Later that night, Dachii, Marachii, and Luca all went back to the room. Yuri slept outside after angrily chewing out Kia, and Morino slept in the same room as Kia. Before going to bed, Kia hugged her children.
"Don't worry, my babies! I'll be with you everywhere you go tomorrow!"
Dachii felt crushed by the weight of her hug. "Ow, Mom!"
They went to sleep, and in the morning, Morino woke them all up with a microphone. "Training time, kiddos! Get up out of those beds!"
Morino threw the front door open, which revealed Yuri standing behind it. "Can I have my room back, like NOW?!"
"No time, rookie! Let's get you all ready for action!"
Dachii, Marachii, and Luca sluggishly left their rooms, half-dressed. Kia burst out of her room.
"Father! All of this noise! Do you know what TIME it is?"
"Training time!" he replied, with a big smile on his face. Yuri groaned.
"Seriously?"
They heard the sound of a loud horn throughout the hallways and covered their ears.
"What is that NOISE?" Marachii asked.
"Up, soldiers! Up! The day is young, so let's not waste it!"
"Is that Nakada?" Dachii asked, still covering his ears. Outside the room, other soldiers were begrudgingly opening their doors, still sleepy.
"Ma'am, can we please get 5 more minutes?" Kai asked, still in his night clothes.
Nakada blew into a giant, metallic, and compact device that seemed like a blowpipe, and it made a loud horn noise right in front of Kai, nearly knocking him over.
"Up! Let's get to it!"
Obara emerged from the same room as Kai. "The probability of this day turning out so much as DECENT is 1.7%."
"Man, I hate those odds."
Members of Squad S-3 also opened their doors, irritated by the noise. Nishiyama came outside with her hair messy and in a nightgown.
"Lady, SOME OF US NEED REST!"
Tomoko burst out of the room next to her. "Are we gonna fight? I'm ready!"
She used her magic to paralyze him before walking back inside her room. Morino exited into the hallway.
"Everyone, meet us downstairs in 10 minutes! Anyone late will have to run 5 laps across the island!"
Everyone groaned. Vice-Generals Oyakawa and Mashimo left their rooms, following Morino and Nakada, who took the elevator downstairs.
Dachii, Marachii, and Luca entered the hallway, and Kia was right behind them. "Come on, boys. Let's see what your Grandfather wants."
Yuri glared at her, and Kia glared back, but Marachii and Dachii led her away. The group walked toward the elevator, as the eyes of Squad S-3 and S-4 watched them with looks of suspicion and superiority.
Tomoko, released from his paralysis, began to run to the elevator. "Let's go after them!"
Everyone reluctantly made their way to the elevator, waiting for the initial occupants to arrive downstairs.
Dachii and the others got out and found Morino and Nakada by the front entrance, with their Vice-Generals standing beside them.
"The others are still not down yet?" Nakada asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Maybe I should make them run for their laziness!"
Morino chuckled. "Seems my family beats them out."
Marachii approached Morino. "Grandfather, this isn't gonna cut into our Expo time, right?"
"Expo?" he asked, with an amused look on his face. "Don't worry, kiddo. After we teach you some skills, you boys can go nerd out all you want!"
"How long will this take?"
"Maybe…10 hours."
"TEN?"
Nakada gave him a pat on the shoulder. "The Expo starts at 8 p.m., which gives us plenty of time for us to train you!"
Dachii sighed. "10 hours of training…I can't believe this."
Luka scratched his neck. "Hopefully, we'll be god-level monster slayers when we're done."
The other members arrived down from the elevator in groups, and soon after, they were all crowded around the door.
Nakada did a head count for her squad, and Morino did the same, but he found the Prince was missing.
"Where's Atomu?"
"He said he'd take the laps, but he had to handle something important," Nishiyama stated.
Morino slapped his head. "I'll have a talk with him later. We have no more time to waste. Let's go."
Nakada stepped outside, pointing down the street. "There's a warehouse we can use for our purposes. No need for vehicles."
She winked at Morino. "Race me, old man?"
"I'm not old, damn it!"
Nakada got in a running stance. "Then show me."
Morino grunted and stood next to her. "I guess I'll have to teach you another lesson, girl."
As they both got into position, in the blink of an eye, they took off. By the time Dachii finished blinking, both were already halfway down the street.
"How can Grandfather Morino move THAT fast at his age?" Dachii asked.
Kia scoffed. "Your grandfather is a show-off. Always has been."
Morino's running style resembles a track star in motion, while Nakada ran more like an elegant dancer.
In seconds, both were at the warehouse, with Morino reaching it just a hair before Nakada did. "See! This old man kicked your ass!"
Nakada smirked. "Congratulations, sir. Next time I won't go so easy on you."
"Oh, hush."
They motioned for the others to follow, and everyone took their time walking over, to the annoyance of the Generals.
"They are very slow," Nakada mentioned.
"That's what training is for," Morino replied.
Once everyone had arrived, Nakada opened the door to the dark warehouse. Once she stepped foot inside, the lights automatically turned on. The warehouse was empty, and only a metal floor and a few shelves on the walls were visible.
"Everyone sit around the center. Training shall commence now." Nakada ordered.
The squads sat criss-crossed around the center of the room, and Dachii, Marachii, and Kia sat next to each other. Luca sat next to Tomoko, who giggled and laughed.
"Wolf! Wanna spar?!"
"Maybe later."
Morino and Nakada took their places in the center of the room, looking around at the gathered members.
"Last night, Dachii Jones, Marachii Jones, and Luca Mori encountered a group of bandits," Nakada recalled.
"And these boys possess powers with potential beyond anything we normal Voltians can do. They struggled to defeat the bandits, which led me to one conclusion."
She looked at Morino, who nodded. "We must make sure each and every one of you is ready for a confrontation with them, because remember, bandits are NOT our only enemy."
Whispers were heard in the crowd.
"She must be talking about the Zharians," Dachii wondered. "The damage they caused last time, what ARE those things?"
Morino continued where she left off. "Yes, to face this new threat that's emerging, we need every military member we can muster. Us generals can only do so much."
He turned toward Nakada. "But we can show you what we CAN do. Today, we want you all in sparring matches, to try and improve your weaknesses. You've had basic training before, but now this is SERIOUS."
He drew his weapon, and so did Nakada. "So you'll fight EACH OTHER, giving it ALL you've got."
Nakada smirked as they locked eyes. "No killing or maiming, of course, but let me show you a demonstration. The old man might die in the process."
"Whatever. Mashimo, begin the countdown."
Vice-General Mashimo stood up. "3…2…1…FIGHT!"
Nakada and Morino charged at each other at the same time, clashing weapons.
"Aren't we a little too close?" Marachii asked, backing away.
Nakada fired two shots from her gunblade at Morino, and he deflected them both. "Really, headshots?"
"Too much for you, senior citizen?"
He swung one of his chained axes at her, and she dodged, but he reversed its course, and it came hurling back at her.
"FURY!"
The axe began to heat up, heading straight for her chest.
"Wait, isn't that dangerous? He might hurt General Nakada!" Kai exclaimed.
Nakada chuckled. She crossed her arms around her chest, and white sparks began to come off of her. Surprisingly, the axe passed RIGHT through her body, almost as if it was never even there.
"What?!" Kai yelled out.
Morino tried to pull his chain back, but Nakada grabbed it and yanked it, sending him flying towards her.
"Gonna fall over, old man?"
He recovered and landed high up on the wall next to them, using his other axe to stab into it and keep himself in place.
"You underestimate me, youngster."
The axe began to heat up again, making Nakada drop it. Morino pulled it back towards him and began rapidly launching it at Nakada, who used her gunblade to deflect the attacks.
"They're on a different level!" Dachii remarked. "When did Grandfather EVER learn how to move and fight like this?"
Kia sighed. "He's lived here his whole life. It's all he's ever known."
Nakada tried to shoot him again, but he jumped off the wall, throwing an axe into the roof and swinging on it to try and attack her with the other one, but she blocked it with her blade.
"Too much jumping around! I'll show you how it's done!"
She kicked off of him and began running on the walls, shooting at him rapidly with bullets as squad members inched away. He used his axes to deflect the volley of bullets coming his way, just as Nakada jumped off the wall in an attempt to slice him.
"Let's put you to bed."
Morino spun his chain around, swinging it to attempt to trap her with it, but just then…
The lights went out.
"The hell?"
When they turned back on, everyone saw Shu standing at the door.
"Sorry, sorry! I thought there was a fight in here! I'll…just leave now."
He quickly hurried out, and Nakada and Morino were both on the ground, wrapped in Morino's chains.
"Well, I guess we'll call this…a tie," he said.
"Agreed," she replied.
They freed themselves and went back to the center of the room, addressing the shocked and confused faces.
"There you have it! You'll all be doing the same thing!" Morino stated.
"General Morino is unreal…" Nishiyama whispered to herself.
"General Nakada really is something else…" Yuri thought.
"Can I fight you guys next?!" Tomoko asked, eagerly jumping up. Morino shook his head.
"Nope, you guys will fight your own class. It'll make it more fair, for all of us."
"Okay!"
"We'll pair you with your partners," Nakada stated. "Would anyone like to volunteer to be a demonstration match?"
No one raised their hands. Everyone sat still. "No? Come on, don't be shy. The first match is always for everyone to witness."
Still no response. Nakada walked over to Morino and whispered to him. He nodded, and they turned back to the crowd.
"Well then, we'll pick the two demonstrators. The first match will be…"
Everyone held their breaths.
"Dachii Jones vs. Marachii Jones!"
Dachii and Marachii immediately looked at each other. "What?!?!?"
Meanwhile, back in Voltiana…
Akari, Hikari, and Saori returned back to the S-1 Mansion, their faces rough and grimy. Saori had a lollipop in her hands that she licked, giggling and smiling.
"Too bad we didn't find them this time! Are we going to play again?"
Akari approached the door. "Saori, we're going to tell Fujii. They're not at their home, so we'll have to do a broader search."
As she began to open the door, a wave of cool air came from behind it, chilling the girls.
"Ahh! It's cold!" Saori yelled out.
Akari and Hikari went to peep through the windows. They saw Fujii in the living room, flipping through a book. The entire living room was quickly turning to ice, and he had a determined expression on his face.
"Mother…" he whispered. "I WILL find you. I promise."
Saori jumped to peek through the window. "What's he doing? Reading a book?"
"I don't know, sweetheart," Hikari replied. "He looks so serious, and…upset?"
He sat up, setting the book down and taking a deep breath before disappearing in a blur. After watching for a moment, the girls opened the door.
"This will take some time to thaw out," Akari remarked. "I've never seen him freeze a room like this."
Hikari picked up one of the couch cushions. "Yeah, I wonder how we'll tell him about the boys."
"Guys! Guys!" Saori called out. She had the book Fujii was reading in her hands.
"What's that, Saori?"
"Look at the cover! Look what it says!"
Akari picked it up, and she and Hikari examined it. The title of the book read:
"The Ancient War."
—-