Chapter 59
Training Fail
“Have you ever seen anything like that before? What is it, exactly?”
He shook his head vigorously. “If I’d seen something like that sooner I don’t know if I would have gone further into all this shit. I don’t know what that thing is or what it’s used for.”
“Could I use your tools? You direct me and I run the tests? Maybe we could learn something that way.”
Boots took another big swig of his drink to calm his nerves. “Maybe. You really want to try?”
I nodded.
He sighed, got up from his chair, and hid behind a pile of bags. “I’ll direct you from here.”
I didn’t think a pile of trash was going to provide much protection but whatever made him feel better. I put the mask down on the table. “Okay, what do I do?”
He dug in his pocket and threw me a palm sized flat circle. “Hold that above the mask. It will give a reading on the most basic layer of it.”
I held it over the mask and, without being prompted, I gave it a squeeze. A light came on the bottom of it, making the thing look like a UFO, about to beam up some cows. The light fell on the mask… and flames jumped it, honing right in on the device. I let it go immediately, where the flames burnt it to a crisp. It fell to the table, an alarm like beeping going off until it eventually burnt up, going dead quiet.
“Shit!” Boots exclaimed, picking up the burning remains of the device and feeding it to Kicky. “If that doesn’t work either, there’s no hope. Fuck!”
I picked up the mask, which still did nothing to me directly. “What were you even trying to find out about it?”
“How it was made, what it was made for. I’ve never seen something like it. Both in the way you acquired it and the way it defends itself to being examined. I’ve had to dig into a hard to crack case before, but it didn’t physically try to kill me. Something like that shouldn’t be possible.”
I just kept looking at the mask. Wondering where the hell we went from here. I didn’t know what I expected us to find but I thought there would be SOMETHING. Was I supposed to keep going to that No Respawn Zone, risking my life with no ideas of what the hell I was getting myself into?
“There’s no going back from this, is there?” I asked.
Boots returned to the chair, still wary of the mask. “No. It’s linked to you. Unless its taken away from you by whoever made it, you’re stuck with it. And that would probably only happen if you were found out and that would basically mean you were dead anyway.”
Stephen wouldn’t believe the lengths I was going to save an NPC meat man. I don’t think there were many people who would think I was in my right mind. Maybe someone who had just had his pizza for the first time would be down for a rescue attempt.
“You don’t have to go back though,” Boots said. “Unless they force you somehow just… don’t go back.”
I gave him a look.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, your pet… You must really love that thing, huh?”
“I do,” I said. “And I’m going to get him back.”
He scratched his nose, unsure what to say to me. Finally after scratching so long he left a red mark, he said, “Well, I’m still willing to help you.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“I appreciate that, Boots. It would make me feel better having you on call. You really saved me the other night. I wouldn’t have been able to make it this far if it wasn’t for you.”
He scoffed. “Oh yeah, I’ve been a big help. Got you a cursed mask that you almost died getting.”
“And that almost killed you,” I reminded him with a wink.
He laughed. “Yeah. My own kindness came back to bite me in the ass. That figures, huh? The one time I do something (mostly) selflessly.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay. I really am grateful.”
His face went red and he looked away. Wow, he was even easier to fluster than Stephen.
After a moment he recovered, able to talk again but still not able to hold my gaze for too long. “What will you do now? Are you going back to the Skull’s world?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. I need to do some training first.”
Boots nodded. “Don’t blame you. I would want to be as strong as possible before setting foot in that place again. I’m amazed you went that first night.”
“What can I say, I’m an idiot.” I smiled real big at him and held my hand out for a fist bump. He stared at it for an uncomfortable amount of time but eventually did it back. “I’ll be in contact. Thanks for helping me and… sorry I almost got you killed today.”
“It’s okay, it was worth it to meet you.” He blushed again and swiveled his chair around. “And sorry about the mess.”
“We’ll have to do some spring cleaning someday. Once I’ve got Sam back. By the way, you can call me Darcy.”
He swiveled back around. “Darcy… I like it. You can call me…”
He was going to reveal his name to me? Oh my god, the level of trust we were reaching was unbelievable!
“...Boots.” He grinned from ear to ear, the biggest smile I’d seen from him yet, it was burned into my retinas as I teleported away, hanging in my vision like the Cheshire Cat.
#
After such a packed few hours, you would think I would go home, right? WRONG. I had a Sam N. Fillet to save so there was no longer time for an abundance of rest. I went immediately to Kenzo’s training grounds.
I was a little hesitant to train there after the blowout but Kenzo never approached me there to try and get me to come to therapy so I really hoped he continued to leave me be.
…was that awful? He cared about me. About Stephen, too. I knew all he wanted to do was help and, even more than that, I KNEW he would help. So why then did I refuse to go?
Ugh. Couldn’t even go to the training course without almost giving my damn self a therapy session. Once Sam was saved I would talk to Kenzo. I promised that to myself. That was the best I was gonna do so I pushed all that aside and focused on what I wanted to work on.
I was getting stronger all the time with my mental magic. I could use it for longer and was getting better about reacting to move it to defend myself. That was all great. But now I wanted to try something slightly new.
I went into the options for the training course and spawned some of the dummies. I selected three, two in the back and one in front of them in the middle. That would probably be all I needed.
What I wanted to do was simple: beam attack. Or just any form of long range attack with my power. I didn’t know exactly what form it would take, I would just feel it out, try out some different things. In theory, it shouldn’t be too much difficult than the stuff I already did.
I’ve forced out my power a lot, this would just be a focused force, letting a lot out at a small point and focusing it. Easy.
In theory.
Time to put it to the test. I started by holding one hand up, aimed at the middle dummy. I called on my power, building it in my hand, just like I usually did when I needed to punch someone. I turned on the intention, but focused it in a single point, at the tip of my pointer finger. I held it there as long as I could, until my hand shook all around, and then let it fly!
My energy burst from my finger, not as a beam like I hoped, but a scatter shot kind of wide explosion. It hit all three dummies, but didn’t do much damage, and that was at point blank range. As a long range weapon it completely failed.
I sighed. Why was nothing easy? For the next two hours I alternated between trying to make the long range attack work and also attempting to turn my energy pink. Neither went particularly well. All the attacks I did mirrored that first one. I couldn’t figure out how to force the energy into an attack, it was basically just how I’d always forced my energy out, just a wave of power.
And the color… was it possible to make negative progress? Cause that’s what it felt like I accomplished. I strained and strained, only making my energy bubble. Which, I guess was cool but didn’t turn it pink no matter what I did. When the bubbling got extra intense it started to glow red, I thought I was onto something but it just exploded in my face.
I collapsed onto the ground after that attempt, letting out a huge sigh. This wasn’t working. I’d made a lot of progress on my own with my training but as much as I hated to admit it… I needed the Teach.
I brought up my menu and in the Transfer Rooms option, there was Kenzo’s office, currently with one occupant. That fucker was waiting for me. As annoying as that was, I couldn’t be too mad. He didn’t come to me, he just sat there, waiting for me to decide I needed help. And he took time out of his day to do that… ugh, I really was just the worst student. I didn’t deserve him and his kindness.
But I knew how I could make it up to him. I breathed in deeply… and then switched to his office, letting out my air in a slow exhale as I effortlessly teleported onto the couch.