My Total Drama Academia

by Lamhom

Total Drama meets My Hero Academia! Characters from TD get set into the MHA Universe and story will follow if these teenagers have what it takes to become professional heroes and shape the course of history for their nation and world as they roll into the most prestigious hero academy in Canada.

4. Chasing Excellence

Well, hello!

Here's the fourth chapter. Or first. Or fourth instalment to the prologue arc. However you want to classify it. Writing this one was a weird ride since one day I could get several thousand words written and then there were periods of time between when I couldn't squeeze absolutely anything. But now it's done and it's here!

I hope you'll have a blast while diving into this story's world once again.

---

Chasing Excellence

Gentle guitar chords in crescendo breached through Jeremy's sleep. Instinctually even through his sleep, he knew what to do so he reached his arm to grab the phone from nightstand in order to close the alarm. Weirdly enough, he could not locate it when he blindly fumbled over the stand. Alarm music was not too piercing or irritating for groggy early bird, since he had specifically chosen this tone due to its soft tones and pleasant sounds, but the longer alarm sounded, the more frustrated he was getting. And that was not a nice feeling to experience as a very first thing in the morning.

He tossed the blanket aside and swung himself into sitting position on his bed to see where his phone had gone. Once he could visually confirm the source of sound, he immediately realized and remembered that he had left his phone charging on his main desk for the night. He let out heavy sigh and pushed his aching body up from the bed so he could reach the phone and finally end that instrumental meant to wake him up for the new day.

He had been doing this for some days by then so his body was getting little bit more used to waking up that early but it still was not all painless experience. His growing young body needed all the sleep it could get and he could feel it.

Jeremy forced his feet to take him to the window so he could open the curtains and check the day's weather conditions. It was still hour of twilight outside, daylight maybe half an hour or so away, and he could see that though it was not raining then, in few hours it was probable that the area would experience showers of rain.

He let out a new sigh, rubbed his eyes, and forced himself to keep moving. He had left blue T-shirt, well-used sports shorts and fresh pair of socks ready on his chair last evening so it would be quicker and easier for him to dress up and head out for early morning run. Once he geared up and took phone and keys with him, he sneaked downstairs to kitchen, taking quick detour at the hallway to pick up his running shoes. In the kitchen he filled his water bottle from faucet as silently as possible so he did not wake up any of his family members and once that was done he put his shoes on and sneaked through the backdoor to the backyard. Using that creaking front door felt wrong at such an early hour so he had made a habit to take another exit.

It all began to be quite routine things for him and once the clock hit five thirty he was already outside. Morning was chilly, ground was moist and air felt especially humid that morning but he trusted it would get noticeably warmer once the daylight would break despite of that looming period of nature's showers.

He rounded his home and started jogging down the street, heading to the community center where he had met Warlock about three weeks prior.

Chilly morning air was taking its toll on his lungs almost instantly as he started moving faster, and sticky saliva started gathering up in his mouth. He could not even fathom what it would be like once he switch into full run mode.

When Jeremy arrived at the playing courts of the community center, he could see that his coach was already there and doing some warmup laps around the football field. He jogged to the benches on the side of the field to wait coach to finish one final lap.

"Good morning, young one", coach greeted Jeremy once he finally came next to the boy.

"Morning, coach", answered Jeremy.

"Ready to go? Usual warm-ups first and then we go for the run", coach told. He was a strapping but not overly muscular man in his mid-thirties. He had gentle-looking blueish-grey eyes, well-kempt short beard and blonde wheat hair cut into a sharp short cut with a bit more on the top but it was rather striking how high his hairline had climbed, revealing more of his pockmarked forehead.

Jeremy did not know what coach's exact name was. During their initial introductions man had introduced himself as Bradley or just Brad for short. That made Jeremy inclined to think that Bradley was man's first name because he had a shorter nickname. Then again he could not be completely sure if it was just an effort to conceal the identity from him even more with Bradley actually being man's surname. Man had this stern although kind personality but there always remained this level of secretive aura around him which Jeremy could not quite ignore. But for the most part boy was able to get over that uncertainty since he had adapted to refer him as a "coach". What other ridiculously little information Jeremy could tell about coach was not even from the mouth of the man himself but it was second-hand knowledge from Warlock.

After Jeremy had accepted Number One hero's offer to help him train become a professional hero, hero had made arrangements for his own personal trainer to move into Medicine Hat area so trainer could take care of Jeremy's physical training. Because hero's main professional duties lay on the other side of the country, he could not commit to suddenly switch place of residence to some minor city at the border area of two western provinces. Next best thing he could do was to pay "hefty sum of cash" to his own personal trainer so PT would instantly drop everything and move to the other side of the country for a year. Warlock had sworn Bradley was more than qualified for the job, having doctorate in sports medicine and years of experience as a personal trainer and confidant for Warlock's personal medical history and medical needs. Because Jeremy's trait was similar to that of Warlock's, hero believed it was best if someone who had real understanding of hero's situation took care of training Jeremy's body to be capable of physically handling the coming days of hero lifestyle. But these arrangements which Warlock had explained to Jeremy came with a promise that hero would make it his personal quest and commitment to travel in Medicine Hat incognito at least once every six weeks to meet the boy in person. Outside of that he would also call the boy from time to time to see how everything was going and explain more about the life of a hero and workings of their traits.

Jeremy did not know how much money that "hefty sum of cash" comprised or what kind of conversation Warlock had had with Bradley to otherwise convince the man to leave his work as hero's PT for a year but already the following Thursday after Jeremy and Warlock's official first meeting Bradley had been in Medicine Hat, ready to start Jeremy's training program five thirty in the morning.

Parents and siblings Jeremy had kept in dark about this whole thing with Warlock and about his fully committed plans and aspirations to become a hero. As much as they were aware of, Jeremy disappeared every morning Sundays excluded for about an hour around five thirty to take an early morning run. Mother had been enormously surprised of but happy to see her firstborn suddenly starting to exercise in such a committed fashion. Father had questioned this change in lifestyle more but was ready to count it as a weird temporary whim which Jeremy was going to try for some time. Brother had seriously questioned Jeremy's mental health because he could not understand why Jeremy would ever even consider waking up earlier than absolutely necessary for getting ready for the school.

It would be inevitable that eventually Jeremy had to discuss with his family about his plans to applying for a hero course once he graduated from middle school but that point in time seemed to be still so far in the future that he had not bothered to think about it yet.

Coach went through routine warmups with Jeremy to ready the boy for the day and for the run. Once those were done, they headed for seven to ten kilometer long run around the awakening suburbs. When they finished the run (hopefully around six thirty but that specific morning Jeremy kept struggling to regulate his breathing in cool morning air) it was time to do final stretches, say goodbyes at the entrance of wood trail where coach would remind Jeremy of afterschool workout practices, and for Jeremy to head home to take a shower, get breakfast and get ready for the school.

That routine had quickly become Jeremy's normal life. Early wake-up, intense hour long training during daybreak, getting ready for the school, returning home after school to do homework and other studies, eating dinner, heading out to early evening workout, returning home to grab yet another shower to wash off the sweat and hitting the bed rather early to catch enough hours of sleep before yet another early morning.

First few weeks were especially rough for Jeremy when his body and mind were getting used to the rigorous timetable. Coach had also hinted that this training program which he was putting Jeremy through was multi-phased, meaning that soon enough he would introduce new meal-and-diet plan for boy to follow once he finalized the details on the program after gaining sufficient knowledge of Jeremy's current capabilities and circumstances. That food plan and knowledge about steadily intensifying program added extra layers of concern to Jeremy's growing pile of worries, most of which circled around the fear of not knowing if he could follow this type of strict, single-minded lifestyle for the next year or so before his high school entrance exams.

There was no point even counting how many times thought had occurred to him if he should just quit, try his best on his own pace and hope he could get into his preferred high school. Early alarms ending his slumber and, for some reason, hour just before lunchtime were especially moments when he questioned his life choices. But never did that nagging intrusive thought managed to progress to the stage where "should I quit" turned to "I should quit".

In the end, the strongest hero had come to him, told him he could become the greatest hero, offered to help him and told that he could carve his own path and no one could tell him what he should be exactly. That thought - that possibility - that he possessed similar kind of power which had protected and shaped Canada already longer than his current lifetime… it was… a wonderful thought. One whose small quiet voice kept filling his mind and heart with resolve, overcoming his other doubts. He had to aim high. And that resolve to become a hero was all that was needed for him to decide what he wanted to be when he would grow up, bringing to an end the uncertainty surrounding the future where he would not know what he wanted to be or wanted to accomplish.

Now he had direction. And if he could not commit to this training program, how could he feel committed about becoming a hero? Become the next greatest hero.

As the days and weeks passed, friends started to notice these subtle shifts in Jeremy's personality. He had sworn not to tell them about the deal with Warlock, and they learnt about his rigorous training schedule only after little brother spilled the details about it to Jude when skater friend one late afternoon came to see if Jeremy could hang out but Jeremy had gone to cycle. Behind Jeremy's back it got theorized that maybe this had something to do with what had happened at the Aurora Center the day when Iron Mountain had been buried.

After all, Bart had taken counseling sessions after the incident to help him deal with thoughts and emotions about the matter so it would have been foolish to just assume that maybe Jeremy had not been affected by the events. In essence, maybe these shifts in Jeremy's behavior could be traced back into some sort of paradigm shift he had experienced. There were also videos in circulation which featured Jeremy jumping in between Eldritch Lizard battle, adding one more level of intricacy in the case. It had made him a bit of a star and receiver of both mock and praise at school so when his friends started noticing these changes in him, they wondered if those changes originated from that attention he had been receiving. Their friend had never been too outgoing or enjoyed being the center of attention so maybe by alienating himself from everyone he was hoping that it would all go away and people would finally forget it and move forward. Therefore it certainly was not helpful in their opinion that school counselor and even principal wanted to address the matter with Jeremy and refer him to crisis help. Jeremy went to the initial first meetings with crisis help services but told his friends afterwards that he did that just to make adults shut up and let him go back to his schedule.

But when more days passed and Jeremy kept focusing on his physical training program and schoolwork in chase of better academic achievements, friends started to seriously question what had led to this sudden alienation even from them. Yes, they interacted with Jeremy in school but outside school hours it felt like it was getting harder by the day to get into contact with Jeremy, especially impromptu.

Things with friend circle kind of reached its culmination one Sunday in early June when seven teenagers – Jeremy, Jude, Bart, three other guys named Jon, Lewis and Elijah, and Elijah's twin sister Grace – had gathered up in the basement of Elijah and Grace's home as agreed to play fantasy roleplaying game with Jon acting as their game organizer.

During one of the breaks to use toilet, stretch legs, take a breather and whatnot, Jude and Elijah were relentlessly roasting Jon for his decision to even allow six player game to happen. According to them, he was way too young and too poorly experienced to handle all the wacky shenanigans players got themselves into. Jon fired back with a comment that if any of them would be same kind of hero as they acted in-game, society would be in serious jeopardy and they would not even be known as heroes but as villains and menace to everything.

It was that backfire roast which sparked Lewis to face Jeremy, who was studying his campaign notes, and speak to him.

"Taking note of that, eh, Jeremy? You're going for hero line next year, right?"

Jeremy lifted his eyes from the sheet. "What?"

"You're definitely gonna apply for hero courses, right? Take note of not acting like us when we're in character", said Lewis.

"Oh, for sure. I'd be toast even if things said in here leak", Jeremy joked.

"You're saying you're really gonna go for the hero courses, dude?" asked Jude, having stopped roasting Jon and sounding suddenly oddly blue.

"Whaddaya mean, bro? I'm planning to apply for Calgary's options. So is half the year class. Probably. Maybe even more", Jon chimed in. "Whaddaya imply Jeremy wouldn't do da same?"

"Well, yeah, but that killer focus you've had recently… Are you gunning for Edelgrove or something. 'Cause effort's there, I'd say", Lewis used things said as a jumping board to further address Jeremy.

"Sha up. That's the topnotch. Way outta our league", Jon noted.

"Will you just shut up?" Lewis did not appreciate interruption.

"An' besides, that's all tha way in Ontario. If ya look closer top tier…"

"Well, Nolan has been talking about getting in Edelgrove or other nearby top hero program since… like fourth or fifth grade", now even Bart joined the conversation.

It was not the way Jeremy wanted to get into the topic of what he was planning with his future but now when it was happening, he hoped that friends going on tangents would steer the topic aside and save him from answering the question. In his opinion, it was still way too early to announce that he in fact was hoping to get into that very high school on the other side of the country.

"…and if Nolan ever becomes a real hero, he has a buttload of explaining to do when things from school years surface."

"I wouldn't count on that to destroy him. Some heroes are real dicks. I could name few locals. Easily."

"Hey, Grace! Happen to know any girls who're planning Edelgrove?"

It almost seemed like Jeremy was out of water but then Lewis turned back to him.

"So, what's your answer? Planning applying, right?"

"Yeah. I mean why not."

Words slipped out of his mouth before he could really think about them or stop them coming. He kind of regretted it instantly.

"Seriously?" asked Jon. Babble of conversation around the game table halted and now all the others looked Jeremy too, waiting him to confirm they had heard him right and it was not just a joke.

"Well", Jeremy began slowly, searching desperately right words to slacken the mood. "Yeah, why not. I mean what harm can attempting do."

"Like… applyin' fo' both hero 'n' general line?" Jon asked sounding surprisingly intrigued by this idea.

"Why not? It's still possible to transfer into hero line from generals if credentials accrue enough."

"But Toronto-Ottawa area? If you just wanna get into Hero Paths, Edmonton would be the closest. Or Brynn's Lot has much higher acceptance rates", remarked Bart.

"Bro! Are ya even hearing yourself? Why bother with those if ya have a chance with capital area choices?" Elijah questioned Bart.

"It's called listing the primary choices. 'Member what teacher said? You get few extra points depending on how high the place's on your list", Bart shot back.

"Why's this even an issue? Hundreds and thousands of kids try getting into Edelgrove every year", Jeremy was getting more frustrated by the second that the discussion had shifted into debate about his choice in high schools.

"Well, yeah, but not even nearly most of them get in. There's even that whole pre-selection process for the actual hero course entrance exams", Bart answered to that.

"I can still try!"

"Right-o, dude. I guess you're working hard enough for it anyways. You either study or work out these days", Jude opened his mouth after following the conversation silently for a moment.

Something in Jude's voice stuck in Jeremy's mind. His friend had always been this chill and laid-back person who was nearly impossible to rile or make angry. Yet Jeremy seemed to take notice that it was as if there was this sudden new hue in his friend's tone of voice. He could not really put his finger into it what it was exactly and he kept thinking about it the rest of the day. Most satisfying conclusion he could reach was that it was like there was this weird melancholic pensiveness in Jude's voice.

Pretty much every Sunday evening Warlock called Jeremy from private number around eight o'clock just to talk with him and hear about his progress. That same Sunday when Jeremy role-played with his friends was no different, and this time Jeremy surely had something to talk about when hero called him.

He locked himself in his room during these phone calls in a search of privacy so his family would not realize who was calling him every week the same time. Warlock and he talked about how the week had gone in general for Jeremy and if he felt like training was actually helping him to deal with his hypersensitivity. Warlock also dropped an actual date when he would be in Medicine Hat in person unless some disaster took place. When hero politely asked if Jeremy was ready to face another week and another week of training, boy felt that it was the moment to bring up the topic on his mind if he ever was going to address it.

"I guess so. Although… I guess it could turn weird at school."

"How so?" asked Warlock.

"Well, it kinda got out today when I met my pals that I'm planning to apply for Edelgrove", Jeremy told, lowering his voice intentionally towards the end just in case if some family member was right outside his room's door.

"How's that making everything weird?"

"Well, I kinda have kept that as a secret from everybody up until now. Only you and coach knew about it. But I have this one friend Lewis and he pretty much guessed it correctly just from the fact that I've been training and studying harder recently."

"But how's that making everything weird? Walk me through this."

"You see, I told you about that drama with villain clips. Dust is getting bit settled with that but if any of my friends go around mentioning my high school plans I fear everything gets out of control again. And I don't really like that attention."

"Yeah, Edelgrove's the big time high school but how's that going to stir up drama?"

"You don't understand. It's the best, yes, but even the best students from my school district usually go to Calgary or Edmonton if they want in hero courses. Vancouver if they really want to leave the town. But not in Ontario and even few in top academies. I think only like one person ever from Medicine Hat area has gotten in Edelgrove's hero line and that wasn't even Iron Mountain. Someone might every now and then get into other Edelgrove's education line but not the hero one. It's kind of a big deal if someone actually goes for that and leaves for entrance exams."

"I see. Geographical barriers and flying too far from home. But you mean to tell me kids from your specific school really don't apply for western high schools? I'm not an expert on the matter but I've seen data from Edelgrove, for example, and let me tell you that there's no inhabited place in Canada from where kids wouldn't send applications to get in."

"Well, yeah, many attempt due to prestige. And someone might get through preliminaries and get invited to the actual exams but those who make that actual trip to Ontario are always put under scrutiny."

"And you're the only one this year doing that and you don't like the attention it gives to you?"

"Well, not exactly. I know for sure there's at least one other guy for whom Edelgrove is the primary option and there might be this other dude or two. But that's beside the point. If word spreads that I'm primarily gunning for Edelgrove and get invited, I'm gonna be talk of the town and school."

"Jeremy, what are you ashamed of?"

"Sorry?"

"To be honest, you're not really making much sense here. You fear the attention you're gonna get if you go for Edelgrove. Yet you're not even the only one doing that. Yes, the difference might be that I'm guiding you on this journey - and Bradley too, I guess - but no one knows that and other than that you're like any other teenager who dreams of getting into arguably the greatest modern high school there is these days on Canadian soil. Maybe many from your area doesn't go for it and even fewer gets into whatever line. But if you truly want to go for it and you get in, you have to – have to – stop worrying about the 'attention' you're getting. Like it or not and for whatever you personally stand for, professional hero is a very – very – public job. You're gonna be center of attention one way or another when you're a hero."

Jeremy thought that for a second.

"But it's way too early for this. There's still almost a year left."

"Forget that. That's another lesson you have to learn quickly if you wanna be a hero. You have to stop thinking about yourself. Kids nowadays often become heroes for fame and glory but those who are really going to make a difference stop thinking about themselves and they forget themselves into the work. Maybe you don't like the attention now but you must learn to like it or cope with it. It's not about you. It's about the people you're planning to protect."

"Well… it's not like this is affecting only me. Friends get caught in crossfire."

"What do you mean?"

"Example: they think I'm alienating myself from the world and them because 'I'm too focused on pumping the iron and studying these days'. And I think something's more might be up with Jude."

"This one of your friends?"

"Yeah. The skater one. You know, one who was at the Aurora Center with me."

"Right. And what's up with him?"

"I'm not sure but it's like… he's always been this chill dude but now when we interact it's like… he's moodier. Like he's more serious all of a sudden."

"Well…", Warlock started but paused for a long while to think what to say.

"Warlock?" Jeremy called askingly, starting to wonder if the call had accidentally ended.

"I'm here. Have you talked with him about this issue?"

"No. We don't talk about that kind of stuff."

"Maybe you should. Seems like there might be some tender issues. Is he planning to go for a hero course like you?"

"Heck no. He's traitless."

"Oh boy… Okay, I'll try playing therapist. You had this friend Louie, right?"

"Lewis."

"Right. Lewis. And he guessed your plans correctly just from your actions and probably other context."

"Right."

"So do you think more of your friend circle had figured that out even before this Lewis said it out loud?"

"I… don't follow."

"I don't know this Jude but if he's traitless and he figured out that his good friend is planning to go to Ontario for top tier hero course and his other friends are also talking about dreams of being a hero… if I had to guess I'd say he's feeling really isolated right now."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Jeremy, don't play dumb. You surely know the deal with the traitless portion of population."

"Kinda. Approximately fifth of the people doesn't have traits."

"Yes. And that number is actively shrinking. More and more kids born these days have traits so your friend is part of disappearing minority."

"What that has to do with this issue?"

"Jeremy, in a world which is so focused on the superhuman aspect of the humans, traitless people's lot is not an easy burden to carry. I'm just guessing here but it might be that this friend of yours feels more outcast than ever now."

"How? Walk me through this."

"I think you should talk with him if this bothers you. You and kids around are really starting to talk about futures which most likely involves dreams of being a hero. And you are planning to go really high. That's not the case with this friend so it's possible he feels like an outcast and doesn't know what to do with his life. I don't claim to understand it but there is some research done that traitless kids tend to face rougher times with mental health compared to their peers with traits."

Warlock might have been right but Jeremy could not know for sure. Hero's theory at least gave him something to think about and some possible explanation for what was going on. Jeremy saved that knowledge in his mind for the further point in time. It was possible that his peers felt like they were getting ignored by him and it was understandable considering how much time and effort he had started to dedicate to specific activities. Yet so far he had not really considered it as a problem. In his opinion there had always been this unspoken consensus that once they all hit the high school age, group more or less would scatter and dismantle because pretty much everyone kept talking how they wanted to see the world outside Medicine Hat. It ultimately meant that they would go to different schools and meet new people and continue with their lives. Possibilities to meet face to face would be reduced and even if they would remain friends, everyone's circles would change. It was sad but such was life. Jeremy, having always been a bit of a lonely kid, had learnt to live with that thought which was partly the reason why he could with good conscience dedicate his heart and efforts to the goal of getting into top high school. And he did not want to just keep his head above water. He wanted to excel.

Never really had the thought occurred to him what were his friends thinking about this approaching change in their lives. That phone call with Warlock made him feel little bad that he had not figured out that thought earlier. He did not want to feel like it but he felt little guilty about keeping everyone so blatantly in dark about his plans that they had taken liberties to figure them out on their own. But then again, there was still one full school year before them before they would go their separate ways so Jeremy felt that he should not be judged by his actions and actions not taken. There still was time coming ahead of them when these things would be discussed in greater detail. Things said by Warlock would be of use for Jeremy when that time would come.

---

He wanted to trust his friends and he hoped they would keep quiet about things discussed during their gaming day. He was honestly expecting that come the beginning of the next school year, his plans for high school education would start spreading more. Never could have he expect that those things which he let slip to his friends would come haunt him just week and half later.

Summer vacation was not far away. Oldest students began to share their final goodbyes to everyone, lower grades were discussing about their summer plans and quite actively ignoring any more teaching and exams which were taking place before the vacation time.

It was during one of those lazy last days of school when Jeremy witnessed a brawl at the hallway close to cafeteria when he came from late lunch. Or to say that he "came from" the lunch might have been a smoothened version of it. It was actually that Bart, who had had different class previous hour and was not thus with Jeremy, run to him and other friends around the cafeteria to alert them about fight happening in the corridor. It was a fight where also Jude and Lewis were involved.

Group of teenagers jumped to their feet when they heard this and everyone hustled to witness the sight. Jeremy was one of the first from cafeteria to arrive to the scene. Eight boys were beating each other and there was one lying on the floor. Fight must have been still fresh since no teachers had made it to the scene yet.

Jeremy recognized immediately Jude and Lewis out of the bunch. Former was currently in headlock but was viciously throwing his body around giving the guy holding him a real challenge. Later was repeatedly punching his enemy's solar plexus whenever he managed to throw another enemy off his back.

It seemed pretty fair fight as far as manpower balance went since it looked like four versus four situation but pretty much every spectator knew they had to stop this altercation before teachers got there because then everyone could be in trouble. There was also the fear of some fighter going and using trait to top the chaos.

Jeremy alongside few other able-bodied boy jumped in between and began pulling everyone apart. Lewis was closer to Jeremy so he went and pulled the boy away from the victim of beatdown with the help of one other classmate.

Bart and Jon were amongst the intervention forces as well. They separated Jude and his enemy.

Fighters subconsciously took the hint to halt the smashing when they were getting pulled apart from each other but cacophony of curses and insults ensued.

"Drop dead, Fletcher!"

"Wanna get second servings? Test me!"

"You're done, Nolan!"

"You don't bother him ever again! You hear me, dipshit?"

Boys interfering the brawl started shouting at the fighters, ordering them to stop bickering and everyone to get away before teachers appeared.

"Oh, it's my f*****g day! If it isn't Aldridge!"

Jeremy was taken aback by that sudden inclusion of him to the matter. He turned to see how the shouter Nolan Slade shook off two guys holding his arms and pulling him back. Luckily, Nolan did not jump back into fight.

"Playing hero again, huh? What's this shit Li-coward-ski says that you're going in Edelgrove? You think you're really better than me, huh?" Nolan shouted.

Shit! was all what Jeremy could think of when he heard that.

"Back off, Nolan", Jeremy managed to get out of his mouth in as unconfrontational voice as possible in second notice.

"I'm just minding my own f*****g business when…!"

"Minding your business, my ass!" shouted one of the allies of Jude and Lewis.

"Go to hell, Fletcher! But don't you f*****g dare, Aldridge, to even think about it! I'm gonna be the only one to finally get in there! Stop pretending to be hero all the time!"

"Prison's all you're gonna end up in, Nolan!" shouted the other Jude and Lewis' ally through his lip smacking when he tried to clean blood from his cracked upper lip.

"You wanna go again, Soggy? Let's see how you speak without teeth!" this time one of Nolan's brawl allies shouted to the one who was mocking his pal.

Nolan did not pay too much attention to those comments but instead kept insisting an answer from Jeremy.

"What's wrong, Aldridge? Intimidated by me? That's right! You have no chances against me!" Nolan yelled.

"I don't need to prove anything to anyone. Me there and you in a third-rate school at best is gonna be all proof needed", Jeremy finally fired back and turned his back to Nolan to seal the deal that there was nothing more to add to this useless conversation. He started to walk away from the situation, praying silently that everyone would just stop looking at him.

Nolan's seething was about to reignite into full-blown rage mode. Some interveners stepped between him and Jeremy to block them from each other. That was the moment, however, when two teachers and guidance counselor finally arrived at once. Shouting match had prolonged the scene enough for that to happen.

It was rather obvious from the appearances who were the kids who had been fighting just a moment ago. Teachers picked them from the crowd and unceremoniously sent every one of them to the office to deal with the aftermath.

"Watch your back, Aldridge!" Nolan shouted as he went but teacher, calling him by his surname, told him to shut up and keep moving.

Guidance counselor chivvied everyone to disperse. Now that the fight was over and fighters gone, students had no problem to follow that command, although much talking formed around different groups when they try to find out what had happened to cause such an altercation.

Jeremy got the opportunity to learn the reason from firsthand source when Jude got released from the office and had visited the nurse office.

"It was Nolan's fault, dude. He was bothering Cliff Jarvis with Mark so Lewis and Greyson went to put an end to it. Argument ensued and I kinda commented on some things to ease the situation since I was there but everything went south. Nolan threw a punch at Greyson and he just lost it", Jude recapped the story.

"But you don't fight. How on earth did you end up fighting?" asked Tobin, one of Jude's friends, who happened to be there when Jeremy met Jude.

"I didn't fight, dude. You saw me. I was just trying to release myself all that time", Jude defended himself.

"Well, that sure was one heck of a release attempt", Tobin pondered.

"That still doesn't explain why I became Nolan's target", noted Jeremy.

Jude did not catch up what Jeremy was meaning.

"'Lizowski said that' I have plans for the future", Jeremy particularized, making air quotations with his fingers at the beginning to magnify that it was kind of a direct quote from Nolan.

"Oh, yeah. I guess I slipped there a little bit. He was running his mouth and talking big about him and his future. I kinda commented something like he's not that much better than any of us. Like I used you as an example. Like you have good chances for the same path", Jude explained.

"And that's why he's now sure I'm somehow threatening his superiority?" Jeremy had hard time to believe it was all what it took to make Nolan hate him.

"Sorry, dude. I didn't think it was a big thing. Like you know Alvin Stuart, right? So not Whitaker. Peel. I heard he might be gunning for EdGAr too so it's not like you're the only other one."

Slip of a tongue. Just an implication made or direct reveal of things disclosed, it did not really matter at that point. Jeremy was mad that this had leaked and he was mad that he could not possibly know how wide this thing would spread. He kind of remembered what Warlock had told him about attention but he was not ready to step into that reality yet. He was only training at that point. Attention should have come later. Yet on the other hand, summer vacation was not far away. Maybe two months of not seeing classmates much would calm down the tides. And come next semester, hopefully everyone had forgotten or at least moved forward from the thing that that Aldridge was also possibly considering Edelgrove's hero course as his primary high school option.

Keep your head low and stay out of people and Nolan's eyes till the summer vacation begins. That was Jeremy's plan for the survival through rest of the few more days. Yet the very next day was the day when the next incident was to take place. It happened during the minute when school day had ended for the most of the students and they were mostly just hanging around, readying themselves to leave the school by any moment through whatever means.

Jeremy had something to ask from Lewis who was currently conversing with two classmate girls at the edge of school's parking lot. Not to interrupt, he sneaked closer, nodded to Lewis in a greeting manner without saying anything as a way to insert himself to the side of conversation. Once friend would be done talking with others, it would have been his turn to have a word.

Lewis went back and forth mostly with the other girl named Alice about something completely trivial to Jeremy so he was not really listening to the conversation.

Due to not being interested about the chat and just waiting his turn, Jeremy sank into his thoughts and stared nowhere. One moment he however realized that at the periphery of his vision something dark colored swung towards Lewis, smacking the friend suddenly to the side of the head and making him collapse to the ground. Because object came to Lewis at frontside swing, boy fell mostly backwards and hit his back and back of his head roughly to the pavement.

It was all so sudden that neither Jeremy nor girls had any reasonable time to react appropriately to it. Jeremy's mind was quick enough to become aware of the fact that it was Nolan who had swung heavy backpack at Lewis but body was not fast enough to produce movement when Nolan already made a pirouette like a hammer thrower preparing for a toss and swung the backpack second time. This time it hit Jeremy but it missed his head because Nolan did not manage to lift it enough at the end of that pirouette. It smashed against his chest area and several hard covers of whatever schoolbooks within send a wave of pain through his torso on impact. He tumbled backwards but did not fall like Lewis had, although he involuntarily squatted down to deal with the pain.

"Payback time, mo…!"Nolan started to shout but his curse got abruptly cut when someone behind him pulled his collar hard and pulled the whole body into backwards swing.

"YOU F****R! The f*** you think you're doing?" shouted the assailant at Nolan, releasing the grip from the shirt and sending now unbalanced Nolan to the pavement himself.

Jeremy opened his eyes and lifted them from the ground. He tilted his head to see what was happening. Much to his surprise it was Bart's brother Derek who had pulled Nolan away and was now shouting profanities at the boy. Derek even had a friend, bulky guy with presumably some native American heritage, with him and that friend instead of berating Nolan forcibly removed the backpack from Nolan's reach and tossed it further away.

"The f*** you are?" Nolan shouted at Derek. It was visible in his eyes that he was fearful of older boy attacking him but he did his best to hide that under bombastic voice and attitude.

"The f*** you are?" Derek questioned back. "You spineless shrimp attacked them from behind! Weakling enough to attack, weakling enough to not even face them!"

"What's your damage? Keep your freaking ugly face out of others' business!"

"That is my f****** business! You attack them and it becomes my f****** business!"

"The heck you think you are? Get out of my face if you know what's for your best!"

"Or what?" Derek's voice turned really cold and menacing in an instant. "Or what, little cockroach? You're gonna use your trait or something? Try me. You'll lose", Derek told Nolan and approached him slowly, asserting how he was significantly taller than the boy even if his body mass was not that significantly more impressive compared to that of younger boy's.

"You'll f****** see!" spat Nolan. He kept staring Derek defiantly even if he took few backsteps to stay away from older boy's reach.

There was about two seconds window when talking died down between them. Then all of a sudden Nolan got this highly confused look on his face and he began quickly blinking his eyes like he had forgotten something important or like he would have not known where he was.

"Oh", said Derek slowly, almost like he in turn had realized something. "So you were going to use your trait. I see. Wrong answer, w******n."

Bart's big brother closed the gap between him and Nolan and loaded his tightly closed fist to the younger boy's face who still looked like he was suddenly completely lost.

There was soft though definitely audible cracking sound when Derek's knuckles met Nolan's face. Gush of blood splattered around boy's face and Derek's hand when bloody nose started sprinkling the red stuff.

Some onlookers who had stopped to see and film what was going on gave screams when blood got spilled and Nolan sunk on the ground holding his nose with tears running on his eyes.

"Take heed. That's the only warning you're gonna get. You touch those guys or their friends again and you're done. Done!" Derek threatened Nolan who was using all his remaining energy to withhold audible sobbing.

"What the hell? My trait. My trait?" Nolan slurred almost in incomprehensible manner.

"You were about to use it and I know it. Listen carefully. There's no second warning."

Some kid nearby shouted that someone should get teacher there. Another one straight up suggested calling ambulance. To that, some hater of Nolan proposed calling a waah-mbulance instead.

Derek, after making sure that Nolan was not standing up, turned to look Jeremy over his shoulder.

"We're even now", said Derek to Jeremy with a voice which sounded more like he was stating matter of a fact rather than addressing Jeremy directly. "Get yourself check. That friend too."

"Tha… nks…", Jeremy managed to wheeze out.

Lewis was conscious but obviously disoriented after getting his occiput smacked against the ground. Alice and the other girl with her were already checking if he was okay. They were much more interested to help him get into sitting position than anything what was happening with Nolan.

"Let's go, Xander", Derek told calmly to his accompanying friend. Without any words between them they left and walked over the parking lot area to the car with which they had arrived there.

When older boys left the scene onlookers ventured to get closer to check how Nolan, Jeremy and Lewis were doing. Most were interested in how Nolan was holding up because there admittedly was lot of blood coming from his nose, messing now the ground, and it was not every day when they saw one of the biggest egos of the school getting beaten in such a manner. Many were also concerned over Lewis who had gotten the occiput pretty bruised. Remaining few either filmed the things or swarmed around Jeremy who tried to swallow the pain on his chest and stand up.

All three boys were helped to nurse office by school's caretaker and one teacher who were brought in to see the aftermath of the fight since there were some serious looking injuries involved. Three boys kept mostly quiet during the whole time. Lewis because disorientation had not worn off completely, though he manage to identify and accuse Nolan off attacking him. Nolan because his whole focus was on holding his bleeding face and swallowing the pain so nobody would see him crying. Jeremy because he just did not feel like talking, being still somewhat flabbergasted by the events which had happened. Other youth definitely took care of the talking bits in boys' place. All the way to the nurse's office there were shouts going around what had happened and some wild rumors already began brewing up. Despite of video evidence which could have easily debunked everything, one claim, for example, insisted that there had been a trait battle of epic proportions between Nolan and two older boys.

By the time teachers confirmed that one older boy had beaten Nolan to the state in which he was, Derek and Xander were already long gone. But some kids attested loudly that Nolan had been the instigator of the whole situation when he unprompted had attacked Lewis.

Jeremy had not any noteworthy injuries and he was released after the check-up and a little bit of cleaning up. Nolan and Lewis' conditions in turn were definitely worse and emergency services actually got called to come check them up. There was the fear that Lewis might had experienced a concussion, and Nolan was starting to feel more pain creeping in around his face, possibly indicating that some other facial bones had experienced fractures when his nose got smashed in.

---

As the days following that confrontation passed, Nolan kept glaring Jeremy and some of his friends way but he kept the distance between them, not uttering even a single word to them. Some rough bruises in all the shades of purple formed around his cheekbone areas and his nose was casted to support the healing process following an actual visit to hospital. Lewis in turn stayed home for two days after getting hit. He "just barely" had avoided bigger head trauma, possibly because his body and backpack had cushioned the impact on ground by getting hit first against it. On the day when he returned to school it was apparent that his ego was probably the most hurt part of him, though he was happy to show Nolan's handiwork on his occiput to whoever asked to see it because "everyone had to bear witness how that self-acclaimed future hero treated the innocent". That strife which Lewis loudly harbored got out of hand so quickly that he and Nolan got called to the principal's office to figure out the issues between them the very day when the attacked one returned.

Word made small rounds around the school that Nolan's parents were thinking about pressing charges on Bart Carroll's big brother for everything he was worth of because he had assaulted their son. Derek indeed had been correctly identified, but what Jeremy heard from Bart, father and mother of Carroll's family were having none of that and put down their foot hard on the matter. They had even contacted Lewis' family, suggesting that they also go against Slades if Derek was to get sued, because there definitely were witnesses attesting that Nolan had assaulted both Lewis, their child, and Jeremy, a friend of their hurt son. Ensued argument between Derek and his parents when legal guardians first learnt about this incident, Bart told, was rather heated on adults side while Derek seemed mostly indifferent and disassociated. Nevertheless, after the initial confrontation parents ultimately sided with Derek (after also learning more about this boy Nolan from Bart).

As a part of on-going punishment for broken deal on Iron Mountain's funeral day, Derek had been put on duty to take care of picking up Bart after some school days. That was the reason why he had been there on that fateful day and by pure chance he had witnessed angry looking boy streamlining towards Jeremy and Lewis on parking lot area. After that incident, however, Derek got released from that duty. Partly to ease the tensions, partly to make sure Derek was not seen on the grounds of Bart's school, partly to ensure Derek's safety so Slades or other Nolan sympathizers would not call the police on him while his parents were not there to defend him.

Derek's public explanation that he was just intervening hothead assaulting his brother's friends was a sufficient reason for many to see why he had done what he had done, although opinions were mixed if it was honorable and brave thing to do or if it was a rotten act because older boy had thrown younger boy to the ground and smashed his nose after all.

But Jeremy remembered those three words which Derek had uttered to him after the fact.

We're even now.

It was easy for Jeremy to reason that Derek must have thought that there was a need for getting even after what Jeremy had tried to do for him during the Aurora Center Incident. It was an understandable train of thought but when Jeremy reflected that against the idea of him becoming a hero, he had harder times to reconcile it with his world views.

Those invasive thoughts which he got because of Derek's comment made him to want talk about the issue with Warlock next time when hero was in town.

It was the very last day before summer break when Number One was again in town to meet Jeremy in person. Instead of Bradley accompanying the boy on his morning workout, Warlock was there to coach him through it.

Little by little, Jeremy had been capable of increasing the length of the morning run. Warlock was positively surprised to see how well boy was keeping up with the speed. It did not require intentional effort from hero to hold back his own speed.

They talked back and forth about things mostly concerning how were their respective lives going. Jeremy also explained how it had been quite a job to try convincing his parents to allow him to have a new meal and nutrition plan. With convincing parents (in plural particularly) he mostly meant his father. Mother was all over the idea of improving family meals to be healthier so the fresh food plan would not have concerned only Jeremy but she wanted to get whole family into that lifestyle. Father on the other hand had questioned the idea. In his opinion, family was already doing quite well enough considering how hectic their lives were on occasion. He also had voiced concerns about the monetary cost of such a drastic lifestyle change. Going all "lifestyle hippie and grass eater", as he put it, could not have been the cheapest option.

"So yeah, I think father might suspect something's going on. Mother might just think that I've found exercising and she's all over the idea", Jeremy concluded the anecdote while they crossed the road to get on the sidewalk on the other side since the one where they were ended to that pedestrian crossing which they crossed.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I knew Bradley's program might raise questions but I didn't think it would be that bad", answered Warlock who sounded like he was totally unbothered by the strain which the exercise was putting on him. Jeremy in comparison to that kept panting whiling talking.

"It's not a big deal. Mom's strong-willed. I think her insistence kept everyone's attention away from me and actual reasons", Jeremy said, referring to the fact that he had managed to dodge further questions from father or his brother why he exactly wanted to do this food change so badly.

"That's good to hear. Though I have to ask if you've considered to tell them about Edelgrove. It's a big change in your and their lives when you get in", said Warlock.

"It's too early", Jeremy insisted. "I was planning to tell about that on Christmas. Asking monetary support to travel to exams. As a Christmas present, you know."

"It's a good idea but you could do better. Telling it well in advance lets them have more time to come to terms with the idea", explained Warlock. He had something more to say but he took couple seconds to put it into words. "And like it or not, you want their support and blessing. You're effectively moving out of home when you go through that education path."

"Speaking of hero stuff…!" Jeremy wanted to steer the topic aside from his family matters. "I kinda had a question I've been thinking about. What do you do with people who doesn't want to be helped or saved?"

Warlock got this awkward expression on his face. It was a mixture of different feelings. There was that hint how he did not know where this kind of question suddenly welled. There was also that speck of an impression which implied that he knew Jeremy was talking about this on purpose to get away from family topic. And combined with everything else, one could also discern that he was unsure if he should follow along and answer the question.

"Lock?" asked Jeremy when hero stayed unusually long silent. He used agreed abbreviation to speak to the hero as a precaution just to avoid using the actual well-recognized name in public.

"Yes, I'm thinking. Care to elaborate where this comes from?"

Jeremy described in short details the incident with Nolan, Lewis and Derek. He concluded the story with his interpretation of Derek's motives to do what he did.

"You didn't think about stepping in and telling that that was unnecessary from Derek?" Warlock asked first when it came his turn to talk.

"Wha… No! I was attacked and so was Lewis."

"So you think Derek was justified to beat kid of your age?"

"What…? You're suddenly talking like Nolan's not the villain in this scenario. How's that have anything to do with my question anyway? I wanted to ask about Derek."

Duo had brought their morning run to its end and were now cooling down a bit before moving to stretches.

"So it's suitable for you to be the hero and moral high ground when people needing help are your close ones, friends or acquaintances?" Warlock kept questions coming.

"What? What the heck's this?" Jeremy had no clue where this conversation was now going.

"Answer me."

"Of course not."

"Then why did you let that situation evolve into broken nose and threats of legal action?"

"What? Why aren't you answering me?" Jeremy asked, putting some extra weight on last words. "Nate's the villain who had to be stopped."

"Three things. First, this Nolan is not a villain but a boy. Of your age. Boy who by the sound of it just has a bigger ego than what's good for him. Second, you dodged my concerns so consider this as a two-way street. Don't just ignore the problems and hope them to work out in the end."

"Okay. What's the third point?" Jeremy was too irritated to really let Warlock's words to sink in. He felt like he was getting corrected for something where he had done no wrong.

"Please, cut the attitude. The third one's an answer to your question. And that's that I don't know. Listen, I don't have an exact answer that suffices but take this as another lesson in heroism. There are some delicate questions to which each hero has to find their own answers. Your morals and sense of right and wrong will be constantly contested so it's essential you've found your own answers so your resolve doesn't waver. That's why I make these hard questions. Like why you didn't suck it up and help Nolan during or afterwards. Because he deserved it? Because you don't like him? Think carefully. You're standing as a true hero hinges on some of those answers you come up with."

Jeremy took a second there to at least give a further thought for that last point.

"Okay. But that still doesn't touch the issue with Derek", Jeremy noted.

"It does. Your question wasn't about him but a question which rose from his actions. And the answer is that I don't have an answer which acceptably makes you now a better hero. But if that wasn't actually your question and you're just wondering why Derek did what he did, I don't know either. I'm a professional hero. Not a psychologist. Maybe some people just doesn't want to feel like they're in debt to someone."

"All right then, keep your secrets. I guess I'll have some summer homework to do, figuring that out", said Jeremy.

Warlock smirked little when he heard those words. When he thought about it, boy definitely had those rough edges and unrefined character but there still was that same potential which he had witnessed. Hero was pleased to see that even something inconsequential in the grand scheme things made boy think about big questions about the line of life and work which he was planning to take. That thought filled hero with a sense of pride and self-praise because he had spotted such a promising possible hero.

---

When summer break began, Jeremy was forced to adapt his new active lifestyle to different kind of setting because not even a week of vacation time passed before parents made everyone to pack up and get ready for summer trip. The family of Jeremy's father owned a cottage at the northern Alberta and it was now the place where Jeremy's parents now intended to take him and his siblings for three weeks.

Sisters were young enough to absolutely love every single family trip taken. Brother probably had problems with the length of time which he had to spend at wilderness retreat. Jeremy in turn felt quite indifferent that summer around about it. Though he was pretty much on his own for three weeks with his training program, he considered the time at the bosom of endless nature landscapes to be his moment to disappear into the inhabited woods and get some practice with his actual trait.

Even Bradley had encouraged him to take that time away from home as an opportunity to get some trait practice if at all possible.

"Physical and mental training can only get you so far but where most kids attempting to get into hero education fail is the utilization of their traits during the exams", Bradley had explained. He even showed some statistics to back up his claim.

It was true that part of the most hero courses' application process was a practical portion where applicants were allowed to use their traits to overcome the test obstacles or objectives. Those tests were there to separate the wheat from the chaff and give the schooling institutes feeling who might have had inherent gifts at utilizing trait or some other knack for making the most out of the cards dealt to him or her. Generally speaking, it was normal that kids from more rural areas tended to do better with trait-use than city kids. Reason to that usually was the thing that without other people or property around kids had more opportunities to practice and use their traits without the fear of more severe consequences. Kids coming from city areas, however, tended to do much better in academic portion of entrance exams so it all kind of balanced out demographics-wise in the end who got accepted to hero courses.

But practical exams with their other relating evaluation items still counted for a good amount of points and that was where many young ones' dreams were up for a rough wake-up call.

When it came to Edelgrove Academy specifically, Bradley showed that during the past decade or so the ratio of city kids versus rural kids was that approximately one in every six or seven students came from outside the cities but those fosters of countryside inclined to absolutely ace the practical when compared to in relation of results coming from the kids raised away from nature.

All in all, when parents that year wanted to take their children into the wilderness for almost a month, Jeremy was actually rather okay with the fact.

And practice indeed Jeremy got. Like planned, he disappeared into the woods after breakfasts and did not return until late lunch after which he usually disappeared for couple more hours, returning only for late dinner or BBQ. It was no use of trying to keep it secret from family why he disappeared for so long times. His brother and sisters had a blast using their traits more freely (which in the case of the brother was probably one of the main reasons what kept him sane throughout the cottage weeks) so Jeremy kind of had to admit that he too liked to go out and really let it all out. But just to be on the safe side, he claimed he also went on long hikes and runs. It was not all just lies because he indeed still practiced some customary exercise but it definitely was not to the extent that claimed it to be. He considered that it was a necessary stretched truth because he did not want to call scrutiny over the many hours which he actually spent on getting more accustomed to his trait.

He could feel that rigorous training which he already had gone through was in fact helping him to tolerate backlash and pains from the trait usage better. Flipside to the coin though was the reality how at the same time it felt as if his senses were going overdrive more than ever before. Over the years he had learnt to block out and ignore some sensory stimuli but now it felt like stimuli was flooding over the mental walls he had built. His body was able to handle it much better so he did not became as nauseous as he might have become in the past but it still was an unpleasant experience. Like he growing but still somehow also regressing. He honestly did not like to learn block out something once again. When he thought what might have caused that change, he theorized that maybe it had something to do with the thing what Warlock had told him about his trait. Like how he might have been some sort of battery or conductor to that energy what Warlock manipulated. And when battery capacity increased when body grew, more power started to get attracted or charged or whatever.

When August came and Aldridges had returned to Medicine Hat, Jeremy returned to his normal schedule before the summer trip, excluding the fact he did not have to worry about school hours for another month. That opened an opportunity for him to spend a bit more time with his friends who happened to be in town even if the number was not too big.

Whenever Warlock called him, hero kept reminding him to talk with the family about future plans. When he claimed it would hard and that it was possible that parents would not understand it, counterargument from hero was in a form of a question. What part of becoming a hero was not supposed to be hard? Teaching following that question was a statement that true heroes dealt with hard matters all the time so Jeremy would have to devote his heart to the fact that life would never be easy if he truly wanted to climb to the top.

Just to keep steering the matters away from outright publicly admitting what were his intentions for further education, Jeremy compromised that he would tell about that when a naturally good spot to reveal it came. That could have been something as simple as guidance counselor inevitably asking about those plans around the beginning of the coming school year or parents themselves asking about those plans.

Not by any real chance would Jeremy have guessed that it was to be his little brother Tanner who basically got the plans exposed to their parents. That happened on the morning of the first day of the new school year. As siblings got ready to leave the home, their mother, ever so jovial and sensitive person when it came to her kids, was going all around the house like a human-sized tornado assisting in preparations and taking pride in her kids starting yet another school year.

"And my little Jeremy's already starting his last year in mid-school. Why do they grow up so fast! Next year he's already moving to high school! I don't think my heart can take it!" she raved while she passed by shoelaces tying Jeremy on her way to kitchen for the nth time.

"Yeah. We'll see", Jeremy muttered out in an absent-minded manner although he definitely registered mother's words all too well. While mother was not exactly a person who would stop her children from doing something, she had overly protective side to her, making her worry about her kids' well-being more than any of the children were comfortable with.

Tanner witnessed that interaction and gave his big brother a sly smile.

"Oh, you're gonna break mom's heart if you go to EdGAr", little brother sniped.

"Who's Edgar?" mother asked since she was not yet out of the earshot when Tanner said that.

Jeremy panicked greatly and cursed hard inside his mind.

"Not who, mom. What. That's Edelgrove, you know", Tanner answered before Jeremy managed to switch into damage control mode.

Jeremy could sense that fireworks were about to go off when mother registered those words. He embraced for the impact and started rushing his remaining morning preparations.

"But that's so far away. Why would Jeremy go there when there are other good options nearby?" mother asked right from Tanner.

Jeremy knew that he could not stop his brother talking because that would have been as good as an admission of guilt. He could only hope that brother had the restrain to withhold any information which would cause mother to get upset but knowing his brother, chances of that were most likely slim if not outright non-existing.

"'Cause he's said so", Tanner answered like it no big deal at all.

"What do you mean I said so?" words slipped out of Jeremy's mouth before he could even think them.

"What? We go to the same school, dimwit. Word travels", Tanner fired back sounding like he resented even the implication that he made up that claim.

Being only a year younger than Jeremy, Tanner indeed went to the same school so Jeremy could only imagine that Tanner must have found out more information surrounding the incidents with Nolan few months ago. That information getting linked to the fact that Jeremy was an avid sportsman those days must have then led Tanner to the conclusion that rumors might have had some actual footing in reality.

In fact, Jeremy had wondered if Tanner had learnt about the Edelgrove implications but he had soon forgotten the idea when brother had not brought up the topic in any way or form. It became obvious in his opinion that that must have been the route which Tanner must have taken to get that idea. Then little brother had just kept the information to himself for whatever reason.

Mother immediately accosted her first-born. She wanted to know if that was true. Only father's well-timed intervention put an end to that inquiry when he rushed the kids to hurry up.

All school day Jeremy dreaded the inevitable moment when he had to go back home and face the parents. Knowing mother, she would not just forget the things said by Tanner.

Those fears, which Jeremy had, had some actual ground but mother's reaction was much different than what he had anticipated.

Instead of just bombarding the boy with questions about Edelgrove, mother wanted to know if Jeremy had thought in general what to do after that school year. To "give some ideas", she had found several different high schools' websites with their descriptions and introductions. She claimed all this was because she just had found herself wondering it that morning and therefore she wanted to help Jeremy figure it out well in advance so he could focus properly on right goal during his last year in mid-school.

Jeremy tried to act interested but he struggled with that. It was painfully obvious what the real deal was with the mother and every single option she presented was well within the boundaries of Alberta except one respectable name in Saskatoon.

The next couple of weeks after that were hard for Jeremy. Not only he had to combine his rigorous training program again with his school life, but mother also kept prying his thoughts about what was to come in next year. Things with mother escalated into the point that finally Jeremy had to say out loud that he was without any shadow of doubt thinking about putting Edelgrove's hero course as his first high school option. He said it just to put an end to mother's prying which seriously began feel like he was getting smothered. When he came clean with his plans, he also extended a request that he would get financial support to participate in entrance exams if he was to get an invitation to proceed forward with his applying process. If that meant combining Christmas, birthday and graduation gifts, he was fine with that since he really wanted to test his luck.

---

Weeknight was especially dark and children were already fast asleep in Aldridge residence but parents were arguing in hushed tones in the kitchen. Only the lamp above the sink was luminating light in darkened house, creating a work of art of long shadows all over the walls, floor and ceiling.

"It's in Ontario, August, for god's sake!"

"Yes, I know that, Maddie."

Mother of the family was pacing around the kitchen and keeping fingers on her chin which basically indicated that she was lost in thought how she should represent her case. Father in turn sat in the table and was swirling some chocolate syrup into his late night hot cocoa.

"Calgary would be much closer to home. Even Edmonton we could make work, I guess. But all the way to the east?" mother argued.

"Either way, he wants to move out of home. It just comes earlier than you would have hoped for. Trust me, I also have worries about it", father countered without lifting his gaze from his drink.

"Honey, he's still just a kid. And hero course? I get that kids dream of becoming superheroes but this is still ridiculous. It's insanely dangerous!"

"Honey, we've always allowed kids to chase their ambitions. Why's this time different?"

"Are you kidding me?" mother's voice raised a bit.

"Shush. Girls wake up", father urged wife to keep her voice down. This time he lifted his gaze but that was to check the ceiling above since their daughters' rooms upstairs were basically right above them.

"You aren't taking this seriously, August. He's our son and he wants to just… leave everything behind. Leave us", mother continued once she calmed down little and confirmed too that there was nothing to hear from upstairs.

"No, he's not. I'd say he's actually trying to get everything with that dream."

"What? August, he's our son!"

Father was getting frustrated that wife was constantly addressing him by name.

"Honey, calm down. Seriously. Hero education is a respectable thing. And heavens know how boy might actually learn to deal with his trait. I don't know what was in our blood to give him his trait but you remember, right, how he was when he was young?"

"Of course I remember! I was there every step of the way, making it in every doctor meeting while you were at work", wife attacked the husband.

Corners of his mouth tightened when wife brought up the old issues. It angered him every time but he truly loved that woman and did not want to make this issue with their son an unnecessary wedge between them.

"Yes! You've raised a wonderful son and helped him through hard times. I may have not been there all times but I love and admire you for the work and effort you have put in to make us such a strong and happy family. But he wants to spread his wings now. I don't know if you just don't want to see it or are in heavy denial but that boy has seriously planned this since the spring", husband answered verbosely, failing to conceal all passive-aggressiveness in his response.

"Jeremy… His name is Jeremy. And he's our son, August. What the heck makes you think that he has planned this since the spring?"

"Maddie", husband rasped and smashed his cocoa spoon harder to the table than he intended. Droplets of good brown liquid flew over the tabletop.

Silence dropped between them when wife dared husband to speak up after such maneuver and husband closed his eyes to take in a deep breath and regret his out-of-control outburst.

"Maddie. Honey. Jeremy wakes up nearly every single morning before any of us just to exercise. He's a smart boy but I've never seen him put such great effort in schoolwork too. You even made us change family's food policy just because Jeremy asked to follow a meal and nutrition plan. Nutrition plan, Maddie. His words! What kind of kid in his age thinks something like that? With that Edelgrove dream it all makes sense. He's been training and studying like a madman with the sole purpose of getting into top high school", husband carefully constructed his answer.

"So you're saying our son fooled us? He kept secrets from us and got the whole family roped in?"

"No. Honey, you know that's not what I said."

"And now he's planning to leave us for a dream on the other side of the country? There are other top high schools in this country, August, and hero course way closer to Medicine Hat. And he doesn't even want to talk about it when I ask him", there began to exist a discernible tremble in wife's voice when she tried to dam her emotions.

"Yes, I know. And you know Jeremy. He's always been quiet kid. He doesn't talk about his stuff. And why would he? You've actively tried to talk him out of this Edelgrove dream."

"How dare you!" wife lashed out and stomped out of the kitchen.

Husband, after taking small sip from his drink, went after her. He knew he had managed to upset his wife somehow. He wanted to resolve or at least end this conversation on loving terms before they went to sleep that night.

"Honey, I'm sorry", husband told once he found her pacing back and forth in the dark living room. He was not sorry about the things he had said exactly but apologetic for the fact that he had unwittingly upset his significant other.

"Screw you. How can you be so nonchalant about this?" wife asked crankily.

"I care", argued husband. He tried to listen if kids upstairs had woken up because of their ruckus.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. I'm just…", he paused to find the right words. "More prepared at the moment to accept that possibility. That our son wants to become a hero. A hero, Maddie. He wants to help and protect people. Doesn't that tell us that we did a good job as parents?"

"Of course we did."

"Right. And we've always wanted the best for our kids. There aren't many options to get as good education as you can get in Edelgrove. If he somehow manages to get in, he's in top tier high school. Top tier, Maddie. Think about it."

"But that's just gonna open the flood gates. Next Tanner's going to leave us as well if Jeremy makes it."

"And we'll be ready for it, right? That's our job as parents right? To help our children excel in life if they so wish", husband said and spread his arms. "Can I… get a hug?"

Tension was easing. He could feel it. He knew his beautiful wife tended to feel easily touch deprived so this was his invitation to help her calm down. It was dark in the living room but he could hear her making ever so soft sniffling sounds when her emotions tried to get the best of her.

She hesitated but finally came to her husband so he could close her in tight cuddle.

"Why are you so fine with this?" she asked, closing her own arms around her husband who kept driving her mad but who always aimed to make amends one way or another in his own quirky ways.

"I'm really not. It's a financial stretch and parental nightmare. But I love my family. And there's dignity in trying. Let the kids try. Like we tried to make things work. Look at us now."

Wife did not answer anything right away. She was not fine but she neither did want to go bed angry that night. She started swaying little bit on her toes.

"I hate you", she eventually whispered but did that in a way which only loving companions could do.

"And I love you", he whispered back.

It was a good hug.

---

When Christmas time approached and Jeremy's classes were pressed hard to start finalizing their upper education application forms especially if they planned to apply for special lines like hero courses, wild news began spreading via news outlets. Some rumors had been circulating but especially younger generations were totally out of the loop when it got publicly released that Canada was taking steps to enter a treaty of cooperation with Nordic countries and conjoin some of their military and hero forces. That made international headlines and send both shockwaves and surges of enthusiasm across the nation.

Intergovernmental alliances and intergovernmental military alliances existed and were not a new thing but what set these negotiations apart was the fact that an American nation intended to join Nordic Covenant, an alliance between five smaller European nations which each were independent country but shared powers of their defense forces and hero forces to great extents.

Geographically speaking it kind of made sense. Canada belonged to the very northern parts of northern hemisphere like Nordic countries and Greenland right beyond Labrador and Baffin Seas belonged to Denmark, making Canada and Denmark close neighbors technically speaking.

But the big question on the minds of the people internationally was why. Why would Canada join and Nordic countries welcome Canada into Nordic Covenant?

Nordic countries justified these negotiations with expansion on the sphere of influence and valuable resources and expertise which Canada could offer. Canada added that this alliance would help it better respond to modern problems it was facing. Especially Nordic hero forces would offer some invaluable teaching for Canadian counterpart.

Russia especially vocalized their dissatisfaction with such idea. Even United States made their grievances known, claiming that yet another geopolitical agreement and one of such nature to top it all off acted as an indirect demonstration of antagonism towards it. Canada however countered those claims with a statement that as an independent country it had every right to enact every necessary course of action to secure its borders from anything unwanted and unsustainable, came it from south, east, north or west.

Intricate political matters were not, however, a thing which concerned Jeremy and his friends' age group. What instead caught their attention was the thing how these negotiations brought to the table discussions of integrating Nordics' Special Hero Task Forces with Canadian hero field. And every hero fan worth of their salt knew this alliance, if it was to happen, multiplied the field of heroes to follow, making some European heroes actually semi-local heroes in a sense. Jude in particular freaked out.

"Duuuuuuuude! That's a whole new hero field to explore! And getting into spec forces is kinda like an insta ticket to international hero status", were just one of Jude's many comments on the matter.

"But do you think Warlock's still Number One? What kind of heroes there even are in Europe?" Bart was more concerned about local top dogs' standing in this possible future scenario.

"I already checked that. Countries still have their own hero lists and names, though Arctic Spear seems to have its own internal ranking system too. It's comparable to general rankings but I don't understand the deets on that quite yet. Warlock's still definitely most recognized name worldwide, I'd say", Jude explained.

News also made Jeremy more alert because he found himself now wondering what such an alliance would mean to his own dreams and future as a professional hero. He questioned Warlock about these news when hero next time was in town because boy wanted to talk about this matter face-to-face and not via phone calls.

"Honestly, if I was you, I wouldn't worry about that too much", Warlock soothed Jeremy's concerns during their early winter morning run. "Hero course curriculums will definitely adapt to better echo some standards set by a new alliance which involves professional heroism to this extent. But it's still like going through any other high school. You'll just be part of new sort of hero generation."

"But you'll still be the local Number One, right? Or are you planning to go more international?" Jeremy asked. Months of practice had finally brought him to the point where he did not pant anymore (or at least not so much) when he ran.

"I think my obligations and responsibilities still remain in Canada first and foremost. Joining Nordic Covenant is a political move and I don't want to get too caught up in politics."

"So you're not joining Arctic Spear or anything? You remain in Ontario slash Quebec?"

"Arctic Spear? Heck no. Eastern Canada? Heck yeah. The thing with Special Hero Forces is that they're kind of a multi-nation-level paramilitary anyway. I really don't wanna get caught up with that stuff either. I'm feeling fine protecting my homeland the way I already am."

"You would definitely boost joined forces popularity and reputation if you join the ranks. You're like the greatest hero there is across the nations involved."

"Thank you. I'm humbled by your kind words. But don't judge any hero before you've witnessed their work. I am good, don't get me wrong, but there are other good heroes as well. Also northern Europe has good heroes who can win over hearts here in Canada and vice versa."

"Right", said Jeremy and paused to think a thought which occurred to him right then. "Say, isn't Stormborn like Swedish or Norwegian himself? His real name sounds like coming from there."

"His family roots are in northern Europe, yes, but I don't know or remember where exactly. But he's born and bred Canadian, don't get confused with that. But yeah, I think that connection will win over new fans for him and smoothen the deal with joined forces a little bit."

Knowing how crazed professional hero fans some of his friends were, Jeremy would have loved to use some information he got from Warlock in discussions. Only the fact that revealing those things could have compromised his secret helped him hold his tongue in school. He had been labeled as one of the more quiet and diligent kids but that did not mean that he would not have wanted to look knowledgeable when some matters were discussed.

Conversations with Warlock, however, helped Jeremy to better form his own opinions. Thus he was not so easily swayed by whatever new rumor or speculation which entered youths' talks about what there was to come in hero scene in likely nearby future.

Nolan had been rather inconspicuous student throughout the whole autumn and he had left Jeremy and friends mostly on their own but when the new year came, that blissful ignoring sort of came to an end. First steps of high school application processes for special courses were upon them and buzz amongst Jeremy's class was on the rise due to it which also meant that Nolan reverted to his old habits. For him, the game was now on.

"Still planning to be a hero, Aldridge? Well, save some time and don't bother 'cause I'm about to ace the exams and start my journey to Number One spot", was the first comment Nolan made directly to Jeremy in months on the day when class collectively send out their special courses applications with the help of their teachers.

First stage of the process basically consisted of sending mid-term grades for evaluation, submitting an essay and partaking in preliminary academic exam which got send for evaluation and got graded. All this was done in order to start thin down the number of applicants because especially the number of students who applied for different hero courses across the country were usually so astronomical that it would have been a logistical disaster of unspeakable proportions to facilitate final entrance exams to everyone who wanted in. Starting the entrance process when most of the school year was still ahead was a measure to be taken so schools had time to comb through every application work and decide with which applicants they wanted to continue the process.

Much could already hung on that first stage so that was the reason why Jeremy had been working extra hard with his academic pursuits. He had wanted to solidify his grades on top levels and ace the preliminary in order to boost his chances of getting invited to move forward with his Edelgrove Academy dreams.

While students waited the results if they got accepted to next stage, Jeremy's gang had somewhat heartfelt discussions especially on the topic of possibly becoming heroes.

There were few youngsters who had aspirations on other fields of life than professional heroism so they had not applied for such lines of education. Yet even most of them still liked to take some part in speculation game and discuss with their fellows what kind of heroes those fellows could possibly be.

The topic of choice on schools was also on the table. Many had played safe and applied for lower level hero courses in an attempt to boost their chances to get in because competition had a tendency to be less extreme than with higher level options. Another contributing factor in choices was the locality, meaning that many applied for some nearby options in the hopes of getting a place of study closer to home. And then there was also the minority who aimed high or far away from Medicine Hat and that was the group where Jeremy was included.

Those few kids who had the grit and reasonable academic merits could attempt getting into some top level schools. Calgary had like two hard-core names and in Edmonton one could find a hero course which was classified as a Hero Path, an unofficial name for a league of schools which were considered to be the best at the field of hero education and which steadily produced big number of the country's greatest names. Boys and girls who gunned specifically for Hero Paths usually became mini-celebrities for the duration of application process and every extroversion inclined student usually wanted to be buddies with those high-aiming kids during this time, just to say in the future that they knew a top hero if the kid happened to get accepted in.

Just to test his luck, Bart had put Edmonton's Hero Path as his first option but "probably realistically speaking", as he put it, he could secure a place in Calgary and he would be happy to settle for that.

Jude on the other hand had no other options than go for anything else than hero course. As a traitless boy he had no chances of getting accepted in hero course. Even though he tried to put a brave face and enthusiasm was strong as ever in his voice whenever he talked about hero stuff, there might have been that ever so small hint of melancholy and trouble in his eyes and demeanor.

Bart actually discussed shortly with Jeremy in private if they should somehow address Jude's situation and ask how their friend was personally doing. Being hero mega fan and then watching his friends possibly getting into that culture and lifestyle could not have been easy for the guy without his own trait. Ultimately, they decided against any "intervention" because they did not want to cause any unnecessary mental turmoil in Jude's life. They reasoned that if friend had anything to say, he would come to them and talk about it. After all, he was so passionate about this hero stuff that maybe he was already fine and had found his peace with the matter. Neither Bart nor Jeremy knew how to handle such delicate issues anyway so they did not want to be the cause of any possible havoc.

More sensitive people could have argued that boys' intended service was easy to turn out to be detrimental. But then again they were just young teenagers who had no experience handling sensitive things and who had too much trust in their friendships that if something was a problem, everyone would feel open and safe enough to talk about it on their own terms.

Plan to ignore their suspicions and let Jude handle it on his own terms kind of worked in the end. After one especially long, unrelated conversation between three of them about everything under the sun, hero education once more included, Jude coincidentally confided in his plans with the future. So far he had been very vague about those plans whenever anybody asked about them but he finally revealed those to Jeremy and Bart.

"Yeah, dude… I guess I'll try to get into Edelgrove or other Ottawa-Toronto area's business and management line", was Jude's definitive revelation verbatim.

It was a surprise undoubtedly for both Jeremy and Bart. When they questioned the reasoning, Jude explained.

"You know, I know I don't have a trait and I might not be the smartest one but I'd still like to leave my mark in hero world, you know, dude. So I might just take a shot with those applications and see if anything sticks."

"But why Ottawa-Toronto? Edelgrove? You're singling that out 'cause Jeremy's trying that too?"

"Yeah, dude, like why not? How cool would that be! It'd be its own little adventure to move out home and study hero supporting stuff. I see that as an absolute win. If you two become pros, I can be your manager. Southern Ontario is also the biggest hotspot for hero things. How cool would it be to study B 'n' M there! Edelgrove would be insane but it might be close call if my grades will be enough."

Jeremy felt weird mixture of relief and embarrassment when he learnt Jude's plans. Relief because the situation with Jude felt like resolved just like that. Embarrassment because he could not help but feel that his own plans had influenced his friend's future too.

---

Second stage in hero courses' application process consisted in its entirety short personal interviews. Army of assessors under the mandates from Ministry of Education and Ministry of Hero Affairs was send across the country to conduct interviews in-person with candidates whom schools deemed interesting or of whom they wanted to know more about. Process expanded over the course of few weeks so the assessors could cover all the needed geographical ground. Not everyone who got invited to the stage three got interviewed and this second stage was considered most the of time as an extension to the first stage to give schools additional knowledge about the candidates. The thing with the interviews, however, was that it usually gave a good indication that candidate's application had been noticed and acknowledged, thus hinting that he or she might have had better chances of getting into the next phase.

Considering all the lore around the second stage, Jeremy was thus ecstatic when he got a message that assessors wanted to have a word with him. And when his interview time in early March came and went, he felt pretty confident that he had aced it and might have really bettered his chances of getting accepted. He felt little tempted to ask Warlock if hero could somehow get insider knowledge how was his application doing but he hold his tongue. He did not want to appear desperate or prideful or someone who was calling favors from the mentor just because of who the mentor was. Therefore, he accepted his fate that he had to wait the results like everyone else.

Those results which told who were invited for the third stage arrived mid-to-late April so the entrance exams could be hold mid-to-late May.

The day an actual letter informing if the candidate had been accepted forward or not was a nerve-wrecking experience for Jeremy. He had thought that he was ready for the news and would remain calm. Yet he had struggled to sleep the night before and he found it hard to focus during his morning exercise and school day because his mind kept running wild.

High schools also provided electronic letters which informed the candidates about the same thing but those out of some habit or something were always send like five business days after the first physical letters started dropping into mailboxes. Therefore, Jeremy had no way of telling during school hours if his dream was about to come closer to reality or if it was going to get crushed. He had put few hero courses as his options when filling out application form but he was really praying for that invitation to Edelgrove. For that option specifically he had sweated, worked out and studied intensely the past year. For that Warlock and Bradley had helped him to achieve greatness.

Those days when he looked himself at the mirror he could hardly believe what he was seeing. That slim and thinnish boy he had been while growing up was no more and he had gained mass and praiseworthy muscles. He got more intense headaches and sensory overloads every now and then when his body failed to handle the changes but other than that he really felt healthier than ever before. Dietary program still was not a thing he enjoyed but had learnt to deal with it since it all had contributed to reaching this very point in time. Yet when he marveled the results which combined efforts from him, Warlock and Bradley had brought forth, he could not help but still feel that agonizing burden of stress of not knowing if it was enough.

Jeremy's friend circle counted from the information going around in school that four students in total had gotten and read their letters in the morning. Mail had come early to those households. Because Jeremy lived way out in the suburbs, it was usual that his area did not get its mail until just around or after the time when kids had already left for the school.

Day mostly went like any other day but suspense hanging in the air was palpable when students eagerly waited to go home and see if their own letters had arrived. Generally, it was a weird experience when one remembered that students were not even waiting their acceptance letters but just notices what entrance exams they were invited to participate in.

Nolan had been exceptionally sure about his chances and had acted accordingly smug the past months but even he had been now reduced into surprisingly calm and meek person the closer the time for letters came.

When Jeremy got home, he found that some family member had left the mail of the day on kitchen counter. And there was his letter among few fliers, father's hobby magazine, copy of day's newspaper which father kept insisting ordering, and two whatever bills or notice letters to the parents.

He snatched his letter and barricaded himself to his room. He put the letter on his table and contemplated opening it. He came few times close to slicing the envelope open but he always backed out. He was not sure why but now when the information was right there in front of him, he became more nervous than he could have possibly expected. Adrenaline rushed into his body and he started pacing around in his room to release energy and calm himself down. Glimpses to the letter were made but he could not bring himself to open it. He was overwhelmingly excited and nervous at the same time. It was hard to imagine how much bad it would be if he happened to get an actual acceptance letter in few months.

After some serious contemplation he came to conclusion that he could not do this in his room. He needed to go out and walk, jog or run while he opened and read the letter to calm his overworking heart.

He switched his gear, took a pocketknife and letter with him, dismantled the barricades and rushed outside the house.

Letter in one hand he subconsciously jogged to the place where he had met Warlock first time last year. There was some traffic taking place in community center but nobody was at the sports fields at the moment when Jeremy arrived there.

With quick steps he paced around the basketball court. To the best of his abilities he tried to keep his mind blank and focus on breathing when he flipped the knife open, sliced the flap open and pulled out the letter.

His mind took notice how good paper the letter was made out of. It felt exceptionally sturdy and smooth in his hands.

Letter was folded into three layers and when he in natural flow run his eyes over the top lines which were visible, his heart started pumping faster and he quickened his step.

Thought occurred to him if he should call Warlock to help him get through this experience but he quickly dismissed the idea. This was to be private moment. Something in this moment felt way too intimate to be shared with anyone else.

Few more deep breaths later he was able to bring himself to slowly read the whole message although he never stopped walking.

After preliminary evaluations…

Bad word slipped out of his mouth when he read that. Piece got stuck in her throat.

You are hereby invited…

"Yes!"

…primarily for the written and practical entrance examinations of the Edelgrove Academy's hero course.

"YYYEEESSS!"

The day was absolutely beautiful and world in afternoon's sunlight most stunning.

"YYYEEESSS!"

Had the air always felt so fresh in his home neighborhood?

---

Class lost their collective mind next day instantly when the news began spreading. Eight teenagers in total – five boys and three girls – had received invitations to different Hero Path exams. That was more than any other year in recent memory. It was also a good year in terms of invitations as a percentage of more students were called to the hero and other special exams than in any previous year in the last ten years. Teachers were pride incarnate with these numbers. School was not the best by any standards in the Medicine Hat area so faculty members took special pride for this accomplishment reached by the students that year.

That garnered goodwill came in handy when teachers considered how to react when Elijah with three of his buddies decided that everyone should order pizzas for this "historical accomplishment" and gathered money pool to make it happen. Just one huge singular order was not an option on such a short notice so after lunch period several delivery drivers started to appear at the parking lot. Basically every single pizzeria which had the school within their delivery radius and was willing to deliver to the school grounds came to visit with fresh treats.

Jeremy did not take part in the delivery scheme. It would have been a wacky memory to be directly part of the event but at the same time he thought it would have been tasteless. He did not really want to tarnish his big moment of pride by getting involved in something tongue-in-cheek type of school mischief.

When empty pizza boxes were overflowing the trash cans, leftovers exuded their greasy smell everywhere and teachers were doing everything in their power to make sure no one from the lower grades decided to join the fast food movement, Alvin Peel, boy with whom Jeremy had not really socialized with during the years, approached Jeremy during period break. Most students referred to him as Alvin Stuart just to make a distinction between other Alvin on the same grade, and he was one of the quieter and more academically competent guy from school's jock circles. That much Jeremy basically knew about him.

"Hi, Jeremy. Heard we're both gonna try EdGAr exams next month", Alvin Stuart opened the conversation.

"Oh? You got invitation too?" asked Jeremy. He felt stupid because while he had been aware of Alvin Stuart being one of the eight getting summons to Hero Path hero course exams, somehow the detail which one had slipped from him.

"Yep. Looks like it'll be you and I and Nolan all together. Quite a feat. Congrats to you too."

"Nolan too?" it was unnecessary question from Jeremy's part because Nolan had definitely been vocal enough about his invitation to Edelgrove's exams. "Three out of eight, not bad", he formulated some small talk.

"Four", Alvin Stuart corrected. "From girls' side, Irene's primary call is to EdGAr too, but I understood she might try to transfer her creds towards Saint-Gustave."

"Four of us? Okay, that's actually really good", said Jeremy and nodded his head. He felt awkward when he did not know how to answer better.

"Yep. I was half expecting just Greater Taleborough, honestly, but EdGAr was a nice surprise", told Alvin Stuart. "Anyway! Just wanted to congratulate you. Good luck to the exams."

"Same goes to you."

---

About four weeks later, in May, it was time for Jeremy as well as three other candidates to travel east and participate in the entrance exams of Edelgrove Academy.

Just to be on the safe side if anything unforeseen happened with transportation, Jeremy was going to fly there two nights prior. To cut the costs of hotel nights, father had contacted some old friend of his, who happened to live somewhat nearby Edelgrove, and had arranged it so that his son could sleep at friend's place over the few day visitation.

On the morning of the day when Jeremy was supposed to take the flight to east, he woke up extra early just to see if he could make it to the morning exercise meetup point before Bradley.

In fact, as it turned out, he was there on the sports fields behind community center before his coach, but not by many minutes.

When Bradley rounded the community center's corner after leaving his car on the parking lot and saw Jeremy there doing pushups on cold morning dew covered ground, he was visibly surprised. It was the very first time all year that boy had arrived before him.

"Eager to squeeze one last workout? Or is this panic training?" Bradley was curious to know.

"Working out. Till the last moment", answered Jeremy without turning to look Bradley or interrupting his tempo of going up and down. He already recognized that voice and accent well and he wanted to hit his number six repeats away.

"Right 'tude, boy. No rest for the righteous", said Bradley and dropped down next to Jeremy to do some pushups too. He was still much better and quicker than Jeremy to do them but it kind of was to be expected from much older man and one who had trained boy to new heights over the course of the past year.

Two of them had especially tough workout that morning. By the end of it Jeremy felt just a little bit more confident that he was going to make it through the exams which were just two days away.

When he found the right words and disposition, he humbled himself to thank Bradley for everything what the man had done to him.

"No biggie, kiddo. Seriously. This is literally how I make my living", Bradley assured it was nothing.

"Still. Thank you. You still got stuck here for a year to train me."

"It's been an experience, for sure. But it's no biggie. Even if I cannot talk about this, it's certainly knowledge to live with that I was the one to train Warlock's prodigy. You have guts, I'll say that. I've dragged you through hell and back but you've stayed focused and undaunted. I commend you for your dedication and perseverance. Can't say I had too many clients as promising as you. Just keep working hard like I've shown you and get a grip on that trait of yours and you'll make it far."

Bradley's words gave Jeremy some motivation and somehow it warmed his heart to here them. He did not know if he was going to meet Bradley again. As far as he knew, training arrangement was to end at these entrance exams, but whatever the case, it was refreshingly great to know he was not alone with his secret. Every now and then throughout the year he had found it mentally taxing to keep the secret of his trait and Warlock between him and hero only so it was good to know that there was a third person who was aware of the details and who had superficial understanding what Jeremy was going through physically and mentally.

That was Jeremy's last goodbyes with his personal trainer. Warlock was going to meet him in person before the exams once he got to the east so he still had something to look forward to in that. Another last round of last words from another coach before the moment of truth which would define the direction his life would take.

Coincidentally and equally farsightedly, late afternoon flight to Toronto which Jeremy took was the same with Nolan and Irene. Alvin Stuart would get there by other flight company.

As the plane scudded across the cloudless sky, window-seated Jeremy followed landscapes passing by far beneath them. It was his his first time travelling alone long distance (if one ignored two other classmates' presence) and it was slightly frightening, yet thrilling experience. So young and on his own even if only momentarily. Travelling with high hopes to forge his path in life. His pensive side could barely handle all the poetic aspects of that situation.

And to think that him finding himself right there right then was basically down to a random, simple decision made on the spur of the moment the day Iron Mountain was buried… And by chance Warlock had been there to witness it…

Would he have been there if he had not tried to help Derek? Would he have been there if he had been anywhere else that day? It was weird to think what might had been if anything would had played out in different manner in his life. And frankly, that thought troubled him.

But that was all in the past. Actions had been taken and life had been lived. Field had been tended and now it was as white as it was going to be for the harvest.

Blue sky around them and green-and-brown expanse of the land far down had never appeared so vast to him.

---

A/N: And that wraps up this chapter! After a year of training, Jeremy's now on his way to hero course's entrance exams. I probably could have gone easier path and name the high school after Muskoka or Wawanakwa or something but I think what I did is better. Don't want to be too cheesy with those naming conventions.

I realize this is basically an intermediate chapter between two bigger story settings. TD Universe characters outside of Don and Jude don't appear but I deem this chapter a necessary addition to prepare the next stage. This is, after all, explaining in condensed form how our main character of sorts aims to get into hero education. Alongside of that, there's also worldbuilding taking place so I hope all that justifies the lack of some TD elements here.

Next time we're entering Edelgrove Academy's entrance exams for the hero course. How shall it go? What shall the practical portion involve? Which characters might appear? Who will get in? It all remains to be seen.

Until next time, have a good one and thank you! Hope you took delight in your time spent reading.