Different Worlds

Chapter 2 : Training

Echo was lying on a bed with his eyes closed. Somebody carried him there yesterday, after he fainted while trying to defeat the Master. When he woke up after the fight it was already dawn. So he kept replaying the fight in his head again and again. Each time becoming more frustrated as he realized that there was no gap in the Master's defense. Then his instincts tingled as he felt someone's arm over him. He immediately grabbed the hand and sat up straight. It was a girl with cat-ears, Kanon. She asked him " You good ? ". Echo couldn't hear what she was saying. Because he was amused at her existence. He didn't even think that she was pretty or something like that. But instead he was excited to see someone with such a refined aura after a long time. And to think 'she' isn't a human but rather most probably a monster, both literally and in case of fighting prowess. That fact had excited his battle senses. Then she waved her arm in front of Echo's face and said, " Heyy, you there ? "

Something gleaned in Echo's eyes as he went for an Sp-charged blow. But Kanon's fake homan-like body became undone before his punch could land on her. She became a normal cat and landed on the floor on her feet and asked him by only opening her mouth (and then a voice came out of her open mouth),

Kanon : wtf ?
Echo stood up on the bed and said with much enthusiasm,

Echo :FIGHT ME !!
Kanon : Uh....no...why ?
Echo : Cause' you're strong, now fight me.

Kanon continued to give Echo a look that screams 'Really?' in her cat-form until she jumped on the bed and leaped outside through the window next to the bed. Echo then got off the bed and went downstairs. And found his way to the dining room, where Nemo was sitting on one  of the chairs and was scrolling through his phone thing he calls "Nokia version 6.9". He was wearing his usual shabby full sleeve black jacket. He pointed towards some food on the table and Echo sat down and started scarfing down the food. While eating Echo asked Nemo,

Echo : Smo whmat amr wme sumpomsed tmo dom now ?
Nemo Took a moment to process what he said. And then he replied ,

Nemo :The master told us to meet him after both of us are awake and done with breakfast.
Echo : Whmy ?
Nemo :.............oh....uh I don't know.
Echo :(*keeps eating )
Nemo : Oh yeah right, do you remember that "vow on my name" thing you did a little while ago ?
Echo : (*stops eating ) ..... ( * continues eating )
Nemo : Where's your honor now, huh, lorrrdd ?

Echo : (*gulps something down) Alright fine, as per the vow I made on my name, since I lost to the Master I will not try to cause any fuss or try to run away from the Master's training.

He said it like it was some sort of official announcement, after he stopped eating and stood up straight. He then sat back down and continued his eating. Nemo said " Alright then " and kept scrolling through his phone. After Echo was done with breakfast they both went to the backyard, where they were supposed to meet the Master. When they reached the backyard, they saw that Kanon was in her cat form. She was a gray cat and she was laying on the boundary walls of the dojo. They also saw that the Master was meditating on the surface of a koi pond. Nemo could see that a huge amount of Sp was circulating inside the Master's body. They walked and stood in front of the pond.

Nemo spoke .....

Nemo : Wait, didn't he use earth-element before ?
Echo : People can have two elements in rare cases, but...

Echo looked like he was thinking hard about something.

Nemo : But what ?
Echo : Didn't he use teleportation in the battle yesterday besides earth element ?
Nemo : He also used something like a Sp-barrier too.
Echo : (*looks even more shocked)
Nemo : So what?
Echo : You aren't supposed to have more than one ability. When you have 'element generation and manipulation' you can't have other abilities like barrier or teleportation.
Nemo : Is that so ? (* looks curious )

The master then got up and walked out of the pond, there wasn't even a drop of water on him. He then looked at them and said, "Everything you know about Sp-usage doesn't apply to me ". Kanon looked like she was smirking while Echo and Nemo stood there blankly. Then Echo asked, "Why the hell not ? ", Nemo didn't look like he cared. The master replied .........................

the Master : Because something is wrong with me
Nemo : That's a weird answer
Echo : Why ??
Master : Not important. Anyways, Echo, can you use any abilities yet ?

Echo didn't pursue the answer to his question anymore. He raised one of his hands and curled it up like a ball. He then grit his teeth, and he gathered a lot of Sp in his hand. Then a ball of water appeared in his hand. The master was going to say something but before he could Echo did his grueling looking process of converting Sp again and this time the ball of water froze into a ball of ice. The master had an interesting face as he said... 

the Master : Hmm, where are you from exactly ?
Echo : ........
the Master : So you're can enhance yourself and  use ice ?
Echo : I can barely use ice
the Master : Well I thought you'd have fire since you have red hair and you know since your from there
Echo :.......(Echo looked visibly angry and unwilling to talk or hear about 'that place' )
the Master : Well, Kanon can help you with your ice-element, so you'll be training your ice-element and sparring with her daily.

Echo looked at Kanon with a grin. Kanon then jumped off the walls into the backyard and ran inside the dojo. He also ran behind her, full of vigor and a full Sp-charged body while doing his 'war cry' or something. Master then looked at Nemo and said....

the Master : Well anyways, Nemo do you know that 'electricity' is not a natural element that Sp-users have
Nemo : Really ?
the Master : Yes, also you seem to have a smaller than usual Sepia-storage
Nemo : Quite small actually
the Master : So yeah that's you have to do a little studying before you actually start training , especially about "Sp-Usage Reduction Method"-which will allow you to use less Sp to discharge more electricity
Nemo : Studying ?
the Master :Yeah, actually my friend discovered this 'training' method, since everybody doesn't have an enormous amount of Sp like me or Echo.
Nemo : Ok that's fine i guess.( *with a cold face ) But what are the risks ?
the Master : None really.
Nemo : ( with a normal face ) Ok.

And then a little time passed.........


In the backyard Kanon was in her cat-form lying on the ground and yawning and Echo was sitting on the ground with a big bowl of water in his arms. He wasn't covering his torso but he was wearing white pants and a black belt, like a judo uniform. The sides of the bowl that was in contact with Echo's arm had ice on them and there were a few pieces of ice floating on the water of the bowl. He strained his body and tried hard in Sp-conversion, a giant amount of Sp came out of his body and it compressed around his fists. The water in the bowl was shaking, more small pieces of ice started appearing from the side of the bowl. But then the freezing stopped and the bowl became shrouded in a layer of Sp instead. Echo didn't seem to notice and kept going at it, unlike Kanon.

She stood up and walked towards Echo , a layer of sp appeared around her and it took the shape of a hand which smacked Echo on the head hard, throwing all the ice and water along with the bowl from his hand on the ground. Echo immediately stood back up and with a death glare on his face, he lunged at Kanon . She made a bigger arm of Sp and tried hitting him, Echo with a dense amount of Sp wrapped around him, punched that big Sp arm out of existence. But then Kanon in her human form stood in front of him. He went for another attack but she easily dodged and grabbed both of his arms, pinning him to the ground. He started thrashing and then Kanon spoke....,

Kanon :You know what mistake you've made, you could've just restarted the thing
Echo : It was going well and you ruined it, that's what happened
Kanon : Well let me tell you again that what you did at the last minute wasn't Sp-conversion, it was just normal enhancement. So just redo the damn thing

Echo stopped thrashing and she went back to her cat form. Echo got up from the ground and started his training of converting his raw Sp into ice.

Nemo was sitting on a big stone tablet, covered by 4 small pillars which were lightning rods. He was training with this 'setup' on the front yard of the dojo. He was only wearing his jeans. He was sitting on the square and flat stone tablet, with his eyes closed. He inhaled and exhaled thrice. Then with a crackle, electricity started coming out of his palms. He kept his hands like that for a while until he clenched his fists. The electricity fizzled in his clenched fists for a short amount of time and then the electricity slowly started coming out of his forearm, his whole arms, his shoulders....  . Any wild electricity would get absorbed by lightning rods around him. He continued his training of trying to discharge electricity from his whole body, or at least his whole torso. As he was focused on his training he heard loud footsteps approaching.

He didn't pay any mind until he heard that person's footsteps enter the dojo. He opened his eyes to look while maintaining his discharge. He saw an adult man with glasses on his face run past him, inside the dojo. That surprised Nemo, the Master never goes outside and no people of the town ever actually come to visit. He has seen Kanon chat with them at the markets. They occasionally come by to give some food to her but they don't stick around for long. So he thought it was an emergency and she was needed.

He stopped his training and went to the backyard to check up on Kanon, who was asleep on the ground near Echo. So he went to the Master's room. He saw the sliding door was closed as usual, but he could hear voices from inside. That man's voice was full of panic. He grabbed the door, but stopped and thought that he actually never went inside the room. He knew that the Master usually meditates in that room, but he never went inside. He felt a slight feeling of suspense in himself. He then slid the door open and was thoroughly disappointed. It was an ordinary room like all the rooms in the dojo, but it was bigger. There were a few wooden swords and spear-sized poles hung around the room, but that was it. He thought " Well, that was very anticlimactic". He then focused on what that man was saying to the Master while he was still meditating. The man said, " So please can you send that girl ?". The Master opened his eyes and looked past the man at Nemo and said...

the Master : Nemo, you're here.
Nemo : um...uh...Y-Yeah ?
the Master : You and Echo, help this man .
Glasses-man : Wait what ?
Nemo : uh... Ok.
Glasses-man : But they are kids, they can't go to the forest
the Master : So is yours .Plus it might be good training for them

The man tried to persuade him to send Kanon in the forest for some reason. But the Master didn't budge literally. He just kept meditating. With a defeated look in his eyes the man looked behind at Nemo. He then walked outside. Nemo followed the man. He walked outside the dojo and in the front yard. He looked like he was gonna leave so Nemo asked him "So,..uh..what's the catch ?". The man immediately turned his head and gave Nemo a death glare. He was angry because neither the Master or this Nemo-kid felt the gravity of his situation. It was a mix of both logical and illogical anger. The man then sighed and started speaking...

Glasses-man : My name is Dan and I have a son who's your age. He despises the master's 'disciples'
Nemo : Okay...

Dan seemed to get angry again, because of his nonchalant reply. But he continued ...

Dan :So he goes to the forest behind the town, to train by killing the monsters living there, so he can beat those 'disciples'
Nemo : ...so why are there monsters living here around a town of humans ? You people are just letting monsters roam around like that ?