down at his watch, "I'd apologize, but I don't the cadets at the exam would go any easier," Kenji said with a chuckle as he winked at Elissa who was walking towards the duo with two long, thin, black rectangular scabbards, and another larger one on her back.
"What are those?" Marcus asked as Elissa stopped before the duo and handed them one each.
"These are Ether blades, secondary weapons for dealing with anomalies," Kenji said with a grin.
Marcus looked down at the scabbard in his hands, its surface was smooth and hard, like cold steel, and though it was faint if you paid attention you'd notice a blue glow emitting from where the blade hilt met the scabbard.
"Why do I need this?" Marcus asked curiously as he continued studying the blade, I don't even know how to use a sword."
Kenji chuckled, "Well hopefully you don't have to use it today, but it's just a precaution."
"For?"
"Well isn't it obvious Marcus?" Kenji said as he slung the scabbard over his back. "I'm taking you on a mission."
Marcus's eyes widened in excitement, "a mission? Seriously?" Marcus asked skeptically, "Is this a test or simulation?"
Elissa spoke for Kenji, "Nope, we've been monitoring a PRS for the past two weeks, readings began spiking a few hours ago."
"Wait a second, I heard Elissa mention a PRS before, what does that mean exactly?" Marcus asked.
"Potential rift site, rifts don't just pop up out of nowhere, it's a slow process and takes weeks to months for a rift to gather enough Ether to emerge."
Marcus nodded at Kenji's words, "I remember Elissa going over Ether in one of our lessons, it's basically an alternate reality energy right?"
"Correct, it seems you really were paying attention," Elissa said with a smile as she patted Marcus on the back.
Marcus nodded, "so what's the move?" Marcus asked seriously, his voice betraying the excitement and adrenaline that was rushing through him.
Kenji began to explain as he made his towards Elissa's car, "The site is about 30 minutes away in the old industrial district, the area has already been cleared by ACAs, so we are to move in and seal the deal."
"Ok, but what are ACAs?" Marcus asked as he and Elissa followed behind Kenji.
"As you know Elissa and I are ACOs or anomaly corrections officers, but there's another division of our organization called ACAs, or anomaly corrections assistants, they basically handle logistics and operations, while we do the frontline work."
Marcus nodded as he tied his sword to his waist, "got it."