Rise of the Chi Master

Chapter 2: The Master

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.

Lao Tzu

It has been several months since I raced in the championships. I trained ferociously ever since my encounter with Tony Mandara and his little gang, but it seems as if I have reached my max power, which is teleporting 10 meters.

However, the further the distance, the more energy I use, which puts me on the verge of death. With that figured out, I can teleport 4 meters several times before I exhaust myself, which seems to be a proud achievement, but I have a feeling that I could grow my power even more. I noticed that when I teleport, my lower abdominals increase in temperature, almost in a spherical shape as I found it. Curious, I decided to research during my training and concluded that I must speak with a martial artist to understand my power...

Winter break is coming soon. Most of the idiots in Taft High School are either crying over rejections for the Winter Formal dance, or laughing at Yusuke’s new job as the school mascot: a walking reindeer. Fortunately, I have a date for the Winter Formal, and my goodness, she will look very beautiful with her velvet red dress and white high heels. Obviously, Stacey is not one to wait for the event, so she decided to show me her idea prematurely. Unfortunately, I have no intention in showing her my fancy white tux and my slick-back hairstyle before the dance, so I tell her to wait and see.

Yusuke is trying to find his own date (he’s not a very lucky guy, even though he’s very in-tune with the ladies), but somehow, he managed to find a very hot date: Victoria Benz, a junior girl with curly brown hair and blue eyes who transferred from Austria. She is also very famous in the school, but now, Yusuke is becoming the center of controversy. Many of the rich jocks are targeting him for bullying; they carelessly ignore the fact that he was the one who knocked out 5 boxers, one with a knife, by himself. It seems that I don’t have to really protect him, so I’ll just leave him with his own conflict. As soon as I finish this thought process, Victoria Benz walks to my bench during lunch, flaunting her obviously sassy aura.

“You must be Timothy Crawford, Yusuke’s best friend, I presume.” she states in a flirtatious tone in her Austrian accent. “I’m Victoria Benz, nice to finally meet you.” She holds her hand out towards me, intending to shake my hand. I notice her delicate red and white fingernail designs that shine with glossy texture, probably still drying at this point. I have no choice but to shake her hand, so I proceed. It is an unusually firm handshake for a sassy girl like her, so I confirm that she must need something from me.

“I think you know by now that I need something from you.” she says, now in a stricter tone. “You see, I know that you've noticed how I’m popular with the males in this school.” The word popular doesn't even come close to what she is.

“Do you need some sort of protection?” I immediately ask.

“Why yes, I do. That is why I said yes to Yusuke when he asked me to Winter Formal.” She begins to stroke her hair for a moment, and then comes closer to me with a very serious face. “There are very weird guys who are stalking me and they blackmailed me, saying that if I don’t give them $1,300,000, they will post naked pictures of me on websites and email them to my father! They will come find me during the dance!” What a cliché. I am a bit surprised that she is that rich though.

“So you said yes to Yusuke to have a personal guard.” I interject. She nods. “Well, you’re in good hands. Yusuke is a good man and he will protect you from anything, even a bullet.” I place my hand on my cheek and rest my elbow on my leg. “Now, what do you want me to do?”