At the S-1 Mansion...
Not long after the meeting, Xar pulled up in a fancy car and walked up to the S-1 Mansion, knocking on the door.
"Hello?"
Saori answered it, staring up at him with an innocent look. "Hi, Mister! Do you need something?"
Xar knelt beside her. "Is Dachii Jones here, young one?"
Saori nodded. "Mhm! He's in his room!"
Xar peeked past the door, seeing the living room was empty. "Can you go and get him for me?"
She nodded, and she ran up the stairs. When she came back down, she had a shirtless Dachii with her, who seemed like he was fresh out of the bed.
"Here you are!" Saori beamed.
Dachii rubbed his eyes. "Aren't you that Royal Guard? What do YOU want?"
Xar straightened up. "Dachii Jones, I am hereby ordered to transport you to General Naito Kei's mansion for mandatory training, ASAP!"
Dachii nearly fainted. "TRAINING? I was busy trying to sleep!"
"You've got five minutes to get ready!" Xar replied.
"Are you KIDDING me?"
After Dachii got dressed in his military uniform, Xar pulled up the display on his watch and pressed a button, and the car's doors immediately opened. "Hop inside."
Dachii groaned and dragged himself to the car. "I can't believe this! I can't catch a damn break!"
Saori waved to him from the door. "Bye, Dachii! See you later!"
Akari popped in the doorway. "Great, where's he off to now?"
"He's going to train!" Saori answered.
Akari rolled her eyes. "Fine. We'll continue our discussion later. Let's go get some practice in, Saori."
"Okay!"
As they went back inside, Xar drove down the many streets of Asuka, passing by various mansions and skyscrapers.
After a while of driving, Dachii noticed the area where the Asuka Festival was held had been fixed up.
"They cleaned this place up ALREADY?" Dachii asked.
Xar kept his eyes on the road. "Yes. Our clean-up protocols are designed to be very effective and efficient."
Soon after, they arrived at a lavish green and white mansion, which was almost the same size as the S-1 Mansion. Xar pulled up in the driveway and got out of the car.
"Come, Dachii."
Dachii reluctantly got out and followed Xar as he approached the door and knocked on it. A few seconds later, an older Voltian woman answered it.
"Hello, Xar! Is this the boy Naito's supposed to be taking on?"
Xar nodded. "Indeed. He'll have a few days with you, in an attempt to draw out his full power."
She stepped aside. "Come in, Dachii! My name is Naoki! I'm Naito's mother."
Xar turned and got back in his car, leaving Dachii with Naoki. "Hi...?"
As Dachii stepped inside the mansion, he saw over a dozen young soldiers silently playing cards in the living room, which was decorated in green. As he walked past, they barely even acknowledged him.
Naoki gently grabbed Dachii's hand. "Oh, don't mind them! Naito likes to pick people who are...as like-minded as her."
"I see," Dachii noted. "Did she recruit you too?"
Naoki shook her head. "Me? No, no! I'm just the nurse. I examine and offer aid. Although, with Hikari on the scene, my job is becoming less and less needed."
She continued walking up to a door. "Here, Naito should be waiting for you! Let's not keep her too long!"
As she walked towards the door, it scanned her and immediately opened. Inside, Dachii saw a training room, with various large pillars placed all around it.
On the central pillar, he saw Naito calmly sitting, looking down at him, with her fans at the base of the pillar.
"You've made it."
Naoki waved to her daughter. "Hey, Naito! It's not nice to greet your guests from above, so how about you come down?"
Naito sighed and she waved her arm. Immediately, her fans began to rise and come to her, and she grabbed them and used them to slide down.
Naoki clapped her hands together. "Now, you two, introduce yourselves!"
Naito reluctantly held out her hand, expression unchanging. "Hi. I'm Naito. Eighteen years on this planet, and ordered to help train you."
Dachii hesitated before shaking her hand. "Hi, I'm...Dachii. You...look nice..."
She released her grip. "Looks are irrelevant. We should train, then we sleep."
She walked to the middle of the room, and Naoki gave Dachii a pat on the back. "Good luck!"
Dachii followed her, and she held her fans out. "Can you balance yourself?"
Dachii stared at her, confused. "Balance myself? What do you mean?"
Naito narrowed her eyes for a moment. "Try and hit me."
Dachii scratched his head. "I don't really hit girls..."
Naito threw one of her fans at him, and he ducked it. "Hey! You almost sliced off my hair!"
Without warning, he tried to punch her in the head, but she dodged it by flipping over him. As soon as she did, she swept his legs from under him and he fell to the ground.
"No balance. You've failed."
Dachii got up and repeatedly tried to punch her, but Naito managed to effortlessly dodge every time, flipping and doing handsprings to evade the attacks.
"She's so nimble!" Dachii realized.
By the time he caught on, she was already on top of one of the pillars, fans in hand. "All of your agility is lacking. Let's work on it."
Dachii looked up at her. "And how are we going to do that?"
Naito nodded towards the wall. "Mother, please hit that blue button."
Naoki hit it, and dozens of small laser cannons came out of each pillar, forming blue laser wires everywhere. One wire touched Dachii, turning red and burning him.
"Ow!"
He jumped next to Naoki for safety. "Lasers?"
Naito appeared beside them, shocking Dachii. "Yes. You go from one side of the room to the other, without hitting a single one.
Dachii gulped as he took in the many lasers across the room. "I'm doomed."
Naito got into a graceful stance. "I'll demonstrate."
She began sprinting, leaping over one batch of lasers. Then, she twisted and turned through more and more, and she flipped right over another round of lasers. After sliding under a few more, she was on the other side.
"Done. Now you try."
Dachii just stood there with his mouth wide open. Naoki clapped.
"Go, Naito!"
Dachii got into a running stance, his body beginning to glow gray.
"I got this."
He took off, jumping over one round of lasers, but he landed right in the path of another batch, turning them red and getting burnt in the process.
"Damn it!"
Naito began to sit down, yawning. "Try again."
Dachii took his spot back at the wall, and he tried to concentrate and make his move again.
"This has to work!"
He jumped over the lasers with less force, and he was able to dive through the next batch, but he messed up the timing and hit another laser.
"Try again," Naito said.
Dachii kept attempting to cross the room, but each time he continued to fail. Naoki eventually began to leave the room.
"I'll be back! I have to make dinner for those hungry mouths out there!"
Dachii sighed. "I've been doing this all day! Can I take a break now?"
Naito shrugged. "Okay. Let's resume tomorrow."
And with ease, she got up and crossed the room, stunning Dachii.
"How does she DO that?" Dachii wondered.
Naito left, heading upstairs, and Dachii walked into the living room, where dozens of members were gathered, now playing with dice. Naoki turned the stove on and began to cook sushi.
"Don't worry, it'll be done soon!" Naoki called out.
The soldiers continued to play dice, and Dachii watched them. "Are you guys...okay?"
They didn't even look at him.
"Well, okay."
Dachii heard footsteps, and he turned towards the staircase and saw a young Voltian boy with short green hair and eyes walking down.
"They're quiet. They aren't used to outsiders."
The boy had an aloof expression on his face, and he seemed a little older than Dachii. "I'm Yūsuke Sasaki. I'm what you call a Vice-General."
He slowly held out his hand, and Dachii blankly stared at it before taking it. "I'm Dachii. I was kind of forced to be here."
"Yeah, the special training event. I've heard. I'll join you in your session tomorrow."
"Oh...okay."
"Everyone!" Naoki called out. "Dinner's ready!"
Just like mindless machines, the soldiers all got up and headed toward the kitchen. They each lined up one by one, grabbing plates of sushi off the counter.
Dachii and Yūsuke were last in line, and they saw Naoki putting extra sushi on their plates. "Eat up! You'll need energy for tomorrow!"
Dachii thanked her and took his plate, and then he looked around. "Wait, where's my room at?"
Yūsuke pointed to a guest bedroom down the hall, and Dachii walked up to the door and opened it.
Inside, there was a white bed with green covers, a dresser, lights, and a TV on the wall. Dachii plopped onto the bed, putting sushi in his mouth.
"Hmm, this is actually comfortable."
Eventually, he fell asleep, and when he woke up the next day, he noticed he was inside the training room, still lying on his mattress.
"WHAT THE—-?"
Naito and Yūsuke were busy training, dodging laser wires as they raced across the room. Naoki cheered them on from the side.
"You've got her this time, Yūsuke!"
As Naito began to pull away, Yūsuke jumped over her, narrowly avoiding a laser wire.
"Now," he thought.
As he continued to evade more laser wires, he was surprised to see Naito in front of him again.
"What?"
In the process, he hit a wire, turning it red, and Naito made it to the other side.
"I win."
He sighed, and they both walked back toward the starting wall, where Dachii was rubbing his eyes.
"Why am I in here?" he asked.
"It was time for training, and you didn't wake up," Naito said. "So I brought you."
"The entire MATTRESS too?"
She nodded. "Now let's begin."
She motioned for Dachii and Yūsuke to take their places. "You two will race. First one to make it to the other side wins. If you touch three wires, you automatically lose."
Dachii took a deep breath and he got into a running stance just as Yūsuke did the same.
Naito waved her arm down. "Proceed."
They both bolted, clearing the first wave of wires. As the second wave approached, Dachii saw Yūsuke was moving faster than him.
"Crap!"
Dachii made his body even lighter, and he was able to twist through the second wave and get ahead of Yūsuke.
Yūsuke noticed this and began to run faster, sliding under a few wires, but he hit one in the process. "That's not good."
As they began to approach the third wave, Dachii and Yūsuke were basically neck and neck, trying to twist and maneuver through the wires.
"The end's in sight!" Dachii thought. "I can make it!"
He and Yūsuke dived for the end at the same time, and just then...
"Ow!"
They both fell on top of each other, and they each crashed into multiple laser wires. In an instant, Naito was in front of them.
"You've both lost."
Yūsuke got up. "Indeed."
Dachii was laid out on the ground. "Ugh..."
Naito looked down at him. "You've improved from yesterday, Dachii. Now once you can balance on this beam for 12 hours straight, you can go."
Dachii looked up. "What beam?"
Naoki pressed a button on the wall, and the pillars disappeared into the ground. The middle of the floor retracted and a small metal balance beam extended from one end to the other.
Dachii looked down at the drop. "THAT? What happens if I fall?"
Naito yawned. "There's water below. Try not to fall."
Not long after, Dachii was attempting to balance on one hand over the beam, using his powers to keep himself light.
"C'mon, c'mon!"
He accidentally lost his grip and fell into the water below.
Yūsuke, Naoki, and Naito watched as he tried again. Eventually, Naoki went to cook dinner and Yūsuke left to tend to his own business.
Naito sat down, falling asleep. Every time Dachii fell off the beam, she opened her eyes and said:
"Failed. Restart."
As the days went on, Dachii finally managed to balance on the beam for 12 hours, taking eating and sleeping breaks in the process.
Three days later, once he'd managed to balance on the beam, Naito walked into the room, checking her timer.
"It's done. You can visit Kaneko now."
Dachii jumped off the beam, collapsing to the floor. "FINALLY!"
Naito, Naoki, and Yūsuke led him to the front door, where Xar's car was waiting.
"I called Xar," Naito stated. "He's ready to take you to the next place now."
Dachii, sluggish, gave her a thumbs up. As he walked to the car, nearly collapsing, Naoki waved to him.
"Goodbye, Dachii! Come visit us soon?"
Yūsuke turned toward Naito. "Did he show any signs of releasing his power?"
Naito shook her head. "No, but he knows how to balance now."
They walked back inside, and Xar began to drive Dachii to his next destination:
The S-6 MANSION.
—-