[Zharia Owens' House, Miami, Florida (April 30, 2023)]
"Well, I'd say that this has been a rather successful trip for you, hasn't it?" Zharia Owens asked Valerie as the two stood in the middle of the woman's fancy living room.
"It definitely has!" Valerie replied with a confident smile on her face
The tall blonde had just finished packing her things and was getting ready to finally leave. Her flight back home was scheduled to leave in only a few hours. But the elder 'lightning magic' user saw fit to have one last conversation with her newest project before she finally left to return home to Charlotte.
"Good, good." Zharia nodded her head. "I'll admit that I wasn't expecting much when you first came here. But you managed to meet my expectations."
"Glad to hear that I didn't disappoint!"
It was hard for Valerie not to feel good about herself after hearing that. Getting praise from one of your idols, even if it wasn't all that much, was practically worth its weight in gold. She had busted her butt over the last four weeks in order to impress the woman as much as possible. So she was glad to hear that all of her efforts weren't in vain.
"It's a shame that we couldn't get you to activate your berserker state, though. I was really looking forward to seeing what you could do with it. But…I guess that there's always next time."
"Next time?" Valerie slightly tilted her head.
Zharia let out a quick chuckle before quickly recomposing herself. "I'll be contacting your aunt sometime in the future to see if we can get you back down here. You have decent potential, McKenna. And I'd be foolish of me not to see what I can do with it."
To say that Valerie had suddenly become happy enough to leap over the moon itself would not be a total exaggeration. She had just gotten direct confirmation for something that she had been wanting to hear for weeks. The mere idea that the Zharia Owens herself was willing to take her on as one of her permanent students was enough to fill the tall blonde woman's chest with some close to total elation. It was exactly the kind of opportunity that she had been hoping for.
"I won't disappoint you, ma'am! I promise."
"See to it that you don't." Zharia said with a slight grin. "My time is very valuable to me. And I don't donate it to just anyone."
"I'll take that to heart."
"Geeze, Mom." Julian then said from his spot on the sofa. "Could you at least try to be a bit nicer? Blondie here is about to leave, after all."
"I don't know what you were expecting." Victor then added. "You know she's always been like this."
The two Owens siblings were sitting on the sofa right next to where Valerie and their mother were standing. They had been here for the better part of an hour already. And they were patiently waiting for the two women to hurry up and finish their conversation so that they could finally leave.
"Don't you two have anything else better to do?" The elder 'lightning magic' user scowled at her two sons. "Actually, now that I think about it, shouldn't you be at work with your father right now?"
Julian gave his mother a playful shrug before responding. "Dad told us to make sure that she got to the airport on time. So…we just came straight here instead of waiting back at the station."
"Plus, Julian's avoiding Mary-Anne today since his performance review is due." Victor echoed while looking at his phone.
"Whatever…" The woman quickly turned her attention back toward Valerie. "Anyways, I look forward to seeing you again, McKenna. I have a few things that I want to try out with you the next time you're down here."
"Oh, yeah, now I definitely can't wait to come back here!" Valerie clinched her fist and smiled. She couldn't wait for the next opportunity to come down and get some more training in. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too long before she got to come back down here again.
"Is there something wrong with this girl?" Julian looked to his brother.
"And now you see why Mom likes her so much." The youngest 'lightning magic' user of the group smiled. "She's just the kind of crazy that she loves having around."
Valerie quirked an eyebrow at the two brothers. "You do know I'm standing right here, right?"
"Yes, yes, we are very well aware." Julian smirked.
"Alright, alright, enough of the pointless chit-chat." Zharia then said to the three youngsters. "Hurry up and get out of here. McKenna's flight leaves in a few hours. And you both know how hectic the airport is this early in the morning.
Valrie quickly grabbed her bags and slung them over her shoulder before making her way to the door with Julian and Victor leading the way. However, right before she could walk out of the house, she turned around and gave her new mentor one final look.
"Thank you again for the training, Mrs. Owens. I promise to put everything you taught me to good use!" She said with as much confidence as she could muster.
"You better." Zharia told her. "And tell Jean-Jacques that I said hello. It's been a while since we've seen each other face-to-face."
"I'll be sure to do that!"
And just like that, Valerie and her two escorts were on their way to the airport. The young 'fire magic' user sure was going to miss this place. But as they say, there was no rest for the wicked. Now that she was officially done with her training, it was time for her to head back home and get to work on making a name for herself.
As the future leader of the DPA, she couldn't let herself get complacent just because she had officially gotten the stamp of approval from one of the best trainers in the business. Now, it was time for her to put everything that she learned to good use. And Valerie McKenna was sure as hell about to make sure that everyone knew what she was now capable of.
'I can't wait to see Aunt Zoe and Lionel again.' Valerie thought to herself as she hopped in the back seat of Julian's muscle car. 'And I definitely can't wait to get back to slaying cryptids again. I've been slacking a bit lately. And I need to get back to the grind if I want to beat last year's record.'