A pounding noise woke Mitch to screaming muscles and aching bones. The headache had faded somewhat, but the only part that didn’t hurt at all was his teeth. After sitting up with a groan that implied the futility of existence and a brief but valiant battle with the zipper of the sleeping bag, he threw open the door to the now empty bed of the box truck where he had been sleeping for the last few days only to be greeted by the cheerful face of his torturer.

He attempted to shut the door again, but Joel caught it on its way down and threw it back up with a light flick of the wrist. It had become evident during the unloading of the box truck that Joel’s physical strength far exceeded his own. He had been able to carry about eight hundred pounds consistently, while Joel was able to move the heaviest piece of equipment, a one-ton CNC lathe, to the bottom of the quarry unassisted. This strength had allowed unloading of the truck and setup of his work area in a day, rather than three or four as expected,

Mitch had spent the first couple of days of their time here exclusively working on a few projects during the day, and reading both the booklets left by the Historian and his own collection at night. “Mana Mutants” had been the most interesting, but ultimately all three of the booklets had proved to be of no immediate use. “Mana Mutants” did not talk about any kind of strategies for dealing with the creatures, it seemed foolish to use the things about jade use as anything recorded in the stone would be sent straight back to the warden, and his biggest problem was still mana capacity and not mana purity.

“Coffee is ready. We should get in at least an hour of practice before you go work on your stuff or you will feel miserable all day.” Mitch looked outside, it was still the grayish light of false dawn with the sun not even having breached the horizon and then turned back to Joel with a baleful glare before reaching for the strap again to close the door.

“Try to shut it again, and I’ll break it.”

After a moment, Mitch grunted unwillingly and clambered out of the truck. Ultimately the most convincing thing was not the empty threat, but the idea of losing daylight that could be put to good use.

The campfire that was used for cooking and evening light had been relit from the previous night's embers, and a tin of coffee was sitting on the rocks beside it. He poured himself a cup and sat with his back against a tree to enjoy. There were many struggles between the two men, in nearly any other situation they would not have worked together, but it must be admitted that Joel made a solid cuppa.

“I’ll meet you in ten minutes,” Joel said as he strode by. Mitch merely grunted.

After fifteen minutes, because fuck Joel, Mitch labored to his feet and trudged over to the area the younger man had chosen for their sessions, thoroughly regretting his choice to be educated upon how to perform Joel’s “side project.” Every step of the hell-forsaken thing instigated a brutal pain in every part of the body that never decreased. It seemed that the more proficient one became at performing it, the higher the toll it took on the performer. Only his determination to bring an end to the people behind Kanshou, and the fact that this form had drawn the attention of one of the perpetrators, kept him from halting the practice entirely.

Upon approaching the designated site, an area where the trees pulled about ten yards back from the edge of the pit, Joel could be seen practicing some regular martial arts. Mitch didn’t know much about hand to hand combat, but the younger man certainly appeared to move like an expert. His motions were smooth and practiced as well as sharp and crisp. Dull booms could be heard as each strike was completed; the noise reminiscent of distant thunder.

Deciding to watch and wait, Mitch stood to the side until the form reached its conclusion.

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“That was kind of impressive.”

“I hope so. I’ve been training since I was six.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, at first it was just normal schools back in Ohio, but when I hit fifteen, I started traveling to seminars all over the country, a couple in South America. After I turned eighteen, I started traveling internationally to train for as long a period as I could get visas for.”

“Well, I guess that’s a good thing these days.”

“It was always a good thing, but especially now,” Joel said with a hint of amusement. “We’re going to go light and easy this morning. Try to pay attention to what is happening as you perform each motion, get a feeling for what the positions do.” Without further ado, he adopted the starting position for the form.

Suppressing a groan, Mitch did the same. Despite his reluctance, he decided to do his best and follow the instructions that had been given. Closing his eyes and moving more slowly than usual, keeping the pain to a light burn, he turned his focus to the energies and what they were doing.

The first couple of times going through the form he didn’t really notice anything happening. However, when the third began, a vibration came from the energy channels within his body. It became noticeable on the very first movement but rapidly faded as soon as he stopped to evaluate it. It returned as the next move was begun, and this time he didn’t pause before the next movement and was rewarded with a slightly stronger vibration. The next series of steps also resulted in a steadily increasing wave although it felt a bit different: a G chord instead of an E. It was the same for each of the following series until he had completed a full round.

Rather than take a break per the usual pattern, he immediately returned to the first position and began a new round. This time, as though feeding on the last series, the vibration was even stronger.

Losing himself in the motions, he repeated the pattern a few more times without pausing in between, the vibration becoming stronger with each repetition. He started to notice that there was a point in each motion where the tremor would begin to fade and began transitioning to the next move at the peak of the previous. Following the lead of the waves, each position was gradually refined and took on the same clean, crisp appearance that Joel’s regular form had.

Each repetition started to increase in speed, the enhanced reflexes he had gained after Kanshou’s torture coming in to play. Every time, the vibration grew stronger. When the vibrations reached a certain point, Mitch started noticing that all of the various vortices within his channels were being shaken apart. His focus was so narrow at this point that this fact barely registered however and he continued.

After the last vortex was destroyed the vibrations suddenly became much stronger, pulsing out beyond the mana channels and into the rest of his body. It didn’t take long for the pulses to permeate his entire form whereupon they began to extend into the outside world.

Mitch began to feel the various energies near him respond to and be pulled along with the vibrations as they resonated further and further beyond his body.

----------------------------------------

Joel watched Mitch, dumbfounded.

He had noticed Mitch’s form speeding up and had stopped his own training thinking to interrupt and remind him that faster was not better, but had changed his mind when it became clear that Mitch’s expression was one of intense concentration. Before his eyes the motions of the other man grew sharper and more refined, finishing with a snap. It suddenly looked as though these movements had been practiced for years rather than days.

He would have been thoroughly impressed if it had stopped there, but it hadn’t. Pulses of energy had begun rolling out from the man every time a movement was completed. The waves of force felt almost harmonic and gained in strength with each repetition of the sequence.

But still, things had not ceased to develop. A breeze had built around Mitch that continued to gain in ferocity continuously, next loose soil and morning dew had risen from the ground and begun following him around, trailing the movements. The sunlight had thickened around him causing distortions as heat rolled through the air. Some of the water had split into the air and created a fog, and the trees and plant nearby had begun swaying in time with his steps. He was a force of nature dancing in the dawn light.

Without warning Mitch took three extra steps that Joel was not familiar with and sparks shot through everything around him, then he stopped, and with the sensation of a sigh the elements following him fell to the ground or dispersed. Mitch’s eyes had been closed the entire time, and everything had returned to normal by the time he opened them. When he caught sight of Joel a confused expression crossed his face.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

It took Joel a minute to summon a few simple words. “What did you just do?”