It was a Tuesday, so Ghost Knife was supposed to be in charge of the experimental combat team’s training session according to the schedule, but he said something came up. Luckily for Mona and her friends, Replica volunteered to take over at the last minute. He was a pretty reliable guy.

Replica had sharply angled, dark eyes that made Mona think of a lion staring down a wounded gazelle. His long, messy black hair hung loosely past his shoulder blades. He wore a white dress shirt with the buttons undone, showing off his lean stomach. Beneath that, he was wearing expensive-looking black slacks with shiny gold stars sewn into the ankles.

He looked good. Really, just perfect. But it was a little weird that he was exposing so much skin, especially when he had a little kid with him. Replica did not seem like a great choice for a babysitter. But Mona knew better than to say anything. The poor little girl looked scared out of her mind. The only thing holding her back from running out of the padded workout room was Ace's hand around her tiny shoulder. She was so small!

"I'm sure you're all curious about this little cutie," said Replica cheerfully. "This is the Teacher of Death's daughter, Gabriella. I hope you don't mind her sitting in on our lesson today."

He had such a weird voice. He sounded like a snake that learned the secret of human speech by watching TV.

"Shh, don't be scared, Gabriella," whispered Ace. "These are my friends Mona, Casey, and Leon. Mona's the sweetest girl ever. Casey, too. Leon acts tough, but he's the smartest guy in the whole world! Do you want to see what their powers do?"

Ace was really good with kids. He had two younger brothers and two younger sisters who he always got stuck watching, and he knew a lot of ways to entertain them. He'd play games with them, sing songs, do magic tricks, make silly faces, tell stories, draw pictures, whatever it took to keep them out of trouble. And little Gabriella took a liking to him right away. She was clinging to his side like a scared animal, whimpering softly every time he tried to pull her away.

"We started with Leon last time, right?" said Replica, walking around the padded room with his arms crossed. "Let's just go in the same order. Did you get any practice in over the weekend, Leon?"

"No. I've been too busy studying. Finals are coming up," Leon replied curtly.

Replica nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment.

"Okay, then. That's fine. We'll just pick up from where we left off. Same as always. I'll copy you, and I want you to try to overpower me."

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Leon. "Let's do this. Whenever you're ready."

True to his name, Replica could duplicate the powers of others. He could use over fifty different psychic abilities at will. It didn't take him very long at all to master Ace's 'Pull,' Leon's 'Suppress,' Mona's 'Soul Vision,' and Casey's 'Shake.' Indeed, he could use them all to far greater effect than their original owners ever could... although he insisted that wouldn't be the case for much longer. The four teenagers were all trying their very hardest to improve themselves, and they were growing stronger each and every day.

Replica and Leon squared off. The teenager held his hands out, and the man in the unbuttoned dress shirt mirrored him with a look of concentration on his face.

'Suppress!'
'Copy. Suppress!'

Their auras flared as one. Replica's was larger, denser, but Leon's was sharper. They clashed with an audible boom that reverberated throughout the entire room. Leon's fingers curled inward and his muscles tensed. He forced every last bit he had out through his palms, into Replica's chest... but Replica wasn't budging. He shrugged his shoulders and relaxed, breaking through Leon's aura with a final burst of willpower and knocking him back onto his rear end. Little Gabriella screamed in terror.

"Ugh!"
"Eeeeeeek!"

"It's okay. Leon's fine. Don't be scared," whispered Ace. "Replica wouldn't hurt us. It's just a game. Leon can't win yet, but he's getting better."

Replica extended his hand and lifted Leon to his feet with a grunt of effort. They both turned to Gabriella with awkward smiles. The confused little girl stared blankly at the two of them, trembling slightly, trying her best not to cry.

"Nice try, Leon," said Replica with an easygoing nod of approval. "Next time, I want you to hold back at first, then push. More control, less power."
"Yeah. Got it," said Leon, rubbing the back of his neck in a futile attempt to ease his tense muscles. "Thanks, Replica. I'll be good to go again in a few minutes."

"No rush," replied Replica with a sly grin. "You can go smoke some Nuke if you need a boost."

"That stuff's nasty, man. I'm going to get some coffee."
"Suit yourself."

They shook hands, and Leon went off on his own without another word. Gabriella watched him leave with a pained look on her face. Ace put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, which seemed to soothe her just a little bit.

Mona couldn't help but wonder what kind of crazy powers the little girl had. Her soul looked like an enormous winged termite, a pale and bulging creature which was shaking under its own weight as though it might split open any second.

Why did she have psychic powers, anyway? Did Wiseman give them to her or was she born with them or something? Or maybe... someone gave her some Nuke to smoke? The Chosen Ones would never force a child to do drugs, right?

Who would do that to a sweet little girl like Gabriella? The idea was almost too horrible for Mona to even consider. 

And yet... some of the children in the homeless camp had psychic abilities too, didn't they? Their souls looked weird and gross and frightening... a glowing school of fish, a skeletal bird, a giant floating eyeball, a pulsating mass of bleeding red flesh. Maybe it was fairly common for people to do that to kids, after all.

Mona felt sick to her stomach. How many of those kids had been forced to do drugs against their will... to develop these horrible powers that came with headaches and nosebleeds and worse, and for what purpose? To turn them into little soldiers? Into weapons?

Wait.

Wasn't that exactly what Replica and Ghost Knife were doing to her and her friends? Granted, they were high schoolers, not little kids... and they knew what they were getting into... but still.

No. She was being stupid. Of course that was all just nonsense. The Chosen Ones weren't like that. Gabriella wasn't some drug slave in training. She was just a normal little girl who was scared of strangers and needed a hug. She just happened to live in a terrible, terrible city with a whole bunch of evil homeless people and gangsters and serial killers roaming around... and she was safe in the Tower of the Chosen with her father and all the other tough Chosen Ones like Replica and Miss Planner. No way anyone would do anything bad to the daughter of the Teacher of Death. He wouldn't stand for it.

Yeah. Sure. She hoped that was the case, anyway.

Gabriella was sitting right next to her, holding Ace's hand, staring vacantly off in space with that weird look of nervous confusion on her pretty little face. Mona tried to calm herself by taking deep breaths. Breathe in, breathe out...

"Hey, Gabriella," she said gently, reaching out to touch the girl's tiny hand, which flinched violently. "How are you feeling today?"

"I feel... I don't know..."

"Let's talk. Can we talk? I think it would be better for you to say things instead of just listening, don't you agree?"

Gabriella's body shook slightly, then stopped. Her expression didn't change at all.

"Mmmhmm. We can talk," Gabriella murmured, looking up with sad, dark eyes. "But... don't call me Gabriella. I hate it. My name's Gabby."

"Gabby? Gee. That's that's really cute! My name's Mona! Nice to meet you!"

"Uh... hi, Mona."

"I have a nickname too! Sometimes Casey calls me... Monamona! And I call her Caseycasey! If you want... you can be Gabbygabby? Only if you like it, of course."