Second Adventure (AWC Sequel)

Memory Tests

"Good morning, trainees," the new agent greeted as soon as everyone came in the training room, seated on the benches around and some were on the floor, looking up at the different agent who was now going to teach them which seemed new things.

The surrounding was dark, darker than usual at least, only the outer lights were on and were just enough to see each other. The blackout curtains were also drawn, that no one could really see the outside even a single stray of light. I

For the past whole month of having the same guy to train them about strength, agility, endurance, and all about physical activity, this was the first time that they would change the agent that would teach them, and they knew from there that they were now done with physical activities.

With the whole month of training, from day to night, no matter how exhausted they always were day after day because of how heavy the training was becoming as the day passed by. The agents had a lot on their sleeves, there were times that they would make them run with weight bands on their hands and feet, sometimes they would be in the gym and doing all the exercises, lifting the weights, filling drums with water from end to end, and other things related to enforcing muscles. And most of the time, they were under the sun, sweating while squatting, the last person to endure the pain would be given two days exemption from the training.

It was George who won, no matter how weak he looked when it comes to endurance, he was on top. No matter how his legs shook and his arms numbed, clothes drenched in sweat, he never gave up, he stayed under the sun until everyone gave up, and for the record, he was there for two hours. The two days rest given to him was still enough though, he was well taken care of, delivered with food every once in a while, and all his requests were given. His body ached a lot, but it wasn't something he wasn't used to experiencing before.

Within that month, they learned a lot, they knew to themselves that they improved. Their strength had been boosted, they learned how to play defense and offense though not professionally yet, but they would get there, after all, they would be training for a year, and the evaluation would happen after that which would determine if they were already fit to be under the care of the top agents enough to learn more from them.

Of course, within those times, there really were trainees who stood out, and they were of course the five who were just competing by themselves but were actually friends. Not that close friends though, but they were interacting, especially if they were doing good with every task given to them in training.

"Today, we will test your muscle memory," the agent continued with her explanation, hands on her waist as she looked at all of them.

"She looked strict, I'm scared," Hera uttered to the two girls beside her, but when the agent's eyes darted at her, she closed her mouth and remained quiet because of that.

"You're pretty but you're annoyingly talkative," Andrea whispered to her, rolling her eyes upon witnessing how the agent glared at her because of it.

"And? Is being talkative a negative character now?" she challenged, raising her brow at her, "It's not like I'm saying useless things right now-"

"You are sort of interrupting me with your lesson, Miss Hera Grace Hilton," the agent finally chided her, had been getting disrupted by her voice among the silent agent. "If you can save that for later, you'll be saying useful things instead of useless ones right now."

"I apologize," Hera shyly said, bowing her head. She heard the two on her side stifle their laughs so she nudged them both slightly.

"As I was saying, we are going to test your memory, as you can see, the surrounding is dark, but we will project through the projector that will show eight cards at first until it comes up to thirty-six cards. All cards had correspondent figures, and you have to spot all the pairs to pass the test. We'll go first with eight, then twelve, eighteen, twenty-six, thirty, then thirty-six. The person who would get all the correct pairs would be granted a request of what he or she wanted."

Pretty good offer to win. Andrea thought, taking off her glasses to wipe their lens on her clothes first before taking them back in. She crossed her legs, having no plan on doing it first as she planned on doing what she always did—observe.

"Andrea would nail it," Hera uttered, tying her long, brown hair into a low ponytail but left a few strands on her hair for a little addition to her style and beauty which really made her a little more beautiful contrasting their haggard look.

They believe there was no time a goddess would look awful.

"What's your secret, Andrea? I kind of want to pass this," the girl on the side asked Andrea, overhearing Hera's remark of her.

Andrea just shrugged, didn't actually consider herself as smart but only had enough knowledge because of the books she had read and knowledgeable stuff she had watched.

"I think you just have to have keen eyes," she answered with a shrug.

The task was according to the alphabetical order of their surnames. The letter A's were called one by one, they would have to sit in the middle of the room facing the wall, then when they were ready, the cards would be shown to them. The other trainees, however, were watching from above, the agents did not bother on blindfolding their eyes because the cards would be shuffled anyway, they didn't know where the cards were.

"Lance Blue."

Lance went next, sitting on the chair,. The cards shuffled for multiple times, and it was obvious that the lad was panicked because of how he shook his head and followed the shuffle until it stopped. He got until eighteen cards shuffle, he got it wrong at around twenty-six.

"Mikael Brit."

Mikael was nothing different, though a little calmer than Lance and the other previous trainees, but he also failed to get through the end. As the cards went a lot, his mind had been becoming confused and that was when his panicked went through him and he wasn't able to follow the changing of cards. He only got the same until Lance's—twenty-six.

The list continued until it was George Ford's turn. Andrea knew he was good at strength tests, but she was sure this was his weakness because of how he frowned and nervously sat on the chair in the middle. The shuffling of the cards started, and George just stared at it.

"U-uh... the heart is at the end, and the other is at the other end," he said. He was obviously out of his self, and the agents and even the other trainees who heard that were confused.

Andrea facepalmed, the boys who he was friends with stifled their laughter. He really looked like a fool with what he said, and to say that it was only the first shuffle and he only needed to point out four pairs was a little amusing and frustrating to watch.

"Which end, mister Ford? Please be a little specific," the agent asked, confused by his answer.

George frowned, "The one on the left, Miss,"

The agent also frowned, "The upper or the lower, Mister Ford?"

"The...lower."

The lower card on the left turned out to be the heart card, and so he got the first pair. To say that he was guessing must have been the most accurate term, he really was guessing, and to say that he was getting it all right was fascinating enough to watch. He did it until the eighteen, unfortunately, he failed there as well.

"Hera Grace Hilton."

"You can do it," Andrea encouraged, smacking her back and pushed her forward which made her straight stepped down the stairs.

Like the others, she was also having a hard time looking at every card because of how many cards laid before her. Even with how her eyes were squinted to see every single piece, it seemed that the strategy didn't work well as she expected, it was even awful since what she only got was a pain in her eyes instead of the complete answers. She only got until twenty-six then she went out of the chair with a huge pout.

The cards were really quite tricky. No one yet had been getting it all correctly, not even reaching the thirty cards.

"Elleira Dream Madrid."

Leira stood up and jumped onto the steps, skipping two and three to reach the chair faster. She then sat on the chair with slight poise, crossing her arms and legs. For a woman who lived in the streets, she was one with a lot of confidence in her.

But even though with that, she still failed. She was halfway through the thirty cards but she stopped in the middle, conflicted between choosing the card in the middle or would choose the card at the south, she chose the former, and so the end of her task. The card was at the north.

"I would fail it, either way, I shouldn't have put much thinking to it," she muttered to herself, a little sulkily while walking back to where Hera

was who was stifling her chuckle at her failed attempt to try, but nevertheless, she was still the first one to get to the thirty cards.

The calling of names continued, and Andrea waited patiently, normally, like the man on the other side, she would doze off as well because of how boring waiting was. However, she wasn't just simply waiting, she was observing keenly, she was guessing with the trainees herself, and she was also adapting to the strategies they were using like choosing those she was sure of and leaving those she wasn't. Most of the time as well that she could even perfect the cards of the trainees and would know immediately even before the cards were turned that their answers were wrong or right.

She was like having this photographic memory, but it's just her eyes that were fast enough to see everything and her brain accepting and retaining almost all of them. She already had that ability when she was a kid, since her foster parents adopted her they would always give her things to read, make her watch knowledgeable cartoons, and right after, their songs would be stuck in her mind that even the whole lyrics were accurately articulated.

But nevertheless, she was often called a freak before because of her smartness, the very reason why she dropped out. That in recitation, she could even recite every word. It scared the teachers and the students, and that led her to be aloof then eventually lost interest in the school, not her level, and just studied on her own.

"Andrea Waltz."