"What's up kiddos?" Dakota waved at Colt and Jax as they stepped inside of the apartment gate, "How did your training go?"

"It was definitely enlightening!" Colt clenched his fists and smiled, "I got my ass kicked a bit, but I'm excited to get stronger!"

"A bit? We were about to die..." Jax cracked his neck and palmed the top of Hisa's head, "If it weren't for this maniac, we could've died..."

Dakota smirked, "Oh? I thought you guys were training with C-Rankers, is that too much for you?"

"No. An A-Ranker showed up!" Jax groaned, "That lure bomb you gave me was supposed to call C-Rankers only!"

"Oops..." She playfully twiddled her fingers, "My bad. But hey, you're still alive! And Colt seems happy."

"Whatever...I'm retiring as a teacher..." Jax stumbled into the building.

"Wait-You said that you were going to teach me about core powers!" Colt said, earning nothing in response but the sound of the closing door. "Damn..."

"Don't worry, Jax is sort of lazy. He has to mentally prepare himself to just leave the house, so when things go in a different direction than he planned, it leaves him drained..." said Dakota.

"I see..."

Did she just call him lazy? Ironic...

Dakota took a deep breath, "I guess I'll teach you about core powers. You're quick on the uptake, so it shouldn't be too annoying."

Hisa jumped in front of Dakota and held her hands, "You guys are training? Can I come too?"

"You already have one...It's kind of pointless."

"So? I want to fight with you guys!" She gave her the cutest puppy dog eyes she could manage, "Pwease?"

"Aw..." She pulled at Hisa's cheeks, making her giggle. "Okay. You can come along."

"Yay!" Hisa started jumping up and down like a child before she grabbed Colt's hands, "We're dojo buddies now Colt!"

His wrists ached just from her forceful grip, completely contrasting with her gleeful smile.

"Looking forward to it."

Dakota pulled Hisa back, "Let's give Colt some space, I'm sure he's tired after fighting an A-Ranker, right?"

"Big facts..." He rubbed the back of his head, "So, when are we starting?"

Dakota's face went blank as she stared at Colt. After a long pause, she turned away from him, "Let's start two days from now. That should put you at about three days."

"Three days? For what?"

She grit her teeth before turning back to him, "It's a lot of stuff, so I can't explain it all right now. You need to rest up over these next few days. Trust me."

"That makes sense I guess..." From the increasingly annoyed expression on her face, Colt knew that he was annoying Dakota with the questioning. "Is there anything I can do in advance to help me get more prepared?"

Her expression softened as a smile reappeared, "Actually...there is. Think about a few things that you want your power to do. Think about them a lot, I'm not joking."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Not really. Just think about the things you want your power to do and associate yourself with those said things."

He sighed, "That's all I get huh?"

"Pretty much. It'll be too easy for you if I just tell you everything." said Dakota.

"True. I want to figure things out on my own from here on out."

"Good. See ya." Dakota walked into the apartment, leaving Colt alone with Hisa.

As soon as the door closed, Hisa walked right in front of Colt and gazed into his eyes, leaving him paralyzed. Her childish expression remained, making her robotic actions even more absurd. The aggressive scent of bug repellant burned his nostrils, making him stumble a bit.

"Colt?"

"What's up?"

"Why do you want to learn about core powers? Do you want to get stronger?"

He was about to provide an immediate answer, but he paused before he could open his mouth. Of course, the feeling of understanding how cores and its fundamentals work is amazing, but was there another goal in mind?

From what he saw with Jax, core powers can be pretty unique. With Dakota telling him to brainstorm about what he wants his power to do means that there is a lot of personal creativity involved too.

There seemed to be some sort of overlapping between this world and the real world. Normal humans and other forms of nature exist in this realm, but the core beasts were another story. What were known as rumored cryptids in the normal world are known as common creatures here.

Anyhow, this intersection of reality applied to his goal in life: To find a way to revive the dead.

If core powers allowed for it, he could possibly make a power that can revive dead people. Just the thought of it set his heart ablaze. Tears nearly formed in his eyes as countless images flashed through his mind. Each image contained a snapshot of his life.

However, none of these snapshots rang a bell. It was clear that they were his memories, since he was in the photos, but he couldn't remember a single thing about them. Each image had been packed into a small box, which had locked itself. There was a keyhole in the lock, suggesting the existence of a key.

He needed that key, he wanted it. Those fleeting images would be made clearer if he could obtain the key.

"To be honest...I don't really want to get stronger. I want something more direct." he said.

"Oh...that's cool! What is it then?"

"I want to find a way to revive the dead."

She paused before smiling at him, "Like a necromancer? That's badass! I can't wait to fight ya someday!" She slapped his shoulder and ran off, "Bye Bye!"

I'm definitely not fighting her...

Even though he didn't change his answer from all of the previous questions, something was different now. At first, it was just a plain answer that a child would give their teacher when asked during a random call out section in school. Now, it was a legitimate goal that could be obtained, or at least had a chance of being obtained.

-

"Oh, you're back."

Colt's face went pale as he stepped into his dorm.

Yuri sat on his bed, playing Guilty Gear on his PS4.

"Why are you playing my game?"

"I thought we were sharing stuff since we're technically roommates now."

"Really?" He walked over to her and snatched the controller from her, "What do you have that you can give me?"

Her expression darkened as she kicked him in his crotch, "I'm going to kill you if you ever say something like that again."

"N-No..." He fell onto the ground and groaned in agony, "I was referring to the fact that you literally don't have any belongings in the room to share...Get your mind out of the gutter..."

"Oh. My bad." She took the controller from him and resumed the game, "Well...That's for future reference. And you look fucked up, what happened?"

"You just noticed that?" He could barely hold himself together due to the crippling pain, "I ran into an A-Ranker with Jax, and your crotch shot made things worse."

"You're overreacting."

"I'm not! You're a girl, so you can even begin to comprehend my pain!"

"Woman."

"What?"

"I'm a grown woman. I'm 20."

"Barely...fucking dwarf."

She paused the game and got out of the bed, standing right above him. "Was that first kick not enough?"

"It was! But it shouldn't have even happened! I want my lick back!"

"Go ahead and try."

"What? Are you gonna stop me?"

"I'll let you answer that for yourself."

"I wasn't planning on doing it anyways, but that's your only freebie..." He stood up and leaned against the worn-down bed for support, "You're going to hell..."

She smirked and jumped back into his bed, "As I thought."

He shook his head and stumbled towards the mini fridge in search of water. To his dismay, the fridge was empty. "Bro! Did you drink all of my water?"

"Yeah. It wasn't that much..."

"Did you stay in the room all day?"

"I didn't have anything else to do."

"I thought you were supposed to be watching me 24/7."

"Nope. I'm just supposed to keep tabs on you, and I wasn't even supposed to tell you about this."

"Then...why did you tell me?"

"You can't do anything with that info."

"I...guess you have a point." He walked over to his closet and retrieved more water, refilling the fridge. "Let's make some ground rules for the room though."

She scoffed and went back to playing the game, "Whatever..."

"I'm serious. My games are off limits when I'm gone. Don't go into my closet, for your own safety, and please don't drink all of the water without refilling the fridge. I live off of water, and it's the only thing I drink. If you're going to be so cruel as to steal it, at least keep some cold for me."

"Really?" She grinned, "You just made me curious about the closet."

"I'm not joking Yuri...I won't care personally if you see it, but you'll see me in a different light if you go in there."

"Stop hyping it up if you don't want me in there."

"Okay, just saying." He closed the closet door and stood in front of her, "Can I have this bed for the night? I'm too exhausted to sleep on the other one..."

She glanced at him before pausing the game, "Fine...But I'm not listening to your rules."

"What? Come on! That's not fair! You're just freeloading off of my stuff! I'm still poor in this world, you know."

"I wouldn't call it that. You get to have me in your room, isn't that enough of an exchange?"

"No! I can't even...interact with you!"

"What? We're talking right now."

"Not like that...I mean, it's not even like I have a woman in here. I'm not some gimp that gets off by breathing the same air as a female. You're nothing but a leech in here..."

"Really?"

"Yup. You literally brought nothing..."

"Materialistic..." She sighed before rolling onto her side, "Isn't it cool that you can share a room with someone?"

"No!"

"To be fair, this was my room first. No one told you to come in here. You offered me all of this stuff."

A mischievous smirk appeared on his face, "I know...you're hinting at something here..." He climbed onto the bed next to her.

In a second, he was thrown from the bed back onto the floor.

"This sucks...I feel like this is a good deal. You get to live off of my property, and I get the chance to flirt with you."

"That sounds suspicious."

"You can just deny the offer, and I'll leave you alone. Of course, my stuff comes with me."

"This is literally blackmail..."

"Not really. You're the one in the wrong. A grown woman leeching on a teen, how could you?"

"Aren't you a college student?"

"Still younger than you, grandma."

"Hah. I'm not at the age where that is an insult bastard."

"So..." He stood up and planted his hands on the bed, "What's your answer to the deal?"

"It's not like you can get anywhere with your weak ass skills, so I guess we have a deal."

"Sounds good." He walked over to the other bed and laid down, "I'm gonna get some shut eye...Dakota said that I need to rest for these next few days."

"For what?" asked Yuri.

"It's for my core power, she's helping me develop it."

She flinched a bit before rolling onto her back, "Oh."

"Are there any pointers that you could give me?"

She took a deep breath and chuckled, "I think you're better off asking someone else about that stuff...I guess you should think about what powers you want. That influences what the actual power manifests as."

"Really?" He jumped up in excitement.

"Yeah. But I can't help with much else. Good night...we have a long day tomorrow."

"We do?"

"Oh...I forgot to tell you, but the higher ups want me to bring you into the conference hall tomorrow."

"For?"

"I don't know the specifics, but I'm sure that it involves them wanting to see you in person for their own evaluations."

"Oh. Do I need to dress formally?"

"I don't know. Don't overdo it, just look nice."

"Understood, thanks!"

"No problem..."

As Colt closed his eyes, Yuri began to shift around in the other bed. He reopened his eyes to see that she was standing right before him.

"Hey, Zombie. You can have this bed..."

"Nah...I can manage with this one. Rest your pretty little head."

"Too late. I already got up." Yuri pulled on his arm, trying to get him out of the bed.

"I'm serious Yuri, you can keep it."

"Are you sure?"

"Mhmm." He turned around to face her. Her frown was still present, but she seemed concerned. "I'm good."

She yanked him off of the bed, throwing him back onto the floor. "You're gonna mess your body up if you sleep on this bed with those injuries."

"You sabotaged your kindness with that..." He stood up and watched her struggle to jump onto the bed, since it was pretty high up for her. "Shortcake..."

"What's that? A nickname?"

"Yeah. Or do you like Hotcake?"

She smirked, "You pick."

"I'll go with Hotcake." He tossed her his anime body pillow, "You can sleep with that. It helps a lot."

"What about you?"

"I have an extra." He reached into his closet, finding another body pillow. "See?"

"Mhmm. Good night..."

"Good night..."