"But wait, you said it had a weakness. What is it?"
"We with these fight matches now, I'm not telling. If I go against you, you would have an advantage over me."
"That's true; then don't worry about it. No big deal."
'Yeah, but I rally like having the edge going into a fight.'
"O wait, before I go, I think I have a date," Eric excitedly said.
"What!? No way, really?" Vincent said in disbelief.
"Yeah, really."
"Who is it?"
"It's the girl that I fought. Elizabeth Wixx. We talked briefly coming in here. She was on her way out. She grabbed my hand and wanted to meet again to give each other pointers on our fight," Eric said, doing the quote fingers around the last part of what he said.
"I hate you. I have been trying for so long and have had no luck. You fight one, and she jumps into your lap. How is this fair?"
Eric just laughed because he really didn't know how to respond to that.
"Well, it sounds like you're going to be released in a couple of hours. I'll see ya at the barracks."
"Alright, see ya."
With that, Eric took his leave. He turned right after leaving the room and went into room seven. As he walked in the room, he asked, "Knock, knock. Hurst you in here?"
"Eric, you're here?" Hurst said, surprised by the visit.
"Uh, yeah, why wouldn't I be? That's what friends do; they check up on each other."
"O, ok. If we are friends, can you stop calling me Hurst? I go by Alex."
"You are now Alex from this day forward."
They both chuckled.
"Anyways, you did great in that fight. You're much faster at using your powers now."
"Thank you, but that fight was far from great. I was overpowered by that guy the entire time. He was a juggernaut. No matter what I threw at him, he just kept coming. I slowed him down a few times, but not once did I stop him."
Eric sighed because he was right. He knew that the confidence he had gotten from their hunting expedition was now shattered.
"I know, I watched the whole thing."
"You did? Do you have any idea what his power was? I couldn't figure it out."
"I don't have a clue. I couldn't get a scan on him."
As soon as those words left his mouth, he regretted it.
'What the hell! How in the world could I have slipped up so badly? I just exposed my system.'
"Scan? What do you mean?" Alex said, tilting his head slightly.
'I have to think of something quick. I got it.'
"I meant I couldn't get a read on him. I never saw him do anything out of the ordinary. I mean, he is super strong, but he is also really fast too, so that could be it."
"O. Do you think he has two abilities?
"No, I don't think so. It's said that it's impossible for someone to have more than one ability."
After saying that, he remembered back to the time Smith overpowered Acer. He used both wind and fire, which is a powerful combination. 'Maybe people can have two abilities. I need to ask Smith about that sometime. Something seems off about him anyway. There is probably more to the story than what I know,' Eric thought.
"Don't worry, you did great. I don't think I could beat him at my level either. We need to figure it out before someone in our group fights him again," Eric said, trying to cheer him up, which he is bad at doing.
The group he was referring to was Eric, Vincent, Alex, and Smith. They all have gotten close the last two months. They all shared a room, so it was bound to happen.
"How are we going to find out?" Alex asked.
'You are serious. I have never seen this kind of determination from him before. This really really bothers him. I'm going to have to help him out. He is my friend after all, even if he wasn't, he is still a strong ally to have."
"We have two options. We can have someone always watch him in hopes we will see his power and watch his up coming fights. The second one is that we could always sneak into Lieutenant Cater's office and take a look at his file. There is no way they wouldn't have it recorded," Eric said, hoping he would choose the first one.
"Why options? We can just do both."
'Woah, he went there. If I were a betting man, I bet he wants a rematch to prove himself.'
"Ok, we can do that. You guys can figure out how to coordinate on watching him, and I'll sneak in and take a look at his file. My powers are more suited for that task than anyone else."
'I can't believe I just volunteered myself for that. I have never done anything like this before. What is happening to me? O well, if we don't look out for ourselves, who would? This benefits me just as much as it benefits him.'
"Sounds good. I get with the guys tonight and come up with our starting tomorrow," Alex said.
"Tonight, when are you getting out of here?"
"The nurse said this evening. They used a healer on me, but they said my body needed to rest for a few hours because of all the pain my body went through. His first kick broke four ribs, and his second kick broke my knee. Come to find out they can heal the wounds on the body, but they can't remove the stress the body has been through. They are planning to release me before supper."
"Well, that's good. I'll see you at the mess hall later then," Eric said.
"Alright, see you then."
Eric took his leave to go back to his room. As he was leaving the medical ward, he thought, 'When everyone is asleep tonight, I'll have to do a reconnaissance mission."