Alexia's body pressed up against the ring's rope, falling under the pressure of her body weight before it repelled her off towards Keith. This little match of theirs was going on for at least a minute now. Even though Keith was far more significant than Alexia, he still felt uneasy about hitting her. Still, it was this uneasiness Alexia had the advantage to. Off to the side, one of the attendants mimicked a jabbing maneuver behind Keith's back. It was only a minute into the training, and already Alexia's heart was pounding, tension fueling her path while being overshadowed by Keith. She did, however, take note of this attendant doing this quickly, placing her left foot in front and her right foot back in a perfect angle among each other. Alexia lowered her right arm towards her waist and raised her left towards her chest. A mere chuckle left Keith's voice as he saw her take that neat little stance.
"You learn quickly, Girl. Did you learn that from watching te-" Before Keith could even finish his sentence, Alexia brought out her right arm, her fist balled up, nearly landing a hit on Keith's left stomach. Indeed it surprised him, yet he defended himself instead only before a sudden strike hit him on his right hip. It didn't hurt him at all, but the feeling of contact was relatively rapid; it all happened within five seconds. Keith stepped back, still on guard, watching Alexia, his eyes solely on her left hand. He felt a sense of danger if he didn't step back. Keith wasn't a fool to mess with singularity users, especially when training one. By chance, if Alexia did happen to use her singularity, he'd stop the training.
"If you even dare, try to use your powers. We're ending this here and now. I know many you users commonly can control, fire, water, and whatever of the sorts. But, I don't need any type of tricks like that to win." Keith correspondingly lowered his arms to Alexia. In all honesty, if she hit a little higher, she would have hit a pressure point — a cause for concern.
"What? I'm not using my powers. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't." Alexia spoke the truth, but another thought ran across her mind knowing that she couldn't due to the suppressor.
"Relax, Keith. We know the young lass has you scared!" One of the attendants shouted from the back. A couple of laughs coming from most of the men in the room.
"Haha! Quite right, you are! Though she lacks a lot of things." Keith replied.
"What do I lack?" Alexia responded.
"Confidence! You don't seem like a very confident person. Well, we will need to change that."
"So what if I'm not confident enough?"
"Confidence can be the key to victory. Even in the ring, having confidence in yourself can give you a boost. But, above all else. If you always smile, it unnerves your opponents. Mentally it can get into their heads when in a fight, but don't do it too much to make yourself seem crazy." Keith's words had a bit of truth with a sweet spice of lies filtered into it.
Alexia thought about it for a moment since it didn't seem Keith would attack her just yet. Confidence was indeed key. In general, she wasn't always the most exotic person, and often she came off as bland or was overshadowed by her peers. It was still in her interest to listen to this heavyweight champion even if his methods came off as weird.
Mustering up her courage, all she could do was smile at Keith before it shifted into a smirk. He indeed took note of this, nodding to himself before a hearty chuckle came from him.
"Yes, Just like that. Now you have to keep it going, not just in the fights. But, you know. Everyday life. Confidence in what you do. Anywho, let's continue." Keith informed them before preparing to continue Alexia's training. It would go about as expected for her to fight after that, with him ending in her losing upon falling over from Keith's punches. They eventually changed it up to mimic a wrestling match in which she lost from being restrained to the ground by Keith. The attendants at the gym were gladly counting down the clock as well. Overall, her afternoon was chaotic and full of sweat, pain, and a lot of pain.
Three hours would pass by, with the afternoon finally kicking into overdrive. The gym started to become packed with all sorts of people looking to work-out. Reynolds had left moments after Alexia started her training with Keith. Luckily, Alexia didn't notice at all since, at the moment, she'd been punching one of the gym's punching bags with Keith watching her punches and movements. Although her impacts were very light, she was quick in terms of learning and pace.
"The little miss learns fast, doesn't she?" One of the muscular men commented next to Keith.
"Yeah, faster than some of you. The next generation sure is something. But, I have to ask, Alexia." Keith's eyes now fixated solely on her.
"Why is someone like you even thinking about fighting in those types of tournaments? Not every user I know likes those things. They're basically modern-day gladiator matches." He kept his voice down a bit so that the other attendants of his gym wouldn't hear him.
"For the money, of course! It's quite a large prize if we win. That and I'm pretty sure the machines we link up to can't kill us." Or so she thought about, at the very least — an interesting perspective of how humanity saw these singularity tournaments.
Keith gave a hearty laugh before looking around his gym for Reynolds, who wasn't around at all.
"The money, huh? You'll become a greedy woman with that mindset." He replied.
"Hey, I'm just being true to myself, that's all." Alexia smiled, displaying at least some confidence in her decision on this.
"Ha! Well, hopefully, you'll find something other than money that keeps your attention. Mind if I ask what your power is?" His curiosity was increasing. After he asked, Alexia stopped all her punches and walked over to grab a water bottle.
Taking the cap off, she merely closed her eyes, concentrating hard, allowing the water to flow upward from the bottle. Her suppressor was still on, but she was always proficient in controlling water since she was young. The element of water was her most proficient power up until her ability to create stars was apparent.
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As for all the other elements on the periodic table, she had difficulty controlling or using such ingredients to her advantage. Keith wasn't shocked seeing the water rise, nor did the other gym attendants as they merely clapped upon seeing. As he said before, the most common singularity controlled water, fire, and sometimes earth. But, over times, more unique singularities have appeared that have shifted the balance of power. America has had its fair share of unique users within its country in more recent times than before. Of course, they weren't the only ones; China, Japan, France, and in particular, Italy have had unique users appear over the past three decades. These nations weren't the only ones but stood out the most in recent times.
"So, water? I'll tell ya it's gonna be tough. Last I heard, our state's school champions were all special in terms of those abilities. But, hey. More power to ya. I wonder if they'll broadcast your match. If you can't beat them, then just beat 'em the ole' fashion way!" Keith gave his support to Alexia while displaying punches in the air.
"Thank you. I'll do my best." She replied.
The gym doors would open up once more as Keith expected more people to enter, but instead, Reynolds returned.
"Hey, hey, Alexi~. Time to go. Final destination before I drop you off at home." Reynolds walked over to them.
"Oh? Leaving me so soon? No matter, Just remember you're free to visit anytime to train. Keep that body in shape, Girl. You're still growing." Keith finally would allow Reynolds to take her. He fulfilled his duty to at least teach her the basics.
"We're leaving already?" She was a bit surprised before noticing that time had flown by rather quickly outside — one of the gym attendants passing her a towel to wipe the sweat from her face.
"Yeah, we need to go meet our dealer," Reynolds told her, pointing towards the door.
"D-Dealer?" Since when were they meeting a dealer?
"Yeah, our weapons deal… Well, that's a bad way of putting it, but come along." Reynolds walked out of the gym and got into his van.
"Let's just hurry this up, Teach. I want to shower. Also, Bye, everyone." She waved goodbye to Keith and the others in the gym before exiting and getting into the van. They would drive off, heading towards the outskirts of the town, but not too far off.
Eventually, they would arrive at an old commercial building that had just been renovated and acquired by new owners. The van parked in the building's old parking lot in the background, the sound of metal clanging against each other could be heard. Almost like a hammer being slammed against a tin pan.
Reynolds got out and proceeded around the commercial building with Alexia following. The smell in the air was filled with rust, metal, and a burning sensation of heat. That wasn't the only thing the building had to offer behind it. There was a large field full of run-down and rusted old cars. The city's junkyard was nearby, as well.
Alexia could see a few men within the old cars' ruins pulling another old vehicle into it. Reynolds turned towards the smithing area built like a garage in the back of the commercial building. One of the men was currently smithing a sword; a camera was recording its crafting process. He was young, quite muscular, looking to be in his late 20's with short messy black hair and a tattoo of a phoenix going down his left arm. His eyes looked up to see Reynolds as he would look over to a nearby worker.
"Hey, Handle this for me, will ya?" A deep yet firm voice rang out from him. An assistant of his moved over to him and took over the task he was working on. Whatever was going on, it seemed far less critical than what Reynolds had to say.
Before Reynolds could speak, the man raised his voice.
"So, is this the girl?" His eyes were sharp and stern, clearly looking at Alexia.
"Hey, Caden. Yeah, This is Alexia. Alexia. Meet Caden Riley! Owner of Caden's Craft or smith." Reynolds informed.
"It's simply called 'Steel Wings.' But, we specialize in more than just smithing. Nice to meet you, Young Star." He held out his hands for Alexia to shake.
"N-Nice to meet you too. Also, young star?" She shook his hands; however, she could not let go because Caden was now checking the palm of her hand.
"Caden, here will be your weapons specialist today. I asked if he could make you some special fighting gloves. Heat resistant, of course." Reynolds took a step back and noticed Caden was feeling up Alexia's hand, which made her feel slightly weirded out.
"Hm… Yes, Young star. A good name for a child like yourself. Especially with that singularity of yours." Caden let go of her hand and showed his suppressor, which hid on his right ankle.
"Follow me." Placing his hands within his pockets, he walked towards a nearby door. Walking through, they'd enter another compartment of the building. Along the walls, there were custom-built masks sorted all around. A few hand-crafted weapons were located there as well. Caden sat down at a nearby desk and pulled out another seat.
"Sit there," Caden told Alexia before pulling out a pencil and a sheet of paper. His way of working was a bit odd but unique. Alexia sat in the seat after a few seconds. Caden took her right hand and began to check it out again. While doing this, he'd start to draw her hand on the sheet of paper here and there, taking out measuring tools to measure her. He'd do the same for her left hand as well.
"Hm… Alright, I can make them. But, at best, I can get them done before next month. It depends on the material you ask for to get here in time."
"It will be here. I paid in advance, so don't worry." Reynolds replied.
"So tell me, Young star. Got a design in mind you want for your gloves?" Caden looked to Alexia, letting go of her hand before going back to the drawing.
"You keep calling me that. So just do a simple star in the middle. Or on top. Make the color blue also?" She wasn't sure how to describe it, but she'd rather keep the design simple. Caden was merely agreeing and thinking up a few design styles for what she said. Simple was often best.
"Okay. Well, is that all you want on it?" He asked.
"I'm sure. Let's just keep it simple, please." Alexia continued. Caden merely smiled and nodded, finishing up a few sketches of the glove.
"By the way, Caden, I have to talk with you about something again. Alexia, mind waiting outside? I'll be with you in just a moment." Reynolds patted Alexia's shoulder.
"Sure, I don't mind. You've been going through a whole lot for the team and me. Thanks." With that, Alexia took a step outside and headed towards the van. When she arrived at the van close by, she heard the whispers of a woman.
To her surprise, a tall woman with flowing red hair and crimson eyes was approaching her.
"Greetings, Child. Good day~. Is this facility open?" The woman's voice rang out like a melody; it was sweet and enticing.
Alexia couldn't shake off having a sense of familiarity with this woman that just appeared. The feeling in the back of her mind was lingering but never coming out. Alexia also took note of all the cars in the parking lot; All were there before they arrived. Assuming this woman walked all the way here, she must have had a lot of stamina.
"Yes, It's open." Alexia leaned up against the van. Time was slow, yet the heat felt stagnant. All of the things that made the earth alive slowed down except for Alexia and the red woman.
"By the way, you wouldn't happen to be a student of Starlight Academy, would you?" The red woman asked.
"Uh… I am, should I be concerned with you asking?"
"I've heard a lot of good things about your school recently. Reynolds has a fortune in the making, I see." The woman's eyes were staring directly at Alexia, never moving away from her as she spoke.
"You know, Teach?"
"Haha! How rude of me, Yes, I do know him. I've known him for a long time. Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me Abbey." An innocent smile now presented itself on the woman's face.
With an air of familiarity and a vague sense of time, Alexia encountered an unusual woman.