The rest of the month was dedicated fully to each trainer’s personal courses.

‘If you had one anyway.’

The lucky few who got multiple either chose one or split their time among each to approach their powers from as many angles. Kabar obviously was spoiled for choice, but had a lot to learn from each of his five fucking masters! The rest chose a favorite or only had one to learn from in the end. David chose Depthcharge, wanting to get stronger through the application of aquatic armor. Also Seth overheard that they were a friend of his mom, so it felt right. Tabby ended up choosing Paleorus, either wanting to enhance her transformations to their highest levels, or just not wanting to go back to overbearing ballet class. She still retained Malerina as a weekend coach so her skills didn’t dull.

Maya’s statuesque… statue, taught her fine control of her constructing. Mixing concrete and slathering it on your hands wasn’t good enough, so Strata taught her how to fully control her materials. Levitating them and shaping them at will. Though she never really bothered lightening her load. Zeleny thrived under Phazer Shock’s tutelage. It became pretty clear that her lasers drew visible light in from anything colorful around her. So the more vibrant the immediate area, the more damage her laser could do. It was probably why she’s so damn green, so she had a more concentrated base to work with. Under Phazer though she learned to use her lasers tactically, dazzling and disrupting as well as destroying. Jacob learned to ice sculpt from Glacial Glaz, creating solid constructs as his team needed. But in turn he crafted more direct attacks with this knowledge, ice spikes, barricades, and even a bit of armor. He also trained up his reaction time, apparently Glaz was pretty quick on the draw like a lot of defensive heroes.

Razor learned some pretty amazing knife techniques from Blade Tone, but also learned to use his creation of knives as a more refined tool. He worked at it and was able to create custom blades, even swords, as well as retain some of the metal created for limited armor use. Though it seemed kinda out of place when he first dropped it on Blade Tone. Alex learned proper stealth from Marvelous, how to track eye lines, mimic voices, and blend into the shadows most others would disregard. ‘I mean being a doppelganger is one thing, but a ninja as well.’ She also refined her copying even more, using her target’s powers more effectively. Kaz just honed his skills with his dad, though it sure felt like he didn’t really need the training. Marco, under Master Da Feng, learned to harness the air around him to scary levels. Not just straight up attacks, but limited fight, gas separation, even a bit of vacuum creation.

Cleo… learned some dangerous things from Pharaoh Shephten. The full on art of constricting enemies with bindings, the creation of more adaptive creations, and even the means to somehow dye your hair with gold. ‘Seriously, how is his fucking hair gold like that, does he shampoo with gold dust?’ At any rate, she learned to craft proper defensive and offensive constructs, as well as adding strength to the ones she already used. Ohm, for the most part, was unchanged. Under his father he barely learned anything he didn’t already know, but over time his mood seemed to soften at least. That’s all he really needed to do in the end, get his head out of his ass. He did learn to better regulate his intake though, no good losing control just because you needed a few extra joules.

Seth on the other hand, was forced to watch from the sidelines. No trainer to train him meant he had to absorb as much as he could from just watching. He did what he could when he found a spot in the schedule, but it was little more than what he already had. Watching everyone else at least felt familiar and cathartic, but it was mostly just a poorly veiled distraction from what he knew he had to do. The dread eating away at him at having to face down that thing inside him… it was better to live in ignorance. Because it at least felt like living. But still he knew. It was only a matter of time till he had to commit. He had to do this.

Week one passed with little incident, and Seth had been released from waiting for a trainer. Heading into week two he found an empty time slot and focused on keeping up with the others by training with the Garkah. He never really had the space before, or a private time slot he could use. But it was clear a few of the trainers had already signed off on sidekick patrols for their trainees, so the arena was quieter than usual. He just had to time it right so no one was in the control booth watching and none of the other training sessions were present so he could let loose.

When Seth focused, he could feel and see hardlight projectors in the arena, use them as conduits. He’d borrow a little off the top and practice various techniques with Speaker. He set up the creation of a few helpful constructs in their spotlight, things he could run data through on his own. They also helped him push his focus outward to pull energy from distance. But they stopped short on a few aspects of his power, apparently it was better for him to find out on his own.

The constructs helped though. Using them he learned to interpret various electrical signals, computerized ones anyway. Organic ones were a completely different ballgame. Using this new internal hardware, he found his way into the Hill’s file systems and found his dossier. It was practically blank, he wasn’t even sure they processed his application completely. He couldn’t edit it yet either, too risky. And he didn’t really know how to, encryption is hard to parse when you only just learn to read. But he at least confirmed it. He was getting blacklisted by Para and left to flounder. So… if he was going to get anywhere he was going to have to show he had something other than a bit of strength and a suit of armor. Show off just a little power to make things clear. He swapped his next time slot out, at least two other trainer sessions would be present. He was going to show them he wasn’t so powerless.

Seth sat in his room, waiting, focusing, dreading. The helmet of his suit held in his hands, blank eyes staring back as he played out the few possibilities in his head. If he showed too much he could get in deeper shit. It’s bad enough just having Para hate him for the Berta scenario. If he showed too little he’d be just reinforcing their ideas about him, the bullying would get bad and he’d run the risk of a meltdown if they pushed too hard. It had to be just right, within the bounds that he’s shown off before, and a little more on top to get the point across. And that meant using the whisper.

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He was still working through what the Garkah said he would have to do, take control of all that power, all that hate and anger that narrowly took control last time. The terminal chiming an alert broke him out of his spiraling thoughts. It was time for the show. He stood up, kept the helmet in one hand and grabbed up the suit in the other. He hoisted it over his back by the open collar and walked out into the periphery. A few of the other trainees milled about waiting for their trainers. Maya, David, and Jacob were hanging out in David’s room as he walked by. The glare from Maya and the fear from David impossible to ignore. But he passed them regardless, he had more pressing attitudes to check.

He reached the door of the arena, just as Para came through. Neither changed expression as they stared at each other, but Seth couldn’t help feeling his scar burn deeper into his skull. He looked away first, needing to keep what calm he had, and chose a different door. But that glare held to him, an overly attentive fear still driving Para's attitude. But at least he was out of the way now, more pressing issues driving him away. And a good bit less pressure to ruin this whole thing.

Walking out toward the south side section, there were only the two other teams training. Razor and Blade Tone were sparring, the whistling sound of Tone’s gladiuses was… rather relaxing. It was overlapped by Razor whimpering at the unending assault he was desperately blocking. The other team… just had to be fucking Kabar’s! ‘I mean… it's better if they see it. But dammit why couldn’t it be someone fucking else!?’

Seth walked without regarding either team, no sense in looking like you want the attention. But he felt their eyes on his back despite his nonchalance. He put his suit down in the middle of the sector’s training circle, turning only then to meet the glares he was receiving. Kabar was sparring with Phoenix Tech, a few bits of rainbow flame sticking to his suit as he panted his exertion. But the rest of his trainer group were milling about, all leering at him. He grimaced in return, but went back to prepping his suit.

He pulled up the helmet, reaching a hand in and uncoupling a band used to join his head movements to that of the helmet. On the surface it looked technological, circuitry written over it in copper. In reality it was just a piece of conductive metal that he could form around his head. Today though, it became a shadowboxing relay. He put it on his head and socketed the helmet back on the suit. Turning it slightly, he focused up internally. The suit lit up with internal power, arms already moving to mimic his. On the surface, he looked like he was setting up to spar his suit with a common shadowboxing program, set up to read and mimicked the user’s actions through bands similar to his. In reality, the Garkah were tethering to the suit, feeding it his movements to build the illusion.

He was going to show them that he was stronger than his suit, and that it was little more than dumb metal. Squaring up to it, he again looked into the now lit up eyes, soft blue light from the ocular sensors. But instead of some reburied fear, he felt the Garkah behind those eyes, and they felt him. He focused, listened, reached inward, severed the whisper, disseminated the power it offered. It was louder than before, clearer. But still just noise. Seth looked up and took a stance, mirrored by the suit with near perfect timing. He held his left up as a block, pulled his right in for a jab, and moved in with all his apprehension maxed out. Mirror images closing within range and finally making contact.

Seth shot his jab out, meeting the mimic’s blocking left, while the mimic did the same. The armor clanged loudly, resounded through the arena for all to hear. The plated fist rebounded off his forearm with an added tone. The first beat, to start the show. He shifted, right block, left jab. Another clang, louder. Again, left block right jab. A steady pace, back and forth. The clangs beginning to resonate, growing louder, shaking the air of the arena to make it undeniable. Again, right block left jab, like the even beat of his heart shared to the world. Then suddenly Seth broke the cycle and shifted low on his left jab. The suit ceased mimicking, instead moving to block the low jab. The suit shifted next, a high right, Seth blocked it, all the while the resonance maintained.

Seth shifted back up, swinging a right into the suit’s blocking left. The suit shifted back and threw a left, but he threw his left in kind. Both recoiled, adding to the resonance, but he was speeding up. Something taking that ringing tone like a cadence to harmonize with. Dropping low, he shifting around the suit and struck at the knee. The suit moved to block, but he moved high and struck forearm. He kept the resonance, the rhythm, but outpaced the suit. And it was starting to get even louder. Like his bones were carrying that sound and taking it deeper. He smacked it in the side before it could react, circled it and struck at its other knee. Crumpled whatever guard it could muster. But soon he felt it… the anger seeping in, the scar burning. A guard was snapped away. He fought it. He swung a left across the helmet, turning it on its mount. He gritted his teeth, he couldn’t fight it. The Garkah were there in those softly glowing eyes, but he couldn’t help feel something boil with that harmony. His body flashed forward, a right low but pointed up. It slammed an uppercut into the helmet’s chin, shooting it off the collar and into the air. And all at once the resonance stopped, Seth stopped.

The headless suit slumped off its tension and fell to its knees. Seth snapped back, he overdid it, again. ‘Shit!!’ He panted for even breath as he heard the helmet slam back down behind him. He turned to look, finding a deep sigh as he saw it wasn’t broken. That was enough, that had to be.

He released the whisper, let the power slip away and dissipate. He put a hand on his suit, it was still warm from the power used to move it, very warm. Grabbing it up, he moved toward the helmet. It was almost at the wall of the arena. So, it was probably better to take a break and try to work through why this keeps happening. He scooped up the helmet as he heaved the suit against the wall, sitting back as well, still breathing heavy. He wasn’t strong enough to hold it back, to stop it influencing him. And it was getting stronger. He held his head in his hands, trying to calm himself, trying to block out the rest of the arena, but it wasn’t enough. The glares were just getting harder to ignore. He looked over, metal plated head beckoning a little too much. He took up the helmet, staring back into those dead eyes. And the empty space they offered. Dusting it off, he put it on, snapping the band on his head back in place and shutting the world out. The gel layer tightening and muffling everything. And the half dead view screen staying blank and dark. It worked, he couldn’t hear the whispers of the trainers, or the noise from the city, or even the static of the whisper inside. It was quiet again. Peaceful. Enough to…