Chapter One: Practice

"To the right Fred," Hiro called sighing heavily as he watched his friend dodge to the left instead. "Right Fred, right!" Hiro pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance as the gang gathered around him. The makeshift practice arena had been destroyed once again as explosions were set off continuiously by the blue monster.

"Hiro, my man," Fred panted removing his head as he looked up at the young man with his arms crossed. "Cmon dude, I'm exhausted. Can't we call it quits? We've been at this for hours!"

"I agree," Honey gnawed her lip thoughtfully. "And with the temperature, the new suits, everything," She turned to the younger team leader. "It's too much right now."

"Don't forget about the finals we've got coming up too," Gogo panted annoyed as she skated up next to the boy. "We need a break Hiro, the city isn't going to get destroyed over night, or without us skipping a practice or two!"

Hiro tensed looking at his group before sighing softly and nodded, "Fine...go on home. But leave the suits," He smiled tightly at his friends. "I've still got some tweaks to add to them."

"Hiro," Wasabi frowned lightly crossing his arms. After the fire incident, he had unintentionally taken on the older brother role. He had noticed that Hiro really needed someone to set their foot down, and that as he had grown older the male wasn't listening to Gogo as well as he used to. "You need to go home, eat, bathe, and rest. You've been going non-stop lately." The young asian simply scoffed and shook his head as he undid the leather straps that tied the plasma blade to the older's forearms.

"Not yet," He rubbed his neck and sighed looking up at his friends. "Look...it's rough right now...the anniversary is coming up, just let me stay distracted alright?" Silence fell over the group as realization settled over them like a shroud. In just three days, twelve hours, and exactly twenty six minutes, the two year anniversary of Tadashi's final moments would be here. It was always a hard time for the youngest Hamada; he would seperate himself from the group and shut everyone out for a few weeks. Then he would show up like it never happened. The teachers at the school never questioned it, never counted it against him.

"Hiro," Honey whispered softly before throwing her long arms around the young man's neck. She could feel the tears budding behind her eyes as she pulled his head to her chest softly. Hiro returned the hug grateful that he was taller than he was when they first met; puberty had been kind to him after all—for the most part.

"I'm fine," He chuckled out as he stepped away from his blonde friend. "Seriously, I just need a few days of distraction, and this is the perfect thing, ya know? Besides," He grinned softly as he shrugged his shoulders. "I've got a new project to work on too. I've got to find SOME reason to stay at school since you four seem to be so slow to graduate."

"Hey," Gogo huffed crossing her arms shooting at a glare at the youngest Hamada. "Just because you're some kind of stupid genius-" The young Korean was cut off by a clothed hand slapping over her mouth.

"Don't make him angry, or he might change his mind about practice being over!" Fred whined exhaustedly in the girl's ear. Gogo huffed behind the cloth and cocked her hip biting down harshly on the gum in her mouth. Hiro chuckled and smiled at his friends before shooing them off.

"Go on guys," He smiled as he cracked his shoulders lightly. "I'll text you guys when I leave here. Aunt Cass is at the Cafe tonight, said she wanted us to all eat there." The group nodded before retreating to their respective vehicles. Gogo faltered at her bike watching as everyone else left with Wasabi. Waiting until they were out of eyesight, she turned back towards her little friend.

"Hiro," She scoffed walking back over to the young man. He had already pulled apart her helmet and her roller blades and were tinkering. It always amazed her how fast he worked with technology, and how slow he sometimes used his head. "Hiro," She grunted again as she eased herself down beside him. The young man jolted a bit as she finally caught her attention. "Come on, the upgrades can wait." She placed a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Gogo," Hiro groaned heavily as he set the mechanisms down and turned towards her. "I need this," He said decisively as he looked into her eyes. "I need something to keep my mind busy, yes Aunt Cass is at home, and I could talk to her, I could go home and act like I'm fine, but every now and then Gogo...I can't be happy."

The young Korean simply sighed softly before placing a chaste kiss to the boy's messy hair and standing. "Alright, you've got two hours. If Baymax's tracker is still here by then, I swear to the heavens that you won't be able to walk home when I'm done kicking your ass. Got it?" She smiled softly crossing her arms and cocking her hips dominantly.

"Yea yea," Hiro chuckled waving her off again. "I got it, two hours!" He smiled as he turned back to the skate in front of him. If he could just get them to be faster and lighter, then Gogo would have a stronger chance of retreating from danger. The only problem he was coming across so far was finding a stable material that was light enough to bring up speed, sturdy enough to withstand Gogo's exccessive abuse of the blades, and thin enough to be used as a weapon if the need arises. The first thing to pop into Hiro's mind was to use the air around them. However, he was having a hard time finding a way to keep the air concentrated enough for longer than three minutes. That was the last thing he needed; for Gogo to be mid-fight and her blades go kaput. Hiro sighed and brushed his bangs from his forehead as he decided to ponder on that later.

His phone buzzed in his pocket alerting him, with a small tinkle, that he had a text message. He pulled it out and unlocked the screen, trying to see through the smear of oil that covered his screen.

You have thirty minutes.

Gogo was keeping track of his time frame. Hiro chuckled softly shaking his head before packing the gear up and putting them in the trunk of his aunt's car.

Leaving now actually. I'll meet you guys at the Cafe tonight.

Gogo must have been pleased with his reply for she never responded. Hiro started the car and carefully darted out into the six o'clock traffic San Fransokyo was infamous for. The young man groaned and turned the car's radio up as loud as it could go. It would seem that he would have plenty of time on the way home to reminisce about his older brother's life.

There was so much about Tadashi that Hiro wanted to remember, and just as much as he wanted to forget; for instance, he loved the idea that his brother had always cared about other people to the point of a fault. However, he hated the idea that it was that fault that caused his demise. In the young asian's mind, it seemed obvious that something in the fates had gotten mixed up. When he was bot fighting, Hiro was consistantly risking his own life to get a degree of satisfaction; entertainment. Yet his brother risked his life to save someone important to him and the community, and look what happened. Callighan wasn't even the least bit apologetic that he had taken his brother's life.

Callighan, Hiro sighed rubbing his left temple. That was a name he hated with a deep passion. The man had only recently gotten out of prison, and had tried several times to contact the young inventor; had even gotten his job at SFIT back. The gang made sure he stayed within his boundaries, though, not letting the man out of their sight for more longer than it takes for him to use the bathroom. He was still on probation, but that didn't put Hiro's anxiousness at ease, for that would end eventually as well.

The car's automated system answered the phone call before Hiro even had a chance to register he was getting one.

"Hey Sweety," His aunt's voice rang through the car, calming Hiro's thoughts instantly. "Where are you at? All the gang is here already, and we're waiting on you! We're going to have mild wings tonight. I don't think Wasabi can handle your favorite tonight." She giggled lightly. The young San Fransokyian could just imagine his aunt winking at the well built young man.

"Almost home," He chuckled as he switched on his blinker cautiously, "I'm passing SFIT as we speak."

"You better hurry it up, you said you left half an hour early! You should have been here by now," Gogo grunted on the other side of the line. Hiro sighed softly and stopped at a red light carefully.

"I'm less than five minutes away Gogo, if you guys are that hungry then go ahead and start without me!" That was the wrong answer. Aunt Cass instantly began a tirade about how they would wait for him because this was a family dinner, and the family wasn't complete without him being there, and how he should be ashamed for even suggesting such a thing. Hiro chuckled as he pulled into the drive way, and turned the car off. He took a moment to catch his breath and watch the shadows inside as they chatted animatedly among the tables of the Cafe. It was aslmost two years ago when he would have gone through the same event with an extra person involved.

Sighing, Hiro slammed the door to the car and made his way inside. His mind was really in need of a good distraction. He quickly made his way into the warm cafe and greeted his friends.

After the gang went home, Hiro quickly darted into the garage to continue his work on the suits. During one of their conversations Wasabi had brought up a good idea; one that Hiro could easily insert into their suits. It was a gps tracking device that would show them where each other was using a small holographic map in the corner of the plates on their helmets.

The young man easily stayed up until well past midnight tinkering with the helmets. By the time Gogo had texted him the next morning asking if he slept, the genius had completed over half of the planned updates for the helmets. Telling his asian friend, however, was not his brightest of moments.

"Where is he?" Gogo snapped as she stormed into the cafe her riding helmet in her hand and Honey Lemon stumbling behind her. The occupants of the cafe looked up at the two girls in shock; falling silent as they stormed past them.

"Aunt Cass," Gogo called sighing before she saw her victim in the corner chatting with one of his regular customers. "Hiro!" She growled crossing her arms and scowled harder at the young male as he turned around and faced her. Hiro felt himself jolt a bit as he tried to paste on a sheepish smile. He didn't even bother trying to hide the bags under his eyes.

"Oh, hi Gogo," The boy waved anxiously stepping away from the table and rushing into the back of the cafe. "Sorry, can't talk now, busting tables!" He yelped just as the young Asian girl dashed after him annoyed.

"Now you listen here," She growled huffily until Aunt Cass simply stepped over and smiled draping an apron around the young girls shoulders.

"Good, we could use an extra hand today." The older lady giggled happily as she placed a carrier on the girls hand and pointed. "Mrs. Matsuda really needs her coffee or she's going to start getting grumpy. Then table three and table six need their orders taken. And then table eight could use refills on their coffee." Gogo grunted sighing heavily as she made her way back into the cafe. How on earth had she managed to get capture in the line of fire? She really should have known better by now.