The lobby wasn’t that far from the changing room, so I ran that distance in one minute, arriving only five minutes before our shift started. I looked through the room that was unusually full of people, but I couldn’t find neither Mercedes nor agent Meyer. I searched the entire room, passing between clumps of people talking about some kind of mission or something that was taking place later that day, which I assumed was the reason for all the fuss. I heard a couple of agents talking about how big this operation was since it had to do with something they called ‘the incident’, that I presume was important and bad because of how dark and hard their voices sounded when they mentioned it. I was tempted to ask what was this incident about but I backed down in every occasion because of the atmosphere surrounding the topic.

I tried to focus my mind on something else while looking for my partners, and luckily the answer presented itself wherever I looked: almost every agent here was probably high rank, because they had a lot of weapons of different sizes, shapes, styles and colors. Some caught my attention more than others, for example, a pair of daggers which were extremely long and thin inside two cream colored sheaths each on one side of this tall woman’s hip; also what seemed to be a katana inside it’s slightly curved wooden sheath (which in case of a katana was called saya if my memory is right) and a pitch black one-handed short sword that was getting cleaned by its owner, while the wooden sheath rested on the guy’s back. I closed my eyes for a moment and was picturing myself in a couple of years with my own personalized sword made with the green handle my mom had restored for me, a shiny and neat metal-grey blade and a clean white sheath with green details to complement the handle. I was about to start mentally drooling when a hand taped my shoulder, pulling me out of my dreams and giving me a good scare:

- Here you are! I’ve been looking for you but it’s hard with all these people

The person talking to me was my new tiny but deadly partner Mercedes Wood. She had a uniform exactly identical to mine, but a lot different in size since its length was a lot shorter, the waist was a lot smaller and the chest was probably two times the size.

- Oh, sorry, I was looking for you too but I got lost looking at all these people and their weapons.

When I mentioned the weapons, I unconsciously looked at hers which looked abnormally big in contrast to her small self, even if it was an exact copy of the one I had

- Yeah it’s pretty crowded in here. Follow me, agent Meyer is waiting for us over there - she pointed to a hall behind her

- Okay, let’s go then

I followed her through the masses of people, which was pretty difficult given her short stature, but I managed to not lose her somehow and we finally got out of the room into a corridor where I could see agent Meyer standing against a wall.

Just like her trainee, he was a short guy, a bit taller than her but still pretty short for an adult man, with a small but solid frame, which you could see was well built even under his uniform.

- Took you long enough! Where you guys doing something interesting? – He said with a smile on his face and making zero efforts on hiding the meaning behind his words

- O-Of course we weren’t! It was just difficult to find each other with that many tall people – she responded in an annoyed way, but nothing compared to that day at the gym with Frank

- They aren’t tall, you are just small – he responded playfully

- Look who’s talking – she counterattacked, but it had no effect on the receiver

- Oh I know I’m short, but at least I accept it

Knowing she had lost this one, Mercedes quickly changed the topic trying to hide her embarrassment

- Anyway, do you know why there’s so much people here sir?

- I think they told me something, but I cannot remember what was it…

I coughed to get their attention since it seemed they had forgot I was there, and once both of them were looking at me I opened my mouth

- Sorry to interfere, but I heard them talking about some kind of important operation and something about an incident – extending my hand toward the agent, I added – Theo Wagner, sir, it’ll be a pleasure to work with you

- Pleasure is mine Mr. Wagner, and I remember now, they told us that there would be a big operation taking place near the neighborhood we had to patrol today so they assigned us on a different task

- And what about that incident they mentioned? Know anything about that? – I asked curiously since it seemed to be an important matter

- Oh… about that… - he looked at me with narrowed eyes, then thought for a moment before lifting both his shoulders and his hands in a sign of apology and finally said – sorry, I cannot tell you, but don’t worry, you’ll get that info once your rank is a bit higher.

I looked back at him, more intrigued than ever, but I saw in his eyes that he was not going to tell me anything, so arguing would just be a waste of time. I made a mental note to ask Pat or Frank if they knew something, and left it on the side for now

- Well, if you say so. What’s our job for the day then?

- Anything that isn’t patrolling is fine for me, I’m tired of that – Mercedes said in a relieved voice, and I couldn’t agree more with her. Even if patrolling was necessary and we were newbies so they couldn’t let us go into the wild like that, it was the most boring thing I’d done in my life, even when I did it with Frank and agent Neumann, and besides that one time with agent West, I had only done patrolling duties since I became a trainee

- Oh, I don’t know about Mr. Theo right here, but I’m sure that you’ll beg for more patrolling after today… - he said grinning mischievously looking at her

- Uhhh… What are you talking about sir? What are we going to do today? – I asked getting a little impatient

- We’ll have the honour of visiting the most important and prestigious institution for training future White Police aspirants, the best of the best: the Triforce Academy

After the World collapsed and the new order stablished, the training for the first generation of members of the White Police was pretty disorganized and, in consequence, slow, so one day the three new ‘continents’ decided that they had to unify and institutionalize the formation of this oncoming public defense force, and after long talks and discussions on how to do it, the main instructors at the time who were responsible of the training, decided to create an academy that would have branches all over the world and would be one of the foundations of future society, under the name of Triforce Academy, symbolizing the union of the three continents.

With the creation of the Triforce Academy (or just TFA) the White Police was created in no time, and started to work as soon as that first generation was ready. This first gen is known nowadays as the ‘golden gen’ since it was the lowest point for crime rate all over the world. Of course, this was because no criminal was able to get their hands on a sword neither knew how to use one, so the difference in fighting abilities between said criminals and the White Police forces was astronomical. Unfortunately, as time passed by, the criminals started to get their hands on some knowledge and somehow weapons too, which gave place to the first wave of armed and (lowly) skilled criminals. Since then, the crime rate had been stable until a couple of years ago when there was a big spike out of nowhere and since then it’s been increasing more and more every year, just like President Ramos had told us. The WP is trying really hard to combat this growth but they still cannot understand why there are so many new criminals. There’s a theory that believes the existence of a secret organization that’s recruiting more and more people, since the economic situation has been pretty hard lately. I don’t really know what to believe, but I hope we can start making a change quickly before the situation gets out of hands.

Anyway, back to the present. Agent Meyer told me that the TFA wasn’t too far away from the HQs so we would go by foot, also because all the WP's vehicles were on standby for the operation taking place later today. I didn’t mind the walk and neither did Mercedes so we started our trip right after that conversation. I’d dreamt about going to an academy for my training from the moment I learned about their existence, but I also knew that it wasn’t an option for me since they were really expensive and had limited quotas, even the smaller ones. I remember one time I started saving money to see if I could at least attend one semester to the cheapest academy I found, but with the money I made at the bookstore I barely could afford the entrance fee, so I discarded the option and focused even more on my self-taught training. On the other hand, my petite partner here attended no other than Triforce Academy for two full years, and not only that, but she also had graduated top of her class by 1 score point

- Wow, that’s impressive Wood. Can you tell me anything about the academy? Something I should know beforehand? - I asked my companion

- Hmm… Let’s see. The first thing you have to know is that the place is full of elitist snobs, everyone in there thinks they are the best when the only thing they have in common is money. The first semester is the slowest one because it’s focused half on the history from the war and post-war, the creation of the White Police forces and its evolution; and the other half is focused on the basics of sword fighting theory. Then the second semester is mainly physical training and some shadow swordplay to get accustomed to the weapons. But then on the third semester is when the fun really begins. That’s when the mock fights and sparring sessions start happening. You had to fight every single day against your classmates and then on weekends there were tests which basically consisted in fights against the instructors. As for me, I was the only one who never failed one of those tests – she added with a superb tone and a triumphant facial expression

I can see now what Frank was talking about when he said that ‘she thinks she’s better than anyone else’ and I mean, not to take sides but if what she’s saying is true, then she IS better than anyone else, or at least she was at the Academy

- Ohh, I see… And what about the fourth semester? If my memory is right you can get two full years of training at TFA

- The fourth semester is special. If your grades were average at best, you’d continue working as the previous semester until graduation. But, in cases such as mine where your grades where above average if not excellent, you would get private lessons to help you specialize in a specific combat style. The school has one or two experts on each main style.

- Ohhhh! That's so cool... - I started picturing myself sparring with a private teacher

I was really impressed that they even considered this kind of training on a two year study plan. I thought they would just cover the basics and teach more general stuff, but it makes sense to get those students who were better than the rest and help them grow even more

- Yeah, I guess. I got lucky tho because I was the only one in my specialty so I had a tutor all for myself.

- If it is not to much to ask, wold you mind telling me which weapon did you specialize in?

- What do you think it is?

- Well, my first guess when I saw you in the waiting room at the trials was that you could be a great dagger user because of your size... No offense

- Yeah, I remember that. We were the last ones along with that muscle head of Frank Wolf – she said while grinning her teeth, barely opening her mouth – Imma ignore what you said about me just because  your guess was correct, I indeed am a dual dagger user. It was the first recommendation they gave me at the academy, and once I started training with those short knives, I couldn’t stop. You know, I’ve always been a big fan of martial arts, and when I picked up those daggers it felt like an extension of my own body, and I learn to use them like you would use your hands in hand on hand combat. My teacher said it was rather peculiar, but that after a couple of training sessions he thought it was good and could work really well with my fighting style.

- So, you are telling me that you not only were top of your class but you kinda invented your oun style...?

- Well... Yeah, you could say that

She said it so naturally that I almost didn’t realize the meaning behind those words. Being #1 of her class on the most prestigious fighting academy of the entire World was one thing, but using a crazy technique that basically nobody used, that's a whole different story. And she is my partner, my equal. Well, I don’t think it’ll remain like that for too long. A person with those skills should rank up pretty fast. I hated to admit it, but I felt really envious of her

- Is everyone here a monster or am I just too impressionable? - I asked myself with a sigh

- I mean we are the top of the top, the elite of the trainees, so we should be exceptional. What about you? What makes you special? - she asked nonchantly like one would ask the time

-Hmm… What makes me special…? – I started wondering, what was my specialty? What got me to where I am now? What makes me different? To my surprise, I couldn’t come with an answer, so I began to panic. I felt Mercedes’ gaze on me from the side, and I started to feel even more nervous when, luckily, agent Meyer came to my rescue even without knowing he was doing so

- Sorry to interrupt but we’re here

I looked up and my vision was instantly blocked by a four feet tall black tailgate, attached from both side to beautiful brick walls, painted of a sleek white that didn’t have one spot of dirt on them. On the right wall there was a big sign that said ‘Triforce Academy’ in big letters that occupied more than half the sign, and under them, their famous (and in my opinion ironical) slogan ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears’; and I say ironic because it didn’t matter how hard you bled, how much you tried or how much you cried, the only thing that could get you into this institution was money

- Let’s go, they are waiting for us – agent Meyer snapped me out of my thoughts, opening the big gate with no effort at all

I didn’t know what to expect, but for some reason I was feeling pretty excited for the day that awaited me