The afternoon sun drapes the training yard in gold. For once, the air is calm — no alarms, no fights — only Tanaka kneeling in the grass with her journal open, glasses glinting.
"Alright," she says, excitement bubbling in her voice. "Today I finally get to study how your abilities really work."
The others trade uncertain looks. Moto stretches his bandaged arm. Aemon leans against a tree, his long brown locks shading his eyes. Najo folds his arms, silent but uneasy. Amber sits cross-legged nearby, eager eyes following every movement.
Tanaka gestures to Sheu. "You first."
Sheu hesitates, then steps forward. Tanaka presses her palm to her back. "Now… use your wind."
Sheu exhales and sweeps her arm. Instead of air rushing outward, a vacuum snaps open between her palms, pulling grass and pebbles toward it.
Her eyes widen. "It's sucking everything in." She pushes harder; the suction tightens like invisible jaws. When her hands drift apart, the void collapses with a pop.
"Fascinating!" Tanaka scribbles furiously. "Normal Nyika wind pushes outward. Inversion pulls everything inward."
Sheu wipes sweat from her brow. "Useful… but I can't sense anything when I use it. It's like I'm blind."
Amber hugs her knees. "That's scary… like it could eat someone up if you're not careful."
Sheu gives her a small, weary smile.
Tanaka's eyes gleam. "That's why we start slow. But the mystery — that's what does it for me. The infinite possibilities of what people can unlock under my power."
"Speaking of power," Sheu says, "how does yours even work?"
Tanaka straightens proudly. "It's called Grace Inversion. As long as I'm touching someone, I can give them the opposite of their ability. It's still experimental."
Najo whistles. "Amazing. I didn't know Pasi powers could do that."
Tanaka grins. "Well, Pasi's Human Ore gives abilities tied to the body — control, manipulation — but mine's a grace. It comes from Denga."
The group stills.
"Denga?" Moto repeats.
Before she can answer, footsteps echo across the yard. Asher and Tinashe appear at the gate.
Asher raises a brow. "Oh, then what are you doing down here with the likes of us?"
Amber jumps up. "Big brother! You're back!" She runs into their arms.
Tinashe laughs softly. "Didn't I tell you? She's one of Chandler's daughters."
The air freezes. Everyone's heard of Chandler — the legend, the threat.
Moto's eyes narrow. "Wait. You're Alicia's sister?"
Tanaka rolls her eyes. "Big sis. Yeah, I've heard of her."
Asher blinks. "Hold on — Moto, you know Alicia?"
Moto rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah. Long story."
"Shorten it," Asher snaps.
Moto exhales. "Her assassins kidnapped my friend. I went after her, got captured, listened to her ramble about how peace is impossible and something about boats. Then I blew up her cave, the team helped fight her crew, and the Queen bailed us out."
Asher's jaw practically hits the ground. Amber's eyes glitter with fascination.
Tanaka scoffs. "Serves her right."
Moto smirks. "Oh? You don't like her either?"
Tanaka's tone turns brittle. "No. It's my jerk of a father I can't stand. I wish he'd just die."
The words drop like stones.
Sheu's eyes narrow, the glare sharp enough to cut. "You're going too far."
Tanaka folds her arms. "Don't speak on things you don't know."
Sheu's voice trembles, a dam cracking. "You're the one doing that! Some of us would give anything to see our fathers again — you should show yours some respect."
Tanaka's expression hardens. "I don't have to accept a rotten man just because others lost theirs."
"Whoa," Najo interrupts, hands raised. "Let's calm down."
Asher steps in, too. "Yeah, that's not language we use around kids."
But Sheu's already shaking. The anger that's been simmering for weeks — Moto's secrets, her father's absence, every unanswered question — finally erupts.
She grips her knife, then lets it drop to her side. "You wouldn't understand," she mutters, voice breaking. "You already have a father to hate."
She turns away. Moto reaches for her arm, but she jerks free and storms off, vanishing into the long grass.
Moto stays frozen a moment, smoke curling from his fingertips — guilt, heat, frustration.
She's not wrong, he thinks. I've been hiding too much.
The group stands in uneasy silence.
Next is Moto. He kneels as Tanaka, still shaken but composed, places her hand on his shoulder. Smoke seeps from his skin in dark tendrils.
"Focus," she says quietly.
Moto grits his teeth, drawing the smoke inward. Instead of dispersing, it coils tight, compressing until it becomes dense, black, and rough-edged. He clenches his fist — the shards clink like glass.
His eyes widen. "It's… solid?"
Tanaka leans in, awe cutting through the tension. "Incredible. The dispersion reversed — you're condensing smoke into matter."
Moto studies one shard. Sunlight glints on its jagged surface. "Looks like obsidian," he says with a small grin. "Yeah. Obsidian. I'll call it that."
He swings once — the blade slices clean through a stump. For the first time, his power feels contained.
Amber claps. "That's so cool! You finally get to fight without burning yourself!"
Moto exhales, the faintest smile crossing his face. "Exactly."
Aemon steps up next. "This'll be messy. My abilities… complicated."
"Explain," Tanaka says, adjusting her glasses.
"I've got an imaginary friend. Grillet. He can manifest outside me, but not for long." His tone darkens. "That's all you need to know."
He shuts his eyes. "Let's just do this."
Her hand touches his back. Aemon stiffens; shadow flares through him.
A claw bursts from his shoulder, hurling Tanaka backward.
Najo reacts instantly, grabbing the limb and flinging Grillet away. The specter rises, eyes burning. "Idiots — you nearly unleashed it!"
The tension spikes. Moto steps forward, smoke hardening along his arms. "Enough."
Grillet's snarl fades; he dissolves back into Aemon.
Amber's small voice trembles. "Aemon… does it hurt?"
He rubs his shoulder. "Not the way you think. But yeah. And lately… the chains feel weaker."
Finally, Najo.
He hesitates, but Tanaka's calm has returned. Her hand presses between his shoulders.
"You're shaking," she whispers.
"Just do it," he says.
He summons his lightning — and instead of thunder, silence blooms. The air hums softly, like rainfall behind glass.
His vision blurs. Black, red, and blue patterns bloom across it, silhouettes shifting inside the haze. Voices whisper, faint but human.
"What do you see?" Tanaka asks quickly.
Najo's voice trembles. "Shapes… like people. Lines of color. Peaceful, but… wrong. When I try to aim, nothing comes out — I just see along the path."
Tanaka's eyes gleam. "It's the inversion! The electrons that make your lightning have flipped — positrons instead. You're not firing anymore; you're reading life itself."
Her excitement fades as she glances toward the spot where Sheu stood earlier. "Beautiful… but dangerous. You've turned a storm into a scanner. Not a weapon — a window."
Najo swallows. The whispers don't fade. They pulse, like hearts echoing in the dark.
Amber hugs herself, voice small. "That doesn't sound peaceful at all."
Moto leans against the fence, gaze sweeping the team — the fractures, the fear, the strange new powers. His smoke hardens into silent shards at his fingertips.
Inversions… they don't give. They take.
A distant siren wails from the heart of Pasi.
Asher stiffens. "They're here."
Everyone freezes. None of them needs to ask who.
The Crimson Creed has arrived.
To be continued…