Benjamin stopped slashing his sword and wiped some sweat from his brow.
His two hours of accuracy practice were complete.
What should I do now, he asked himself. Benjamin looked around.
Some people were training with weights and other exercise equipment while some were practicing with training dummies.
He saw a girl use her lightning on a dummy, giving him an idea.
Benjamin focused his soul and condensed it into his sword.
A black aura formed around the blade.
Using his newfound techniques, Benjamin unleashed a flurry of slashes.
Benjamin found that he was becoming very good at attacking.
However, after around 30 seconds, Benjamin found that he was worn out. This surprised him.
He had exercised for hours on end without getting exhausted and yet 30 seconds of using his powers tired him.
Maybe I should take a break, Benjamin thought.
He walked over to a water cooler and grabbed a bottle of water.
He guzzled the entire bottle down in a couple of seconds and grabbed another one.
He hadn't realized how thirsty he was.
Benjamin stopped halfway through the second bottle. He looked around at the other contestants.
One of the boys was using a pair of pistols to shoot at a training dummy.
Another boy was using bones to impale multiple training dummies at the same time.
Benjamin's eyes drifted to the same girl using lightning.
She was dashing around the dummy so fast that Benjamin couldn't track her movements.
She suddenly stopped.
Several lighting strikes hit the dummy, garnering the attention of everyone in the gym.
Benjamin looked at the girl herself.
Her lightning ability aside, she was quite pretty.
How do I not know who she is with power like that, Benjamin asked himself.
"Why're you staring so hard?" a voice said from beside Benjamin.
Benjamin spun around to find Lennox standing beside him and looking at the girl.
Lennox was taller than Benjamin, black, had short hair, and had well-toned muscles. He turned to Benjamin.
"She's pretty, but she's not that pretty," he said, chuckling.
Benjamin took a swig of water.
"Just got a little distracted," he said, turning away in embarrassment.
"No need to be flustered man, it's only natural to be curious," Lennox said, smirking.
"You sound like my parents," Benjamin replied, glaring at Lennox.
"Don't worry son, I'll teach you when you're older," Lennox said, patting Benjamin on the head.
He turned around and started walking away.
"Her name's Naveen by the way," Lennox said, waving at Benjamin over his shoulder, "What you do with that information is up to you."
As weird as usual, Benjamin thought.
He finished his water and returned to his training dummy.
Let's keep going, he thought, empowering his blade.
***
Coach Chrisante walked through the crowd of training students.
He was very impressed with their methods.
They had made their own specific training regimens to suit their powers.
It brings tears to my eyes, he thought.
One student, however, was not like the others.
Benjamin was standing in front of his dummy, out of breath. "Heads up Ben," Coach Chrisante called.
He tossed Benjamin a bottle of water.
Benjamin caught it and opened it.
"What's up?" he asked after a long drink of water.
"I don't want to be a downer, but your technique is pretty bad," Coach Chrisante replied.
"Wouldn't be the first time," Benjamin said, "Any suggestions?"
"Instead of keeping your blade empowered, why not try empowering it right before you strike," Coach Chrisante replied, "That way, you conserve energy and make it harder for your opponent to react."
"Wouldn't that take too much focus?" Benjamin asked.
"You should already be focused on your attack timing," Coach Chrisante replied, "It mostly requires you to inject soul energy into your sword quickly. That's what you need to practice."
"Alright," Benjamin said, "How do I do this?"
"You already know how to inject soul into your weapon," Coach Chrisante said, "You just need to do it quickly."
"Quickly, huh?" Benjamin said, looking at his sword.
He had absolutely no idea how to empower his sword quickly.
Let's just go over the basics, he thought.
Benjamin closed his eyes and focused on his soul.
He felt the familiar burning sensation in his chest.
The burning had gotten more intense since he last trained.
Benjamin focused the energy into his sword.
He opened his eyes.
The blade was surrounded by a black aura.
Benjamin looked over at Coach Chrisante.
Coach Chrisante shook his head. "Faster," he said.
Benjamin dispelled the empowerment and closed his eyes again.
This is gonna take a while, he thought.
The final bell rang.
Benjamin walked out of the gym, sighing.
He had only improved his activation speed slightly.
Even though Coach Chrisante had applauded this, Benjamin couldn't help but feel that the result was a little lackluster.
"Slow down Ben," someone called from behind Benjamin.
Benjamin turned around to see Corey, Lennox, Isaiah, Charles, Xavier, Miles, and Sean walking toward him.
"I didn't know you were that dedicated to training," Isaiah said, "You trained for the entire day."
"I need to get stronger to make it through the first round," Benjamin replied, "Wouldn't want to embarrass myself."
"Is it for that girl you were staring at earlier," Lennox said, grinning.
"Now this sounds interesting," Corey said, rubbing his hands together.
"I just got a little distracted," Benjamin said, trying to shut down the discussion.
His efforts failed.
"If it was Naveen, what's there to not get distracted by," Isaiah said.
"That's what I'm saying," Xavier said.
"You guys are weird," Charles interjected.
The entire group turned to Charles.
"I know you're not talking," Corey said.
"I see how you keep looking at Amy," Lennox said.
"You can't keep your hands off of her," Isaiah snickered.
"At least I could get a girl if I wanted to," Charles retorted.
Isaiah clutched his chest in mock offense.
"That's going too far," he said.
"I feel like we got a little sidetracked here," Sean interjected.
"Most definitely," Xavier laughed.
Miles pulled something up on his phone.
"The tournament bracket has been emailed to us," he said.
The group of boys crowded around the screen to find their names.
"Jackie and I don't have anyone to fight," Corey said, confused.
"It's because you guys are number one and number two," Isaiah replied, scratching his chin, "I guess it's to even out the bracket since there are 30 contestants."
"Looks like I'm fighting Naveen," Lennox said, smirking at Benjamin.
"You'll lose," Corey said, shrugging.
"The hell I am!" Lennox replied, smacking Corey on the back of the head.
"I'm fighting Ethan," Miles said, "No clue what his powers are though."
"I'm pretty sure he can turn metal or something," Sean said, "I'm fighting Koda. He has four arms."
"That's cool and all, but Xavier and Charles are fighting," Isaiah pointed out.
"Let's hope I don't get my ass whopped," Xavier said nervously.
"I won't do you like that," Charles said.
"Pretty confident for someone who leaves their bedroom door open at night," Xavier replied, narrowing his eyes.
"I'm fighting Rebecca," Isaiah said, "I'm pretty sure she can control blood."
Benjamin was quiet.
He scanned the bracket, looking for his name.
It was near the bottom of the bracket.
He took a deep breath as he read his opponent's name.
Izabella.
Benjamin remembered that her ability was teleportation.
Absolutely horrible against his ability.
"Izabella is only one rank ahead of you, right?" Corey asked.
"Yeah," Benjamin replied, "She's ranked 29th."
This was a horrible outcome for Benjamin.
Not only would he be fighting in the first match of the first round, but Izabella's ability was a horrible match for him.
I'll have to come up with a strategy, he thought.
Benjamin looked up.
Isaiah was using his powers to lift a helpless Xavier into the air.
"Just wait until I get down there," Xavier said, flailing around.
"I can still run faster than you," Isaiah replied.
"Put him down," Charles said, looking around nervously.
Isaiah dropped Xavier.
Xavier landed on his feet and took off after Isaiah.
Corey, Lennox, Miles, and Sean watched the scene with amusement.
"You guys are stupid," a voice said.
Benjamin spun around to see Jackie approaching them.
She was standing next to Velena and Meltwan.
"Ms. Rank one has graced us with her presence," Lennox said, bowing.
"I could make you permanently kneel to me," Jackie said, scratching her chin.
She seemed to be genuinely considering this.
"What's up," Corey said.
"I did a little extra practice before I left," Jackie replied,
"I've nearly perfected the lightspeed step technique."
"Nice," Corey said, clapping.
"That's cool and all, but why tell us?" Isaiah asked, "I mean, we saw you practicing earlier and you looked like you were having a blast."
"That was because I finally got the hang of the technique," Jackie said, "And I want to test it out."
Everyone looked at Corey who shrugged.
"No," Jackie said, shaking her head, "I want to fight Corey, Isaiah, Lennox, and Sean at the same time."