“We played this game before, Kist,” Standing his ground, Nue refused to give another inch. “I know you think things will end differently, but I promise you they won’t.”

Trying his hardest to keep a straight face, Kist couldn’t help but grin.

“Relax!” Laughing as he spoke, Kist continued. “I’m just playing.”

“Oh?” Tilting his head, Nue’s face became shaped with confusion.

“We’re friends now, remember?” Said Kist.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Asked Nue.

“You must be an only child,” Answered Kist. “Anyway, we only have about forty hours to get you up to speed on how to at least fake being able to fight.”

“Yeah? Then I can show you how to fake being able to use expressions.” Said Nue.

“I know what I said before, but don’t play with me, I know how to use my powers!” Kist barked.

“My bad, let me say it like this, we only have about forty hours to get you up to my level.”

Staring at Nue as he showed his teeth in a broad smile, Kist watched silently before opening his mouth to speak, “You know what, I’m just going to ignore your hating ass energy. Let’s go.”

Stepping forward, pushing past Nue, Kist made his way toward the exit

Weaving through the now overly crowded arcade, Kist and Nue made their way out of the building and onto the city streets.

Blinded by the change from artificial to natural light, the two young men shielded their eyes from the rays of the star above.

“I can’t wait to snuff out that star!” Commented Kist.

“I hate how bright it is.” Said Nue.

“Agreed!” They both shouted.

Strolling through the crossroads as they joined the crowd in their bickering about the star, Kist and Nue made their way through the city.

Coming across the city’s edge, the pair began making their way through the forest, and before long, they’d arrived at the site of the now-destroyed abandoned building.

Letting out a loud sigh as he walked ahead, Nue made his frustration at the site known.

“Look, in all fairness it was your body that toppled it…just so happens I was the one who sent you flying.” Laughed Kist as he caught up to Nue.

Waving away both Kist and his attempt at an apology, Nue looked around before speaking,

“Destroyed or not, this place should still work as a base of operations.”

“I couldn’t see why not,” said Kist as he kicked away a wayward piece of rubble, “Shouldn’t take that much space to teach you.”

“You think it’d be better to start off with me first? I thought I had alot more to learn.” Nue said jokingly.

“You do.” Kist replied. “It’s just a lot less draining compared to expressions.”

Turning his back to Nue as he spoke, Kist began pacing, putting distance between the two.

Placing his hands behind his head, Kist spun on his heels in an unnecessary display, flashing a bright smile, “Alright now, lets get started. There’s no time to savour the moment right?”

“Right.” Replied Nue. “So what do you have in mind?”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Dropping his hands from his head, Kist held them up in a high guard as he spoke, “Simple, you’ll learn the same way I did. Just copy me.”

Tilting his head in apparent confusion, Nue reluctantly and awkwardly held up his hands, attempting to mirror Kist’s movements.

Nearly bursting out in a hysterical fit, Kist tried his best to remain composed as he began coaching Nue, “Right, you get the idea, but you still need to be comfortable in each stance you’re going to take. It’s no problem to change them up as long as the stance has a purpose. You know?”

Dropping his hands with a look of frustration, Nue spoke, “No, I don’t.”

Lowering his guard, though not dropping it altogether, Kist took a more serious expression as he attempted to explain.

“Right, so this might take a little longer than I could have imagined. Um, think about it like this, no wasted movements.”

Rushing forward as he spoke, Kist closed the distance between the two, prompting Nue to instinctively raise his hands to guard against the blow Kist telegraphed before stopping inches away from his face.

Having bypassed Nue’s guard with little effort, Kist quickly spoke as Nue began to step back.

“Don’t move!” Shouted Kist.

Freezing the moment Kist yelled, Nue lowered his foot slowly and glared at the man before him,

“Explain.”

“I’m showing you the basics: hit and don’t be hit.” Lightly tapping Nue’s chin before stepping back, Kist continued, “Judging from our previous bout and how you reacted this time around

I’m gonna go off on a limb and say you prefer the idea of tanking damage than avoiding it.”

Stepping back as he dropped his hands, Nue’s head again tilted in confusion, “I’m not following.”

Smiling, now enjoying himself, Kist happily explained, “It’s probably because of how you use your power. That stupid as fuck side effect you inflict upon touch conditioned you to allow

yourself to be hit instead of just moving. Or you know, you’re just too slow too.”

Furrowing his brow at Kist’s words, Nue slowly nodded, “I can believe that, but how does that help me learn how to fight?”

Holding up a finger, Kist spoke through his grin, “That’s where this becomes more fun. We play to your advantage.”

“So blocking is my advantage?” Nue questioned.

“Oh god no, your body isn’t built to tank damage at all. I proved that with how much damage I could deal with, but only a few attacks while injured and unpowered.” Kist laughed. “But, luckily for you, the art of redirection and a little bit of grappling would be right up your alley.”

“Okay, explain.” Said Nue.

“Just come and try and hit me,” said Kist as he lowered himself in a defensive stance. “Showing is always better than telling.”

“Gladly!” Shouted Nue.

Rushing forward, Nue began closing the distance. With the same confident grin he’d had before,

Kist stood motionless as he was more than ready for what he thought would come.

However, what happened next was something he could have hardly anticipated.

As Nue rushed forward, he began bouncing on the tips of his toes before springing in a series of flips to force Kist to take a precautionary step back as he tried to discern what exactly he was looking at.

“I forgot you knew how to dance, to bad I haven’t told you how to stop telegraphing everything you do.” Kist jokingly remarked.

Landing on his feet before leaping into the air and rocking toward Kist, Nue threw the first of his strikes, a shin kick that cut through the air, narrowly avoiding Kist.

Not yet having finished, Nue spun around and aimed an open palm strike that grazed the left side of Kist’s cheek.

“Stop loading your strikes before you fire,” Dodging another one of Nue’s strikes as he spoke, Kist continued. “Make a path and land them…power dosen’t matter if you’re just gonna mis-”

Cut off as Nue nearly caught him with an attack from his blind side, Kist let out a nervous laugh, “You learn fast!”

Grinning as he continued to throw strike after strike, each of them narrowly missing their target, leaving scuffs and minor scratches across Kist’s face, Nue attempted a spinning elbow only to be counter at the moment he was forced to commit to the attack.

Thrown off his feet by a low kick before being slung through the air like a paper bag and forced into submission before hitting the ground, Nue let out a slight cough as his windpipe was being crushed.

“How?” Nue squeaked.

“I told you, I was injured before,” Smiling as he loosened his grip on Nue, Kist allowed him to breathe as he continued. “Though now that I think abou it, I shouldn’t have told you redirection, it’s more drawing out attacks by playing like you’ve been tagged. Not sure how to say that cleanly.”

Releasing Nue, as he finished, Kist stood next to the man as he stood to his feet.

“Wait, so even after fixing the telegraphing issue I wasn’t fast enough to even hit you?” Asked Nue.

“Not even close, and I wouldn’t say fix but definitely better, also letting you tag me got you excited enough to continue swinging. If you can get who ever your fighting to get letting blows fly like that whether they landed or not, with your expression that’s a deadly combo.” Said Kist.

Looking down at his hands, Nue took a moment, becoming lost in thought, which led to Kist mirroring him and tilting his head to show confusion.

“What, still don’t get it?” Kist asked.

Clinching his hands, Nue smiled at Kist with newfound excitement.

Furrowing his brows, Kist glared at the man with suspicion, “Somehow, that look is alot more terrifying than you being angry.”

Laughing as he dropped his hands, Nue spoke, “I understand now, but how does this relate to how I stand? I get the idea behind the movement.”

“That’s where sparring comes in,” Kist Replied. “Knowning how to move is more important than knowing a specific stance. I, for example am not limited to a single set of movements because my aurora allows me to move in ways normally not possible. And, from what I’ve seen of whatever the hell your static power is, it allows a similarly unique path you’ll have to uncover.”

“It’s background radiation.” Said Nue.

“What?” Kist asked.

“My power, it’s cosmic background radiation, or put simply, the living static of the universe. CMBR for short.” answered Nue.

Glancing at the ground, Kist thought, “Now i’m the one who’s confused.”

“Cosmic radiation?” Asked Kist as he raised his eyes to Nue.

Nodding his head in response, Nue offered no further explanation.

“With a power like that, it’s no wonder you can’t fight worth a damn.” Sneered Kist. “You one hundred percent relied on it your entire time in the academy.”

“Look, we can discuss powers when its time to go over expressions of them; right now, we’re burning time; we don’t have talking.” Said Nue.

Showing his hands in compliance, Kist stared down at Nue while shifting his weight on his heels as he spoke, “Fine, fine. If that’s the case, since you understand how to move now, all that’s left is you being able to put it to use.”

Letting a slight grin spread across his face as he lowered himself in an attempt to take a wide stance, which, though sloppy, seemed much more natural to him, Nue called out, “As much as I hate to admit it, I can’t even call it close, we both know how this will go without expressions so let’s skip the warm-up.”

Nodding his head in agreement., Kist added, “Just don’t drop the ball and disappoint.