July 27th, 2029, A.D.
2 P.M.

It was a busy yet sunny day within Idaho, not as hot as it was in June. Overall it was a windy Friday with most of everyone going about their lives as usual. Some kids would be playing outside in the sunlight, and adults would still work in their day-by-day activities. As for Alexia, she would be in her room only recovering from the strange cold she acquired almost a month ago. The black suppressor she wore every day now, and quite frankly, it wasn't getting any easier.

Each passing day she wore it the lazier she became. As if the energy in her body just sprung up then vanished instantaneously. This suppressor even made it harder for her to sleep over the days she wore it. At first, she chalked it up to sleep paralysis. Still, it was becoming more apparent the suppressor was affecting her body the longer she wore it.

Of course, her teacher wasn't that bad of a person and advised that she could take it off whenever she wanted and informed her to exercise every now and then to keep her body from falling under the influence of the side effects. Alexia was laid down across her bed, merely gazing up at the ceiling.

Her hand was reaching out to touch it as if the ceiling was the unreachable stars in the sky. Small lights appeared around her hand; these lights faded in and out together in unison before dying out seconds upon being visible. Her power was indeed still working, but only by so little now. At first, while it was challenging to use her abilities with the suppressor on. Over time, she could tell this accursed thing was adapting to her as she was to it.

The sudden chime of her phone vibrating on a nearby desk alerted Alexia's attention to it. A sigh was merely leaving her silvery voice. Her hand lowered upon sitting up and grabbing the phone. Turning it on, she saw the group chat alerting her. Specifically, it was Reynolds texting the group, which had all the club members in it.

"I'll need one of you to come with me to Boise in the coming week before school starts back up to register for the regionals." - Reynolds.

It was a requirement for those registering to have the supervision of a school faculty member with them. You could register online, but newer schools participating had to meet face to face with the registrators for official documentation. This was Starlight Academy's first attendance at a tournament like this. The registration took place directly in a state's capital city, in which case Boise for Idaho.

"I'll do it." Cheveyo texted back in the group chat.

"Thanks, Chev. I'll give you the time and date soon." - Reynolds.

"Want me just to bring us in my car?"

"No, I rented a van for us to use."

"You're joking, right?" - Cheveyo replied.

"Nope."

"What's this about a van?" - Alexia now chimed into the conversation.

"It's just a little gift I was presented with a while back. Capable of carrying an entire team." - Reynolds informed.

"It's not rented then if it was a gift." - Cheveyo.

"I'd rather we didn't go in a rundown machine." - Now Deveron had entered the conversation.

"It's not rundown." - Reynolds.

"I've heard stories of the fabled Rey van. Legends have it. It broke down not even a mile away from the driver's home." - Cheveyo.

"Who told you this? It's clearly not true." - Reynolds.

"My sources are wrong, then?" - Cheveyo.

"Yes. Anywho, Alexia. Meet me at Keith's Gym. Time for some extra training." - Reynolds

Alexia looked down at her phone, getting out of bed. She was already fully dressed for the day, and the afternoon was just beginning.

"Where is that at?" - Alexia replied.

"You don't know, Keith? Man, you've been living under a rock." - Deveron

"Easy there, I don't know him either, merely the name." - Cheveyo.

"He's not a user like you guys, but you should recognize him as a heavyweight champion in boxing." - Reynolds.

"Yeah, nada." - Cheveyo

"It sorta rings a bell. But, I asked WHERE it's at. Not who." - Alexia

"You should worry about the WHO!" - Deveron

"It doesn't matter, just get ready. I'll pick you up and drive you there." - Reynolds.

"You don't have a car, Alex?" - Cheveyo.

"No." - Alexia replied this time, lowering her phone to the sound of honks outside. Moving over to her window, she noticed Reynolds was waiting. That was remarkably fast. It shocked her. Along with the van mentioned moments ago on the phone. It was looking dirty and indeed needed cleaning; perhaps it required parts to be replaced as well. Some windows in the back were broken, and it looked like on the side of it were bullet holes.

A look of disgust was all that Alexia could muster, glancing down at it. Regardless, she headed outside to meet with Reynolds. Mrs.Winchester opened the door to see Reynolds before Alexia made it down.

"Good evening, Mr.Reynolds." Mrs.Winchester greeted him.

"Evening. Is Alexia home?" He asked.

"Yes, I take it she's off to train?" Mrs.Winchester wasn't that concerned about Alexia's decision upon seeing Reynolds.

"Indeed, We're going to Keith's Gym for a few hours, and then I'll bring her home right after." He replied.

"Keith, huh. Alright." As Mrs.Winchester finished speaking, Alexia eased her way past her, merely smiling in the process.

"Ready to go, Alexia? Get into the back seat." Reynolds moved to enter the driver's seat, shutting the door while Alexia got in the back. The minivan was still active, so Reynolds merely waved goodbye to Mrs.Winchester and drove off towards the gym.

Mrs.Winchester waved goodbye back, a part of her wondering why she felt a sense of calmness around Reynolds. A sense of pride from Alexia, her feelings conflicted against one another, merely sighing in the process.

"So long as he's with her, she should be fine." That was at least the hope Mrs.Winchester felt towards her daughter. She gave the reins over to a teacher to guide her daughter for a single year until graduation. In the end, Alexia decided to enter this sort of field. But, within her heart, she knew the dangers of this type of 'sport.' The darkness in human hearts that encourages such a sport. Still, in the end, she couldn't get over the thought of her daughter winning the grand-prize if she did succeed — a tale of greed seeping through Mrs. Winchester's mind along with fame and fortune for her family.

Of matters to think about, she wasn't the type to do this, simply shaking her head in disbelief. As she began to go back inside to collect her thoughts, the disembodied voice of a woman caught her attention. Looking up, Mrs.Winchester saw a beautiful woman with red hair along with crimson eyes that could pierce into any soul burning it. The longer one stared into this woman's eyes, the deeper they stared into an abyss. The woman's skin was pale, the dress she wore was entirely black as if she was going out to party in a club. This woman wasn't there before, nor did Mrs.Winchester notice her walking down the sidewalk before Reynolds left.

"Excuse me, but. I'm looking for a…Starlight academy? Could you happen to show me in the direction of it?" The red woman asked. Her voice was mesmerizing, as if the sound was being played on a specific frequency that enticed the human ears. Quite the odd question since most visitors had a GPS installed into their suppressors or in their cars.

Mrs.Winchester decided to help the woman out with directions anyway. It was best to offer kindness. It wasn't strange to see people with different hair colors and eye colors nowadays. It was quite a fad among the younger generation.

"Just keep heading a couple of miles north of here, and you'll run into it. Only a 30-minute walk from here." She informed.

The red woman merely nodded with a smile. Mrs.Winchester only now realized the woman wore a sun hat on the top of her head. The feeling of uneasiness looming over the longer she stared at the red woman.

"I thank you, Kind lady." The red woman walked away while Mrs.Winchester slowly walked back inside the house. Upon entering, her eyes gazed over to the clock on the wall. It was now 3 P.M. That was strange. She didn't recall time flying by that fast. Her head was now starting to hurt. For some reason, she didn't want to think about much at the moment, just relax. There wasn't any indication of a suppressor on Mrs.Winchester. Indeed, she was an average human, nothing special about her. But, the feeling of her time being wasted kept pinging in the back of her mind as she went to go lay down on the sofa.

Before long, she would forget even meeting the red lady.

Before 3 P.M. Reynolds and Alexia arrived at Keith's gym or better known as Keith's Fitness Center, on the billboard above the building. It was in its own section of town not connected to any other facilities. Inside it was filled with treadmills, weights, and the usual contents that a gym would have. But, what made it stand out was a boxing ring in the far back of the building. Only a couple of people were inside at the time of Reynolds and Alexia's arrival at about ten precisely.

Reynolds walked in first, with Alexia following after.

"Keith! I'm here to make an offer!" He shouted across the gym, which caught the attention of all within. Keith approached. He was a very muscular African American man, but looking to have old age catching up to him, grey hair melding together with parts of his black hair which lingered. He wasn't a very tall man, being a bit shorter than Reynolds, yet physically superior.

"For the last time, Rey. I'm not helping you with this underground situation." Keith didn't seem pleased with the appearance of Reynolds. There was no indication of a suppressor on him of any form. He was an average muscular human.

"No, no. It's not that. We really shouldn't talk about that at the moment, but we are here to train."

"We?" Keith looked past Reynold's shoulders, noticing Alexia along with the black experimental suppressor on her.

"Now, you bring one of these people to my domain?" Keith's expression turned sour, rubbing his head in frustration.

"What do you mean by 'these people'?" Alexia responded curiously.

"Your kind always breaks my equipment. The last guy who came in here with one of those suppressors broke five machines! Do you know how much these things cost?"

"O-Oh!" Alexia was shocked; that was the answer.

"Hey, now. She's not that strong, Keith. Alexia here is pretty flabby and weak. She couldn't harm a fly~." Reynolds responded.

Alexia merely shot a grin towards Rey, not something she expected her teacher to say about her. She needed to follow along if she wanted to receive training, it seemed.

"...Argh! Fine, she can use the equipment, but if it breaks, I'm charging you."

"No, no. She doesn't need the equipment." Reynolds continued.

"Then why are you here?"

"I wanted you to teach her your boxing style." Reynolds finally let it out.

Keith gazed at Reynolds in a somewhat dumbfounded expression. He couldn't believe what he just heard. It was bad enough since he wasn't looking for anyone to train in his style of boxing.

"Look. I'll owe you one." Reynolds added.

"I know you will." It took Keith a few seconds to finish thinking over it and glanced over at Alexia. Singularity users were scary for some people; even those who looked fragile could kill a regular human with their bare hands if they tried hard enough. However, those that regularly train and actively go to the gym could overpower a user one to one physically. Still, no one dared risk such a thing due to their powers. Keith was already on bad-terms with singularity users anyway due to many breaking his equipment, as he said prior. But indeed, looking closely at Alexia, it was hard to believe such a girl was a user.

"Man...Fine, I'll teach her only the basics of boxing. That should be enough, right?" Keith glanced back at Reynolds, who could only be happy with just the boxing basics given to Alexia.

"That's perfect. I know your old age is catching up to ya and all."

"I'm not like how I was in the past, besides. Maybe something good will come of this anyway. You can help me with that underground problem." Keith merely turned around and waved at a few assistants to get the equipment.

"So, what's your name, kid?" His sole focus was now on Alexia, his demanding eyes wanting an answer from the girl.

"Alexandria Winchester, Mr.Keith, Sir." Efficiently answering politely.

"Ha. Like Alexander the Great? It's a good name...Right, I'm going to give you a rundown. You better ingrain it into your skull. Come with me." Keith proceeded to walk towards the ring in the back, his assistants giving him some boxing gloves.

"Yeah, you can rely on me." Alexia followed him to the ring, taking a pair of boxing gloves from the assistants as well. Both of them would step into the boxing ring with some of the individuals already inside the gym watching. Reynolds would be one of the individuals but started to get distracted on his phone. He was preoccupied with something else now that Alexia's final training before the start of the tournaments was set. All that was left was one more preparation after this.

"Alright, We'll start with the basics. But, before that, let me see how you can handle yourself in hand-to-hand combat." Keith prepared himself.

Alexia merely nodded and lifted the gloves upward towards her face. The gloves were protecting her, yet she didn't cover her eyes. Before she even had a chance to react, Keith moved in to punch her in the gut.

It was pretty effective as the force of his punch caused her to stumble back and fall.

"Argh! I thought you wanted to see what I could do?!" The shot she took in her gut was a sharp twist of pain. Almost as if this boxer was trying to kill her.

"I did, but it doesn't mean I can't try myself. Relax, Kid. I'm going to teach you how to box. Although, I know how different those singularity fights are as opposed to boxing matches. Might as well teach you how to be unpredictable. That and do the unexpected." Keith began to pace himself by jumping back and forth repeatedly with his arms raised. Whatever he had in store for Alexia. Indeed, it might have a lasting impression.