Wednesday Summer Quarter 2016 Week 3
I watched Lionel spar with Champ in our training facility. Lionel hurled Champ to the ground, and trapped him in a submission, wrenching the man’s arm. Champ somehow escaped and countered with a weak punch.
“Here for some training?” Ruiqi sat next to me.
“Just watching them practice. What about you, Ruiqi?” I asked.
“Just call me Kaze. It feels weird you’re still calling me by my family name,” Ruiqi directed.
“Right, so Kaze, you here to train with them too?” I questioned.
“Not quite. I’ve been busy with summer classes. I only have a morning class but had some work to finish up at school,” Kaze revealed.
“Only one summer class?” I asked.
“It’s more for experience than a grade,” Kaze explained.
“Want to spar with me?” I suggested.
“Sure, I was hoping to do it eventually,” she agreed.
Champ circled around to Lionel’s backside. Lionel backed up, somersaulting and kicked Yuka’s boyfriend in the head. Champ rolled around on the ground in pain. The feline hero user leaped into the air, landing a standing shooting star press.
“Lionel has increased his range of aerial and air moves,” Kaze observed, watching him bound off a nearby wall and slam into Champ.
Champ was pretty beat up, his breathing ragged and movements sluggish. Lionel paused and spoke with Champ before proceeding. He stopped their sparring session five minutes later and pointed at the locker room. Yuka’s boyfriend was defiant but followed him.
“You’re free to use the field. Champ might have a concussion so gotta get it checked out right away,” Lionel revealed as he walked past us.
Kaze jumped out of the bleacher seats and onto the field.
“Let’s get this started! I wish Long was here but I’ll have my chance when he’s ready to come back.” Kaze stretched her arms.
My necklace shook as the artificial dimension formed around us. There wasn’t a lot of footage on her since the archives focused on the heroes under Tess. What could I expect?
Mock Battle: Yuki v Kaze
I maintained a good distance, hoping to scout her and come up with a strategy. Kaze didn’t move and smiled at me. A gentle breeze struck my face. I touched my right cheek and felt a sharp sensation in my hand. I constructed a protective barrier but Kaze’s twisters destroyed it.
Kaze dashed towards me. Fine, two can play that game. I accelerated and veered away from her using En’s electrical powers. However, she cornered me and tossed me into a nearby wall. Multiple shots of wind elemental magic struck me immediately after.
“How’s it feel?” she blocked my weak punch.
“It hurts as expected. I can see why Kyoi trains with you. You’re strong.” I dashed at her, releasing small balls of electrical discharge.
My attack never hit the hero and was bounced back at me instead. A billowing energy field surrounded Kaze. I tried getting close but couldn’t even approach Kaze. Strong winds repelled me and I fell to my knees.
“Surprised, Yuki? It’s one of my greatest defensive tactics.” Kaze grinned.
Four medium sized tornadoes swirled around me. I tried escaping with portals but they were decimated by her strong winds. The four tornadoes converged upon me and I became dizzy after being spit out thirty seconds later.
Was there a way for me to lower the intensity of her winds? Wait, that just might work. Kaze fired off attacks at me from a distance. I avoided most of them and charged at her, shooting off electrical repellents which shifted the direction of her winds. It cleared a path but her protective wind was still an issue. A charge attack was strong enough to break through but it would have to strike a weak point.
“Can you detect the weakest point of magic around Kaze?” I consulted my magical tome.
A point near her waist became highlighted. What attack was suitable? I went through my available choices and decided on Kisai’s trademark compression magic.
“Make it count,” I muttered to myself.
Kaze didn’t move, waiting for my attack. She was definitely testing me. Fine, time to show you what I’m capable of. I haven’t been sitting back all these months and not learning anything. Before firing my compressed magic shot, I encased it in a dud outer layer. Kaze’s wind shield should shred the dud and expose my actual attack. I charged up the compressed shot with En’s power and curved my attack.
My shot veered away from the intended spot. Her wind shield activated and destroyed my dummy outer layer. Bursts of magic struck the weak spots in Kaze’s protective field. I dashed in with Mirror’s Rend saw a smile on Kaze’s face.
“I’ve read reports about your weapon. But what if it’s not magic?” Kaze grinned as a strong blast of wind blew me back.
She converted the residual magic from her destroyed wind field into a natural world attack. Mirror’s Rend only absorbed magical attacks so it couldn’t nullify her wind. Kaze leaped over to me and trapped me in her twisters.
Battle End
“That’s enough for today. Now that you’ve seen what I can do, you can beat me next time.” Kaze shut down the artificial dimension and assisted me back up to my feet.
“Kaze, you’re pretty amazing,” I said, drinking a bottle of water.
“You need more experience. Feng would have beat you in thirty seconds,” Kaze said, wiping off her sweat.
Lionel assisted a dazed Champ out of the locker room.
“Is it serious?” I questioned.
“I couldn’t tell from any of the tests so I’m taking him to the hospital.” Lionel shook his head.
“You want me to tell his girlfriend?” I asked.
“I appreciate that. You’ve gotten to know Champ pretty well, huh?” the feline user replied.
“I’ve worked with him a couple of times,” I replied.
“Here’s the hospital address if his girlfriend wants to visit,” Lionel relayed.
“I’ll make up a good excuse,” I said.
“Isn’t that thoughtful of him? Yuki, are you heading home now?” Kaze watched the two men depart.
“That was the plan,” I responded.
“Enjoy your free time. Lilith and the others are making good progress. Hopefully, everyone will be back at full strength by the end of summer,” Kaze said.
Thursday Summer Quarter 2016 Week 3
“Mirei, what are you scheming?” I stared at Ichizen’s little sister.
“Don’t be so suspicious, Yuki. I haven’t seen you in awhile so of course I want to hang out.” Mirei sipped her cup of tea.
“Fine, I have a few questions to ask you anyways,” I said.
“My powers aren’t active so there’s nothing new to learn about me,” Mirei responded.
“I’m interested in those little scenarios you showed me,” I clarified.
“I’ll tell you more but I want to hear some stories about my brother,” Mirei negotiated.
“I guess that’s fair,” I agreed.
“It might be easier if I show you. Here.” Mirei handed me several cloth bookmarks. “I did a few tests on alternative pasts and futures with different parameters. There are the results.”
“You’re telling me to use these and figure something out?” I pointed at her bookmarks.
“Pretty much. Like I said, it’s hard to explain,” Mirei confirmed.
“How did your grimoire become so powerful?” I questioned.
“The masked woman provided me valuable data,” Mirei answered. “Anything you else you want to know? I can’t explain the nuances of my grimoire or powers. You’re better off consulting the Gatekeeper for those kinds of things.”
“Know anything about the Traveler?” I asked.
“The Traveler? Not anything you don’t already know,” she replied.
Yeah, this was going nowhere. Mirei was definitely withholding information. I was better off asking Tess or have Zhuyu pull old files from their archives.
“Now it’s your turn.” Mirei picked up a butter cookie.
“Anything in particular?” I questioned.
“You decide, after all, you were his best friend. I could ask Dad or Mom but you definitely got to see more interesting side of him,” Mirei said.
I decided on a story about Ichizen getting caught going to a wrestling show. Mirei was engaged during my entire story which was a relief. When I finished, Mirei begged me to tell another one.
“Thanks, Yuki. I know you have pictures so I’ll stop by and check them out next time.” Mirei headed towards the front door.
“Are you taking summer classes? I forgot to ask earlier,” I asked.
“Only two classes. Today was my day off so I thought it’d be nice to talk to you. Take your time with the bookmarks. It can be taxing on your brain,” Mirei warned.
I closed the door and pondered how sincere Mirei really was. Were these bookmarks just a way to influence me?
Friday Summer Quarter 2016 Week 3
“Zhuyu, you home right now?” I spun around in my office chair.
“What do you need?” Zhuyu replied.
“I’m looking for something and wanted to see if it was in the records,” I explained.
“Sure, tell me what it is. You’ll have to come over and pick it up though,” the man answered.
“I’ll come over in around an hour. Does that work?” I responded.
“Yeah,” Zhuyu agreed.
I pulled into the curb outside of his house and reached for my phone. However, his front door was already open and Zhuyu exited, carrying a cardboard box.
“If you’re missing anything, contact Kuan and he’ll give you access to a digital copy.” The zero vector user placed the box in my backseat.
“Thanks, I really appreciate it. How’s everything going for you?” I gauged his expression, hoping to get more details on his absence.
“Not bad. I can’t be there in person but should be able to brief you on missions and help out,” Zhuyu replied.
“Thanks, I’ll see you whenever you’re back,” I said and drove off.
I unpacked all the stuff inside. There were stacks of yellow, manila folders, all labeled with a handwritten header and description. Was this all done by Zhuyu? I spent five hours reading through everything and only got through half of it. This was tough but the sticky notes and commentary, all handwritten by Zhuyu, in a thick binder really helped. How much effort did he put into this?
“Studying?” Mom walked into my room.
Oh s***, I hoped she wouldn’t examine the papers sprawled across my desk.
“Something like that. Is dinner ready?” I questioned.
“Almost. You have a scary look on your face. I’ll back off.” Mom chuckled and left.
I heaved a sigh of relief. I should be more careful since Mom was so nosy.
“I’ll try to finish up tomorrow.” I sighed and headed downstairs.
Saturday Summer Quarter 2016 Week 3
All the heroes were linked through prophecies. Tess covered it in her short presentation before but it was good to have a refresher. Upon discovering a connection to the dimension, all the heroes were linked to prophets within that dimension. The prophet was their handler, guiding them so they complete the prophecy.
With the arrival of the Traveler, dimensions warped and started merging with one another. This resulted in the heroes teaming up. The background on how Tess obtained her powers was left out. She did receive her powers before everyone else though. Kaze and Kyoi were the second longest tenured heroes after her.
The prophets weren’t perfect with their strange quirks and personalities. The assigned prophecies weren’t always favorable to the dimension involved either. Now it made sense why Kyoi and Shan kept mentioning how the heroes weren’t righteous or necessarily doing the right thing.
“How do Lilith and the others fit into this entire picture?” I turned the page.
From my recollection, their main goal was to uphold the old chivalrous knight’s code and honor. But that was difficult if the prophecies contradicted those ideals. I continued reading and discovered something surprising.
“They formed a group right away?” I inspected the attached picture
Lilith, Yui, Kaze, Ksi, and Lionel were original members. Their initial leader was ranked in the top five back then. Maybe this was why the current group Lilith led wasn’t meshing well in terms of teamwork. There wasn’t any turnover on Tess’ side.
I stopped reading, deciding that was enough for now. It was a lot to take in but I understood the animosity between the two groups. Lilith and the other original four were part of a tight knit group. They spent a lot of time together, fighting to uphold their standards and beliefs. In contrast, the heroes I knew often worked independently of each other.
This original team was formed within a dimension I wasn’t familiar with. Why hadn’t Tess brought it up? Something must have happened. I would ask her about it later. I wrote on a sticky note and stuck it to a small board hanging on my wall.
I headed downstairs, surprised to see Dad in the living room. Normally on the weekends, he was in the garage working on projects. What was he watching? Apparently, a documentary about the Arctic.
“Oh, Yuki, didn’t see you there. Want to join me?” he asked.
“No thanks. I can never sit through shows like these. Is Yukie in the garage?” I asked.
“She’s been building something for her job so I just let her have the entire space to use. I thought it was time to relax with a good documentary,” Dad answered.
“Is Mom home?” I asked.
“I think she went somewhere. I wasn’t paying attention though,” Dad admitted.
“I’ll be outside,” I informed him and left the house.
I walked on the trail near my house and recalled Ichaival mentioning it last time. He was pretty dedicated to exercising. I heard from Shan that Ichaival wasn’t in shape when he started off as a hero but turned it around later in couple of months.
“Hey Yuki, talking a walk?” the false archer greeted me.
His sunglasses were perched on top of his head and a white towel hung out from his right pocket. Was it even that sunny today? I saw clouds lining the sky.
“Yeah, getting some fresh air after studying,” I answered.
“It was sunny when I left my house but now it’s like this. I should go home before it starts raining,” Ichaival decided.
“That’s a good idea,” I agreed.
“Yuki, have you seen Long lately?” Ichaival questioned, moving his feet in place.
“Yeah, I stopped by his house Friday to pick up some stuff from him,” I replied, watching a car whiz by us.
“Just wanted to see what he was doing,” Ichaival said.
“Why don’t you just go check up on him yourself?” I was confused about why he asked me.
“I don’t know, Long seems busy so I didn’t want to bother him. I’m gonna get going now, Yuki. See ya.” Ichaival jogged off into the distance.
Why was I the go-to person to ask about Zhuyu? You could just ask Kyoi. Out of everyone besides En, she was the closest to the math major. But, she would just give him roundabout answers. This was a strange dynamic, never thought I would become someone the heroes came to as a trusted source.
I walked around for twenty minutes before returning home. When I opened the front door, raindrops struck the pavement. Just on time!
“Back already, Yuki?” Dad gave a sideways glance.
“Yeah, it started raining.” I pointed at the window.
“Still watching that documentary?” Mom walked in from the back.
“What have you been up to?” Dad asked.
“Don’t you remember? You might as well admit you weren’t listening earlier.” Mom grinned.
“About that….yeah, I wasn’t paying attention. So where did you go?” Dad didn’t even try coming up with an excuse.
“Just some shopping but I also stopped by a certain someone’s house,” Mom answered.
I had a pretty good idea about who Mom was referring to. It was probably Grandma, Dad’s mother. He was busy with work lately so he hadn’t visited her in at least a month. And Grandma was really strict about stuff like that.
