Singled out (solo)

Acun was tired of training. The announcement that the entire ‘Goldilocks’ project was suspended until further training was required. Agents. More specifically, children were dying in the dozens, all agents except a few, non-bred, operatives were fledglings as far as their powers go. The idea was to use these few agents as examples, a training leader to help the children “mature.”

But it was intense. These agents were ones who survived hollow attack on their own for years, and were battle-worn veterans, and they fought on home turf. The current trainer was standing on a platform in the middle of a pool. There were a dozen other students, all similar ages or older, all in swimwear, ready to enter the pool for the exercise, each of the trainee’s was given a number, one through thirteen. Acun was thirteen, unlucky in some circles, but she would be able to see every students success, and analyze what happened.

There were numerous padded weapons on a rack before the bridge to the platform, which seemed to be a large, flat balloon, floating atop the water. The instructor stood, rock solid on the platform, a padded katana in her hand. Acun was awaiting instructor’s instructions, but they were not forthcoming, for the next 15 minutes, the children stood deathly still, the chill from the pool already sinking into their bones, but then stood, at the edge of the pool, ready for their instruction. The instructor finally moved, leaning heavily on the left foot, taking only one step forward.

Her voice, harsh, like someone who has smoked for too long, echo’ed in the pool, “The objective is to knock me into the pool, without yourself getting wet. Number one, Begin!”

The instructor didn’t have long to wait, the boy, without missing a step, bounded from the pool onto the platform, and charged the instructor, his fists charged with a yellow cackling energy… Lightning. The instructor ignored him to the last possible moment, swinging the padded sword at the boy’s side, simultaneously stepping out of his way. The boy veered to avoid the sword, turning on a dime when the swing was completed, trying to charge back at the instructor. Then he took the sword between the eyes, knocking him off balance, and into the water.

The sword landed in the pool, and electrocuted the pool, shocking the boy inside. “Get back on the line.”

The rest of the line moved on, but no one tried to use their powers after that, using the foam weapons to try knock the instructor off of the platform, each receiving their own shock as they entered the water. The 11th trainee to go, an Asian girl with long black hair, mixed it up, she tried to use her own abilities with water to get the instructor wet. The instructor breezed stopped the water, using one hand, the water hovering just about a foot away from the instructor when the veteran used pulled down with her free hand, and water erupted from the pool, snagging the girls hair and pulling her backward into the pool.

Acun’s eyes widened… The instructor’s power was whatever the opponent used on her. How unique, although dangerous. The twelfth boy to go was downed in much the same manner, this time water sweeping his legs out from under him, his face impacting on the platform before being dragged off by a stream of water.

Acun formed a knife and threw it at the instructor, who used the same technique, forming a crystal shield to deflect the knife. The instructor formed a stick out of Acun’s crystal, and advanced on her… Acun responded by forming another knife, The instructor didn’t give any room to move sideways, she backed Acun to the corner of the platform, where there wasn’t any room for Acun to maneuver,

Acun lashed out with her knife, but was the blow was blocked with the shield, before being bludgeoned off of the platform. The water hit Acun fast and cold, a small cut above her eye led there to be a brown streak behind her. She got out of the pool, to find all of the other trainee’s marching out of the room, some snickers echo’ing through the pool.

“Number Thirteen, Again.”

Acun got herself out of the pool, and jumped to the platform. She was abit wobbly, but tried to regain her balance. The instructor gave her space to do so, and Acun steadied herself and took a step away from the edge. Acun knew a knife wouldn’t cut it, literally and figuratively, so she formed a pole, similar to the teachers. Acun assumed a fencing stance, the stick leading. “Begin!” The instructor had no reason to play offense, it was up to Acun to do that, and she led with a jab, which was quickly turned away by the shield. The next strike was made by the instructor, a slash intended to batter Acun, which Acun managed to parry. Acun replied with a slash, which broke upon the shield, and Acun was open to attack so she dropped, letting her legs collapse, and the incoming jab passed over her head. Acun was then simply shoved off of the platform as she tried to stand back up.

The water hit again, the momentary disorientation, followed by dropping the stick to swim, made Acun frustrated… She swam back to the pool, and the Instructor said, “Again”. Acun was bitter, and formed a knife again, throwing it at the balloon part of the platform. The instructor’s eyes widened, and the balloon was punctured, and the platform sank quickly, but the instructor remained, standing on air… And Acun was shocked by it…

“Little one, you have a lot to learn, you’re dismissed for the day.”

--Tommorow—

The sparring ground was a kendo arena, but it was deadly silent. The instructor was standing, in a Japanese kimono, holding a sword for kendo, a helmet in her hands as well. Acun was dressed similarly, the little girl had no helmet though or sword though… “Hello little Acun, my name is Tami, and I have chosen you for my elite training.” Tami paused, sort of getting awkward, “Look, you don’t have to be formal around me, err, at ease? You’re so much different from the others, you’re powers aren’t elemental, but rather creative, a sandbox of sorts, and that gives you unlimited potential, whether you can conjure up a suit of armor, or a massive sword, shield, or maybe even something more complex, like a firearm. You have the potential to do all of these things, I know, because I did all of these things while borrowing your powers.” Tami smiled, taking an obviously relaxed pose, while Acun tried to loosen up like Tami, but she just felt weird, and resumed standing at attention.

So, while your greatest strength is your sandbox, that’s also your greatest weakness, you lack the training to wield all of the weapons you can create. You seem to be comfortable with the knife, but that isn’t really appropriate for most encounters, try conjouring a sword, more specifically, a katana.

Acun concentrated, the crystal forming in her hands, shaping into the katana that hung from the wall behind Tami, a fairly plain, but completely crystal katana rest in Acun’s hands after a few minutes, razor sharp too, unlike the one on the wall.

“Good, but that’s too long to use in a fight, for good measure, you should probably keep that one around with you if you go on missions.” Tami remarked, “We’ll practice making weapons, different kinds, until you’re familiar with a vast array of them, hopefully, we can have you churning out weapons on command when you need them. Now just set that one over there, as I said, it’s yours to keep for missions.” Tami pointed to a sword rack on the wall, and Acun deposited the sword there and returned to the spot where she was standing before…

Tami conjured up a crystal kendo stick, and gave it to Acun, it was abit shorter than the standard one, but it was hollow, and weighed the same as the wooden ones. “Now, you need to learn how to use that Katana” and suddenly, the friendly face that was Tami smacked Acun across the head, sending Acun to the floor of the Dojo. Acun’s injury from yesterday opened up, the blood rolling down around her eye and down her cheek. “The best way to learn to fight is to learn to survive” and Tami was on Acun, smashing the floor boards while Acun rolled to her feet. The same attack, this time Acun was ready, blocking the sword with her own, letting the strike slide upward and away from Acun’s head.

Tami came at Acun with a flurry of attacks, most of which hit, leaving a distinct sting on her arms or legs, but they never hit Acun’s head, she was guarding her head carefully. But the press from Tami was leaving Acun without much room to work with, and they neared the edge of the room, Acun braced her sword with her arm, the forearm resting against the “blade”, and she caught the next strike on the blade, pushing off of it toward Tami, and spun away from the corner.

“Good! But you’re never going to win by playing defense!” Tami said, the same cynical tone as before, resounding through the dojo, right before another assault was launched, slashes bouncing off of Acun’s blade as Acun was forced backward again, the strikes that hit leaving more than a sting, but now hurt.

Acun tried to spin away again, only to take a hit to the face, sending her airborne and crashing to the wooden floor. Acun’s nose was bloodied, the red liquid rolling down her face onto the floor, with each breath sending more to the ground. Acun regained her feet, only to be under assault again, the attacks seemed endless, the torrent of attacks sending her back, Acun tried to analyze, but there wasn’t time, a perfect series of strikes everytime, leaving Acun with no mobility, and no time to counter attack. Acun took a blow to the ribs, the soreness set in instantly, and it became just that much harder to breath.


Acun blocked another, and another, taking a step back, sidestep, block, parry, block, each attack coming in at rapid fire, and suddenly a feint, that Acun fell for, the instructor struck hard, trying to take Acun’s head off.

Acun rolled forward away from the strike, turning to face another strike from the instructor, the blow breaking through the crystalline sword that Acun was wielding, a flash of light and flames licked both Tami and Acun, and Acun flew, from both the force of the blow and the explosion, and slid across the dojo floor, her sword sliding across to the wall…

Acun feebly got back up, struggling to stand, sweat dripped off her brow, blood off her chin, she was had bruises from the neck down, and a black eye swelling up on her face. She looked abused, and Tami was flawless. “I was fighting at the level of an average shinigami, or death god. They are picked apart by their black robes and use of katana’s. Tommorow, we’ll fight at a beginner’s level, and work your way up until you can fight me on equal footing, Dismissed.”