Contributing Author: Miles English
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Trey raised his fists to Master Pill-Ah, but the old man made no move to acknowledge him. His teacher simply raised an eyebrow and waited, hands behind his back.
Without another moment of hesitation, Trey launched himself into a series of relentless punches and deadly kicks. Pill-Ah dodged each strike like wind through a canyon–but that was only to be expected. The difference between a mere disciple, like Trey, and a master, like Pill-AH, was as great as the distance between the heavens and the earth. No… it was greater than that. It would be easier for the heavens and the earth to switch places than for Trey to land a single blow against Elder Ghostface Pill-Ah.
Still, wasn’t the purpose of cultivation to defy the heavens? Just because failure was certain didn't mean Trey wouldn't try.
He thrilled in the power in his limbs as he threw futile punches at his master. Kicks that could shatter stone were easily evaded. His training had made him stronger, faster, more resistant to injury. He wasn’t close to being able to truly challenge his master, but he was making progress.
After a while, Pill-Ah held up his hand, indicating that the exercise was over. Trey immediately stopped and stood in the ready position. Sweat poured down his neck, but his gaze was serene as a spring morning. His posture was neither weak nor overbearing.
They were alone in the massive sparring hall, despite the fact that two dozen reinforced sparring circles dotted the room. The huge area, strong stone in slight disrepair, spoke of ancient strength. It made Trey feel young and small. Pill-Ah, on the other hand, seemed to fill the space with just his presence.
"Junior, your growth has been acceptable," said Pill-Ah.
Trey kowtowed, "Your words are too much. This one is too unworthy of Master's great wisdom!"
"Nonsense. Your effort has been adequate. Truly adequate."
"If Master says this, then who is a mere disciple to disagree? Master's words are Master's words. Does this mean I'm ready for the third hell?"
"Not just yet," said Pill-Ah.
The door to the training hall opened, and Vice Roid entered along with his... entourage. His huge arms were spread wide, holding the two jade beauties, “…which is when I realized that friendship was the real MVP.”
The girls sighed. One of them wiped a tear from her eye. "Truly Junior Brother's wisdom is boundless!"
Trey's complexion was serene, though on the inside he burned with irritation. Vice Roid's rise through the ranks of cultivation was meteoric. When it took Trey three days to learn the Breaths of Thunder technique, Vice learned the same in three hours. Not to mention the much more... pleasurable training that Vice took part in. Not all of it was dual cultivation. Some of his time was spent adapting to the advanced forms of triple or, rarely, quadruple cultivation. He also spent time letting the Senior Sisters massage his muscles in what they called "Qi Oscillation Training", or relaxing on a reclining chair with a facial of beneficial natural treasures. The muscular man also found six hours a day to keep lifting weights, which he claimed was "barely sufficient for maintenance.“ Every now and then, Trey and Vice traded pointers in the training hall. Today was one of those days.
"Senior Brother Trey!" Vice said cheerily.
Trey shoved down his annoyance and smiled back. Even though the big goon was clearly living out some teenager’s pipe-dream harem fantasy, he just couldn't hate Vice. He was a great guy.
"Why do you call him Senior Brother? Clearly he's a toad lusting for swan flesh!" said one of the jade beauties.
Vice shook his head, smiling at Trey in apology. "Sorry about them. They have eyes, but cannot see Mount Tai."
"And apologies to you, Elder Pill-Ah. I hope we are not interrupting."
Pill-Ah gave a benevolent smile. "How could you be interrupting? There's more than enough room. Please, don't let this senior get in your way. Now, Trey. I believe it's time to work on increasing your symbiosis with your great ancestor spirits. You have performed the Artful Concentration Technique: First Step and Artful Concentration Technique: Second Step. But what of the other spirits? Surely it is unwise to neglect them."
Artful Concentration Technique is what Pill-Ah had taken to calling Geneva's ACT powers. He insisted that a combat technique needed a proper name. Indeed, Master's wisdom was most profound!
"You put me in your eyes too much!" said Trey. "This disciple has no idea how to call upon their power!"
"I can help with that!" said a manly voice. The manliest voice, and it was coming from Trey's mouth but it wasn't Trey.
Connor!
"Hello, young man! Good to see you again."
Truly, the river runs east for 30 years, the river runs west for 30 years.
"Wow, you've certainly gone native, haven't you, son?"
Trey froze internally. How long had he been talking like that?
I’m… not sure. It's kind of fun to just throw yourself into the culture, you know?
"I'm not complaining. Good for you! I think this is your power at work. Adaptability. You'll fit in anywhere."
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"And who stands in my presence now, I wonder?" Pill-Ah mused.
Connor glared at Pill-Ah, pinning him with his intent. The power of his aura filled the room, suppressing all with a Monarch's overbearing might. "Junior, you dare?"
Wow, now who's going native?
"Like you said. It's fun!" Connor replied back in a mental voice only Trey could hear.
Pill-Ah paled and then stepped back. "Wh--"
"The way that you've trained our benefactor has been deemed... acceptable. You will be allowed to continue. But make no mistake: that doesn't give you the right to speak in my presence," said Connor.
The force of his aura would have torn Trey to pieces at the molecular level, if that very same power wasn't also holding him together. Vice Roid and the two jade beauties were face flat on the floor. They’d be dead, too, if Connor wasn't restraining himself for their sake.
Pill-Ah had no such protection.
"Kowtow before me a hundred times and I'll think about letting you off," said Connor.
The sound of Pill-Ah's forehead hitting the floor echoed throughout the cavernous sparring hall.
"Good. Ha HA! Excellent. Now Trey, I hope you don't mind me coming..."
Not at all!
"I do enjoy showing off once in a while, but to tell you the truth, it's not even my turn. The only reason I'm here is because I'm the only one who can reliably open a line into this realm.
“I graduated top of my class at the academy, you know. Perfect score in Esoteric Near-Realities 1260: Mathematics of Dimensional Paradox. That's one of the classes that Geneva flunked out of, come to think of it. Ask her about it sometime. It’s an interesting story. Regardless, don't mind me. I'm just about done... and... there. You should be able to hear the voices of the other aphids now. They will be able to coach you on using their synchronization abilities. Connor, signing off."
As quickly as it came, Connor's tyrannical presence fled the room, leaving Trey gasping.
Waaaaait! Connor, come back! You can have my turn! You can... he's gone. Whelp. I guess you're stuck with me.
"Ryzm?" asked Trey. "Good to see you again!"
Wow you... actually mean that. Huh.
Pill-Ah raised his head. "He's gone."
Trey grimaced. "I apologize for him. Connor has a habit of–"
"No, no. It's fine. This elder is the one that must apologize. Still, I need to take a moment. My meridians have been thrown out of alignment. The last time they were in such a state of disarray, I’d fought for seven days and seven nights against a horde of winged demonic beaver-snakes. You should take this time to... do whatever you think best. Yes." Pill-Ah disappeared in a surge of Qi.
Vice and the jade beauties were the next to pull themselves off the floor. They stood, shakily, unsteady on their feet.
"Truly I have eyes but cannot see Mount Tai," said one of the jade beauties. She pulled a sword out of her dimensional space and held it to her throat. "This Ash Li will repent with her death and contemplate her actions in hell!"
"Whoa!" said Trey. "There's no need for that. A friend of Vice is a friend of mine. Right?"
Vice nodded, pale-faced.
"Truly your words are magnificent!" Ash Li jumped up and hugged Vice around the neck. "Friendship is the real MVP!"
As much as Connor had scared them, the group was awfully quick to start ignoring Trey again. They moved to the far, far side of the arena and started on a series of friendly bouts.
That suited Trey just fine. Pill-Ah had wanted him to work on his synchronization abilities, and now with Ryzm he had a way to move forward .
Don't get too excited. I have no idea where to even begin. I wish we had started with someone smarter. Geneva would be great at this!
"Geneva is already done. They put some kind of robot in my brain to give me access to their abilities," said Trey.
Of course. Why didn't I think of that?
"Maybe start with the minor damage resistance," said Trey.
I don't think I can really separate them. Speed and damage resistance are the same power, somehow. I'll be honest with you, I don't really know how it works. I didn't think I'd ever NEED to know! I'm just me! But now I seem to be getting the root pull all the time. I'm sorry.
"Don't be sorry. Look, I'm glad it's you. We seemed to grow our synchronization really quickly compared to the others."
Yeah, that's just because we both think we're losers. For the record, I don't think you're a loser.
"I don't think you're a loser either, Ryzm. Give me something to work with. What does it feel like to use your powers?"
It's like... ok. It's like you drank six cups of coffee and now you're buzzing. Take away the stomach ache that would give you, and the diarrhea, and just leave that energy. Now, you're in an elevator with some really annoying people and you have to hold still, but you just want to get out of there and the air is stuffy and they keep staring at you. Now the doors are opening...
It feels like that.
"Ok..." said Trey. He tried to fix that mental image in his mind. Nothing happened. He closed his eyes, picturing the scene in his mind. He tried to summon that feeling of impatience, of wanting to get away. He tensed his muscles.
Hey, hey that's something! Except, it's not so much a hrrrr feeling. It's more like haaaaaa.
Trey tried to be more haaaaa--
No, you lost it. Start over.
Trey started over. He went through it again and again, practicing all sorts of things. He tried starting at different poses. He actually found a closet the size of an elevator room and had Vice hold the doors closed and then slowly open them. He tried tensing his muscles, and moving his Qi around in his dantian. Nothing seemed to help.
Tensing his muscles in just the right way felt like it was close, but Ryzm couldn't explain why it didn't do anything.
That's it! That's exactly the right shade of haaaaaa. I don't know why its not working. You should be super fast right now!
Was he even trying the right thing? When he'd used Ryzm's power the first time, it hadn't felt buzzy or frustrating at all. He'd felt free. That was the first time he'd really used a superpower himself, without an aphid guiding his limbs. He'd felt fresh and strong. Dare he say... competent? Useful? The sky had seemed so blue, and the air fresh, even though both of those things must've been choked by the New City smog like always.
He held that emotion in his heart while tensing his muscles in just the right way. Something connected.
He took a step forward... and landed fifteen feet away on the other side of the sparring circle.
No way. No way! That was awesome Trey! You just blink-stepped! I don't even know how to do that. Do it again!
Trey tensed his muscles, thought about freedom and boom, blinked back to the other side of the sparring circle. It wasn't a fluke.
Ability unlocked: Blink Step
He smiled.
Woops, I guess I'm done. Hey, listen, I know I'm down on myself, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up. I promise that next time I get pulled, I'll know something about my power.
"I believe in you, Ryzm," said Trey.
I know. That's the weird part.