I found myself standing in the gym surrounded by the other girls, whose faces ranged from slightly concerned to malicious grins.
"I can't do anything in a stupid frilly dress like this," I pointed out.
"There are spare exercise clothes in the locker room," Zakuro informed me. I nodded and went to get changed. Oddly enough, I was feeling queasy with nerves. I mean, I'd thought that everyone seemed pretty nice, but after they'd seen my efforts in a gym, they'd probably never want to speak to me again. Although I have my moments of skill, most of the time I struggle not to injure myself while exercising.
I sighed loudly and changed into a spare singlet and pair of shorts which I found lying around. All of the shoes there must belong to the other girls, and none of them would fit my feet, so I returned to the main area of the gym in bare feet.
"She doesn't look that fit," Mint commented. I scowled at her.
"She looks healthy to me," Lettuce disagreed. I decided that I liked her even more and flashed her a thankful grin.
"Ichigo, what are you good at?" Zakuro asked.
"Um," I mumbled. "I suppose I have decent balance and I can kick things."
"Let's see!" Pudding exclaimed excitedly. She dragged me over to a balance beam and helped me up.
"Easy," I scoffed, making my way across with ease.
"Do it backwards!" Pudding told me. I'd done this before in P.E., so I confidently stepped backwards and make it across without wobbling.
"See, good balance!" I insisted, hoping she wouldn't ask me to go across on my hands or anything.
"Eyes closed!" she shouted. I sighed and closed my eyes. It was simply a matter of feeling for the beam with my feet before putting my weight down. It was more difficult than going backwards, but I still managed it without slipping.
"Satisfied?"
"One-legged!"
"Holy crap," I muttered to myself. I made sure my balance was perfect and then attempted the challenge. I had nearly made it to the end when my foot slipped slightly as I jumped. I sprung to the side and landed lightly on my feet.
"That's enough of that." I looked over at Zakuro when she spoke and realised she'd picked up… I'm not even sure what it was. A padded shield was what it looked like. I figured it must be for martial arts, because next Zakuro walked over to me and told me to kick her.
"Kick you?" I repeated.
She nodded. I took a deep breath, then swung out at the padding. My foot thumped into it with a large amount of power and I smirked with satisfaction when I saw Zakuro wince as she absorbed the impact.
"Not bad," even Mint had to admit. "So that's the things you're good at… But more importantly, what are you bad at?"
"Everything else," I moaned. "Isn't that enough?"
Mint grinned wickedly. "Of course not. On the treadmill you go!"
"No!" I protested. I hate running!
Luckily, I was saved. At that moment, Shirogane entered through the doors and gave us all a disbelieving stare.
"What the hell are you five doing?"
"Testing Ichigo!" Pudding exclaimed. "She can kick well."
"Good to know," Shirogane drawled sarcastically. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Oh no, how late is it?" Lettuce asked.
"Time for you to get your asses down to the prep room," Shirogane growled.
"Prep room?" Once again, I was confused. Everyone just keeps forgetting that I have no idea what's going on!
"I'll explain on the way," Lettuce offered. Shirogane nodded and I followed the four other girls past him and back to the elevators. We down to the first floor in relative silence – even Pudding decided to be quiet. The mood was now drastically different to the cheerful atmosphere of before.
"What do we 'prep' for in the prep room?" I asked.
"Training missions. Since you're new, they'll probably give us an easy one for tonight," Mint said. Once again, she made it sound like she was explaining a very simple concept to a dull child. The elevator stopped and we arrived in a large, empty room with steel plating on the walls. I couldn't see any doors leading outside.
"So… Wait… Are we going to fight those monsters that Shirogane told me about? The, um, chi…"
"Chimeras," Zakuro finished for me.
"Bingo!" Pudding beamed. "Since we don't have any special abilities yet, we're only allowed to fight small ones if we take a lot of weaponry. Shirogane says the best training is in a real life situation! I'm excited!"
"I'll hang back," I said nervously. I wasn't ready to go fight monsters. I'd only woken up from being kidnapped and discovered that I was in a completely new country this morning. Now it was late afternoon and I have to go fight things that kill people already?
Lettuce seemed to catch on to how I was feeling. She stood beside me and put a reassuring hand on my arm. "Don't worry," she said softly, "we're still new to this, too. The Chimera won't be a dangerous one – maybe a small river dwelling one, nothing capable of natural disasters." I nodded, trying to take her words to heart, but I still wasn't ready.
The girls led me to a smaller side room. I entered first and nearly stood still. The walls were lined with all sorts of weapons, ranging from modern things like shiny knives and confusing looking contraptions to old weapons like a mace and a bow and arrow. There was a conspicuous lack of guns.
"Are you kidding me?" I said, absolutely stunned.
"Hang on, put your gear on before you go grabbing weapons," Mint said. She herself walked to the wall and picked up the bow. I didn't know the first thing about weapons, but the sleek black wood made it look classy.
"Where's your gear?" I retorted.
"I'm wearing it," she smirked. She undid the clasp at the throat of the cloak she was wearing and dropped it to the floor. I realised I hadn't seen her hair before this moment – it was a rich chestnut brown, worn in two buns on either side of her head. But what was more eye-catching was the outfit she was wearing underneath.
Mint looked like she was about to go jump on her pony and play polo. She was wearing a pale blue, short-sleeved shirt on, a pair of black pants, and knee-high black leather boots. She pulled on some arm protector type things which were beside the bow.
I turned to see what everyone else had changed into. The pants and boots were the same for everyone, but they were all wearing different shirts. Lettuce had a lightweight green sweater on, Pudding had donned a baggy yellow t-shirt, and Zakuro was wearing a purple crop top which exposed her midriff.
"That's slightly anti-climatic," I mumbled. Aside from the cloak and boots, the clothing looked like something you'd see in any old shopping centre.
"Don't worry, this is just training gear," Lettuce smiled. "Apparently, once the MEW procedure is finished, we'll be given proper customised gear."
Pudding tossed me my own pair of pants, which I slipped on. I guess I'll be wearing this pink singlet out on the mission, then. I looked over the spare boots resting against the wall and selected a pair which fitted perfectly. The extra cloaks were folded neatly beside the boots and I grabbed the first one there.
By the time I'd done that, the other girls had already loaded up on weapons. Mint had selected arrows and placed them in a quiver which she slung across her back. Lettuce had picked up a huge assortment of knives and was hiding them all over herself. Her sleeves, boots and pants must have been full of them. Pudding went to grab a large sword, but Mint quickly stopped her and directed her to a section filled with small pointy things which looked like they were meant for throwing. The only ones I recognised were the shuriken which ninjas use. Zakuro herself was coiling a ferocious-looking whip around her left forearm.
What the hell am I going to use? The only weapons I've ever used are kitchen knives while (unsuccessfully, might I add) cooking. I had to admit that the scythe looked pretty cool and I was tempted to grab it, but I'd need far more training before I could use that effectively. In the end I settled for a pair of machetes so I could just slice up anything that got too close to me.
"Everyone ready?" Lettuce asked kindly, sounding like a worried older sister.
"Let's kick some ass!" Pudding whooped. We donned our cloaks and returned to the main area. To my surprise, Shirogane had a projector set up, beaming white light onto one of the bare walls.
"About time," he grumbled. "Alright ladies, here's tonight's Chimera." The screen suddenly showed a mutated monster prowling around a deserted alleyway. It looked like a gigantic stray dog – dark grey, almost black, shaggy fur, long yellowed claws, and glowing orange eyes.
"That's not a cute puppy," Pudding pouted.
Shirogane pointedly ignored her. "It's your run-of-the-mill Chimera, no special abilities to be wary of. It's only killed two people so far but you're still inexperienced, so be careful! Zakuro, for tonight's mission you're in charge of the phone." He tossed Zakuro a black cell phone, which she caught easily and tucked her pants pocket.
Shirogane pulled a remote out of his own pocket and pressed a button. Suddenly one of the panels in the wall of the room slid upwards to reveal a glass door. Outside, I could see an inconspicuous grey city street. Mint, Lettuce, Pudding and Zakuro headed outside. I went to follow them, but on my way out, Shirogane grabbed my shoulder.
"Ichigo," he murmured. "You especially take care, since this is your first mission. Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed, okay?"
"Yeah, sure. No dying, got it." I smiled bravely, despite the churning in my stomach, and chased after the others to catch up.
A.N: Even though it's holidays (in Australia), I have to do practice exams since it's my final year of high school *weeps*~ All of our final exams are in a couple of weeks, so updates may start becoming a little haphazard. I'll do my best to keep up though!
Oh, also, their pre-MEW costumes are pretty lame. I'm going to design something super-cool for after the procedures when they're actually MEWs. If anyone has any ideas, please contribute! I may take them into consideration while I'm designing them.