Friday night and Ana was beyond nervous.
She and Megumi had spent the past three weeks training and honing Ana's power, and it was all leading up to tonight. Ana was once again in the gym under Megumi's apartment, the two of them sparring one final time and drafting out their plan for the night. The two of them were taking a break, sitting on the cold metal bench in between one of the many machines throughout the facility.
"I'll be on the corner, near that bakery by the park- you know the one right?" Megumi asked.
"That's so outside the public view though.." Ana murmured. "We'd get like, one or two people rallied up outside, and judging by all the times I've been by that area, nobody over there really knows how to use a phone." Megumi huffed. "You're right.." She muttered irritably.
Ana tilted her head. "Are you nervous?" Megumi's hair was sticking to her sweaty face, and for once her expression was readable to the average person.
"Aren't you?" Megumi countered.
Ana let out a long breath. "Of course.." She murmured. "But- I'm also- weirdly excited… Like, yeah this whole thing is crazy, and reckless, and I might make a fool out of myself while simultaneously putting a target on my head but-" Ana drew in another deep breath before breaking out into a wide smile. "I'm excited! If I play my cards right I'll be like a beacon of hope for the city!" Ana concluded, throwing up her arms to further emphasize her excitement.
Megumi scoffed. "Let's hope so. The- beacon of hope thing, not so much the other stuff…"
Ana peered at Megumi curiously. "You seem kind of off, not so much like a nervous off." Ana pointed out. Megumi bristled as her expression twisted into one Ana was unable to pinpoint. "It doesn't matter." Megumi said, leaning forward and harshly shaking her head.
She gripped the sides of the bench she and Ana were sitting on before standing back up again.
"What's important is we do this right." Megumi pushed forward. "And you're right, we need to do this in a more crowded area. Like downtown." Ana nodded. "Kadence street, that's a few blocks down from the diner I work at and it's literally always crowded, I'm determined people sleep there." Ana told her.
Megumi nodded, but asked curiously, "What's down there?"
Ana shrugged. "Clubs, bars, convenience stores… a couple of cafes.." Megumi leveled her with a blank stare. "So it's an area you know pretty well then." Ana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, surprised you don't know about it though, it's pretty popular." "I don't really care." Megumi said flatly.
Ana huffed out something that sounded a lot like "figures", but Megumi didn't ask her to clarify.
Instead she glanced at the door for a moments, then back at Ana attentively. "Wasn't your friend supposed to be here?" She asked. Ana took a swig of the water bottle she was keeping under the bench. "She started interning at a hospital last week," Ana said through slightly gritted teeth, Megumi noted, "Said if I was really serious about this whole hero thing, she would need to get some more hands-on medical experience.
Megumi snorted.
"Smart." Ana glared up at her. Megumi held up both of her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, it comes in handy to have someone who can patch you up in a bit with little to no questions asked. You have no idea how hard it is to avoid meddling doctors once you get more active."
Ana hummed, kicking her feet slightly.
"So here's the deal," Megumi said, after a few moments of silence. "I'll go to Kadence at around seven- that a good time where there's a lot of people?" Ana nodded, Megumi gave a stiff nod in return. "I'll cause a panic for a few minutes then you come in, announce yourself as a hero in the most dorky faith installing fashion you can muster, I'm sure you'll manage that part just fine-" Ana pouted, "-And we'll exchange blows for a bit so everyone can see your power and get a bit of your personality. You'll freak out Marget from a distance and get a bit of attention." Megumi concluded, Ana nodding along.
"And what'll you do after?" Ana asked.
"I'll use the inevitable applause you get to slip away, and I'll let you know when the safest time for us to meet again is."
Ana felt slightly unsettled after that comment. "What do you mean the 'safest time for us to meet again'? What's going to happen to you?" Ana asked concerned. Megumi shifted uncomfortably. "There's no use hiding it from you," She sighed. "And I'm sure you've thought about it enough- or at least Tiffany has." Megumi took in another breath. "The other villains are obviously going to come after you, so you need to be careful not to leave any breadcrumbs behind you- and I mean any. They'll find you, but not as quickly as I can find them." Ana shifted slightly.
Of course she thought about the villains coming after her, and she didn't think she was anywhere near prepared to take them on. She was confident with Megumi, because of course she would go easy on her, this was all a stunt.
This was all a stunt..
"Hey- you alright? You look like you just swallowed a lemon?" Megumi asked.
Ana shook her head, not wanting to spoil their plans with her bubbling insecurities, neither of them needed that right now.
"Listen, if you're worried about the others coming after you, trust me, it's nothing personal- not to you at least- you'd have a bit of time, I'm stronger than them, so naturally they'd be a little apprehensive to take you on right away, however some of them are more headstrong than they are intelligent so…" Megumi sighed again, something about her tired expression made Ana think there was something else she wasn't telling her.
Megumi glanced at her expression, caving immediately.
"The others…" Megumi rubbed her hand roughly over her face which made Ana wonder just how deep this web of frustration went. "When you're dealing with a group of brainwashed losers on a power trip.. the topic of who's really worthy of being the almighty Zalic's second is as frequent of an argument as you can imagine." Megumi spat sarcastically. "Some of them don't think I deserve it, I'm not 'thankful enough' that a psychopath fucked up my life. So after our stunt some of them might try to get cocky, might go after you in an attempt to prove to Zalic that I'm weak and I should be replaced. None of them have what I do though.." Megumi finished quietly, her head ducking a bit.
"And what's that?" Ana questioned.
Megumi's expression switched awkwardly before it finally settled on a soft smile.
"I have you." Megumi shrugged.
Ana smiled back at her, but something in Ana's gut told her that wasn't the truth.. the smile on Megumi's face didn't quite reach her eyes..
"Let's go one final round before your debut, it's only five." Megumi broke off the silence. Ana nodded wordlessly, summoning her rings and pushing her gut feeling to the back of her mind. She didn't have time for this, there was too much at stake here and Ana needed all the help she could get.
Once Megumi went back to her spot in the gym, she gave Ana a short nod which was all Ana needed to let loose.
She was much more comfortable with her power now, launching over five rings in just a few swift movements, completely numb to the heat as she summoned more and more rings, launching them at all different angles and directions. Ana felt a major jab of satisfaction as she saw Megumi begin to sweat and even stumble for a mere second as she tried to throw off Ana's rings, which, due to Ana's increased training, was becoming more and more and more difficult for Megumi as time went on.
Megumi had told her some time after their earlier sessions that it wasn't so much the heat that bothered her, as she had plenty of experience battling with Trina and her lighting, rather it was the difficulty of keeping track over the amount of rings, Megumi had even told Ana her power was more difficult to deal with than Trina's because unlike her lightning, Ana's rings bounced back and kept coming like boomerangs until they were destroyed (which was very difficult, even for Ana) or until Ana called them off or forgot about one or two of them.
Though Ana was improving, Megumi was still far more experienced than her, and sent a large gust of wind sending Ana flying backwards, rolling on the ground as she tried to get stable footing.
"What did I tell you about mobility?!" Megumi shouted.
Ana huffed but got up anyway, her purple vision making certain things in the gym blend into the background. As she focused her vision more on Megumi, she noted that the longer she focused, the darker and more blurry the background became. Ana would have to explore this more later.
Ana charged at Megumi, sending more and more rings spiraling and ricocheting off the floor and spinning all along the walls of the gym, searing some of the banners and posters that were along the walls. As Ana's heart rate picked up, the rings began to spin along the walls faster, leaving scorched trails behind them as they spun, like they were building up energy and waiting for a signal to release.
Ana weaved and dodged Megumi's blasts, now chasing her around the gym at this point.
Ana and Megumi had recently raised the stakes of their training by making the end goal that Ana needed to immobilize Megumi and get a small clip that was hanging from the bottom of her shirt. So far Ana's managed to get the clip from Megumi around five times now, however she has yet to immobilize her.
That didn't stop Ana's determination though.
Ana's heart pounded in her ears. She glanced at the rings on the walls, noticing that all the rings she was blasting off were going to the wall, as if they were drawn there by some sort of magnet. Ana got an idea, faltering her wild goose chase with Megumi to observe the walls.
The rings were whirring out of control, and Ana was afraid for a brief moment that they would cause a fire.
She reached out a hand to one of the rings, thinking with all the willpower that she could muster, the ring come back to her. She heard a low whine, and glanced up to see one of the rings wobbling and eventually shooting towards her at blazing speed.
The rings were so hot from circling the room that the speed of flying towards Ana and the gust of wind Megumi had sent to her caused it to start on fire, something that made Ana's eyes widen and falter slightly more.
She dodged the ring, letting it go flying to the other side of the gym, suddenly panicking when she remembered it was on fire.
She summoned the ring back to her, ignoring the flame as it came speeding back to her. She figured if she was able to handle the heat of the rings normally, then she would surely be able to handle fire. Ana held her hand out to the ring, which soared violently onto her arm while she ran and jerked her off course. Ana spun around and launched the angry ring at Megumi, who faltered at the sight of the flaming ring that was hurdling towards her and picking up more speed.
'I want to win!' Ana thought to herself, a burning sensation stronger than that of any of her rings flaring through her entire body as she summoned more and more of the angry rings, launching them all in different angles, the heat of the furious rings making the gym like that of a sauna.
Ana did something with her hands, she wasn't sure what but she really needed to learn how to do it again, she held her hands out in front of her and spread her fingers wide, which caused all the rings to temporarily stall until Ana launched them all at Megumi again.
Megumi's gaze hardened as she stared, slightly breathless at the rings, before summoning a massive twister, catching all the rings in one fellow swoop. Ana, who was panting hard at this point, felt slightly discouraged, before getting one final idea. She was able to regain control of one of the rings in the whirlwind and send it flying at Megumi.
Ana heard a yelp and saw the twister dissipate, her rings all falling to the floor with a clatter, still ablaze.
Ana only registered what she had done a moment after, and quickly ran over to Megumi to make sure she was okay. Megumi laid on the ground, propped up on one arm, rubbing the back of her head and looking at her now exposed stomach.
The pounding in Ana's ears was ten times more intense than earlier, an aura of panic surrounding her as she peered down at the large burn on Megumi's stomach.
"Don't get too worked up over it, I'm okay." Megumi groaned, standing up slowly. "I've dealt with worse; I'll live." Megumi reassured her.
Megumi stood up with a slight wince, walking over to the bench she and Ana were sitting on earlier to down some of her own water. Ana put her hands together, dissipating the rings before she looked up the rest of the gym, wincing at the damage.
There were dark scorch marks all along the walls, the banners and posters that had been on the walls earlier were in smoldering remains, and the paint on the walls was peeling off in some areas, some sections with large air pockets underneath. Not to mention the temperature of the gym was now noting short of just under two hundred degrees.
Ana stood up, her throat dry and parched, staggering over to the bench for her own water. She and Megumi sat in silence for a moment, taking some time to catch their breath and steady their breathing
"I'm impressed by you." Megumi told her at last. Ana gave her a bashful smile. "Thanks?" She chuckled, "But what for?" Megumi wiped her.
"There have been plenty of people who have tried to be heroes before, big nerds with big talk about all the things they'd do to Zalic when they caught her, but none of them have even gotten close. Half of them catch sight of a villain and run away. The other half don't ever take their plans outside reddit."
Ana chuckled, shaking her head and taking another sip of her water.
"Oh come on you know I'm right," Megumi said punching Ana lightly on the shoulder. "You've actually put the effort in. You trained, got a dorky costume, everything." Ana rolled her eyes. "I had a little help from my power though." Ana said sarcastically. "Not everybody has that."
Megumi shrugged.
"It's relatively easy to find the amplifiers, and all those losers online said they knew where some were. Majority of those jerkoffs even claimed that they had one. So, like I said, you're the only one putting effort in, and you've actually made some huge improvements with your power, especially that stuff earlier with the rings. What was that?" Megumi asked her.
Ana flushed under all the praise.
"I have no idea, I literally just figured that out tonight." Ana murmured. Megumi hummed in response. "You've still got a ways to go though, but if you keep learning neat tricks like that, you should be able to keep the other assholes off your trail." Ana nodded.
Ana took a final swig of her water, wiping the water that dripped onto her chin with her arm.
She was overcome with nerves, some anxiety, others excitement as she looked at the gyms clock, which was somehow unharmed during all their endeavors. "Almost six o'clock." Ana motioned to the clock. Megumi looked up at it then back at Ana.
"Let's get ready then."