Superpowers Part Two (Mathew)

[Adrian]

It was a few days later from the last time Mathew and Adrian had trained, out here at Golden Gate Park. It wasn't anywhere near as late as it had been the last time; however, it was quickly approaching the end of dusk. Adrian's cell phone came up to his ear, and he dialed Mathew's number.

"Mathew, it's Adrian. If you're available, I'd like to train some more. Alright, cool. Bye."

Adrian hung up the phone and slumped against a tree. Mathew would be here soon enough, but until he got here, the young Hanlon would work on his own. He closed his eyes and shut out the world, which was becoming easier and easier every time he did it. He focused inward, and sensed that inner spark, which had, somewhere along the line, seemingly gotten a little bigger. He smiled inwardly, his face showing nothing but a quiet serenity. Mathew would be here soon. Adrian would see if he could sense him coming without his sight.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Mathew was at least ready this time, but then again it wasn't two in the fucking morning. That had really pissed him off. Another thing that he was equally thankful for was that he wasn't to far from the park either. Walking distance even. It meant that it wasn't long until Mathew showed up, only this time lacking his coat. He was instead wearing a black T shirt and jeans, looking like a normal kid and everything.

Normally upon seeing Adrian he would have thrown a rock or something at the kid. Instead though, he was trying to behave and would announce his presence.

"Yo." Mathew said, with a raise of his hand as he started to close the distance between him and his student.

[Adrian]

Adrian heard the voice, pretty much blowing his idea of sensing Mathew before he announced himself. Adrian looked a bit annoyed at this, but only for a second. The annoyance, however, fucked his focus and caused the spark to extinguish. Adrian opened his eyes, to see Mathew walking up, clad in just jeans and t-shirt. The wealthy youngster shook his head, still not used to seeing the Earth Dragon walking around without his signature coat. He knew, however, it was somewhat of a soft subject between the two of them, so he'd keep it on the down-low.

"Hey, Mathew," Adrian said, feeling a sort of strange disconnection between the two of them. He was no longer bound to him, but he'd barely been so to begin with; unfortunately, the severing of their contract had also severed a good bit of the bond they shared. "I'm glad you could make it out. I've been practicing on focusing myself, and I can see my inner spirit with relative ease now. What should I be doing now?"

Adrian stood up to greet him fully as he spoke, finishing his words and then leaning against the tree to await the boy's reactions. Hopefully, when they were done here, Adrian would be another step closer to unlocking his inner power.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Mostly it was just awkward, there had been a power shift, and while Mathew had been the one to do it, and willingly even. It was just strange to not be in a position of power over Adrian. He was still going to help him, and both of them knew Mathew was still the stronger of the two by far. But it was still different, not bad per se, but different.

"I thought I told you, getting to see it is only the first step. You still need to learn how to see it and reach it in high stress situations. Life and Death even. We both know that with some of the people at these schools it is possible that you will die in a fight, but we will worry about life and death another day. Today we will once again focus on combat, to see if you can hold on to it while fighting and while being hit. Make it natural, like breathing, because in a fight you will need to focus on your enemy, not yourself."

He said as he closed the distance between the two of them, focusing his Qi in his hands as he did so. Unlike some people Mathew showed no physical signs when his Qi was active, he didn't glow, you didn't feel or see anything to touch him, but he liked that. It was simple and effective, just like him.

Without warning Mathew would clap his hands, a sound burst emitting from where his hands collided, it was designed to be painful and annoying to anyone that heard it, Mathew being the exception since it was his. It was designed to mess with the inner ear causing disorientation, mostly so people couldn't run away, but it had other uses.

As soon as the soundwave happened Mathew started to rush forward to close the distance, he would attempt to send his knee in to Adrian's gut, an attack that would probably hurt and maybe even wind him. But they would see if he was able to still feel and reach his Qi during all of this.

[Adrian]

Adrian found his spark again, holding up a finger for Mathew to pause. As he did, Adrian would open his eyes, viewing the world around, but feeling that very spark still within the back of his mind.

Okay, got it... now to hold on to it.

Mathew suddenly clapped his hands, emitting an ear-splitting sonic wave, and Adrian dropped to the floor, his hands covering his as he stood on his knees, focusing on the spark, and maintaining it, if only barely. Somehow, though, the act only seemed to strengthen him, helping him to feel the spark almost innately, and he realized that he woudln't have to focus nearly as hard.

Mathew surged forward, and Adrian, on his knees, pushed upwards with his hands and legs, jumping backwards about a foot or two, just in time to avoid the attack. Adrian would land on his feet somewhat clumsily, still not good with movements like that, and shake his head, indicating to Mathew that he hadn't lost it yet.

"Come try again, big guy," Adrian said, assuming a fighting stance. The spark danced about in the back of his mind, feeding off his energy and desire to do battle. It seemed that his stubbornness and pride helped, rather than hindered, his inner spirit. The more he psyched himself up to fight, the brighter the spark burned, and the easier it was to keep it in mind.

[Mathew Amtrum]

"Good, I am glad to see that you are making a bit of progress Adrian." He said as he continued to focus the Qi in his hands, feeling the power pulsing just under the skin. He was sure Adrian knew a quivering palm would come next, but that didn't really matter, the point wasn't to see how well he could predict what Mathew was going to do, but if he could hold on through the whole thing.

Once again Mathew came, his right hand cocking backwards before shooting forward, trying to slam in to Adrian's stomach. The attack was of course one of Mathew's quivering palms, an attack that Adrian was by now quite familiar with.

[Adrian]

Adrian would ready himself jump backwards a bit to evade the strike, until he realized just what it was. Gritting his teeth, Adrian shook his head, keeping the flame stored in the back of his mind and he tensed his stomach and allowed the strike to hit.

Pain washed through his body,and he took a few steps back, fighting to keep his balance. His eyes squeezed shut for a moment before shooting back open, his gaze staring intensely at Mathew. He grit his teeth and kept his balance, taking two more steps forward. His inner spark was dancing all over, as if it would soon be put out. He cracked his neck, and glared at Mathew, not out of rage, but rather determination. The flickering spark finally slowed down and continued to burn in the back of his mind, and the pain finally subsided.

Adrian burst forth, swinging a hard left underhanded punch towards Mathew's stomach. This time, he wasn't going to sit around and hold his Qi. He was going to fight back.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Mathew hadn't expected Adrian to start fighting back, but he was happy about that. It would make it harder to hold on, dealing with attacking, countering, dodging, pain, his own stuff. The more things he juggled the better. It was the best way to learn.

Mathew grunted as he took the fist to the stomach, Adrian was a boxer, he knew how to throw a punch, and while he wasn't the strongest person Mathew had ever fought, far from it, he had skills and technique, something a lot of fighters lacked. Without the added protection of the Earth Dragon Coat, and the surprise of how much it hurt, mostly because he was used to having the coat, Mathew coughed and stumbled back in shock as he composed himself. It wouldn't happen again, that was for sure. He would be ready next time.

[Adrian]

When Adrian threw a punch, he realized something. The spark became brighter. When the punch connected, Adrian realized that, in some small way, he had actually managed to hurt his mentor.

Both of these issues fueled a fire in the boy few had likely seen before this. Adrian would not stop at the first punch. His momentum would carry him straight into the retreating Mathew, and he would lower his right shoulder to ram it into the boy as he tried to catch himself. It wouldn't cause much damage by itself, but if it connected, it would ensure Mathew would remain off-balance.

To finish, Adrian would use his impact against Mathew to slow his own momentum, turning the rest of it to power a hard back-fist, as he swung his cocked right arm out from its position from the shoulder ram to strike across Mathew's face. Adrian wasn't sure if Mathew would be able to right himself quick enough to react, but at this moment, he wasn't even thinking of that. With every offensive move, his Qi seemed to get just a little brighter.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Mathew felt Adrian ram his shoulder in to his body keeping him off balance, but he was far from helpless, his hand shot out to slam in to Adrian when he slammed in to him. It was a clumsy strike, more of a flail as he started to fall on his ass. But if it connected Adrian would get hit with another quivering palm.

Whether or not it hit Mathew would fall back on to his ass. If the backhand continued to come Mathew would lean back laying against the ground so the attack would go over him, his legs shooting outward trying to hit Adrian in the shins, normally he would go for the knees, but this was a training session. Besides there was a nerve running up the front of the shin. If his kicks landed it would hurt like a fucking bitch, and it would hurt for days. Nothing that would cripple him, but he would be sore as hell.

[Adrian]

Adrian, pressing the offensive as he was, was unprepared for the Quivering Palm, and was stopped in his tracks as Mathew fell on his ass. Adrian, however, after taking at least five of the things in the past few weeks, was getting rather used to the way the pain shot through his body. That, of course, didn't make it hurt any less; what it did do, however, was give Adrian in edge in quickly preparing himself for it.

The pain spiked through his body, and he gritted his teeth and pressed forward through it, his spark raging from his recent offensive. With Mathew on his ass, however, the rest of his attacks weren't going to be much use. Adrian's eyes, blurry from the pain, only barely made out Mathew swinging his feet around to kick him. Adrian's offensive streak wouldn't end there, however, and the boy dropped hard to his knees, landing his shins on top of Mathew's. It wouldn't hurt as much as he would want it to normally, but it would pin his legs for a moment, and his right arm would send a deep knuckle-punch into the spot where Mathew's left leg met his pelvis, rapping against the nerve cluster there to send a sharp spasm of pain down his leg.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Mathew grunted from the pain shooting up his leg as Adrian punched him in a nerve cluster. He was getting a lot better. A lot better, if Mathew didn't watch himself then Adrian might just surpass him as a fighter. Though, in a way that would also be Mathew's victory. He was his trainer, or one of them. And they said that if a teacher is good the student will surpass him. With that mentality there was litterally no way that Mathew could lose to the young rich boy.

Instead of countering the attack though Mathew would laugh and extend his hand outward. "You learned a few new tricks. Good job, I concede you win this one." He said with a grin. Of course he could have gotten Adrian off of him and continued to fight. Especially with his Qi making it easy to disorient with a sonic blast. But this wasn't a serious fight. Fighting wasn't the focus of it.

"Did you hold on to the spark?" He asked, his tone dropping the warmth it had a moment before. That had been the point of the test, if he failed then Mathew would get angry and he might reconsider his decision to not continue fighting.

[Adrian]

"I did, in fact," Adrian replied, unbelieving that Mathew had just given him the victory, and as such didn't bother to reply to that particular statement. Adrian shifted his legs off of Mathew's, and took the extended hand as he sat up, helping the other boy to his feet as well.

"It seems to me that, if I'm getting hit and blocking, the spark threatens to die, but as long as I'm fighting, it surges hotter and hotter. There's something to that, I can tell. I just have to figure out what it is."

With Mathew back on his feet, Adrian nodded, absentmindedly, not sure of what else to say. "Thanks, again, for all your help, Mathew. I... I probably would never be able to figure out this superpower crap without your help," he said with a somewhat forced smirk.

"Tell you what, I think I can take it from here, but if I need some more training from someone who knows it best... I'll get back with you, alright?"

After hearing the answer, Adrian would turn back to his car and head back the way he had come from. That was two Qi training sessions down, and Adrian was fairly sure he was getting the hang of this spiritual energy. As far as he could tell, his fed off of him being on the offensive. Something inside him told him that once he turn the spark into a full-fledged fire, his Qi would awaken at last.