P.E.N.A - Agents of S.L.E.A.T Chapter 1: Welcome to S.L.E.A.T

Chapter 1: Welcome to S.L.E.A.T “Alright, kids, listen up!” A large man stood before several lines of young men and women in a courtyard, his face stern and eyes sharp. He was dressed in business casual with brown khakis along with a white shirt and black tie, which was covered by a tan vest.

The young adults before him all wore matching white jackets with the initials P.E.N.A in large blue letters on the back. They stood up straight, hands to their side.

“My name is Jean Locke, and I’m the commissioner of S.L.E.A.T! There are four more days until the school year begins! Your work with Student Law Enforcement Association starts on that day! You’ll be assigned partners for your work who you’ll be with during your time in P.E.N.A. You’ll begin interacting today so work will go smoothly once it begins later this week. After we’re done, you’ll be given a tour of the Office, and learn where you’ll be stationed.”

P.E.N.A was the initials for the Pergrande Eastern National Academy. It was one of four institutions in Ishgar that exists solely to train young men and women to join either Magic Guilds or the military. There were three other institutes like it: The Iceberg Northern National Academy, the Desierto Southern National Academy and the Fiore Western National Academy. Being schools that focus on both magical and conventional combat they are called International Institutions of Magic and Weaponry, often shortened to I.I.M.W schools.

S.L.E.A.T was the name given to a program offered by each school which stood for Student Law Enforcement Association. The ‘T’ was there solely to make it an actual word rather than “S.L.E.A”. These programs exist to appeal to military recruiters and guilds, since the students would have had experience in the field thanks to their work.

Jean held up a clipboard and began calling out names, two at a time. Two of the new students would walk out of the crowd and be handed an armband by a senior officer before entering the large office building they all stood before. Having gotten to the bottom the page, he flipped it over.

“Troy Fallon and Crimson Nex, step forward!”

First, a tall young blonde man stepped forward. He had pointed ears and fairer skin than the others for he was an elf. Several other elves stood within the crowd as well. A young woman joined him with fiery red hair, tied in a ponytail.

“Welcome to S.L.E.A.T, you two.” Said Commissioner Locke. “You help is much appreciated.”

He motioned to the student behind him. They stepped forward, holding a pillow which had blue and white armbands stacked on top of it. They each took one of them. On the armbands was the emblem of P.E.N.A. The two shared a glance, and a small smile crossed Crimson’s face; however, Troy’s face was void of any emotion. The two then entered the building.

“Jacob Forrester,” Called Locke as he reached the middle of the page. “And Mist Williams!”

A young woman with short blonde hair stepped forward. Like Troy, she had pointed ears and fair skin. Her ears were slightly shorter than his, though. Her partner joined her shortly, a young man with light brown hair. Like Troy and Crimson, he thanked them for their help and presented them their armbands.

He looked towards the bottom of the page, having finished calling the pairs save for one. “Toma Nakami and Ali Williams!” A young man with midnight black hair and a girl his age with long blonde hair stepped forward. “We’re done with that. Once we’re done with the tour, you’ll be free for the day.”

“This is awesome!” Ali threw her arms in the air as she was led through the S.L.E.A.T building along with the few new recruits that remained. Her sparkling eyes darted all around. Toma showed similar signs of excitement as well.

“I’ve wanted to walk through this building for so long!” He exclaimed. “I’m gonna love this!”

Up in the front, behind Locke were Troy and Crimson. In between the two pairs were Jacob and Mist. Troy groaned as he glanced back at the two.

“I don’t see why they’re so excited about this. This isn’t going to be easy work.” He whispered to himself.

“Let them enjoy themselves.” Said Crimson. “They’ll learn the true manner of this soon, I’m sure.” There was a noble air to her voice.

Troy scowled at her. “I never asked you.”

“Not the cooperative type, eh?” Crimson sighed and turned away from him. “And I have to spend four years with you…”

“Bathrooms and storage, it looks like.” Announced Mist. “Our workplace should be just ahead.”

Locke stopped in front of a door near the end of the hall and opened it. Several work desks with computers were placed in the room separated by partitions, and a mini fridge rested right next to the door. He stepped inside, followed by the six remaining recruits.

“You’ll all be working here. Choose your desks, and relax. You have to be out by six, but the upperclassmen will remind you.” He walked out of the room and closed the door.

Ali darted from her current position behind the other and sat herself at the desk by the back of the room. Toma hurried over with her and took the desk adjacent to hers. Troy sat in the middle row of desk and Crimson in the back. Mist took the seat next to Crimson, and Jacob took the last desk next to Troy.

Jacob leaned back in his chair, pushing it slightly off of the ground with his foot. “Here we are, officers of S.L.E.A.T.” He looked up at the armband, which he still held. “I’m pretty confident that I’ll be more suited for the field than paperwork.”

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch!” Called Toma, looking back. “We’ll have to wait until the aptitude tests on the first day. Think you’ll score high enough to get field work?”

When the I.I.M.W schools were first established Wizard Classes, which were originally used only for guilds, became much more widespread. Students are tested in their magical ability on the first day of each trimester, and scaled from D-Class to S-Class. Very rarely do students attain S-Class. Lower class students in S.L.E.A.T were often kept in the office to do paperwork to avoid being injured out in the field. Schools such as P.E.N.A accept wizards and non-wizards, so the non-wizards go through an obstacle course to determine their skill level rather than use a spell.

Jacob chuckled to himself and stayed silent. Toma smiled as well and turned away. The three pairs sat in relative silence, save for the quiet chitchat of Toma and Ali.

The door opened and in walked a woman older than the six present. She had auburn hair and green eyes, wearing very casual clothes and the same jacket they all wore. When the door opened, all eyes turned towards her.

“Alright, you guys. It’s nearly six. Time to go.” They began leaving the room, except Crimson and Troy stayed behind. “Nice to finally see you here.”

“It’s nice to see you too, Opera. I won’t disappoint you once things get underway in a few days.”

“The last thing I would expect is for you to disappoint me. You better get moving, it’ll be dark soon.”

She looked back at Troy. “I have my partner to keep me safe, so there’s no rush.”

“We split up as soon as we’re out of the building.” He said as he walked past the two.

Crimson stomped and puffed her cheeks angrily. “What is up with him? Of all the people I get stuck with…!” She bid her friend farewell and followed after Troy.

Opera smiled warmly at the two as they went farther down the hall. “You guys will warm up to each other eventually.” She closed the door and locked it. “Happened to me to after all.”

In a large field behind the grandiose Pergrande Eastern National Academy, a man with messy blonde hair stood with a clipboard. Before him was a large group of students in blue gym shorts and white gym shirts. He marked wrote down the number that had appeared over the Magic Power Finder, a small blue orb encased in a floating device.

“Okay, next up, Toma Nakami!” Toma walked out of the group behind a white line that was 50 meters away from the MPF. “Okay just like all the others, go ahead and use your most powerful spell.”

“Roger!” Blue electricity flowed through Toma’s right hand and he smirked. “Let’s see just how strong my Flash Point is.” He held his hand towards the orb and a large beam of blue lightning shot from his hand, being absorbed by the MPF.

After a moment, the orb glowed and a number appeared above it: 8024. The man nodded contently and wrote down the number. “Jacob Forrester!” Toma went back to the crowd and Jacob took his place behind the line. “Give it all you’ve got.”

A red flamed engulfed his hand, until it changed color to blue. “Hellfire Dragon!”

He made as though he was going to punch, but the fire launched from his hand and took on the form of a dragon, colliding with the MPF. Like before, it absorbed all of the fire. It glowed and a new number appeared above it: 8349.

“Good, good.” Once again, the P.E teacher wrote it down. “Last but not least, Troy Fallon!”

Troy sauntered over to the line. “Go all out, right?” The teacher nodded. “Okay then. Ice Devil’s Will.”

Upon speaking those words, a light blue light enveloped the left half of Troy’s body. When it faded, that half of his body had become crystalline like ice and part of his hair had become light blue.

The teacher smiled. “A Devil Slayer? He’s sure to make S-Class then.”

Troy held up his left hand towards the sky. “Ice Devil: Thousand Dragon.”

A dragon of ice shot into the air, until it broke apart into two, and then into four. The dragons continued to multiply until they arched in the sky and crashed into MPF. The ice shattered, but the shards were absorbed by the device. The number that appeared this time was larger than any other the teacher had seen that day: 9328.

“We’re done here everyone! You can go ahead and get changed now. Just wait until the periods switch and then you can go on as usual!” The teacher lowered the clipboard and began whistling to himself as he left the students to themselves.

The day was at an end, and a bulletin board outside of the Student Council room was surrounded by students. The results of the aptitude test earlier were now posted. They were posted at several different locations across campus, and each one had a sizable crowd formed around it.

Crimson and Troy stood towards the back of the crowd outside of the Student Council Room. Troy’s name was easy to find, for it was at the top. He was one of only eight that were listed under S-Class. Further down towards the top of B-Class was Crimson.

The girl smirked at her partner, who had not warmed up to her at all during the days since they met. “I’ve got to admit, I’m impressed.”

“What else would you expect from a Slayer?” He coldly replied, keeping his eyes on the screen ahead.

“I didn’t know you were one. When I heard, I was waiting to see how high up you were. Fourth ranked S-Class. It’s a bit hard to believe that their were three others that were able to beat the score.” She looked up at the post once more. “You broke the minimum requirement by 800 points, and yet those three topped it.”

“That may be true, but barely. We should get going before we’re late.” He turned and left the crowd.

“Honestly!” He said, resting her head in her hand. “Just walks away like that!” She sighed. “What am I going to do with him?” She followed after him.

Troy opened the door to his office on the third floor of the S.L.E.A.T building. Crimson had stayed right by his side on their way there. When he opened it, he froze. Sitting at his desk was a woman. An elf, just like him. She was wearing a black business suit, a golden badge with P.N.S on her left breast. She was casually reading a magazine, and it appeared she didn’t notice the sound of the door opening.

“W-what?” Troy kept his voice hushed.

Crimson tapped his shoulder and pointed the window. There was another person present, a young man who couldn’t have been much older than the two of them. Unlike the woman he was dressed quite casually, in black exercise pants and a gray hoodie. The same badge was on the side of the hoodie. Red and white were hanging around his neck and a baseball cap was fit over his head. A small bit of dark blue hair was peeking out of the back.

Troy shook his head and entered the room. Crimson followed. As their began moving, the two visitors became aware of their present. The woman put the magazine aside and smiled at him.

“Why hello there.”

“Hello, Elly. What’re you doing here?”

She got off of the desk and walked up to Troy. She was quite a bit shorter than him, and looked up into his sapphire blue eyes with her own. She crossed her arms, but maintained the smile.

“I just wanted to wish my little brother a good first day of work is all.Is that really a problem?” She turned her attention to Crimson, who had stayed silent. “He’s not being too troublesome, is he?”

“Of course I’m not!” Troy injected. In the days they had known each other, Troy had rarely added any emotion to his voice. The hint of anger caught Crimson off guard. “Everything is perfectly fine here, Elly.”

She ignored him and got closer to the girl she had directed the question at. “There’s no need to worry about him. He might seem like a bit of a hardass now, but in a few weeks, he’ll be a real sweetheart.”

Troy sat at his desk, grumbling and resting his head in his hands. “Your job is pretty important, you know. Do you have time to waste here?”

“We got time.” The young man looked back at them. “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be here.”

“I never asked you, Dallas.”

Crimson cleared her throat. “Um… It would appear that you’re quite close to Troy. A relative, perhaps?”

“I’m his older sister. My name is Elly Mercury; it’s nice to meet you.””

“Dallas Mars. Nice to meet you.”

“Those badges. Are you with National Security?”

Dallas touched his right ear and turned from the group for a second. He appeared to be talking to someone via an earpiece. The call didn’t last long, and when it was over, he gave Troy a pat on the back. He announced that he and Elly were needed elsewhere. The two left, and Crimson took her place at her desk. Troy lowered his hands and leaned back in his chair.

“What’s the problem? I thinks it’s nice that your big sister came to visit you on your first day.”

Troy turned on the computer that was at his desk, ignoring Crimson. Following his example, she turned on her own computer. As she waited, she picked up the phone that was stationed at the desk. Next to it was a card with speed dial numbers. ‘1’ was assigned to the commissioner’s office. At the moment, the two were without any kind of work to do, so she decided to ask what she should do until assigned a job. The other four who were stationed with them filtered into the room shortly after. While without much work, the first day as S.L.E.A.T officers went flawlessly for the group of young adults, a good sign for things to come.