‘Found you!’ my face twisted in a smile. Probably not the good kind of smile.

“But I must say, you’ve got quite a knack for making trouble.” She resumed her attention to the sandwich and took a bite. I really wanted one too.

“What do you mean?” I was about to do something rash, but I contained my anger. I at least could listen to her out first, right?

“Never thought you’d go against that ba*tard.” I was not expecting such words from a girl like this. And the way she said it, actually made it worse.

First of all, she seemed like the sheltered kind. Her clothes were full of frills and she looked like a kid from some rich guy in the suburbs or something. So I was surprised, to say the least.

“Me either.” I was more flustered than mad. But then again, running into those trees might have been partially my fault too. So I couldn’t just lash out at her without knowing more.

“What? You want my sandwich?” She grinned quite knowingly. I guess my intentions were a bit too clear. “You can have a bite if you want. This the least I can do for my junior.” She smiled harder. Was this the same girl who just cursed a minute ago? If anything, those fox ears made her look even foxier. “I wouldn’t mind, really.”

I was tempted. No, I was enticed.

Yawn! “Stop with the spoiling.” The voice came from my right as a guy just sat down unnoticed. Now that I looked back, there was actually enough space for someone to sit down, meaning I was that close to the girl even without noticing it. Just how much did I want her sandwich!?

“Hey, you’re the guy-”

“Yeah, you owe me one.” He didn’t look at me. The bags under his eyes were quite big. His memory worked pretty flawlessly though.

On the morning of the second day when I was in the midst of a palm apocalypse this guy had cut all them down and apparently, that made me owe him- at least according to him.

“You’re the one who’s spoiling him.” The girl next to me pouted.

‘Wait, what’s going on?’

I had no idea what was going on but even I wasn’t dense enough to understand, these two had a history with each other. There were all sorts of stares, glares, and other nonverbal exchanges between the two.

“I think I’ll head back. I’ve to practice a little.” I tried to chuckle my way out of it. Besides, I really wanted to eat something.

“Practice?” Ariel scanned my sword. “You can practice with Dan. Right, Dan?” She looked to her right, at the guy who was still seated, eyes closed.

“I’ll pass. I won’t be able to hold back and he’ll just get hurt.” The Dan guy had some sort of invisible blades, so I guess he wasn’t uttering BS. “And stop ordering me around already. I already paid you back.”

“Didn’t you cut down eighty of my trees two days ago?” Ariel smiled. I could feel the pressure in the air, that wasn’t a friendly smile.

“Fine.” The guy got up and looked at me with groggy eyes. “Don’t complain if he gets hurt.”

‘Wait, I don’t get a say in this?’

“Good luck.” The girl stood up and sat down in prayer. I was dumbfounded for a second but then a dome of trees rose up and covered the whole area, even the sun. It was dark, almost like night. Right at the ceiling, three light bulb-like fruit grew and lit up. The whole thing now looked the size of a typical lightsaber court.

“You did this just from praying?” I mean she did seem like she was in prayer.

Ariel giggled. “No silly. There were so many little ones around us.” And she stopped making sense altogether.

But now we had light and from the looks of things, people won’t bother us here. “But, what about the road? Won’t we cause problems for everyone and get their attention?”

“So what?” Ariel just smiled. I guess it didn’t matter if she inconvenienced anyone.

“Ready when you are.” Dan raised his hand like there was a sword in his hand. But there wasn’t.

If invisible blades were his thing then I had something up my sleeve too. Alpha particles: they couldn’t pierce the skin, so they were safe enough to use for perception purposes.

I unsheathed my sword and tried to focus. I still didn’t know if this sword could heat up and act like Eve’s sword but that what this spar was for. To find out.

SO I focused…. First beta, then gamma, but nothing. It didn’t even shimmer. Nothing happened. The sword just stayed normal.

“Are you going to stare at your sword all day?” Ariel yelled from the sidelines.

I guess she was right. “Alright, let’s start.” My eyes were on Dan and only Dan.

He pointed his hand towards me and a second later something flew by my cheek at blazing speeds. I touched my cheek and there was red liquid streaming down.

‘Alpha particles aren’t good enough?’

My perception skills just went through the drain. Not only was this guy fast but those swords were more than just invisible.

“He’s a national ranker you know. I’d advise going all out.” Whose side was Ariel on anyway?

So I switched to plan b. but first, what about X-rays? I switched my vision for a second and yet again, nothing… nothing other than bones and stuff. Stuff that I never wanted to see again. This was the only reason I never used this vision. I couldn’t control its intensity and I couldn’t really control much of anything about it either: and sometimes, only sometimes, it showed a lot of things that I couldn’t really not get excited about. Maybe it was because I never used it properly, but who cared about seeing people naked right? Right!?

‘Plan b it is.’

“This isn’t that dangerous but you might get burns if you get too close to me.” I started off by firing beta particles in every direction.

We were actually at about five meters worth of distance. And yet, all he did was just raise his hand and invisible blades past me by.

I didn’t know if I should have closed in the distance or just went around firing particles straight at him, aiming to irritate him and take him by surprise.

“Hesitating in the court means defeat.” Dan looked rather serious for once and thrust his hand forward like he was thrusting a sword.

In that split second my eyes registered something bending the lights and coming forward. It wasn’t that his swords were invisible but rather it was the air itself. No wonder my particles just went through it like no big deal without me noticing it.

But now that I did notice it, I didn’t really have any way to do anything about it.

Dodge! I screamed inwardly and jumped to my left. Most of the blades just crashed against the green walls causing large cut marks but one blade scraped a little bit of my pants. I wasn’t hurt but these were my new pants. Meaning, if I didn’t do something about this fight now, mom was going to do a lot more than just beating the little Helio out of me.

But if he could manipulate air like that, then getting too close might have been the better idea. And I just did that as I run full speed ahead.

“You should know I’ve already dealt with people who thought that.” Dan didn’t mind sharing his thoughts midfight.

I guess he was teaching me rather than actually sparring with me.

He was standing still and just staring at me with those baggy eyes. And just about half a meter away from him, I stopped. If I’d just moved even an inch, I’d have been cut.

“Good eyes.” He kicked me back. “But not enough experience.”

The air from my lungs exploded and I rolled on the ground. Damn, this guy was strong.

I even cut my upper lip.

‘Think!’

My perception skills were basically just useless against him and he was also very strong and not to mention he was literally protected by an invisible barrier of wind. But unfortunately for him, I had one more trick up my sleeve.

Though I did wish the bloody taste in my mouth would go away.

I focused energy in the palm of my left hand and gathered hydrogen ions on the right. I brought both bands closer and condensed everything so much that I got plasma. Technically, this was dangerous and I never attempted it in public. The last time I attempted this I’d blown up a hill or two. But this one was the size of a small ant: definitely brighter than a thousand watt light bulb though. Not self-sustaining and definitely not enough to harm the guy in front of me who was protected by all that wind.

It was as if all the light was now in my hands: and now that this got a bit more stable it got even brighter. The lights above paled in comparison and both Dan and Ariel had to cover their eyes. ‘That’s my chance.’

I always wanted to use this, but I never ended up using it because it needed three conditions. One, I had to be calm. Two, there had to be some sort of barrier, and three, the guy had to be strong enough to endure this. And now was just the perfect opportunity.

I grinned hard. “This’ll sting.” I fired it straight with a scream. It really took a lot to fire it straight.

The light moved at great speeds but definitely not even a fraction of lightspeed. It reached the wind wall and passed right through. ‘Oh boy.’ I actually hadn’t accounted for that. I thought the wind would stop it but or at least slow it down, I was wrong: very wrong.

The light expanded and even I was blinded for a second. When the dust cleared there was light everywhere, meaning the plant dome was gone.

“Are you okay!” I screamed. This was bad, very bad. I never intended for this to happen.

But as I looked carefully, I saw something where Dan was. Dan- he was actually inside a smaller and thicker dome. But the dome itself was almost burned solid. Dan walked out and some of his clothes were also burnt, some skin with it.

“What was that?” He said.

I sighed in relief. It was like my chest felt lighter and the pounding sound of my heartfelt less pound-y. “I have no idea.” I really didn’t. It was just supposed to be hot like plasma, but it wasn’t supposed to be this destructive. Or did I do my research wrong? Either way, this was a very new discovery.

And now that the dome was gone, nothing stopped the people from flocking around us and clicking pics on their Holos.

“Sorry.” I tried. If he was still alive, then there was room for apologies.

Ariel tried to smile but it warped into something weird and it seemed awfully forced. And Dan was just dazed and he looked at the distant sky as if searching for the meaning of life.

Neither of them was expecting this: honestly, I wasn’t either.

“Not! Not YOU again!” The voice came from behind me. I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Rose.

She passed me, observed everything, and glared furiously. “Detention, all three of you.” Her smile was definitely forced. But the veins on top of her forehead weren’t.

I guess there was no escaping it, this time. ‘Bye-bye, lunch.’