NOVEL FROG Chapter 9: More than Meets the Eye
Chapter 9: More than Meets the Eye
“BEEP!” The Boobot finished its countdown. It stood up straight, turning its body to face me. It threw a lazy fist at me, which I easily sidestepped even without activating my Ability. It followed up with a right hook, which I simply dodged again. Its movements were really easy to read. I aimed a kick at its midsection, and the Boobot buckled over.
“Um, it seems kind of weak. Maybe we should turn the difficulty up?” Scarlette prodded.
“Lemme try!” Jonah blurted.
He stepped in front of me and drove his knee into the Boobot just as it was getting up. It clattered to the floor, before slowly rising to its feet again. As Jonah approached however, it swung a well-aimed kick right at Jonah’s head. Fortunately, the move was slow, so Jonah was able to dodge it.
“Woah there, that was a close one! Maybe one of you girls wanna try taking it on?” he asked shyly.
Kaede shifted forward. “We can use Abilities on it right? Uh, you guys might wanna watch out. I… I can’t control it very well,” she said.
As Kaede confronted the bot, the rest of us stepped back. “Go ahead. I’ll protect the rest of them,” I said. Scarlette gave me a side-eye but didn’t say anything.
“Thanks. Here goes nothing!” Kaede aimed her palm at the Boobot. A huge bolt of plasma erupted from her palm, scattering in all directions.
“Ahh!” Mira screamed, covering her head.
I absorbed any harmless rays of plasma that were heading in our direction. I turned that excess energy into heat, getting rid of it by heating up my hands. If someone were to touch them now, they would probably burn themselves.
“You and your funny tricks,” Scarlette rolled her eyes at me. Jonah and Mira looked at me, confused.
“Uh, what just happened?” Jonah asked.
“I’ll explain later,” I said. Sooner or later the team would ask about my powers anyway, and as Scarlette had said, trust within the team was crucial for our success. I had been trying to figure out a good time to let them know how my Ability worked.
“Sorry!” Kaede cried. “Are you all okay?”
“We’re fine, carry on!” I called.
“Um, okay.” She raised her hand again and concentrated, ejecting a second bolt of plasma. This time it managed to condense itself, but the beam completely missed the Boobot. The bot closed in on her with a punch, which she barely managed to dodge.
“You..!” Kaede, now psyched up, aimed both her hands at the Boobot. A huge explosion of plasma detonated from her palms. I had to concentrate to absorb the full unexpected force of it. The Boobot flew across the room, still intact but smoking. The rest of us recoiled from the explosion. Jonah was the first to respond.
“Woah, that was wicked! I didn’t know you had that in you!” he shouted. I had to concur— I wasn’t expecting that. Now that I thought about it, we had not seen Kaede’s full offensive capabilities yet. As I hadn’t revealed mine either, it struck me as an interesting parallel.
Kaede blushed as she tied her hair up. “It’d certainly be more impressive if I could control it,” she said.
“With enough practice, you certainly could!” Scarlette cheered. She was just as hyped up as Jonah.
The Boobot, still smoking, was waddling its way back to us. They weren’t kidding when they said Abizium was pretty much esper-proof.
“Get ready!” Kaede warned. She clasped both hands together before separating them, a swirling ball of plasma forming. Right as it got to the size of an orange, she released it at the Boobot. It was a little bit slower than her previous attacks, but this time it hit the bot square on the shoulder, making it careen backwards.
Kaede retreated to us, catching her breath. I gave her a thumbs up. “That was really good,” I said.
“Come on, is that all you’re gonna say?” Scarlette demanded. “Most 2-Stars don’t even have that kind of firepower in their reserves.” She gave Kaede an encouraging pat on the shoulder, who responded with a shy nod.
“Cadel, you’re up! I wanna see your Ability” Jonah ordered.
Well, I had a better idea. “Scarlette, you go next. Don’t be afraid to go ham. In fact, use as much fire as you want,” I said.
I figured a good demonstration of my capabilities would make explaining my Ability to them easier, so I intended to obliterate the robot. For that however, I needed to absorb as much energy as possible.
I expected a bit of resistance from Scarlette, but she willingly obliged. “You got it! I trust you to make sure my fire doesn’t go everywhere. If it does, just suck it up like what you did back at the river,” she told me.
She started walking towards the Boobot before pausing. “You know, I wanna try the lethal difficulty.”
This hyped up the rest of us. However, a thought suddenly sprang up in my mind. “Hold on, what if you can’t defeat it? What was the failsafe again? The screen told us to say “manual override” in a loud voice or something right?” I asked.
Scarlette crossed her arms. “Yeah that’s what it said, but do you seriously think I can’t beat a bot that was recommended for 4-Stars?” she asked, incredulous.
The Boobot, still on autopilot, swung a haymaker that Scarlette could see coming from a century away. She ducked under it and pressed the button on its neck. It stopped moving, the lid on its back once again revealing the touch screen. Scarlette tapped on the button indicating “lethal difficulty.”
She smirked. “Let’s see what this bad boy’s got.”
The timer ticked down, while the rest of us braced. With a flash, the Boobot leapt at Scarlette. Its movement was completely different. It executed a perfect spinning back heel, cartwheeling through the air.
Scarlette was prepared though. With flames erupting from her hands and feet, she leapt back, charging a massive fireball in her right hand. With a yell, she threw it at the Boobot. However, the Boobot dived right into it like an Olympic swimmer, emerging from the other side of the fireball with its foot aimed right at her.
Scarlette was caught by surprise, and could only cross her arms in an attempt to defend herself. She must have realized that her own attack had masked her vision, providing the Boobot an opportunity to surprise her. Her arms ignited in an effort to cushion the attack. The bot made contact with her, deflecting her backwards. She landed on one knee, but otherwise looked fine.
“Ow…” she winced.
I heard my friends gasp. “You okay?” Jonah called.
“It’s noth—"
She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence, for the Boobot came barreling towards her again.
She blasted high into the air, fire ejecting from the bottom of her shoes. The bot instantly leapt up, its trajectory aimed directly at her.
But this time, Scarlette seemed to expect it. With a cry, her entire right leg exploded into flames, and she slammed her heel down onto the Boobot’s head.
As the bot fell back towards the ground, she missiled after it, smashing it into the ground with a force that made the floor shudder. She then got on top of it and released a massive, extended wave of fire from her hands. I greedily absorbed any flames that were spilling out of their fight.
Scarlette was not done yet. She started hammering blows on its head, her fists laced with fire. I could tell she was releasing pent-up days of frustration on it. I wasn’t surprised. I had felt that she had been bottling her feelings up ever since she got expelled, and she seemed like the type to let it out with aggression.
I sensed my friends growing anxious. I didn’t want anything to jeopardise our harmony at this point, so I reached out my hand in her direction, absorbing all her flames in one swoop. At the same time, I absorbed all the kinetic energy from the Boobot, rendering it motionless. Right now, I was quite literally glowing with energy.
Scarlette stopped, her eyes glancing over in my direction. She seemed mad at first, before taking a long, shaky breath and stood up, shuffling back towards us.
“Sorry, I got a bit carried away,” she said in a soft voice.
My other friends were still too stunned to speak. I decided to distract the lot of them by marching towards the Boobot, which was still lying on the ground. I then channeled all the energy in my body towards my right fist and struck it into the Boobot’s head.
“BANG!” A tremendous shockwave, more powerful than the one Scarlette put out just now, emitted from the point of impact. The whole building shook, the sound reverberating through it. It was a good thing the floor was made of Abizium, or it would’ve suffered noticeable structural damage.
The Boobot lay on the ground, its head now bearing a significant dent. It started sparking, then it stopped moving altogether. I think I broke it.
My friends were all gobsmacked, speechless. Scarlette had seemed to snap out of her daze, for she was staring at me weirdly as if I had just asked her on a date.
“Ta-da,” I motioned, giving a light bow.
Scarlette resisted the urge to slap me. “Explain,” she commanded.
I steeled myself. “To put it simply, I can kind of control energy. I can’t produce any of my own, but I can sort of steal it, I guess. Once stolen I can convert it into any other form of energy, in relation to how much I stole. For that matter, I’m a 4-Star. I hope that clarifies things,” I said.
I figured my team was a bit overloaded with new information at the moment, from Kaede’s unexpected firepower to Scarlette’s outburst and now my reveal.
Jonah came up to me and slapped my back. “I don’t know man, but you did seem more powerful than you let on! You’re such a joker!”
Scarlette’s glare was penetrating. She finally said “You say you’re a 4-Star, but is that the truth? Because what you just did… would make any 5-Star take you seriously.”
I nodded. “It was what the judges gave me at the practical assessment,” I replied.
“Did you output anything as powerful as what just happened?”
“No. I just kinda threw some stuff around with gravity, and it was just good enough to earn me a 4-Star Ranking.”
I didn’t comment that I had only used a portion of my true strength, avoiding the 5-Star Rating on purpose. Majority of the students in District 1 were 4-Stars anyway, and being a 4-Star lets you blend in easier. People would always focus on the 5-Stars, challenging them to duels and whatnot for the fun of it. I simply had not expected District 1 to reject my request for a student loan afterwards, so my 4-Star performance had gone to waste as well.
“So you’re saying you were holding back during the assessment? Why? And why are YOU in District 4 in the first place?” Scarlette pressed.
That made things complicated. I was not able to offer a reasonable explanation without hiding my true circumstances. It was a lapse of judgment on my part – I was so focused on explaining my Ability that I forgot they would be curious about why I was in District 4, and not in District 1.
I deliberated on what to say. After a few seconds, I decided to change the subject. “Honestly, I’m not that strong in the first place. In fact, I would probably lose to Scarlette in a 1 on 1,” I offered.
Scarlette’s expression changed, her face clouding over. “I think it would be a close fight,” she admitted. “I’m still not clear on the true extent of your Ability, but if you think I’m backing down from a fight, you’re dreaming. So, what’s it going to be? Private or public?”
“Let’s make it private. I would prefer not to publicly humiliate you,” I pushed.
“That’s it! As the team leader, I command all of you. We go. Now.” She was seething, her hair glowing, sparks dancing on the edges. Man was it fun to push her buttons.
Administration Notes
School: Waning Crescent Institute
Name: Daxston Gale
Gender: Male
Year: First-year
Rank: 4-Star
Division: Combat
Ability: His signature move involves him emitting superheated gas from his hands at high velocity. Power drops off significantly at range. Can burn a hole in a concrete wall if his hand touches it. Otherwise weak control over air manipulation, not strong enough to be considered an Airmaster.
