“Wait, what?”
“Yeah, we had to fight, and if it beat me, I would have died. This all happened the day after your fight with Kaci and Tristen. I’d been training with Mr. Ferris for months to prepare me for it, but after seeing you fight, I begged him to let me fight it earlier than what he’d planned. I was determined to come out on top, and I did. Mr. Ferris’s training increased my energy levels, and when I beat my inner demon, the mental block I had came down. It opened up a new dimension of power for me. Just existing in that new dimension he created stressed my energy, but my body got used to it. We also sparred and meditated in this realm every morning, so it all helped. I even adopted his fighting style...the kite style...a highly evasive combat style used to create openings. He developed it through the use of his second ability, which is a form of enhanced perception. His brain can work so fast that everything moves in slow-mo... So, yeah, that’s how, but it’s over now. Sorry I was so distant. I was going through a lot... I was afraid, and a lot of things were uncertain.”
“Just so you know, you’re trash, but I’m glad that you’re okay, for real this time,” she says to me after regaining her constitution. “And don’t pull anything like that ever again, okay? I’m serious.”
“I won’t...I promise. Are we good?”
“...I need someone to use as a target for practice today.” She sniffs. “Are you free?”
“Yeah, that’s perfect actually. It’ll help me get better at evasion.”
“Right, your kite style or whatever,” she says while making air quotes.
“He’s the real deal.”
“Cool, so it won’t be a problem if I sneak in a couple of kill-shots during training then, right?”
“Do what you must.” I sigh.
Given the context, I’m only seventy-five percent sure that she’s kidding. The other twenty-five, well, yeah... I hope Mr. Ferris taught me well.
“Then yeah, to answer your question, we’re cool again,” she responds. “And don’t worry, I won’t actually try to kill you. I’d get in trouble, but I can’t promise that you won’t get hurt.”
“Great...sounds like a blast.”
After I broke the news to Summer, we headed off to class. Summer seemed to be doing okay throughout the day, but I felt like an idiot for making her cry. In that moment, I could tell that I truly hurt her by betraying her trust, and it made sense. She’d stuck by my side through worse things, and still, for some reason I’d thought the right thing to do was to keep it hidden from her. When I was fighting my fears, it was her voice that kept me going when I was about to give up. I know it was all in my head, but that meant something.
I could have heard anyone else’s voice, but I heard hers.
No matter how many times I apologized, she brushed it off and said that she was okay, but I knew that I still had to maintain my end of the bargain—being her target during target practice.
Chapter 14
“So, this kite style of yours...it’s supposed to be crazy good, right?” Summer asks, her hand resting on her hip as she studies me. “I’ve been doing some thinking... I noticed your footwork changed when you fought against Tristen...and is that why you’ve been running a bunch? Also, if I attacked you now, would you be able to dodge it or something?” She walks closer to me while she moves her hand to her chin and leans in. “Hm...”
“Wh—?” Summer tries to punch me in the shoulder, and I deflect her hand.
“What was that for?” She then extends her hand and blasts me in the chest with an icicle. “Ow!”
“Just testing your reflexes.” She shoots another one and it connects with my suit. “And getting my revenge.”
“Hey, cut it out!”
“I thought you were supposed to be good at dodging,” she says flatly. “What happened?”
“It’s not automatic... I have to concentrate...and I’m still learning.” I huff. “Are we going to do this or not?”
“Yeah, one sec...back up a bit, ’kay?”
“...Sure.”
“All right, that’s enough.” After I put some distance between us, Summer streaks her hand to my left and then my right, causing two jagged rows of frozen spires to erect from the ground. She then motions for me to move out of the way, and she connects the two sides with a third row of ice. “Whew. Okay. That’s your perimeter. You can’t go beyond the end of these spikes or behind the row boxing you in, got it?” I nod while I study the boundaries. “That’s about fifty feet’s worth of space for you to move around, and like, another twenty for you until you reach the edge of the perimeter. That good for you?”
“It should be, yeah.” I’ve seen her shoot before on a handful of occasions. Her ice comes fast, but with this amount of room, I should be able to avoid them without a problem. She said I could use my abilities too, so if push comes to shove, I can use them to get out of a pinch.
“Cool.” Summer walks backwards, her eyes towards the ground, measuring the distance between us. She abruptly stops and makes another streak of ice in the ground “I think this should be considered mid-range, even if it’s a little on the short side. Okay, yeah, perfect. Time to see how good that style of yours really is.” A devious smile tugs at her lips and the air around us begins to chill. I activate my cowl and do a quick set of hops to get my blood flowing. “Ready?”
“Bring it on...”
“Heh.” Summer whips her hand in front of her and slings a spire of ice my way. I twist my body, barely dodging it, but by the time I return my attention to her, there’s another spire racing towards me.
Crap! I swipe my hand in front of me, summoning a flame that obliterates her ice before it can pierce through. Just as my flame fades, two more sickles are well on their way to closing in. I dodge them both, and then she launches two more, faster this time. I project my flames out from my palm, stopping them before they even come close to touching me.
“Warmed up, yet?” Summer unleashes another barrage of ice, and I narrowly manage to evade it, even with the use of my abilities. “It’d be easier if you moved around more, ya know?”
“I remember how you setup Malik,” I muse. “Besides, you still haven’t hit me.” She does have a point though...I can use more of the space she’s given me, but using less space is better for training my reflexes and keeping my movements concise. One of the strengths of Mr. Ferris’s fighting style is that his movements are fluid and concise. There’s hardly any wasted movement, if any at all. On top of that, all this time I’d been training with him, it’s been strictly hand-to-hand combat. Mr. Ferris doesn’t have any projectiles, so I haven’t had the chance to train against ranged attacks.
“Suit yourself!” Summer hurls more of her ice, and I use a combination of Mr. Ferris’s movements and my flames to dodge what I can and neutralize the rest. She keeps them coming, progressively refining her technique to adapt to my movements while firing from different angles.
It doesn’t take her long to be completely calibrated to my movements.
Should I use Flux Form? No. It’ll take too much energy and the recovery period is too long. I can’t put myself out of commission over this. I’ve already used it enough with Mr. Ferris today. I can’t risk overdoing it.
Summer’s ice continues to assault me, and I feel my stamina further depleting with every evasive maneuver I pull. She can tell that I’m slowing down, so she’s been slowly ramping up the speed of her projectiles to mess with my rhythm. “Let’s see you dodge this!” Summer slides horizontally across the earth and launches another spire at me, complementing the others that are already mid-flight. I dodge the others, but judging by its speed, I know that I won’t be able to cover enough ground to get out of the way in time. I extend my hand, force out my energy in a wide, scattered burst of flame that explodes from my palm, blinding me from Summer’s movements on the other side. I fall to one knee, exhausted, yet unscathed.
“Okay, I need a breather,” I say waving a hand in the air. “Way too much cardio.” I sigh.
/>
“I was wondering how long it would take for you to wear out.” She laughs as she walks up to me and squats to meet me at eye-level. “That was kind of epic though...that last attack you pulled... Kudos.” Summer extends her hand to hoist me up, and I grab it.
“Thanks,” I say after standing to my feet, still clearly out of breath. “So, what do you think about the kite style?”
“It’s all right, I guess.” She shrugs.
“All right? You didn’t hit me!”
“You were slippery, yeah, but I have to see it in battle.”
“Fair enough... Mr. Ferris told me that in time, I’ll make it my own, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a good as him.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll make your own way. I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah—OW! Seriously?” I ask while rubbing my shoulder. “Why’d you hit me? I thought we were done.”
“How many times do I have to remind you to never let your guard down? No excuses, Cross.” Her eyes hit me just right with the lighting from the sun. They’re perfect. “Those upperclassmen will be playing for keeps, so, so should we—what? What are you staring at?”
“Nothing. You’re right. We need to give it everything we’ve got.”
****
I open the door to my dorm, dragging my feet through our common area as I walk to my room. “Hey, man, what’s up?” It’d been a long day. Training, classes, more training, dinner, studying, and holding everything together had been draining. The effects of using Flux Form repeatedly had really begun to take its toll on me, and I was ready for the day to be over. It takes me a second to notice, but our dorm isn’t being drowned out with explosions, and Tyler’s not gaming at all. After dinner is usually his prime time to game with his buddies online. “You good?” I lean back and poke my head into the opening of his room. He’s on his bed reading from a textbook.
“Yeah, man, just kicking it into overdrive. I’ve got some big tests coming up.”
Tests? Tyler’s a sophomore, and if Mr. Hoover sent out his emails to us, that means that the program is officially underway. Is he on the chopping block? I know he games a lot, but that doesn’t mean—and I can’t ask him either because of the confidentiality clause. I mean, he’s my roommate. If he is one of the five, does that mean that I’m going to have to face him?
“Same...the grind doesn’t stop ever, does it?” I thought with him being as relaxed as he was meant that classes got easier the more you progressed, that the workload, at least once you moved into your focus, was based more on your performance and not on written tests. I never really asked him about his coursework. I never had a reason to...but now...now...I’m not so sure.
“Nope. We had a nice little break when classes were canceled, but now everything’s come back into full swing and then some. It kinda sucks.”
“Tell me about it. Ever since I recovered, I’ve been working my butt off. Ugh. Actually, before that. I was still healing and studying up so I wouldn’t get left behind.”
“Such a tragedy.”
“I know, right?”
“Sometimes I wonder why I even volunteered to do this. Blah.” Tyler tosses his book against the wall closest to his desk, and it falls down, spine-up.
“You going to remember what page you were on?” I ask with a raised brow. He scoffs and hops down from his bed.
“I’m over it. That book’s not going anywhere, and it’s getting late. I’m going to hit the gym for a bit to get a quick workout in and get something to eat before the cafeteria closes.”
“All right, man, good luck,” I say as he marches past me.
“Yeah.” He shuts the door...hard...and I stand in the common area of our dorm, frozen by my thoughts.
Tyler’s clearly stressing about his grades, but am I reading too much into it? If he were in danger of failing, he’d tell me...right? Is there really a chance that I’m going to have to face him, and if I do, should I let him win?
Would that even be the right thing to do?
Chapter 15
Before I know it, time flies by and life at the academy goes on. The program that Mr. Hoover and the other teachers had setup was underway officially, and I’d continued to train with Mr. Ferris day in and day out in hopes of mastering my flux form. It took some time, but I’d gotten used to using my abilities again in the real world, and developed a better scope on what I could do. I’d made strides in my growth from training with Mr. Ferris. Since my powers had returned, I’d been able to make even more progress from training with my peers during ABT and learning what Mr. Hoover and Ms. Cosgrove set out to teach for the day.
On occasion, I’d train with Summer or the other students, but the intensity of my workouts with Mr. Ferris prevented me from really going as hard as I could. I did enough to maintain my grades, but when it came to having free time in class, I was already more exhausted than most. The same went for all five of us, the ones who were recruited for the program. We all trained hard outside of class, and it showed... We were pulling away from our classmates, so we stuck to ourselves for the most part because we shared a common goal and understood what each of us was going through.
When I trained with Summer, we focused on evasion and distanced fighting. Doing so allowed me to practice against ranged opponents while also finding ways to add versatility to my arsenal. I’d grown strong enough to fire projectiles, but I lacked experience in using them. I also couldn’t use too many without tiring myself out, but I realized that their destructive capabilities and flexibility made up for the cost.
I don’t know too much about how she trained on her own time, but when she wasn’t with me or practicing by herself during class, I caught her a few times giving Malik some pointers. He really made a good first impression with her by fighting her on his first day of class. Summer definitely saw his talent that day, we all did, and she wanted to make sure that he continued to do well while transitioning across curriculums.
As for Kaci and Tristen, he was fine with her training with him, so they continued to pair-up during class. Admittedly, they’ve always been a strong team. They complemented each other well, even back when we first started our combat exercises.
Training wise, I never really got a chance to interact with Clarissa that much, but that was because she had her own agenda for prepping for the program. At first, she didn’t want to participate, but after a day or so, she came around. She seemed to be fine, and Summer and I made sure to check up on her every now and again, just in case.
I tried my best to check up on Tyler too, but it was difficult to get a read on him. He was gaming less and focusing on his studies, and due to the nature of the program, I couldn’t ask him if he was one of the five candidates. He never brought it up, but I could tell something was clawing at him, pushing him to do more. I talked to Mr. Ferris about it, and he reminded me that I should respect him as a classmate, regardless of his standing, and not pull any punches in the unlikely event that we’re paired up against one another...that I had goals to reach too, just like him, and not putting my heart into it would be a disservice to everyone involved in the process. I kept his words in mind and used them to further my training.
I did have goals I needed to reach, and win or lose, no matter the opponent, this program was my chance to run towards them.
“It’s kind of wild being on the campus like this, don’t you think?” Summer asks as we walk towards the training facility. “It’s like a ghost town. Even most of the professional staff took the day off.”
“Less students means less work.” I shrug. “Only freshmen and those five we have to face are on campus today. The other students won’t be back until after dinner. It’s weird not having everyone around, but I don’t mind the shorter lines at the cafeteria at all. I’m convinced that one of the worst things ever at this school is getting caught in the pasta line and wondering if you have enough time to eat before your next class.”
“Yeah...tragic.” Her voice trails off in the wind. I steal a g
lance as we walk and notice her mind wander while taking in the scenery at Crown. “I wonder how the other students are feeling.”
“Probably nervous. Like you said, it’s a ghost town...plus those five students have been getting drilled all day with exams.” My fist tightens inside of my pockets after an image of Tyler flashes through my mind. As the trip got closer, he’d talk about it, just like how I’m assuming the other students did, but he still kept up the regimen he’d begun. I couldn’t tell if he was throwing me off or genuinely excited. It didn’t help that he was gone when I woke up for class. It’s not like I was going to ask him anyway. Technically, I couldn’t, and even if I could, him knowing that I was going to be either against him or one of the freshmen in the challenging group could throw off his game. I still have my doubts that Crown would orchestrate something like that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. They want to bring out the best in us, and if Tyler really is slacking, seeing me as a rising star and him falling behind could push him to do more... The fact that we’re all freshmen most likely hasn’t been disclosed, but Tyler would know, and that could cause a mix of emotions for the students we face.
“Meh, we’ll see soon enough.” Summer sighs. “I think I’ve done more training in the past few months than I did in my entire life. Between Von and this, if I fought a clone of myself from two months ago, I’d wipe the floor with her.”
“Same...” I don’t say anything, but I know that the other students probably feel the same way. There’s more at stake for them than there is for us. With their careers on the line, there’s no reason for them not to give it everything they’ve got.
“Took you guys long enough,” Tristen calls out from the pillar he’s leaning against. He scoffs and pushes his body off it with his leg. “Let’s get going.”
The Prodigy Page 15