Chapter Ten: Support Skill

Once I started getting tired, I carried Jinny to her room before going to my own, thankfully not being seen. Even though Jinny continued to cross into my thoughts here and there, I managed to fall asleep rather easily that night. The next morning, I followed my usual routine before going to see Hanako, who turned upon seeing me and smiled. "It's a little unfair everyone else got to surprise you and I got to go last, but oh well. Kazane, we're gonna need your help for what I plan to teach him."

"Awesome! I get to train him again!" Kazane dashed off.

Hanako sighed. "Anyways, let's go." I giggled a bit and nodded, following Hanako as she began walking, following Kazane as she ran into the garden.

"Wow... This place is massive." I looked around at all the different plants and flowers. It was more like a jungle rather than a garden.

"Well it used to be a lot smaller until I got here." Hanako smiled, running her fingers along an array of flowers.

"Well that makes more sense..." I leaned on a small tree. "So what will you be teaching me?"

"I'm sure you've played fantasy video games before. I'll essentially be teaching you how to use your support skill."

"Wait, like...buffs and stuff?"

"Pretty much yeah. Kazane! Care to demonstrate?!" I looked around and Kazane seemed to be gone.

Suddenly, Kazane landed beside me from up above and slapped my arm. "Sure!"

"Ah!" I jumped and backed up, jumping back rather far. "Woah, what the..?"

"That's what my support is. I make people much more swift!"

"Oh I get it."

"And so, the mechanic behind it is-" Before Hanako could even explain, I walked over to Kazane and placed my hand on her shoulder, touching her skin specifically. Now that I was in direct contact with her body, I could control the electricity inside of her somewhat. All I had to do after that was make the electricity a little bit stronger.

Kazane's hair spiked up slightly and her eyes widened. "Wow... I feel all tingly!"

"Y-You mastered it that fast..?" Hanako muttered in shock.

"Y-Yeah sorry. I kind of figured it had something to do with the body after Kazane slapped me."

"Oh... I guess I don't get to teach you anything then..." Hanako looked down, an air of sadness around her.

"A-Ah! W-We can still train together! I'm sure there's something!" I laughed nervously. "Oh geez, I'm really no good in situations like this..." I panicked internally.

Hanako brightened up all of a sudden. "Oh I know!" Hanako spent the next several hours teaching me ways to better control my lightning. She also helped me with staying calm during a fight, telling me to keep my mind clear, take a deep breath whenever I could, and staying aware of my surroundings. I could do all kinds of things with my lightning after our training. I could make a lightning whip and swing from tree to tree with it, I could fire a bolt of lightning and split it up into several weaker lightning bolts, and I even mastered my lightning cage technique.

"Hanako, you taught me so much! Thank you!" I was deeply appreciative of all the things I could do because of her teachings, and I wanted her to know it, so I bowed to her.

Her cheeks reddened and she waved me off. "S-Stop it Sanda, you're embarrassing me..."

I chuckled, thinking to myself, "Cute." We then went inside to have dinner with the others, relaxing the rest of the night.

"You improved much quicker than we expected, Sanda." Akari said as she was eating breakfast the next day.

"I agree. Looks like you get to train with me for the rest of the day." Jinny snickered.

I grinned confidently at her. "Can't wait. Finally time I get some payback."

Her eyes widened a little and she scooched away. "That's not how you're supposed to react... What did you guys do to him?!"

"Made him a hell of a lot stronger." Agni chuckled.

"Better prepare yourself. I'm ready for you this time." I snickered.

"Oh it is on noob." Jinny smirked. Everyone else gave each other nervous glances and smiles as Jinny and I rushed to finish our lunch and head outside to the arena. Both of us stood on the opposite side of the arena, staring one another down.

"You know, we're not 'master and student' anymore, are we?" Jinny chuckled.

I chuckled a bit myself. "Guess not."

"We're equals, comrades, and friends. I look forward to seeing how you do against me now, loser." She snickered.

I stared at her blankly for a moment, touched by her words, and I smiled. "Same to you Jinny. Though, I hope you weren't hoping for your words to distract me. I won't hold back today." I clenched my fist and my hair spiked up a bit more, my skin sparking as I activated the form Daichi had taught me prior, and I took a stance.

Jinny smiled and her whole body gained a glossy and wet appearance. "Trust me, nothing would make me happier." She took her own stance. I still used the stance Akari used when she fought Atiyama. It just felt right, but I still mixed in some other techniques here and there, Daichi having taught me how of course.

Jinny and I continued to stare each other down, waiting. A few more seconds passed and I heard Jinny shift her feet, scrapping against the stone floor of the arena, and we both dashed at each other in that moment. Our forearms slammed against one another, and I pushed against her, but her skin was unbelievably slick. I remembered Daichi telling me that Jinny was almost impossible to hit and do any real damage against like this unless you had the right element. Lucky for me, I did.

I made my arm spark and it shocked her arm just before my arm slipped off of hers. "Ah! Ouch!" She jumped back and swiped her leg at me, but I quickly jumped up and avoided it, flipping over her. I spun around, swiping my leg at her this time, but she caught it and easily slid it away from her. She was like water; flexible and able to move however she pleased.

She moved to me in an instant, palming my chest and making me jump back. I expected her to fire a stream of water, but she didn't. I guessed that she saw our battle as a warmup at the start. I landed, taking my stance again, and she smirked at me before regaining her serious composure. Despite the fact that I was taking that fight seriously through and through, Jinny still kept her playfulness going. Jinny was a formidable opponent, but I finally knew what I was doing. I knew how to fight.

We dashed at one another once again. I knew if I wanted to do any real damage to Jinny, I'd have to use my lightning, so I made my body spark once more. We went back and forth a bit, palming at each other and throwing kicks, punches, and blasts of our elements here and there, only grazing each other. Soon enough, we began fighting with our elements alone.

I fired several bolts of lightning at her, but with her moving like water, she was practically impossible to hit. She avoided my attacks with ease, bending in ways that seemed impossible. Being a young, adult male, I couldn't help but lose focus and my mind would wander at times. I was starting to think she was moving in certain ways on purpose. I fired another bolt at her and she raised one of her legs all the way up, spinning and dodging them all. When she finished spinning, she was facing me, and seemed to caress her leg before putting it back down. I swear for a second I saw her smirk at me like she knew what I was thinking. I glared at her and grumbled under my breath, my cheeks impossibly red and even my neck felt hot.

"Something wrong Sanda? Can't focus?" Jinny snickered.

"I knew it! You are doing that on purpose!" My face sparked and steamed, from embarrassment or anger I don't know.

"I don't know what you mean." She smirked playfully and several small balls of water formed around her. She held out her hand and they all flew at me at once. I fired an equal amount of lightning bolts, making the balls of water turn to steam. I paused, as an idea formed in my head, making me smirk.

When the steam faded, Jinny had another ball of water in her hands, and it had a glow to it. She proceeded to fire a literal geyser of water at me from the ball of water. "Wah!" I quickly jumped out of the way, but the force was so strong and the geyser was so fast that it still hit my back and sent me flying into a tree. My back was drenched and I groaned in pain and discomfort at the feeling. "D-Damn... She's not holding back is she..?" I sensed Jinny getting closer and I quickly rolled away just as she reformed. She had turned into water and tried to pin me, but she simply slammed her palms against the tree.

"What? Damnit!" She looked at me and glared, continuously trying to jump on me and pin me, going between being water and human every time, but I did everything I could to avoid her, rolling, jumping, and dodging her every attempt. I fired a bolt from my foot to get far away from her quickly, flipping in the air a couple times before landing on the ground and taking my stance again.

Jinny grumbled and fired several pillars of water at me. I thought, "This is my chance..!" It was exactly what I was waiting for. I fired just as many bolts of lightning as she did pillars of water, causing a huge amount of steam to build up.

"Don't think you'll be able to sneak up on me! I can sense you too!" I felt her start running toward me, but I knew she could sense where I was. I had a plan for that. My body sparked intensely suddenly as I increased the amount of lightning running through my body. I moved like lightning, dashing in random directions in the steam at lightning speed. I ran around Jinny specifically, so fast it seemed as if there were multiple of me, and she could sense every one of them.

"W-What..? There's no way..." She spread out her arms. "You aren't gonna beat me today ki-!" Just then, while she was distracted, I jumped. I tackled her, hugging her body so I wouldn't slip off and she fell to the ground, yelping. The instant her back was on the ground, I quickly pinned her wrists and kept my knees in between her legs so she couldn't kick or knee me in my sensitive bits.

I panted heavily, drenched in sweat, thought I wasn't sparking anymore. "L-Looks...like I win..." I grinned at her.

She stared up at me, wide eyed. "You know I could just turn to water right..?"

"I know... Just give me this..." I laughed weakly.