Suzy

October 15, 2007. 4:21 a.m. My office. Just poured coffee into my humidifier. Sniiiiiff. Aw yeah… That’s the stuff. My nostrils and lungs are burning. Feels good. Real good. It’s been five minutes since I’ve summoned them, they have two more minutes until-

Gashunk

The doors to my office are thrown open and I see my favorite students pour in. Vivian is yawning in some adorable pajamas. Yuko looks like a zombie wearing only a t-shirt. A.D. and Will look ready to go clad in exercise gear. Good boys. Josh looks tired, but functional in his pjs. He’s currently carrying a still sleeping Angela on his back. Janelle looks miserable, but functional. She’s got a cup of coffee in her hand. Give me a second… sniff. Instant classic roast. C’mon, Janelle. You can do better than that. Sejong looks like she never even went to bed. She’s still scribbling in a sketchbook even as everyone’s all lined up in front of my desk.

I lean forward on my desk and rest my head on my hands. “Five minutes four seconds. You guys are getting faster.”

“With all due respect, ma’am.” Vivian yawns. “Why did you call us in? Did someone do something again?”

“No no.” I shake my head. “All of you remember our little Halloween mission, correct?”

“What about it?” Sejong asks without looking up from her sketchbook.

“Well, since some of you still haven’t quite passed the physical exam, I’m going to put all of you into a two week long intensive training program.”

Janelle, Angela, and Sejong perk up and look at me. “What…. what kind of program?” Angela looks like I’m about to kick her dog.

“Physical exercise, team building, Tech training, intel on the enemy.” I stretch my shoulders. “Basically anything that can save your asses.”

“Oh…” Angela wipes drool from her mouth. “When does it start?”

“Now. It lasts until October 26.”

Angela looks like I just shot her dog and served it to her on a platter. Complete with some stuffing and mashed potatoes on the side. “I can’t do that! Trials and Tribulations comes out tomorrow! I can’t be training!”

“Okay then I guess you don’t want the intel job.” I shrug.

“...” Angela kicks the air like a child. “Nevermind…”

“Good. Anyone have any other objections?”

Yuko says nothing and just glares daggers at me. “Nope.”

“Excellent.” I clap my hands before pressing a key on my computer.

Bubbles form on the floor between me and my students. They’re black, shiny, and kind of adorable. Cameron rises out of the bubbles in a tracksuit and starts signing to my students.

I translate. “Alright, everyone. Let’s get stretching and do some morning jogs! Better keep up and try your best or I’ll let Headmaster know! Let’s go!”

Will and A.D. start stretching with big dumb grins.

Vivian joins shortly after a yawn.

Everyone else hesitates, but joins from peer pressure.

“Good.” I continue translating. “Now everyone follow me! We’re going to get so big and buff these weeks!” Cameron leads them out of my office and runs them around the school.

ring ring ring ring

My office phone begins ringing. It says unknown caller. I feel my hand begin to slide over to it. No… No. I unplug the phone and float it over to the shelf across the room. Not dealing with that right now.

A.D.

October 15, 2007. 3:46 p.m. Training Studio. Cameron’s got us all in different training rooms. He wrote down on a whiteboard that he needed some benchmark for hand to hand capabilities, so we’ve all been in sparring rooms for about five minutes at this point. Janelle’s with Will, Sejong’s with Josh, Yuko’s with Angela, and Vivian’s with me. Well, more like I’m with Vivian. She volunteered to spar with me in a heartbeat. We got all dressed up in some protective gear. Standard cushy helmet, mouth guard, and cushy body and shin armor. It reminds me of my old taekwondo sparring equipment, but way more expensive. These things are fire-retardant, don’t conduct electricity, ballistic resistant, impact absorbent, and pierce resistant. Seriously, you really have to suck to get injured in these. Only issues are that these are expensive and heavy as hell, so they aren’t totally suitable for every situation. They also make you sweat like an ugly bastard.

“Alright, so how’re we going to do this?” I stretch my wrists waiting for Vivian to finish putting on her headpiece. “Techs or no Techs? Weapons or no weapons?”

“Techs, of course.” Vivian begins stretching with me. “What’s the point of practicing without our Techs? No weapons though.”

“Just curious. I thought you’d want an even fight.” I put my mouthguard in and get into a stance.

“Oh, trust me.” Vivian grins and punches her fists. “It’s never going to be an even fight.”

I put out my fist and she lightly taps it with hers.

“Let's go!” I yell and open with a feint.

Vivian responds with a backstep to try and keep the distance between us. Why would she do that? She doesn’t have any ranged capabilities… I could just be overthinking this. She could just be scared.

I walk slowly towards Vivian, and she keeps strafing around me. “C’mon, Vivian. Make your first move.”

“No, you.” I see her eyes glance upward a little.

“If you insist.” I shrug before throwing a fireball.

“Ah right! Those.” Vivian sidesteps the fireball then charges at me. Goes right for a roundhouse kick to my side, but I parry it.

Vivian’s movements slow down just enough for me to charge up a heavy punch and deliver a body blow. My fist meets her stomach and I can feel the weight and impact spread evenly throughout my hand.

Vivian gets lifted off her feet just a little and crumples over clutching her stomach. “Ooh… Ooow… Ooo that hurts… Damn… Hack!”

“You okay there?” I ask while keeping my distance.

“Yeah… yeah..” Vivian takes a deep, deep breath before standing back up straight. She keeps strafing around me and maintains the distance between us.

“Vivian, you’re not going to get the parry on me. You need to attack first.” I throw out three consecutive fireballs.

She weaves between the three fireballs and gets close to me, real close. Still not throwing out any moves. Alright, if she’s going to play that way, we’ll play. I sweep.

Vivian jumps over it and latches onto me like a koala. She bonks me on the head and pulls my arms a little before I pull her off. Unfortunately, I also go tumbling to the floor.

“No no! I’m not done yet!” Vivian gets up and lunges at me.

I feel like a scumbag, but I’m going to wake up DP. I have to know if she’s going to fall for it.

Just as Vivian’s about to stomp on me, I roll over, spring up, and DP her. My fist crashes against the chin guard and Vivian goes flying upwards about five feet in the air and five feet back.

She lands on her back and clutches her head rolling in pain. “Damn… Damnit! How did I fall for that?!” she groans. I can already see some light bruising around her cheeks.

“You want to take a break?” I offer her my hand.

“Hell no.” Vivian wipes her eye and her mouth and pulls herself up with my arm. “Just gotta keep going.”

“Attagirl.”

Janelle

October 15, 2007. 4:21 p.m. Snap. Snap. Snap. Damnit damnit damnit! No matter how much I try, I can barely hit moving targets. My aim with fireballs is okay. Not perfect, but serviceable. I don’t need to aim while spraying fire, so there’s no point in worrying about that, but I just can’t aim the Mustang snap properly. Either it's too far, too close, doesn’t come out at all, or I blow up the entire room. “Damnit!” I look at the collection of partially scorched targets sitting in the corner. The more I practice, the more frequently sparks fly off me… At least there’s been no accidents. Yet.

“Will… can you help me out?” I sigh.

“How can I help? It’s your Tech. I don’t know exactly how it works.”

“Fair enough… Question.”

“Answer.”

“How do you control your Tech? Do you ever accidentally cut stuff?”

“Huh… Good question.” Will rubs his chin. “Haven’t thought about that in a while. I just think, ‘I want to make this part sharp’, rub my hand over it, then it becomes sharp. Simple as that.”

“Wait… if it’s that simple, how did you discover your Tech?”

“Ohoho now that’s a funny story.” Will laughs. “I was trying to pop a pimple on my shoulder, then-”

“No! No!” I cover my ears. “I don’t need to hear the rest of that. I can tell where it goes.”

“Aaw really?” Will unbuttons his top shirt button. “Do you want to see the scar?”

“That won’t be necessary. I understand.”

“If you say so.” Will buttons his shirt back up. “But getting back to your question, it only took me an afternoon to figure out the rules of my Tech.”

“Only an afternoon? That’s impressive.”

“Why thank you, but not really. It’s a pretty basic Tech. What about you? How’d you discover yours?”

“I didn’t know I had a Tech until about five years ago…” I look away from Will.

“Beg your pardon?”

“I didn’t kno-”

“No no. That was disbelief. I could hear you just fine.” Will interrupts me. “How did you not know?”

“I dunno… I guess I just wasn’t angry enough until that point? I mean, Techs have been known to awaken through intense emotion.”

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking…”

“See…” I take a deep breath. “I was going to a medical school up in Seattle. Met a lot of good friends my first year and even had a boyfriend there for a time. My mom even paid for the whole thing.”

“Well that’s mighty nice of her.” Will smiles.

“I’m not finished.”

“Pardon me.”

“So it comes time to pay the tuition for the second year, and my mom just never does it. I sent her reminders and everything, but she just refused to.”

“What in tarnation? Why?” Will crosses his arms.

“She only ever intended for me to go there for one year. She wouldn’t pay my tuition unless I went to a local college she liked for the next three years.”

“That’s… wow. That’s just despicable.”

“Thank you.” I smile. “We got into a fight… Yelled perhaps the loudest I ever did, even threw my voice out… She said, “This is why your father left us.” and then she just burst into flames.” My throat begins to tighten. “I started crying and went to help her… but before I took two steps, I collapsed. My skin felt so… so cold. My skin turned blue, my blood stopped flowing. I felt like my heart was going to stop at any second.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Oh my gosh…” Will tips his hat and covers his eyes. “Is your mom okay?”

“Well… she’s alive, but not okay.” I feel my heart deflate like the useless balloon it is. “Had to get multiple skin grafts and a new face… but she’s alive.”

“Oooh…” Will grimaces. “Think maybe your guilt’s holding you back?

“Could be…” I feel sparks fall off my fingers and roll down my cheeks just thinking about it.

“Wait a sec.” Will snaps his fingers. “You could ask Doc to heal your mom right up.”

“That’s the thing… I don’t know if I want her to…”

“Janelle…” Will looks ready to cry.

“I know… I’m disgus-”

Will embraces me in a tight hug. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you research your Tech. We’ll make sure nothing like that happens again.”

I want to talk. I want to cry. I don’t deserve this, but I can’t pull away. I want to do something, but all I can do is nod and hug Will. Yet, I feel that is enough.

Sejong

October 15, 2007. 4:49 p.m. Training room. I’m currently in a sparring match with Josh and we agreed that weapons were allowed. He started the match by throwing a bunch of items out around him like baseballs, jacks, playing cards, tennis balls.

“C’mon.” Josh smiles and wiggles his finger. “Come at me.”

“What if I don’t?” I ask.

“Then I guess neither of us are going anywhere.”

“Oh really?” I look upon the baseballs and get a delicious idea.

“Ya really.”

I stretch out my finger towards the light switch, turn off the lights, turn into a baseball, and roll over into the pile of baseballs and tennis balls around Josh’s feet.

“Hey!” That’s cheating!”

“Want me to turn the lights back on?”

“... It would be nice.”

“You got it, baby.” I turn my finger long and ultra thin to the point that Josh cannot see it, flick the lights back on, then revert back to a baseball.

Josh looks around the room. “Okay, very funny, Sejong. you can come out now.”

I say nothing.

“Aw, c’mon dude.” Josh constantly looks around himself and pivots trying to look for me. “We can have a good old fashion fight if you like.”

I morph my hand out of the baseball, smack Josh’s ass, then change to a tennis ball.

“Whoa!” Josh’s voice goes through three octaves as he turns around. “I know you’re over here now! You gotta be one of these things!” his eyes dart over every object trying to find me.

I say nothing and just watch him panic. This is the best.

“Aaaw c’mon, Sejong. Please? Can we change the rules? This is starting to freak me out.”

Still nothing.

“Alright fine!” Josh pulls his hand back and every object around me starts rolling towards him.

I stay motionless.

“There you are!” Josh flashes his sharp, shiny teeth at me.

“Aw crap!” I roll away out of his danger zone and manage to only get hit by three baseballs on the way out… Geez. Even as a ball that still hurts. I start to roll over to the lights. Man… this is making me dizzy. I can still only move as fast as I can run in my human form.

“Oh no no no!” Josh begins sprinting. “You’re not getting the lights again!”

“Yes I am!” I leap for the lights and smack them off just before Josh gets there.

I only have about two seconds before Josh turns on the lights again. What do I do? What do I do? Wait. Josh is right next to me. I don’t have to hide. I can just punch him. I revert to my human form and punch him in the stomach. I don’t know if I hit him right, but my hand hurts a lot, so I probably goofed up.

“Oooh… You’re gonna regret that, brother.” Josh grabs my shoulders and headbutts me.

BONK

“AAAH!”

“AAAGH! Damnit!”

The two of us fall to the ground clutching our foreheads. I feel like my head just… got hit really hard.

“Why’s your head so hard?” Josh whines.

“It’s bone! It’s not meant to be soft.”

“I know, but it usually doesn’t hurt that bad…” Josh swears. “Must’ve hit it at a wrong angle…”

“Oooh… wanna just call a truce for now?” I open my eyes and flick the lights on.

“Yeah… I feel good calling that one a tie.”

I hear the door open. I look over and see Janelle looking down at us. “Are you two okay?”

“Yeah… peachy.” Josh wipes his forehead. “Why ask?”

“There’s sparring gear on the table over there…” She points to a table in the corner of the room.

“Ohh…” I laugh and whine. “That’s what that was for…”

Angela

October 15, 2007. 5:41 p.m. Got energy drink in my tummy, got my gear on, Yuko’s in the other end of the ring. I’m ready to rock. “Yo! Yuko! You ready to rock?!”

“I am.” Yuko crosses her arms. “Are you sure you want to spar with Techs?”

“Hell yeah.” I jab the air repeatedly. “Why wouldn’t I? Sparring is the best way to make friends and create sexual tension.”

“Really…?” Yuko mutters under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Yuko sighs and shakes her head. “You ready to go?”

“Yep!” I pound my fists together. “Three two one go!” I sprint off towards her.

Yuko yells and her voice shoots me off my feet and smacks me against the wall back first like a wet noodle. I bounce off the wall and roll onto the ground. “Oww…. Oooh…”

“You sure you still want to spar with Techs?”

“Point taken…” I hold my back and slowly get to my feet. “Aight… Oooh… How about we take a sec to recover then we can spar without Techs?”

“Fine by me.” Yuko shrugs her shoulders. “Take your time.”

“I won’t be long. Don’tchu worry.”

“No, seriously. Take your time.” Yuko chuckles. “I got nowhere to be.”

My back still hurts, but I can do this. I refuse to be the worst fighter here. I will prove to Josh that supports can still kick butt. “Three two one let’s go!” I begin sprinting towards Yuko once more.

She takes an… awkward fighting stance. Doesn’t look anything like any fighter or video game I’ve seen. Her posture’s all wack and her legs look ready to fall over at the slightest bit of shock. That’s it! The legs! I’ll just kick her shins in until she gives up! Perfect strategy. I feint a high punch, and she tries to block it via a catch. Foolishness, Yuko. Foolishness. I lean in and kick her shin. Sure, it’s protected, but it's enough to make her stumble backwards.

“Oh you dirty-!” Yuko snarls.

“All’s fair in sex and fighting, baby.”

“That’s not how that quote goes!” Yuko returns the favor with a kick. A big kick. Like, a real big kick. There's no style or grace to it, it’s just a good ol fashion kick to the groin.

I feel my intestines slosh up into my ribcage. “Aaah… Ooow…” I fall to my knees and cradle my baby chute. “Bruh… c’mon… That’s cheating.”

“What happened to all’s fair?” Yuko sneers at me from on high.

“You’re… right…” Everything hurts. “Yah!” I lunge forward like an injured hog, grab Yuko by her legs, and tackle her to the ground. Well, tackle’s a bit generous. More like I struggled and shook her side to side pressing my head against her thighs like an asshole while she punched my back.

“Let! Go! You! Little! Gremlin!”

“Make me!” I begin stomping on her feet.

“Goddamnit!” Yuko tries to avoid my stomps with her own stomps. Now both of us look like idiots trying to squash a bunch of newly-hatched spiders. “Fight like a real hero!”

“No, you!” I resume punching and shoulder checking her shins. C’mon… her shins have to give out eventually…” I punch and punch and punch and punch.

As I punch, Yuko gets louder and louder. “Stop you little pissant! I’m going to make a necklace out of your teeth and strangle you with it!”

… That’s kinda hot.

“Damnit!” Soon enough, Yuko’s stance wavers and she falls to the ground. “I’m going to kick your ass until it’s concave!”

“Good luck!” I begin kicking Yuko while she’s down like a real hero. I feel about ready to pass out… Only managed to get three kicks in before Yuko grabs my ankle, pulls me off balance, and throws me to the floor.

“Ow…. oooh…. Haha…” I cradle my head. “Good one… Want to just call this a tie?”

“No…” Yuko and I spend the next few seconds gasping on the floor.

“Aw c’mon, man…”

Yuko grabs my arm, crashes her thighs down over my chest and head, and puts me in an armbar.

Pillowy skin and strong muscles envelope my head. “MMMFFFF!” My arm feels like it’s going to pop right out of my socket. I want to scream, but her dummy thick thighs are suffocating me.

“Just tap the ground and give up!”

“MMFF!” I want to stay under her thighs, but I can’t… I will die if this continues. There’s only one way out… Time to cheat super hard. I digitize myself out of her hold, shoot myself into the light above us, and propel my body out of the ceiling lamp down towards Yuko. This is going to be the hypest, bestest, most legendary people’s elbow ever made ever. No one will be around to witness it, but it will live on in my heart forever. I extend my arm outward towards Yuko, then bend my elbow. This is going to be so si-

Yuko rolls out of the way.

I collide elbow-first onto the ground.

crack

Yuko’s head immediately turns towards me. “PFFFFT! Did- did you just break your elbow?!”

“Yuko…” I begin to cry a little. “Please get a doctor… It hurts…”

“You got it.” Yuko wipes a tear from her eye, gets up, and heads out of the room. “Aaaw man, get wrecked, Angela!” she cackles as she runs down the hallway.

“One day… One day I will deliver a hype elbow drop… Hnngh…” I feel my elbow move in ways that I didn’t think was possible. “But not today…”

Will

October 15, 2007. 8:12 p.m. Dorm room. Training went pretty well all things considered. Got to teach Janelle some ranch-style self defense, got her to enchant my whip with fire to turn it into a flame whip. I am not quite sure if that would make it more or less lethal. On one hand, you got perfect cutting power combined with fire… but wouldn’t that just instantly cauterize the wound? Even then… Janelle told me cauterization is dangerous and can easily lead to infection… Regardless, it looks cool. I can’t wait till I get to use my flaming whip without having to worry about casualties or property damage.

I reach into the pantry and pour myself a delicious bowl of plain corn cereal. Nothing like some corn cereal to warm the soul and cool the mind. Inside the fridge… there’s no milk. We have three bottles of vegetable juice, a liter of cola, and two bottles of vodka, and a whiskey bottle, but no milk. Papa always warned me college would be like this… I cut my losses and just pour cola into my cereal. One bite in, and I already regret this… but it still beats dry cereal. I’m definitely brushing my teeth after this.

About half way through the cola bowl, I see my team enter the dorm. Yuko has bags of ice taped to her legs and is walking with a limp, but looks fine otherwise. Vivian and A.D. on the other hand look like they just got out of a brutal melee with Vivian being significantly more bruised. Vivian’s got an ice pack taped to her cheek. Nasty green bruises on her forearms, a huge purple welt all over her right collarbone, and some smaller shiners all throughout her legs. A.D. doesn’t have any cuts or bruises, but he’s clutching his stomach and has a little limp. It’s nowhere near the limp that Yuko has, but it’s noticeable. They all collapse around the kitchen table and groan.

“Ya’ll alright?” I ask.

“Yeah.” Yuko chuckles. “You should see Angela, though. Dumbass broke her elbow trying to spar me.”

“Is she okay?”

“Of course she is. She doesn’t have to train anymore.” Yuko yawns. “Wouldn’t be surprised if she broke her elbow just to get out of training.”

“I see.” I nod and look towards Vivian. “How did training go?”

Vivian’s head promptly plops against the kitchen table.

“Vivian?” I call out. “Vivian?”

Nothing. She’s asleep.

“Alright.” I chuckle. “Yuko, mind if you put this one to bed?”

“You got it.” Yuko nods, slings Vivian’s arm around her shoulder, and begins dragging her back to their room.

When the door closes behind them, A.D.’s head and arms hit the kitchen table. Dude looks like someone just shot him. “You alright?” I take another bite. The taste is growing on me.

“Yeah…” A.D. takes a series of heavy, heaving breaths. “I just don’t know how Vivian’s still conscious…”

“She that strong?”

“Not strong.” A.D. shakes his head against the table. “Just resilient… and terrifying.”

“Hm? How so? Ain’t you the better fighter?”

“Oh, I am. No question.” A.D. “Granted she’s no slouch either, hell she even got some good hits in. Check it.” A.D. rolls up his shirt and reveals an apple-sized purple bruise over the center of his abdomen. Looks like a week old banana almost. It’s the only bruise on him, but it looks lethal.

“Oh my gosh! A.D., doesn’t that hurt?”

“Just a little…” A.D. laughs, but his laughter quickly devolves into a groan.

“Why didn’t you get patched up yet? You’re going to endanger the team like that.”

“Heh… Never thought I’d hear that from you.” A.D. gently rests his head against the table again. “And I couldn’t get patched up sooner. Girls were watching.”

“Alright, get up. We’re going to the medic.” I shove another spoon of cereal into my mouth before putting the bowl on the counter, slinging A.D.’s arm over my shoulder, and escorting him out of the dorms towards the student hospital.

“Thanks…” A.D. says with a pained cough.

“Why’s Vivian terrifying?” I ask as we wait for the dorm elevator.

“I feel like she enjoyed fighting just a little too much.”

“I don’t get it.” I enter the elevator, push the button, and begin descending to the lobby. “Isn’t having fun while sparring the point?”

“Yes, but… I was sparring with her, but it didn’t feel like she was sparring with me. It felt like she was out for blood.” A.D. sighs. “I know it’s weird and hard to explain, but she just had this look in her eye the whole time… you just had to be there I guess.”

“Did the look ever change or go away?” I ask.

“Yes.” A.D. nods as the elevator opened. “She looked more joyful the longer the fight drew on and the more both of us got hurt. I could be comboing on her and kicking her off the ground, and she’d be loving it.”

“Do you think it’s a weird sexual thing?” I ask.

“No…” A.D. shakes his head as I escort him through the park. “It's weird. I didn’t sense any hate from her. It’s not sexual either, but also feels deeper than that… she looked like the happiest woman alive whenever she landed a good combo on me.”

“Maybe she’s just happy to be improving?”

“I hope so…” A.D. sighs. “I dunno… Maybe I’m just worrying over nothing.”

“Why would the way she looks at you during a fight bug you so much?”

“Because I’ve seen that look before…”