"First Day of School"
"But Mommy I want to stay with Blake." 5 year old Hunter whined.
"I know sweetie but you can't, today you start kindergarten." Helen Bradley explained to her son.
"I don't wanna go. No, no, no!" Hunter yelled.
"Hunter come on." Helen said.
"NO!" Hunter cried grabbing onto the nearest wall edge.
"Hunter, now." Helen said trying to pry her son away from the wall.
"NO!" Hunter scream as his father walked in.
"Hunter, listen to your mother." Michael said.
"NO!" Hunter screamed again.
"Son, you have to go to school." Michael said.
"I want to go to Ninja School with LeAnn!" Hunter screamed.
"OK, enough." Michael said pulling his son off the wall and carrying him to the car. He locked him in the car and turned to his wife. "Are we sure about this?"
"Michael, we decided we didn't want to raise them at the Academy. They can't be forced into the Ninja life we chose for ourselves. With proper education they will be free to make their own choice when they are old enough to know what their options are." Helen said.
"I know. I just wish Hunter wouldn't make this so difficult." Michael said.
"I know dear…just get him there. I'm sure once he meets some other kids he'll be fine. I'll take Blake with me and meet you at the Academy." Helen said.
"Alright. Love you." Michael said kissing his wife.
"I love you too. Good luck with him." Helen said walking back in the house to get her other son ready to go.
Back at the car Michael got in the car and drove Hunter to Thousand Oaks Elementary. He carried him into class kicking and screaming. Needless to say he didn't make the best first impression on his teacher, Ms. Perry.
"Ok Hunter, now you be a good boy and I'll take you for ice cream after school." Michael bargained.
"NO SCHOOL!" Hunter screamed.
"Now Hunter, you don't have a choice here. Now get in there and make some friends." Michael said.
"No!"
"You'll have fun…just try it for today. If you behave not only will you get ice cream…I'll take you to get a real mini bike." Michael said getting desperate.
"You mean a real bike…not a power wheels?"
"A real one, a real mini bike so you can ride on weekends. Give you something to look forward to through the week." Michael said.
"You got a deal." Hunter said walking into class and greeting his classmates.
Michael sighed with relief and headed to the Thunder Ninja Academy where he and his wife taught classes. He walked into the office he and Helen shared. She was already there with Blake.
"How did it go?" Helen asked.
"We're buying him a mini bike." Michael said sitting down at his desk.
"Michael you didn't." Helen said.
"I had no choice."
"You bribed your son into going to class. That isn't going to teach him anything except that if he throws a fit he'll get a treat."
"Well I didn't see you coming up with any better ideas. I had to get him to willingly go in somehow." Michael said.
"This is why I'm taking personal care of Blake. He's my last hope at a well behaved child." Helen said.
"Oh come on Helen, Hunter is a good kid…just…very outspoken and…active." Michael said.
"You make it sound like I don't love my son. I love both my boys very much but Hunter is going to be a handful. I know he's your little boy but you have to admit he causes a lot of trouble." Helen said.
"Yeah he does, but he has a good heart and he means well." Michael said.
Helen sighed. "You're right. Hunter is a good kid, but he'll be lucky to make it 1st grade."
"Helen, Michael, there is a meeting in my quarter in 15 minutes." Sensei Omino said peeking his head in their office.
"Yes Sensei, we'll be right there." Michael said.
"At least we know one thing." Helen said.
"What's that?" Michael asked.
"Hunter is full of the passion that will make him a great Crimson Insect Ninja and Blake appears to have the heart and drive to be a good Navy Beetle Ninja." Helen said.
"That is true." Michael said.
"On that note, let's get to Sensei's quarters." Helen said.
Helen picked up her 3 year old son and walked with her husband to their Sensei's quarters. They walked in and sat with the two other teachers.
Meanwhile, back at Thousand Oaks Elementary Hunter was talking to random people while touching everything that looked even a little bit interesting. Not that he needed to touch everything but he somehow felt he could get a better idea of what it was if he handled it. At this moment he was talking to a little girl named Lucy.
"What is your favorite color?" Lucy asked Hunter.
Hunter gave a second of thought to this, "Crimson" he said. He was proud of that color because it was his ninja color. He didn't realize most kids didn't know Crimson from Burgundy from Red.
"What is that color?" Lucy asked.
"This color." Hunter said pointing to his t-shirt.
"That's red." Lucy asked.
Hunter frowned but decided that this girl must not be very smart and wasn't worth arguing with, however he had to get in the last word on this issue. "It's not red it's crimson…but what is your favorite color?"
"Pink." Lucy said.
"Oh. What do you wanna be when you grow up?" Hunter asked.
"A super hero like Wonder Woman except I wanna wear pink." Lucy said.
"A super hero? There's no such thing as super heroes and they don't wear pink anyway." Hunter said.
"What do you wanna be then?" Lucy challenged.
"The world's best ninja." Hunter said smiling.
"There's no such thing as ninjas." Lucy said.
"Ask Ms. Perry." Hunter said.
"Ms. Perry, are there such thing as ninjas?" Lucy asked.
"A long time ago there used to be Ninjas in Japan but I do believe it is a dying art form." Ms. Perry answered.
"See, there are no more ninjas." Lucy said.
"You just don't know anything." Hunter said moving on from Lucy to someone else, pick up a chalk eraser and banging it on the wall as he went.
"Hunter, stop that, you're getting chalk dust everywhere." Ms. Perry said.
Back at the Academy, Helen had just finished her first class of the day and so she was spending time with Blake on pre-training him. He was too young to seriously train. That would start when he was 5. For now she just prepared Blake's reflexes so he would be ready when the time came.
"Mommy, I hungry." Blake said.
"Ok, let's go get you a snack." Helen said picked the child up.
"Yay!" Blake cheered clapping.
"What would you like?" Helen asked.
"Apes." Blake said.
"Grapes? You got it." Helen said taking her son to the kitchen and handing him a cup of grapes.
"Where Hunter go? I miss my Hunter." Blake said.
"I know Blake but Hunter had to go to school. He'll be back later." Helen explained.
A few hours later Michael went to the school to pick his son up from his first day of class.
"How was school son?" Michael asked.
"I hate it. I want to train with you." Hunter said.
"I know. Someday you'll be glad you got to go to school…I hope." Michael said.
They got to the Academy for Hunter's afternoon training session. Blake saw his big brother and toted over to him as fast as his little legs could go.
"My Hunter back." Blake said happily hugging his brother.
"Yes I'm back Blake…be smart run away while you can because in 2 years it'll be your turn." Hunter said.
"I take it you didn't like school." Helen said.
"No. I just want to go train." Hunter said.
"OK, let's go." Michael said.
On the way to the training grounds they passed Sensei Omino.
"Hello Hunter." Sensei said. Sensei was very fond of the Bradley boys. He saw great potential in the children and knew that one day a secret he kept would become their secret to keep. He could sense it.
"Good afternoon Sensei." Hunter said bowing. "Sensei?"
"Yes Hunter?"
"Is there such a thing as super heroes?" Hunter asked.
Sensei smiled a knowing smile and simply said to the child, "Someday you'll know."