Chapter 13 - Team Training

They all sat in silence on the couches, Fise and Ann sitting together with Andrew opposite them. Ann was looking down, trying not to meet Andrew's eyes, while Fise looked at the table, going over what he saw. Ann seemed to twist her hand into the shape of a gun during that punch, or was it as it hit? Then that 'bullet' shot out. A bullet made of Creation Magic. Or, would Creation Magic bullet would be a better name, since the other can also mean a bullet made by Creation Magic? Andrew sat cross armed, looking at them and taking a few glances at the hole. He took in a breath before releasing it.

"Would you like to tell me why you shot a hole in the wall?" Asked Andrew.

Ann flinched.

"Well, uhh-"

"She was showing me what she could do." said Fise, "I asked her to."

"Yet she couldn't have just told you?"

"To be honest, I'm barely believing it right now."

"Fise, an aura power that can shoot something is not all that impressive."

"...It wasn't aura, it was Creation Magic." said Ann.

"What?"

"Let me show you." Ann leaned forwards and extended her hands towards Andrew. Andrew shot up from the couch and activated his aura.

"You aren't going to put another hole in the wall or me!" He said.

Suddenly, a room door opened and Seah walked out.

"Stop shouting."

Everyone looked at her.

"Hell-" Andrew started to say before Ann shot up from her position.

"She spoke!" she shouted.

"You spoke!" she said to Seah directly. Seah only looked at her. Ann stood up from the couch and jumped to Fise, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"She spoke! You heard that right?!" she shook him while pointing at Seah.

"I'm not going crazy, right?! She really did speak!"

"Yeah, she did!" some of Ann's excitement poured over to Fise. She let go and started waving her arms.

"For an hour! For an hour, was with her and she didn't say anything! Not when we entered, not when they left us, not when that guy swore at us not when-"

"Hello, my name is Andrew Pennelsky." Andrew shook hands with Seah. Fise saw Seah look at him. "Her name is Seah Manips. She doesn't speak much, I guess."

Seah nodded, waved a thanks, and went back into her room.

"-and lastly never said anything when a woman tripped over that broom that made the whole room laugh!" Finished Ann, taking deep breaths. She looked around and saw both of them stare and her, before seeing Seah was gone. She sighed.

They all sat down again and Andrew began speaking.

"Tell me, what is creation magic and what did you do?"

Ann explained it and after a small argument, she showed him the water trick she showed Fise before.

"So, you made a bullet and fired it with this magic?"

Ann held her hands up and leaned backwards more.

"Hell no! The amount of Creation Magic that'll take, I could never do it! No. I used a Creation Art, and that is like using technique to create a specific thing using said Creation magic."

"Uhh, what?" asked Fise.

"Its like when you learn martial arts instead of building up strength, it's efficient."

"What are the creations arts?"

"I just told you?"

"Not what Creation arts are, what are the creation arts, like is there a water attacking one or something like that?"

"Ohh, well there are loads! But they are split in 3 'classes'," she made air quotes, "There is Offense, Defense and Support. My one is the Gun Art and it's made to replicate guns. At my level, I need to go through the whole motion and hit an object, I'm basically at Level 1!"

"How long did it take to learn?" asked Fise, a little interested.

"Like a few months?"

"Woah,"

They sat in silence for a bit before Andrew began again.

"We have 50 minutes left until training."

"Damn, time flies." responded Ann.

"We should introduce our powers, since we are on the topic, tell us about yours."

"Like what?"

"The range, how much you can do it, any limitations et cetera."

"Well uh, the range depends how much power I put into it and how sturdy the thing I hit is. That's also my big limitation: I need to hit something. The furthest I got it, however, was around 100 metres. Also, the thinner the thing I hit is, the better, since my bullet won't have to go through it. Also I can only generate so much Creation Magic."

"Can we just call it mana?" Asked Fise. Ann laughed and pointed at him.

"Yes! Thats what I call it in my head as well! I can only make and hold so much mana."

"How much?" asked Andrew

"What do you want me to say? 10 litres? 155 cubic inches? I dont know how to measure it!"

"Then how many full powered shots can you do?"

"2."

"Not a lot then."

Ann waved at the wall.

"Excuse me, but I think you underestimate a full powered shot here! Look at what a weak one did!"

"A small hole in a weak material. Maybe centimetre or 2 deep."

"You were just freaking out about it like a minute ago!"

"Ok, then how many normal shots can you do then?" Andrew asked.

Before Ann could say anything, Andrew added:

"If you were to hit a piece of thin wood?"

Ann stopped and though about it.

"Hmm... maybe 20? 25?"

"How much damage can they do?"

"What, you wanna know how many sparks of Creation Magic happen as well? Maybe how long my arm is? I don't know! I can kill a person if they're in range!"

Before Andrew could speak Ann added:

"And the range of that would be 20 meters, before you ask."

"Can you recharge mana?" Asked Fise.

"Of course, I continually do it until I get tired. It'll be easier to talk about it if I explained it to you. We make mana by opening our gate, the one that leads to the Creation plane thingy, who-cares-ma-bob, and its like continually using a muscle, so it gets tired. For me, its around 2 minutes to use it without straining, which, before you ask, leads me to stay in bed for a day, but 3 minutes for full rest. If I don't wait for it to rest, that timer will increase and increase more and more. Then it'll strain or break and I'm out for a day or week. We talked about mine enough, now," she leaned forwards and looked Andrew in the eyes."Your turn. Introduce yourself as well, please."

Andrew stood up straighter and took in a breath.

"My name is Andrew Pennelsky, 14 years old. My ability is to create black flames from my movement that turn other auras to ash, figuratively, and the things surrounded by said auras to ash, literally. Fise, pick up the bottle for an example."

Fise stood up and picked up the bottle off the floor, surrounded it in his aura and threw it over the coffee table. Andrew flicked his hand and a small fireball shot out, surprising Ann, before touching the aura and devouring it. The bottle was gone before it touched the table.

"Now, that burned easy, don't expect that from actual aura users since their aura replenishes itself and fights back. I can shape this fire but the more I use the more I need to move and that wastes my stamina." Andrew finished.

Ann spoke, "Woah, that's not overpowered at all, to be able to eat the enemy's power, no~." she said sarcastically. She then turned to Fise. "And you, little one?"

Fise was ready for this. He had came up with a false power to deceive people. As much as he wanted to trust Ann and Seah, and as much as he did trust Andrew, it was better for him to not tell them his actual one. It was a stupid thought, a weird feeling he had that he couldn't tell people about it. He remembered a manhole smashing back down. So he came up with a lie, one he though matched his true ability perfectly, and as long as he didn't change something during stopped time, people will believe him.

Fise tapped Ann on the shoulder from behind the couch.

"I can teleport."

Ann blinked. She was looking at him across the room, and he suddenly appeared behind her. She just saw him dissappear, no cool looking effects or sounds. She felt a shiver go down her spine as Fise tapped her shoulder. She turned to look at him.

"Woah. So what is its limitations and that?"

Fise had thought about this too, of course he did. At the start, he could only move 2 meters in a quarter of a second if he went full speed, but it would fit in with his teleportation since he'll look like he lunged forwards for no reason and teleported, a way people might figure out his ability. So, to make up a range, he halved that and scaled it up every quarter second up to a full one.

"4 meters is the current range, though it can be increased, and I can only teleport where I would be able to walk or go normally; I cannot teleport in midair." He made that one up since he'll look different from how he started if he did go in midair, there was no way he could return to how he was before while floating.

"Also, and this is the biggest limitation," he held up a finger, "I can only teleport once every 10 seconds. I can teleport objects within 4 meters, but then I cannot teleport myself very far." Fise accounted for how much he had to move and go back, he could move much after moving something and going back, and if he were to move something and then act like he teleported there, it would look suspicious, so he could only do it while he could cover it up, like when he was holding an object. He then remembered something. The ghost. When he stopped time, there was a ghost, an outline of himself left where he was standing when time stopped. Could he get back into the same position by using it instead of guessing? It would be like colouring within the lines.

"Woah." Exclaimed Ann. "Could you, like, teleport someone's heart?"

"I can't get there normally, now can I?"

"You just told me you punched a hold through someone a few minutes ago."

"But that'll be me doing something other than getting there."

"I guess so. Damn, and here i thought you also had an overpowered ability as well."

Fise felt a small tinge of frustration. While she wasn't seeing the full potential, she was right. His ability wasn't overpowered, or even strong. Not yet. He needed to get stronger. He'll do that in team training, hopefully. Team training. Team.

"Shouldn't Seah be here too?"

They both looked at him an blinked. Ann slapped her forehead and Andrew looked like he might do it as well. "I'll get her." said Ann as she stood and went to Seah's door. She knocked on it. "Hey, we are sharing our abilities now, sorry we didn't call you-" the door opened and Seah put a hand out. Ann stopped speaking. "I heard you."

"Heard me tell you to come or our powers?" asked Ann, trying not to yell "She spoke!" again.

Seah lifted up 2 fingers. 'Second one' they seemed to say.

"Well, its your turn now," said Andrew.

Seah nodded and walked past Ann, reaching into her pocket.

"Wait."

Everyone turned to look at Fise.

"I already knew Andrew's ability, and Ann's is special, but let me guess yours." Andrew looked on with no expression, same as Seah while Ann looked at him confused.

"When we were upstairs i remember there being a vase on the table, an empty one. But as we were leaving and I looked again, suddenly there was a flower in there."

"You saying she grew it?" said Ann. Fise ignored her.

"Before that you seemed to be playing with something, a blade, yet I never saw you pocket it or put it somewhere, it was gone, and the flower appeared. I think I figured it out, I think I did. You can turn things into metal, and shape them too am I right? However it isn't everything, since you'll use something else to made a blade with, something easier to aquire, but why a flower? You don't seem like the type to care much about style. You can make flowers into metal right? Or plants as a whole? Maybe even all living things?"

Everyone stared at Fise in silence. Seah nodded, then lifted 2 fingers up. Fise smiled and threw his fist in the air. "Lets go~!" He exclaimed.

Seah reached into her pocket and brought out a flower. An aura appeared around her, scarlet in colour. The flower bent and darkened, turning to metal. It bent and wiggled a bit before stopping. In Seah's hand lay a scalpel. The metal began to creak and suddenly it gained colour and turned back into a flower, before it again began to change to silver this time, and bent and split in the shape of a fork, before, again, it transformed back into a flower. She then went back into her room for a bit before exiting with no flower. She went at the end of the coffee table and pointed at Andrew.

"Aura punch." she said, then held her hand next to her face, palm open, she then pointed at it. Andrew complied and fired an aura punch. It flew and smacked against it. Seah wasn't damaged, tough she took a step back. Her palm was grey as it turned to metal, blocking the punch. Fise and Ann were impressed, while Andrew didn't seem surprised. Then, the grey, metallic area, instead of turning back to normal, moved upwards towards her fingers. It split and then got to the tips. Her fingers merged together and created a tip of a blade. She then brought out a small but thick book that read "33 Incip Landmarks" and threw it in the air. Her hand blurred and the book had a hole in it before it was ripped in half. It fell to the floor. Seah then took out a plastic bottle and raised her hand again. Her fingers were individual again and the metallic area moved to the side of her hand and turned it into a sharp blade. She threw the bottle delivereing a slice. There wasn't a sound as the plastic was cut in 2 and fell to the floor. The metallic area then disappeared as Seah picked up the rubbish she made and put it into her pockets, before pointing to Fise, and then tapping her wrist as if she was tapping a watch. Fise felt a chill as he thought she saw through his lie before realising she probably wanted the time. He closed his eyes and approximated the time that has passed before he answered her.

"40 minutes left."

She nodded and walked back into her room, closing the door behind her.

The rest decided to look at their rooms. Andrew got the one at the far side on the left opposite Seah's while Fise got the one closer to the door on the left, opposite Ann's. It had a bed to the right and a desk at the foot of that, probably used to navigate their Interfaces, which he didn't have anymore, and a wardrobe next to his bed. In front of it, he saw something that made him almost exclaim. His backpack was next to it. He walked up to it and opened it, checking its contents. All of it was there including the gun he had hid within the seams. Fise looked around a bit more before leaving. He saw Ann was already waiting on the couch and sat opposite her. They began to talk and Ann asked for Fise to tell her more about how they got to Incip. He told her about the training and how Andrew was attacked, then how Fise fought the lady, then how they defeated her. Ann flinched and recoiled when she heard how the lady died.

Andrew exited his room and added some details as well. Ann seemed impressed by Andrew's ability and how versatile it could be. Fise continued onto the next day, about how many stars there were in the sky, she seemed to be confused as to why he was impressed by the stars, so he talked about the orphanage more. 40 minutes passed quickly. Ann knew a rough story of what happened before and after they got to Incip, and had rough knowledge on the fights. As they were talking about how they needed to train in the wild there was a knock on the door. Andrew told them they can come in and someone walked in. He was tall and wore a white uniform. He was holding 2 pairs of clothes in both his hands, his hair and eyes were a deep brown and he had a small amount of stubble. Everyone sat up and he handed Fise and Andrew the clothes. It was the blazer and emblem. Fise changed into it immediately before looking at the emblem. It seemed more of a badge and he had no idea how to put on a badge. Andrew took a bit but he put it on and Fise asked how to do it. Ann answered him.

"Push it in and slide it out, yeah like that, then grab a bit of your blazer and stab it through, yeah there we go! Now slide it back in. There we go!"

Fise was a little embarrassed about it but nobody seems to mind or care. Seah had exited her room and was waiting. The man then took out 4 straps of blue cloth he told them to wrap around their upper left arms, which they did. He then told them to follow him and they left.

He took them out on the corridor and up the stairs into the main room which Fise decided to call the hub, and left through one of the doors. It was a long hallway and there were people walking around, looking at them. They saw their blue bands and just kept walking. Fise was thinking as he always did to pass the time, Ann kept asking questions along with Andrew, while Seah just stayed silent as always. Were these people his friends? Yes, he answered himself immediately. They are. There was no more thinking about it, no more doubts or concerns. Fise thought that with full confidence. They never tried to get information out of him, or use him, or even ignore him. Eventough he just met Ann and Seah, he thought of them as his friends. But did they think of him as a friend? He looked around. They were alone. Ann, Andrew and the man were 5 meters in front of him, with Seah trailing behind him. Fise isn't the type to just wait and see, and he doesn't care much about getting embarrassed. He decided to ask. He slowed down a bit and Seah caught up with him. He looked up at her, since she was 2 heads taller than him and asked.

"Are we friends?"

Seah looked at him with an almost bewildered expression, which barely looked like one, and responded:

"Why?"

Fise guessed she asked why he asked and said, "Because, I want to know. In my mind," he turned to look forwards at Ann and Andrew again.

"You are my friends; you never seemed to act like anything but that. And since we will be teammates, I want to know." He closed his eyes.

"Are we friends?"

"Yes." responded Seah immediately, nodding.

Fise felt relieved, or as if a weight he didn't know was there was lifted.

"Thank you." he said, and he meant it. He had 3 friends now.

They caught up with the rest as they reached an intersection. They took a left and went up some stairs 2 corridors after. At the top was just a door which the man opened. It revealed a forest on the other side. The man walked forwards and turned around.

"My name, recruits," he said sternly, "Is Instructor Srap. You should refer to me as such. Tonight, we will be staying out here, doing some scouting assignments and teaching you how to survive. I'm sure some of you know the basics but what I mean is Guarded survival, and prepared survival, survival on the run, to hide, to track, to escape. We are against a whole world. You think we are safe from Company bastards? We are not! We live next to them. This world is already owned by them like a house with some dirty rooms. And we are here to shine a light on this, and burn that house down!"

He reached into his blazer and took out 4 objects that looked similar to a walkie talkie but bulkier than the ones Fise saw in movies. He handed them one each.

"Now! Line up from oldest to youngest."

Fise immediately went to one side. Andrew stood next to him, then Ann came to his right and at last Seah.

"Ages?"

He looked at Seah, who lifted both hands and opened them, showing 10 fingers, then closed them and opened only one fully and the other one with inly her index finger. '16.' Instructor Srap nodded and looked at Ann.

"15!"

He looked at Andrew.

"14"

He looked at Fise.

"12."

He nodded.

"I do not know what brought you here, or why, but after this is over, stay out of it. I do not care how powerful you are, or how much you want to help, dying is not for those who are young." He seemed to be talking to everyone, but Fise knew it was mostly directed at him. What was he doing here? He came with Andrew, but why? To train his aura, and the Radience seemed to be the best place to do it, and the best place to answer his questions. But was that enough for him to risk his life and jump in this pool of world war only to drown? 'Yes.' he answered. He didn't care, he would keep going. Because if he didn't come, if he didn't stay, if he opted out, he wouldn't have friends. It seemed cliche, in a way, but his friends were why he will stay here. They weren't good friends yet, but he hoped they will be. Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power. He who travels fastest, travels alone, but he who travels furthest, travels with others.

"You might be asking yourselves why I asked you to line up in terms of age, and that is to see how fast you will learn, and what your attention span is. All ages have different ones and that will help me set tasks for you."

Fise raised his hand.

"Number 4," said the Instructor. "Put you hand down! If you want to speak, shout: Sir!"

"Sir! I'm almost 13, a few weeks away!"

"Thank you for telling me Number 4, that'll be your number by the way, the silent lady over there is Number 1. "

Ann turned to Fise.

"A few weeks away? When is your birthday?"

"October 13th."

"That isn't a few-"

"Recruits!" shouted Instructor Srap, "Did I ask you to speak?! You can do that while we walk! Right now I'm telling you what to do! Listen!"

They looked at him. He nodded.

Instructor Srap walked over to a bush and took out 2 long bags.

"These are our tents," he explained. He walked over and handed one to Ann and one to Fise, who had trouble holding it as it was almost as tall as him. He swung it over his shoulder and leaned forwards to make sure it didn't scrape the ground.

"Now," said Instructor Srap,"I'll do 2 things. First, I'll tell you how to use those devices. They are called Emergency Toys, yes I know, weird names, and you press the button at the top to connect to the number on the screen. Insert your numbers in there now by clicking the small button on there and pressing it until you get to your number."

They did as told.

Instructor Srap then took out the same device as them but coloured red. He pointed at the big red button in the middle which was the same for all.

"This is the emergency button. Press this and we know that you are in immediate danger and all of us need to come help." he pointed back at the screen."My number is 5. You call me when you are in an emergency that doesn't require the others to know about. Also, this is the only Emergency Toy that can call for back up from base. If I am incapacitated or I tell you to, you go onto number six and call, got that? This is important, tell them what they are dealing with and they'll trace where you called from."

He put it back in his blazer.

"The second thing is that I need to touch your necks. This is my ability. I put a mark on you and I will know how you are physically feeling. This lets me know where and when you are hurt. It also lets me know where you are. I can place this mark on your blazer but you might lose it and I won't be able to tell if you are injured or not, so tilt your heads."

He went to Seah first and put 2 fingers on her neck. Fise saw a mark spin out and then stop before fading away. Instructor Srap did this to all of them. He then walked back. "We will now start to go through the scouting route. Keep an eye out, we have seen some Rouges around here, either that or some Company Agents. Seems like a group of them have left or died a few days ago, so we should be safe for now. When we are done, we set up camp and we can have some friendly battles."

He smiled.

"I know you young ones really like to fight, I'm sure you want to fight, no?"