Chapter 12 The Tin Energy Star

Gabe was jumping with excitement. "When are we gonna get there? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Mark and Leroy had been annoyed, Gabe had been acting like this all day. "Can you shut up? You've been talking all day." Gabe didn't care that Leroy just insulted him. "I can't! I have too much energy! So much! So much! So much!" Mark had just about enough of this, but he couldn't think of a way to calm him down, it then hit him. "Guys, since it is gonna take at least 3 days to reach where we are gonna meet up with the target, I think we should take this time to train." This made Leroy happy, but also made Gabe excited.

Gabe and Leroy were sitting on the ground, Mark had been standing in front of both of them. "What kind of training are we gonna be doing today Master?" Mark smiled after hearing that. "Well, remember that weapon I used against the Lone Stranger?" Both of them gasped as they remembered the red scythe that Mark used. "YOU'RE GONNA TEACH US THAT!?" Mark chuckled. "It's a bit hard, but I think you guys could get the hang of it." Both Leroy and Gabe got excited after hearing that, Leroy wanted to get stronger as quickly as possible to beat his father, and Gabe thought the scythe looked cool, plus he did make that promise to Red Hercules. "Now, the first thing I should tell you about is why the technique was made." Leroy and Gabe were confused at first, they didn't see how that would help them with the training. "How does learning about history help us learn to use a magic scythe." Mark thought to himself. 'They aren't getting it, well that sucks. I was hoping they would figure it out by themselves, but whatever.' Mark then spoke. "Well, I was taught by my master that the best way to learn strong techniques was to learn from other sources of knowledge, to help me better understand from different points of view." Leroy and Mark were confused, giving off confused expressions to Mark, implying they didn't understand a single thing he just said. 'Goddammit...this is gonna be harder than I thought…' Mark sighed. "Well look at the bounty hunters we've seen, do they seem normal to you?" Gabe thought back to the Lone Stranger who had magical mind powers, The Blue Death had the Ragana like him and was known as untouchable, also not to mention people like Behemoth who had godlike strength. "No, most of the bounty hunters we've seen seemed to have magical powers of some kind." Leroy also thought about what the Lone Stranger said about the witch granting power. "It has something to do with a witch, right?" Mark was surprised by Leroy's answer, but proud, also with Gabe's answer. "Right, some people in the west were granted special powers, this is because of a witch who has a bounty." Gabe was confused, he thought that maybe he somehow got the Ragana from doing something like this, perhaps as a baby. "Basically, this witch has a bounty of whatever you want it to be. Once you get there, you can choose to kill her for what she claims is the money, or you can choose to spare her for what she claims is a better reward." Gabe was shocked by hearing this. "That reward is a special ability, like the ones you have witnessed." This made a lot more sense to Gabe since he thought that many bounty hunters were definitely not your average human. "Long ago, one of the first team of bounty hunters known as Z Force went to this woman, they wanted to kill her at first, but the leader ultimately decided to let her live. With that, they were granted special powers. As you would imagine this information spread like weeds, and people from all over went to this woman, granting power after power when the Z Force Squad told them how to get the powers." Gabe thought that he should go to the witch and get a power of his own. "Can't I get another power? Why not go after her now?" Mark nodded. "She isn't at that cave any more." Gabe was confused. "After so many people took advantage, she realized that these people were abusing her test just to get the powers, so she decided to leave this realm and never return to grant a power again. In her absence, her magic spread throughout the west and granted abilities to more people. Now, at least 9% of the population in the west has these abilities." This explained where Leroy got his Hellflame and Gabe his Ragna. "So, what's this got to do with the scythe?" Leroy asked. "As you would imagine, it's hard for a bounty hunter to work when your target would maybe have abilities." Leroy thought that made sense. "So, I decided to create a technique that would combat these people." Leroy pressed his hands together again, only to create the scythe and spin it around like a bo staff, exciting both Gabe and Leroy. "I call it, the Reaper Scythe Technique." They both clapped for Mark. "Thank You, thank you." They then decided it was time for learning now that they know history. "So, how does it work?" Mark tried to think of a way to easily explain it to them, he then decided to try the normal way first. "Well, I learned from my master that every living thing has energy inside them." Mark made the Scythe disappear in thin air, he then compressed his hands together, only to make a ball that looked similar to the scythe in color and energy. "Think of it as a meter, every person in the world has 100% and the more you call upon that energy in a purified way, the less the meter goes down." They both started to slowly grasp the concept as he spoke. "Now, some things take a lot of energy to create something, for instance, my Scythe takes about 50% alone, and those beams I used when I swung the scythe takes about 10% each, and also that explosion I made used about 15%." Leroy wondered something. "What happens if you get to 0%?" Mark sighed. "If you get to 0, that's basically like working out all day without rest. So you could probably put the rest together." Leroy began to understand it a little. "How do you recharge your meter?" Mark explained. "Well, how do you get your energy back after being tired?" Gabe thought about it. "Sleep?" Mark nodded. "Well, how do you use that energy? Do you like flex or something?" Mark laughed, he thought what Gabe asked was funny. "Unlike actual energy that you use to flex your muscles, go on runs, and or work out. Purified energy is something else entirely. It's kinda like that type of energy you use to do what I just said, except it's all just pure energy instead of blood and other stuff from your body." Mark looked down at the ball. "The way I learned to call upon purified energy was to focus on the energy all throughout my body, and to feel it moving from all throughout your body to the palm of my hand." Both Leroy and Gabe compressed their hands together as Mark did. "But remember, there are things I need to tell you before you start doing this." Both of them were confused but uncompressed their hands. "Energy is very hard to control, it sometimes could either be too little or too much. What you need is to get just enough, especially for this exercise I'm gonna have you do. One thing you also need to keep in mind when you do this is it is extremely difficult to release the energy from your palms. When you pull apart your hands, you need to feel the energy coming from the inside of your palm to the outside of your palm, and finally releasing it from the outside like you are cutting off one of your arms that needs to be amputated." Gabe and Leroy were shocked after that analogy. "I may have gone too far with that analogy…" Mark felt a bit nervous after explaining that. "The last thing you need to keep in mind is the most important thing of all." Leroy and Gabe listened as best they could for this one. "Try to conserve energy as much as possible, keep in mind that in every battle it is great that you have enough energy to at least walk, because if you have none, then you are vulnerable to the enemy. Also, Do not ever go to 0% or beyond that. If you were to push your body too far, you could potentially die from overworking yourself." Leroy and Gabe were shocked after hearing that. "But that will never happen, so there is nothing to be afraid of." Leroy and Gabe nodded looking rather nervous.

"Your first exercise will be creating the ball like I just did. It should be easy and simple if you understood everything I just said, but do keep in mind that something like this will take some time." Both of them nodded, they proceeded to do what Mark did with his hands when he summoned the Scythe by compressing his hands. Gabe concentrated as best he could, he tried to feel the energy within himself, and then he suddenly did. 'Come on...This is so...hard…' Gabe tried to slowly make the energy come from his entire body to his inner palms, he then tried his best to make the energy come to his outer palms. 'COME ON!' He kept concentrating and began sweating in real-time. Mark noticed this for him and got worried. 'Maybe this is a bit hard on him.' Just as he thought that however, Gabe created the ball. The ball looked to be a cyan light blue instead of red, it looked exactly like Mark's. "ALRIGHT! I DID IT DRUNKEN MA-" As soon as he was about to say, master, the ball began to grow and grow, and grow, and grow, and it wasn't stopping. "DRUNKEN MASTER HELP ME!" Mark took it upon himself to grab the ball, he then compressed it and made it disappear out of existence. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" Mark wasn't surprised, he now thought it was a mistake to teach him something like this. "You must have put too much energy into the ball, which made it expand." Gabe was now out of breath. "You must have put in a lot more energy than you thought." Mark thought he should call it quits since this happened, it was way too risky for the kids who probably still didn't have that big of an understanding of energy. Mark was just about to go to Leroy, when all of a sudden he saw something that shocked him, Leroy had made the ball. "Is this alright master?" Mark had no words. 'He made it perfectly! Just the same as mine! I knew this kid was a member of the suden family, who all are very exceptional when it comes to skill, but I had no idea he was this amazing.' Leroy's energy had been a blackish-purple for some reason, but it didn't bother anyone. "Yes! That's perfect Leroy, I believe you're ready for the next exercise." Gabe got mad, he didn't want to be behind Leroy, so he decided to keep trying. "Wait no! I still need to get this done before we move on." Leroy sighed. "How about you get that done on your own and Master will teach me the rest of the technique alone, and when you're done, Master will teach you the rest of the technique." Mark didn't want Gabe to feel left out, so he opposed at first. "No, Leroy, you're both my students and will be treated equally, so we are gonna wait for Gabe, as long as it tak-." Gabe interrupted him by saying. "Fine, teach Leroy first. I don't care." Mark and Leroy were confused, they expected more of a fight from Gabe normally, but this time he was acting mature about it. Mark smiled at this, he saw Gabe had been growing since he came on this journey and was proud of that, and excited for the person that Gabe will one day become. "Alright kid, whatever you say. Good luck with the ball." Mark walked away from Gabe and waited for Leroy to come too. Leroy also was surprised by this, though Gabe has exceeded his expectations many times on this journey, he still liked that Gabe was being mature about this. "Good Luck," Leroy said, which made Gabe surprised and looked up, Leroy has been changing lately, which made Gabe surprised but happy.

Gabe continued to try and create the ball as best he could, but every time he tried, it started to get too big, and Gabe had to compress it before it grew. 'WHY AM I NOT GETTING THIS!? IT'S BEEN HOURS! And it looks like Leroy is doing amazing with master.' Gabe saw Mark train Leroy, at one point they began laughing together. Despite Gabe doing the mature thing and letting Leroy train with Mark, he still didn't feel that inside and was upset because of it. 'So, it looks like Drunken Master and Leroy are getting closer.' Gabe decided he didn't have any motivation to continue, he just sat there and waited until the sun went down. Eventually, Leroy and Mark came back, only to see Gabe upset and sitting on the ground looking as depressed as ever. "Master taught me the Reaper Scythe, and a few other techniques involving it." Gabe decided he should talk so that he wouldn't make them feel bad. "Really? That's awesome." Mark sensed something was wrong and instantly knew that he still didn't get it, but he knew he was still being mature and not trying to make them feel bad, so he played along. "Leroy even made his own technique out of it that surpasses my own." That did it for Gabe, but he still tried to hold himself back, only to come out sad. "That's great. Great for Leroy." He then walked away without facing them, making them both feel bad. As Gabe was walking, he then collapsed on the ground. "GABRIEL!" They both went over to him as they were both concerned, only to find him sleeping. "Did he really overwork himself that much!?" Leroy asked. After hearing Leroy, Mark realized that Gabe had been training for hours upon hours just to master the ball, up to the point where his body had to tell him to stop. 'You keep surprising me over and over again kid. You're just like Sam once was.' Leroy decided that since they've been training all night and also since Gabe already fell asleep, they should get some shuteye, which Mark agreed to. After setting the fire, they all fell asleep.

While Gabe was sleeping, he had a similar dream as before, only it was very different. Gabe seemed to be seeing through the eyes of somebody else again, instead of seeing Mark in front of him; however, he saw somebody that he didn't expect, Red Hercules.

Gabe saw Red Hercules standing right in front of him, he looked to be in a fighting stance, no shirt as usual, except he looked a bit younger. "YOU THERE! BLUE DEATH I WISH TO FACE YOU!" Gabe was confused, he didn't know what the hell was happening. "Do you wanna fight him, Gabe? He has been growing a reputation. I even heard that actual gods praised him for his strength." He recognized this voice, it was Mark's voice, the body of the person Gabe saw through turns, only to reveal Mark standing right next to him. Just as Gabe began to slowly realize he knew everyone there, he heard a voice that didn't recognize, like he never heard it in his life. "You think I'm afraid of a so-called god?" Though Gabe never heard that voice before, it seemed familiar, but he just couldn't pinpoint from where it came from. "Well then! The rules of the battle are simple! If I win, then you come quietly with me so I could receive your bounty. If you win, then you must take my life." Red Hercules said, Gabe saw the body he was seeing through nod his head after hearing that. "I agree, in fact, the reason I am even facing you in the first place is that I have heard that you are a very honorable opponent." Red Hercules smiled. "I believe that any battle should be taken seriously, a fair clash between two people, anything more or less is dishonorable and dishonor is one of the greatest sins of our time." The person Gabe saw through nodded again. "I disagree." This made Red Hercules angry as hell. "IF YOU DISAGREE WITH FACTS THEN YOU WILL BE DEFEATED FOR YOUR FAKE OPINION!" Red Hercules then darted toward Gabe with his fist ready to smash, making him scared as all hell. Just when Gabe thought his body was done for, he saw something he couldn't believe

Instead of getting smashed, something happened that Gabe didn't understand. Gabe's arms grabbed the fist and slightly pushed it away from the body, almost like it was solely instinct. The Red Hercules passed Gabe and missed, which made him angrier. "How the hell did you?" Gabe's body turned around toward Red Hercules and got into a fighting stance. "Whatever, so what if you dodged, I won't miss again." He then did the same thing. Only for Gabe's arms to do the same thing, slightly maneuvering his fist and body away with his hand. This made Red Hercules get frustrated. "HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT!?" Gabe's body didn't say a thing, he just stood ready to fight. 'How the hell did I do that?! Or the person I am seeing through does that?!' The person who Gabe was seeing through then spoke. "My eyes can see much more than yours, and they sometimes move without me telling." Gabe was confused but thought a bit more about what he meant, and he came up with an idea. 'Is he talking about the Ragna? How could he be talking about the Ragna?' Gabe then realized who he was seeing through. 'I'M SEEING THROUGH THE EYES OF THE FIRST SHERIFF!' Gabe forgot the fight was still going on. Red Hercules made a barrage of fists to attack The First Sheriff, but it was ineffective as he was able to brush off all of the hits with just his hands. This went on for what looked to be hours in this time, Red Hercules kept fighting without hitting The First Sheriff Once, and The First Sheriff attempted to hit Red Hercules but he was so muscular that one hit couldn't even hurt him. Eventually, they were both at a standoff, Red Hercules got too tired from punching, and The First Sheriff just stood there and waited. "A Battle between a sword and shield, quite the formidable match I'd say so myself…" Red Hercules then dropped to his knees. "Damn it...too tired to move…" The First Sheriff then decided to make a move, which Gabe wondered what that was. The First Sheriff proceeded to make his hand look like a gun symbol that kids made when playing until a small spark of electricity began to spark at his pointer finger. 'WHAT THE HELL!?' The First Sheriff then dashed to Red Hercules and poked his finger right on his chest, which Made Red Hercules shake in pain from the electricity. Red Hercules then collapsed, smoking like something that just got struck by lightning. 'HOLY SHIT! WHAT WAS THAT?' Gabe thought, thinking it was extremely cool. "I think you went a bit too far on him this time Sam." Gabe heard that name for the first time. 'Sam? Is that the First Sheriff's name?' Sam laughed. "I was holding back so that the charge wouldn't be that severe." The eyes then closed there. "WHAT! NO, I WANT TO SEE MORE!" Gabe got frustrated, he just saw something incredible and wanted answers, but he couldn't get any. "You will when you're ready." All of a sudden, Gabe appeared in Watersville again with the same image as before, Sam was behind him in the same place as before, smiling. "You're the First Sheriff, right?" He then began to laugh. "Yup, that's me." He knelt down and patted Gabe's hair. Gabe was a bit shy at first, he didn't know what to say. "Ummm...do you...know who I am?" Sam kept the smile going, he then chuckled a bit. "Oh that's right, you don't know me yet." Gabe was confused. "What do you mean?" Sam got off his knees and stood up again. "You'll find out when you get older." After hearing that again, Gabe had about enough of hearing that he will find out later. "NO! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT LATER! I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT NOW!" The First Sheriff's smile turned into a serious face. "ALL THROUGH MY LIFE I ACCEPTED THAT I WAS BORN INTO THE WORLD WITH NO PARENTS! I WAS ALONE FROM THE START! THEN THIS GUY SHOWS UP WHILE I WAS SLEEPING AND NOW I HAVE TO BE TAKEN OUT OF THE PLACE I CALLED TOWN MY WHOLE LIFE BECAUSE I COULD PROBABLY BE KIDNAPPED IF I DON'T! THEN I GET TOLD THAT I WILL FIND OUT WHY LATER! THEN I MET DRUNKEN MASTER AND HE SAID I WILL FIND OUT LATER! I AM TIRED OF HEARING THAT I WILL FIND OUT LATER! I WANT TO FIND OUT NOW! I DESERVE ANSWERS!" Sam didn't say a word, he just stood there. "I know Gabe. It hurts me in ways that you couldn't possibly know to keep all this from you." Gabe stood there, silent, he wanted to listen to Sam's every word. "All I can tell you now Gabe is that you were brought into this world and because of it, there were consequences." Gabe was curious. "What kind of consequences?" Sam tried to answer the best he could. "The type of consequences that affects everyone in the west." Gabe was shocked, he knew it was bad, but he didn't know it was this bad. "Why would it affect the entire west?" Sam couldn't answer that, so he stayed silent to that question. "If you knew now, then it would affect you in a bad way from now on, and I don't want you to be upset about it. Though I do believe that since I just told you this, it won't make a difference." Sam got on his knees again to Sam's height. "I'm truly sorry for not telling you now, from the bottom of my heart." He put his hand on Gabe's shoulder. Gabe said nothing, he just looked at the ground as Sam apologized. "There is something I can tell you though." Gabe looked up, tears were in his eyes. "Thank You for telling me as much as you could." This made Sam sad, but also happier. "I'm glad I can help you, Gabe." They both looked into each other's eyes with happiness. "Listen, there is something I do have to tell you, and it is about what you just saw." Gabe was confused. "Gabe, you have been given a very special power in the west. The first power in fact." Gabe was shocked. "The Ragna is a very powerful and special gift, and you must learn how to use it." Gabe didn't know how to teach himself the Ragna, everybody that ever had it was dead and he was all alone. "But why? And how? How am I supposed to learn something that the only people who could teach it to me are dead?" Sam smiled. "Well, I'm here and I'm dead." Gabe was confused. "How are you here anyway?" Sam kept smiling. "The Ragna users' spirits will never die, they live on forever with every Ragna user in the world." Gabe tried to understand, but couldn't. "Also, to answer your other question. Have you ever wondered how every master learned a move? It was because someone created one, and learned by themselves." That made sense to Gabe, but he still wondered why he needed to. "Well, why do I even need to master the Ragna?" Sam's smile became a serious face. "Because, if you want to protect yourself from bounty hunters, you've gotta become stronger, and that power of yours at its best will make you unstoppable." It all made sense to Gabe. "I never was able to master it to its fullest, but I believe you can, and once you do, you will become the strongest Ragna user of all time." Gabe smiled back at Sam again. "You need to wake up, it's morning." Gabe nodded. "Thank you First Sir." Sam nodded. "I wish you good luck." Gabe then opened his eyes, and just like before they were in Ragna mode, but as he began to wake up, the dark blue faded back to normal black pupils' eyeballs. Gabe looked at the sky, he got up from the dirt, tightened his yellow bandana around his neck, and looked readier than ever. Gabe's own words echoed through his head. '"I WILL BECOME STRONGER THAN YOU AND ANY BOUNTY HUNTER THAT EVER LIVED!"' He stood up looking at the sky with confidence. "I promise First Sir! I will honor your request!" Gabe smiled at the sky.