“I’m surprised no one was using this room,” I said, entering the familiar and large training area, Rebecca following close behind. She seemed much more at ease when she was away from my apartment. My voice echoed off the walls and I got a bit of vertigo from how high the ceiling was.
“Lucky day. What were you going to work on?” Rebecca started doing some stretches to loosen up, keeping her eyes on me. If I knew any good stretches and hadn’t felt so self-conscious with her looking at me, I would have done the same. Maybe I should have been more embarrassed that I knew fewer warmup stretches than a lady from the Civil War era.
“My shield strength. It’s the best thing I can make right now.” I formed a Shimmer-Shield in front of me. Usually, I’d just put one with a moderate amount of strength up, but this time I put more into it. Instead of just a shimmer in the air, this one formed into an object I could both see and feel. It was purple-pink and rectangular in shape, but the corners looked like they’d been shaved down. I moved out of the way so Rebecca could get a look. “Can you see this?”
“I can.” She stopped her stretching and hesitantly placed a hand on it, like I had such poor control over my power that it would explode into a million pointy shards. “You finally made one visible.”
“I put some more into this one. It’s weird, even my strongest ones weren’t visible before.” I placed my hand on it too, wondering what it felt like. I expected something cold and harsh, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn it felt warm and smooth, like glass in the sun. I could have taken a long nap on the thing. “I’ve been practicing in my room. Small things, but still a little bit of practice. I can’t believe this one came to me so easily.”
“Well, you need to keep doing that.” Rebecca pulled her hand back and went back to her stretches. I could feel her eyes right back on me as I continued to examine my shield.
Since I didn’t have anyone to attack my shield for me, I wanted to try a method that would let me do it myself. That was another reason why I wanted Rebecca there. Since I was going to be attacking it, if I wasn’t careful, I could be spending another few days in the hospital. With the looming threat of McLeod, being unconscious for more than twenty-four hours was not an option.
Ever since I saw Braden create those lance-like things from that shadow orb, I was trying to match it. I could make an orb in my hands, and...that was about as far as I got with the comparison. I couldn’t get it to shoot out beams like his. After remembering that his shadow warrior looked more like a reforming gas or liquid when damaged, I was sure that it was because the bones that made up our powers were just fundamentally different, even if we could pull similar tricks out of our hats. My power might just be too hard, literally, for me to easily do what he did. That didn’t mean I couldn’t learn anything from what he did.
Instead of trying to make lance-like attacks from an orb in my hand, I just made a spear. In my head, I pictured something majestic and regal looking. A large, intricate blade on the end of a sturdy polearm, maybe with a fur tassel at the end. It was something that would have even given someone like McLeod pause on the battlefield. Instead, I got something that was a polearm and a small, bladed end that was barely thicker than the rest. It looked more like a javelin, but since I was going to be throwing it, maybe that was for the best. An elaborate weapon could wait if I decided to create one to fight with.
Shimmer-Javelin was too messy in my head, so I opted to call it Shimmer-Spear, no matter what weapon it resembled in reality. My power, my naming, with some naming credit going to Rebecca. I was slightly embarrassed giving names like that to my creations, yet at the same time, it was kind of fun. I just hoped that Rebecca would stick to her name and not leave me out to dry. If I had to publicly announce myself as Shimmer to a nefarious villain, I was not going to handle her jumping in with, “I’m Rebecca!” No way.
I took the Shimmer-Spear in my and to get a feel for the weight. It was almost light as air in my hand when I’d been bracing for something much heavier. It had the same smooth, warm glassy texture as the shield did. I wasn’t sure if everything I made was that light, or if it was just the weapon I held. If it was everything, then I couldn’t believe that something that light killed Eric so easily. Then again, I was pretty sure bullets weren’t exactly heavy.
With the spear in my grasp, I shrugged, and just threw it forward. Boy, if there was one physical action in my life I could take back, it would be that one. My throw sucked and I was instantly crossed off any baseball scout’s list. It sailed wide of the shield and its side clattered off the wall. How the hell did I not even get it to throw mostly straight? I turned around to try and save face with Rebecca, but she was pretending like she didn’t see it. When I kept staring at her, she couldn’t hold it and she burst out in laughter.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh. That was awful.” She had to sit down to try and control her laughing. She started gasping and wheezing, throwing an arm across her midsection. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be mean, but...”
“Well, at least one of us is getting some fun out of it.” I smirked and ignored the slight blush I felt. The sound of her laughing was way better than any embarrassment I was feeling.
I broke down the Shimmer-Spear that lay against the wall and reformed it in my hand. Though my face was bright red, I wasn’t too bent out of shape about the whole thing. It was pretty funny, and to be perfectly honest, the completely expected result. Seriously, what was I doing trying to throw a javelin with my noodle arms? Plus, how sweet Rebecca’s laughing sounded on my ears made it more than worth it. I also knew that I wouldn’t be throwing those most of the time. They were still controlled by my mind, after all.
I let go of the spear and willed it to float in the air. I looked directly at the center of my shield and sent the spear toward that spot. The bladed tip embedded itself into the shield cleanly. There were no fractures in it like when Alex had punched it. The damage barely registered in the back of my head. I took that as a sign that I was getting stronger and better with my power, which was a great feeling. Since it was all connected to my mind, all I had to do was visualize where I wanted my spear to go, and it went there. I wasn’t sure how it worked, Maybe some kind of weird telepathy? I didn’t care too much about the nuts and bolts of it. All I had to do was aim in spirit to hit my target.
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“Why didn’t you just do that in the first place?” Rebecca asked, her voice now deep and masculine. That gave me a bit of a start, but I remembered she was there to train as well, so changing her vocals made sense. It was almost like Alex was talking right behind me.
“I wanted to see how it would be to throw it.” I shrugged and formed another spear, keeping the one I already tossed still in the shield. Next was to see how many I could have out at one time. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to throw these for real unless I really need to. My arms are about as strong and stable as the legs of a newborn giraffe, so it’ll be a last resort.”
I sent the spear forward, this time with more force behind it. Like the first one, it embedded itself smoothly in the shield, albeit farther in by a couple inches. I repeated that process three more times, getting better with my target visualization and the spear’s travel speed. I had a small fear that I’d lose control of the spear mid-flight. That fear never amounted to much as I never lost control. I felt fine with all the damage done to the shield and all the weapons summoned, but I still sat down to take a small breather. After the first hospital trip I had from overdoing it, I wasn’t in the mood to rush toward a second.
I watched Rebecca do some shadowboxing training. She threw out fast jabs, kicks, and some weird holds that I couldn’t tell exactly what they were without a person to test them on. I wasn’t a proper judge, but all her movements seemed quick and efficient. She was able to keep going without a break, or really breaking a sweat, despite the fact she was wearing a sweater and jeans. It only put me a little bit to shame.
After a bit, she noticed me watching her. “If you’re just going to stare, come help me.” She gave me a quick wink and waved me over.
I was hesitant about getting punched or kicked. I wasn’t some macho tough guy who was eager to see if a girl’s punch could really hurt. Still, I made my way to her side. She did have a thin layer of sweat on her forehead, though it looked like she could keep going for another hour without any trouble. She scanned my body up and down before placing her hand horizontally against the top of her forehead. She then drifted her hand perfectly across to my body, where it met the base of my throat.
“This is something I wanted to try on someone my height, but it should work on you.” She left only a couple inches between us.
“Try what?” I asked nervously. Rebecca took off her sweater to reveal a white tank top that showed off her lean muscles and solid shoulders.
Instead of explaining, she showed me. Rebecca stepped to the left side of my body, wrapped her right arm around my neck, forcing me down a bit, and held my right arm out and high with her left hand. Her right foot was planted near my own, and the result made my body stretched out in an uncomfortable way where I didn't have a whole lot of leverage to use to my advantage. I tensed up, not sure if I was supposed to be doing anything to help, like try to fight out. She made a humming noise and I imagined that she looked confused.
“I’m trying to do one of the most basic judo throws I’ve seen. I’m still not sure how it works.” I could hear her better, so she must have turned to face my head. “With your free hand, see how much you can grab or try to move me.”
I did as instructed. No matter how hard I tried, I could only feel her waist or hip, and the most I could do to get any leverage was grab a small handful of her tank. If I was in any real danger, I wasn’t sure how much I would have been able to do. Granted, I didn’t know what I would have been doing, since I wasn’t exactly a creep who just went around grabbing at the waists and hips of strong women.
“That’s all you can do?” she asked.
I used a bit more strength to see if I could turn the tables, and all I managed to do was grab a handful of what was definitely her butt. After that, I just let my body go limp and gave up. I didn't need to cop a second feel to know I was at my limit. “Sorry about that.”
“No worries,” she said with a snort. I could feel her trying to hold back some laughter. “This is supposed to help use my body to block your body, and then I do this.”
Rebecca bent down, pulled my outstretched arm forward, and wrenched my head along with it. In a second, I was flipped over her body, and I landed hard on my back. When I hit the cold, hard ground, I got the feeling most of those kinds of throws were learned on softer padding to avoid injuries. I felt my ribs ache and my tailbone was tingling. She rolled through with it, sloppy and inexperienced, though I imagined it could have been a whole lot worse for her first attempt at it. Her face ended up right above mine, the tips of our noses gently brushing. With my aching ribs, and nothing else, I couldn’t breathe for a few moments.
“I probably should have done that on a padded floor,” she said, stating the obvious. My back and lungs would have had a few choice words for her if they could talk. She sat down next to me and looked at me with worry. “Are you okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t think it’d be that hard.”
“I’m good, boss.” It came out raspy. I struggled to sit up and she helped to support me. The wind wasn’t quite knocked out of me all the way, but it did hurt with every breath I took. “That’d be good if you did it really quick.”
“Want to try it again?”
“No, not really,” I admitted, “but I will. How many more of these throws do you have?”
She had seven more “basic” throws she wanted to try. Each one involved me hitting my ribs, lower back, or both. Each one made it harder to breathe until I was gasping for breath and tapping out on the last one. How all those damn throws didn’t have me paralyzed in a wheelchair was beyond any reasoning I could come up with. I was almost scared to talk about how lucky I felt. If I spoke it into reality, what if I did get seriously injured from one of her tosses?
“Really, are you okay?” Rebecca was on her knees next to my head. I just gave a thumbs up in reply. She pulled out a white cloth and wiped away some sweat that formed on my forehead. “Don’t worry, that’s the last one I’ll do.”
My entire torso ached, and it wasn’t just my forehead that was covered in sweat. The room wasn’t spinning in my vision, though not for a lack of trying. I focused on the shield and spears I had created. I was glad they were still standing. Or floating. Whatever, I was glad just they were still existing after the small beating I took. My head didn’t feel any worse for keeping them up while getting tossed around like a rag doll.
I shakily stood up and nearly fell over. Rebecca quickly propped herself up under my right arm, and I half expected another toss. Instead, she just looked at me like I was being dumb.
“I think we should call it. How many of those spears have you made at one time before?” She adjusted herself to support my weight better. She gave me a pat on my chest that told me she thought I did a great job. Shame I was covered in gross sweat.
“That’s the most I’ve done.” It came out more as a wheeze than human speech and my face went red again. Of course, it had to make my voice sound higher too.
“Then that’s good progress, so don’t kill yourself trying to do more.” She looked guilty about the whole thing. “How about I treat you to a dinner for kicking your butt like that?”
“Hey, I let you do most of those throws,” I said, slowly regaining my ability to breathe fully. I broke down the shield and spears, now confident in my ability to produce what I’d need to be useful in a fight.
“Most?”
“Most,” I confirmed, trying to smile.
Rebecca had to practically drag me out of the training room, but after that, she did make good on her promise and treated me to a wonderful dinner later that evening. Solid superpower progress and a great dinner. What more could a guy ask for?