Samuel sits at the usual desk, with Curious at the front of the room. He always appreciated her lectures and lessons; she knew how to make him feel valued and that was really helping him progress as a person. But today, it was different.
"So, young Samuel. What did the-" she pauses as she looks towards him, seeing him looking down at the desk not really soaking it in. This was a first considering he was always giving her his undivided attention. She puts the pen down that was in her hand and walks over to the young man sat at the desk, before kneeling down to see him eye to eye. "Samuel, is everything alright?"
"Yeah... I'm fine." he sighs as he looks at her. Curious shakes her head and pats him on the head.
"No you're not... is it about that young man you met?"
Samuel sighs rubbing his face, he just couldn't get his head around it, what seemed like a lovely encounter for him was now blotted.
"It's just... I met him that afternoon, then suddenly. He's gone."
"Samuel, there's no way you could've known. that would happen."
"Whilst I was having dinner with Mr Yotsubashi, he was in an inferno... and now he's gone for good." glumly says the energy manipulator.
Curious tilts her head.
"Missing doesn't necessarily mean deceased, you should know that."
"Ms Kizuki... I think we both know he's not 'missing.'"
Curious looks saddened, she'd come to greatly care for this young man, she saw a bit of herself in him for that shining outlook he had, despite all he'd been through. Which is why when a certain idea pops into her head, she gets a little smirk on her face.
"Tell me; would you have helped, were you there?" she asks.
Samuel's eyes immediately shine with that familiar golden glimmer hearing that.
"Of course I would have. I want to help people." Samuel says without hesitation.
Curious looks into that golden glimmer in his eyes and sees his potential, she smiles warmly at the young man.
"Whilst it's usually me who teaches you, in today's lesson I find I learned something from you and it's given me an idea. Something I think you've been ready for for a while now and that I think it would do you some good."
"What?" Samuel replies
"One on One Ability training." she says picking up her phone and tapping away on it before calling the Grand Commander, it only rings once before there's a click on the other end of the line.
"Kizuki? Is everything alright?" asks the Grand Commander
"Hello sir, I was wondering if you were still with Geten?" she replies
"Well yes. What's happened?" inquires Re-Destro, Curious looks back to her pupil, he still has that determined glow in his eyes, he nods to her. She smiles delighted.
"Samuel would like to try ability training, and I thought Geten would be an excellent partner to help get him up to speed."
There's a pause. Re-Destro mulls it over in his head, before coming to the decision.
"... Training facility Bravo. We'll wait."
Curious nods excitedly
"Excellent, I'll bring him along!" She puts the phone down and smiles at her student. "Samuel, consider this a small field trip!"
----------------------------
Geten adjusts his coat, making sure his hood was up and tightening the straps to make sure it didn't come undone.
"So... this boy is your rising star?" he asks coldly.
"He is indeed. He'll advance our cause greatly." replies the Grand Commander
"But, sir. He doesn't know about our cause."
Re-Destro smirks as he turns to his frozen friend.
"He will soon enough, the time is coming, I've seen it in him and now Curious has too. He's emerging from his shell." insights Re-Destro.
"But seeing all these facilities, all those meetings. He may start to piece it together." Geten states, worried about what could happen should this fall through, but his superior in all this is as calm and rational as ever.
"I've shown him both what I want him to see and what he needs to see." he responds, Geten stretches out, limbering up for his training session.
"How hard do you want me to fight him then? You said he's never had proper training experience?"
"Fight to kill."
Geten stops stretching and looks at his commander, that was... unexpected.
"Sir?" he asks tentatively
"Geten, you are currently our most adept warrior. But this young man's meta ability is in the highest bracket; he himself needs to feel that within so he can start to liberate himself. With regular sessions with you, our cause could have two top tier warriors capable of warding off the most resilient of opponents." Re-Destro declares. Geten relaxes hearing that, in a society that he viewed would come next, strength would be paramount, to have another like him at his side to fight with, that would accelerate their goals.
"I agree that strength requires strength. But, what if I kill him? Seems like a lot of wasted effort."
"Don't worry, I've got Resuscitate on site, she can patch him up should the need arise."
"Understood sir."
"... But try not to take his head off."
Geten nods, and the door to the facility slams open as Curious arrives with Samuel behind her, he's looking around in amazement.
"Geten! Meet your competition!" she smiles
Geten couldn't help but smile under his hood. Energy Manipulation sounded like a very powerful ability, one he couldn't wait to face off against, but he remains focused on the task at hand. Curious and Samuel approach, the golden glimmer still retained in his eyes, Re-Destro couldn't help but smile at that.
"Samuel! What a joy it is to see you here!" he remarks, Samuel couldn't help but smile seeing his mentor.
"I think this could be good for me... A person's ability is part of their personality, right?" he states, using some of the knowledge he picked up from his lessons.
Re-Destro beams with pride as he turns to let Samuel see who he's up against.
"Samuel. Meet Geten, he's a Detnerat bodyguard." He states, Geten's hood shifting slightly.
"H-hey, how's it going?" Samuel tentatively asks
"I'm not here for you pleasantries, I'm here for your strength." Geten bluntly responds as he heads to the other side of the arena. Samuel goes to move to his side too, but he feels a gentle pat on his shoulder, her turns to see his mentor standing there still.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" gently asks his mentor.
Samuel thinks for a moment, in the time he'd been taken under Deternat's wing, he'd seen a whole new side of the world and himself, he nods with determination, accepting his next step.
"Yes sir. I'm sure." he responds. Re-Destro gives his shoulder a squeeze as he turns with Curious over to the sidelines, ready to watch this spectacle. Curious couldn't help but smile at her commander's quick thinking.
"A Detnerat bodyguard?" she smirks.
"Oh shush."
Geten stands before Samuel, he gestures his hand forward, Samuel seeing this lets a golden aura leak out of himself, showing off his power, which is why it's all the more confusing for him when he's slammed in the side by a great wall of ice, he crashes down onto the floor before rolling into a little heap a considerable ways away.
"Never wait for you opponent to make the first move!" shouts Geten. Samuel gets to his feet in a bit of a daze, his aura far more noticeable now as he shakes his head to try and get some sense back, only to be hit from the front by another massive column of ice, sending him flying backwards and then is violently jarred upwards by, you guessed it, another pillar of ice. "You're pathetic! FIGHT BACK!" Geten bellows as he slams in a pillar of ice into Samuel from each side, smashing on contact.
Samuel's vision is fuzzy as he falls in the air, he could feel blood drip into his eyes and it didn't help either. His face twitches and his memory plays back one of his least favourites, but at this time, one of the most relevant ones.
"C'mon Stark! Fight back!" said the ever cocky young man who made it his sole objective to make Samuel's old life hell. "Oh that's right! You can't!" he laughs as he lands multiple blows into Samuel, knocking him onto the floor in a heap. "Just some pathetic punching bag!" He fired a blast at the already defeated Samuel, who yelps in pain. He then picks Samuel up by the scruff of his neck, who was bloodied and beaten. "You're worthless. Nothing." he coldly states.
"P-please, stop." Samuel pleads. Only to be met with another hell raising smirk.
"Nah."
The blast lands into Samuel's head which snaps him back to reality as he's smothered into the ground by Geten's ice. Dust and rubble flying everywhere.
'He's not attacking me. But he's incredibly durable... that must be his ability at work.' Geten thinks to himself as he disperses the ice, revealing Samuel lying there in the ice made crater, his golden aura miraculously still up.
'Without my aura technique... I'd be dead. Hell I'd have been dead long before today.' he thinks to himself as he desperately tries to pull himself onto his feet again, but slumping back.
"I... I think he's had enough-" says Curious, worrying for the wellbeing of her student, she goes to move forward out of the sidelines, however an arm extends across her path. Her commander wished for this to continue so she trusted his judgement. However he didn't look at her, his eyes were focused on his prodigy who was currently lying bloodied and battered in a crater.
"Come on young man. Trust yourself" mutters the Grand Commander.
Samuel lies there in the crater, he could feel the warm blood running down his head, his whole body ached.
"Congratulations, you can take a few big hits. But, you're no punching bag damn it! Fight me properly!" Samuel hears those words. He isn't a punching bag. He goes to shift as his side twitches in pain, he grits his teeth.
"Shit... I think I've broken a rib." he mutters as he feels the energy he had inside him start to surge, he extends out his hand, taking more in. "No... I don't need that rib... I don't need any of it. All I need..."
Samuel hauls himself onto his feet, Re-Destro and Curious smiling with delight.
"Is one... good... SHOT." Samuel shouts as his energy shoots out of him in defiance, Geten exhales through his hood as he calls up another vast sum of ice behind him, morphing it into a giant fist.
"You'll die before you get one!" Geten echoes as he launches the giant ice fist at Samuel, but his opponent stands there, his hands raised up and outstretched.
Samuel remembers all of the times he was powerless, all of the things he could've prevented. He grits his teeth as he fires off a great energy beam at the ice fist. Holding back its advance. Geten puts all of his force into trying to force the giant fist forward, but it won't go any further forward, it's stuck there, in a stalemate. Samuel yells out as he pushes everything into his attack and the ice fist shatters, his energy beam dissipating as he sees the fist smash. Geten stands there, concerned, but he need not be, as Samuel pants hunched over before falling onto his knees out of breath. Samuel kneels there looking at the floor, he'd lost. But he couldn't help but feel how good it was to use his power like that, he couldn't remember the last time he'd done that, if he'd ever done that.
"Excellent work Samuel. Truly excellent!" his mentor says as he firmly shakes him by the shoulders, overjoyed with such a display.
"Sir... I lost."
"Yes. But you got back up."
Made by truen