Training

My adopted mother was the only person who knew where I came from. She had found me as a baby, crying in the streets, with no trace of my parents or identity. She took me to the police, but they had no records of me either. They suggested she take me to an orphanage, but she refused. She decided to care for me as her own.

"Hey Tinashe, wake up. It's time for school," she said, pulling back the curtains and letting the sunlight flood my room.

I groaned and buried my face under the blankets. I wished I could stay in bed all day.

"Hurry up, your friend Dwayne will be here any minute now," she said, opening the window and letting in a gust of fresh air.

I heard Dwayne's voice outside, shouting at me to get ready. He was not really my friend, just a classmate who lived nearby and walked with me to school. I did not like him much. He was loud and annoying.

I dragged myself out of bed and went to brush my teeth. I took a quick shower and put on my tracksuit, the standard uniform of our school: a white jacket and blue pants.

"Hey bro, if you're late I'm leaving you," Dwayne yelled as he passed by my house.

I rolled my eyes and shouted back, "Yeah yeah, whatever."

I headed to school after finishing everything. He told me the girls we wanted to meet yesterday were now ghosting him and ignoring his calls. I felt a pang of disappointment. I had hoped to get myself a girlfriend, but it failed.

We met up with Ashylene to discuss our training regimen. We planned to go to the training room after 4 pm because most students would have gone home by then and the four training rooms in the school would have some free space. We finished our class lessons and finally went to train.

"Ok, today we are going to train by sparring." Ashylene smiled.

"Huh?" Dwayne and I looked at her as if she was crazy.

"What's wrong now?" She asked us.

"Did you forget you one-shotted us the last time we sparred?" I said, rubbing Dwayne's shoulder.

"Why don't you both face me then?" She turned her back on us and walked away to create some distance. Then she faced us again.

"Uh, I think I'll sit this one out," I said, taking a step back and heading to a seat.

"I see that you don't get what's happening," Ashylene said. The air crackled with metallic energy as her power surged.

"Watch out, Tinashe!" Dwayne shouted as Ashylene sped up to attack me.

She pumped up her fist and it glowed blue with electricity. Sparks flew from her knuckles. Dwayne turned around and tried to block her attack.

She thrust her punch at me, but something jolted my body, inexplicable and thrilling. I ducked.

"I knew it!" Ashylene exclaimed, halting her attack.

Dwayne ran towards us, shocked.

"How the hell did you dodge that?" He asked me.

"I don't know," I said, looking at my hands as they glowed.

Ashylene clapped her hands. "Well, it seems I was right about what I felt. You can control electricity, but you haven't learned how to use it at all," she said.

"At first I thought you were only pretending to be weak, but no, it may be that you haven't discovered your own ability yet," she added, nudging me.

"Bro, how did you do that?" Dwayne asked, his eyes wide with shock.

"I don't know, man. I'm as surprised as you are," I said, shaking my head in disbelief.

Dwayne wouldn't stop talking about how amazing it was that I dodged Ashylene's attack.

Ashylene walked over to a water cooler and took a sip. Then she gestured for me to join her. She told me to build up electricity in my hands and then spread it around my body.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as I felt the sparks tingling in my palms.

"She's trying to help you stimulate your nerves, so that you can enhance your speed and reflexes. It's a smart technique. She probably knows this because she's an electric user," Dwayne explained, looking at my hands with envy.

"Dwayne, your problem is that you use your abilities too simply and don't use them for defense. Unlike us, you can't change your reaction speed, movement speed, or sensory speed. But you can improve your defense," Ashylene said, turning to Dwayne with a stern look.

"The reason you're number five here is because you can use floating rods and fight at the same time. That gives you an advantage by exhausting your opponent. But it doesn't work on fast individuals like Jerry, the number four, or me. That's why you can't beat us."

"True, you seem to know a lot about this stuff. Do you have relatives with similar abilities to ours?" I asked, curious about her background.

"No, my ability is different from yours. It's more versatile and powerful, meaning I can do stuff both of you can do and much more" she said, putting down her water bottle.

"Damn man," I said in disbelief.

"Told you didn't I, her abilities are broken," Dwayne said as he looked at me.

"Let me explain it in simple terms. I can control charged objects, whether they have positive or negative charges. I can create a barrier that stops any charged objects or particles from entering or leaving, except for neutral ones with no internal charges," she said.

"So you're saying you can stop objects from moving with your mind, like telepaths?" I asked, impressed by her skill.

"Yeah, sort of," Ashylene said, walking back to me.

"Okay, now keep doing what you're doing. You might be able to dodge my attacks on command," she said, then faced Dwayne.

"While he's charging up, I'll spar with you," Ashylene said, cracking her knuckles.

"What? No, train him more. Tell him more stuff," Dwayne protested, trying to avoid fighting her.

"Nope, that was enough. You can control your abilities well enough to do what I told you," Ashylene said, readying herself for another attack.

"Hehe-hehe, good luck," I said to Dwayne as Ashylene lunged at him.

Dwayne quickly did what Ashylene had instructed him and formed an armor around his body. "Wow," I said, admiring how cool he looked. He resembled a knight in shining metal. He had made sure his armor was flexible enough to allow him to move freely.

"Hmm-hmm, he already designed something quite balanced and agile. No wonder he was number five," Ashylene thought as she dodged his punch.

Dwayne summoned five rods and changed their shapes into stars. He spun them around and shot them at her. They were faster than the rods he had used in their first fight.

"Hmm-hmm, smart. He's using more aerodynamic weapons now, so they don't lose speed due to air resistance," she thought as she charged up more energy in her hands. She moved at an explosive speed and aimed a punch at his stomach.

"Gotcha," she said as she hit him hard. A blast of pressure erupted from her fist.

Dwayne's metal armor wasn't able to protect him completely because he had made it thin.

"Wow, bro didn't faint," I said, amazed by his endurance as I stopped charging my body.

"Darn, you got me again," Dwayne groaned as he collapsed on the ground, clutching his chest.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you so hard," Ashylene apologized as she bent down to assist him.

"Heh, I can get a glimpse of her cleavage," Dwayne thought as he peeked at Ashylene's bosom.

"What is he doing, does he have a death wish?" I thought as I observed them.

"He's fine, Tinashe. Come on, let's go home. I have to leave early, I have some guests coming over," Ashylene said as she lifted Dwayne up.

"Alright, let's go," I agreed as I sprinted to pack my stuff in my bag.

We all gathered our belongings and left the training room. As we walked by the next room, we heard a loud noise. We glanced through the door and saw a brown-haired girl training by herself.

"Hey, isn't that number 9 in our school? Seems like everyone is serious," I commented as we passed by her room.

"See you tomorrow," Ashylene said as she waved at us.

We waved back and watched her get into a fancy car.

"Man, I almost forgot that her family is rich," Dwayne remarked as we stared at her car driving away.

She lived in the opposite direction from us, so we couldn't ask for a ride. We decided to walk home and tried calling the girls who ghosted us, but it was futile. We felt heartbroken.

"Hey, let's get some food from there, bro," I suggested as I headed towards our favorite shop.

We entered and greeted the owner, Mr. Jones. Then we sat down and ordered two chocolate ice creams with vanilla. We started eating and cracking jokes. We also ogled at some girls who sat across from us.

Suddenly, someone walked into the shop. We looked and saw Jane, Dane, and Jerry, who was number 4 in our school.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the school's losers," Dane taunted with a smug grin on his face.