Chapter 10:

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OC - 1

Phoenix POV:

I am shaken awake by a pair of strong hands. Instinctively, I kick out, but one of my assailant's hands catches it.

'Calm down,' the person says. I realise it was Scar.

'Sorry,' I mumble,' caught me by surprise. What are you doing up so early?'

'It's 4:06 am,' he replied.

'What?' I reply drowsily,' but we haven't been zapped yet.'

'I think that the invulnerability makes you immune to electricity, though I am not,' Scar replied,' either way, you have to be at the mess hall in less than ten minutes.'

That does the trick. I am out of bed, changed and ready to go in less than a minute. Scar is waiting just outside the door. We sprint towards the mess hall.

Colonel Futon is waiting for us at his usual table. Today, he was sitting with Lieutenant Cleave, Colonel Point and a general. He seemed to be telling them a story.

'And then Mr Thompson tells them to take off our bands – our weight bands – if only he knew!' Colonel Futon chortled, his audience laughing along.

'So we rip off the chains and kill his two goons. Next thing you know, he's disappeared – ah, welcome Scar, Phoenix,' Colonel Futon notices us. We salute and the general asks us to sit.

'Then we round the corner and poor Mr Thompson has run himself into Private Phoenix's sword. I don't know who was more surprised, Phoenix or Tommy!' exclaimed Futon.

The general nods in understanding. 'That explains your report – running away is not the most common method of death.'

'Well here comes the good bit. We shadow travel out, giving up hiding in the shadows and I decide we are going to implode the place. On the count of three I said, but before I could even finish that the whole place was gone – Phoenix had done it himself! That's how the mission was finished,' completed Colonel Futon.

I blushed in embarrassment. Lieutenant Cleave noticed and commented,' Don't be ashamed, that was a very impressive feat considering that the whole complex was what – four kilometres square.'

Colonel Point and the General nod in agreement. The general turns to Colonel Point and said,' That was a good choice you made, going to Earth to pick up this one.'

Scar and I were halfway through our breakfasts now, getting used to eating fast. The officers continued to converse about their past day, referring to past events that neither Scar nor I knew of, so we stayed quiet. Two minutes later we were done and Colonel Futon announced,' I have to take these two chaps to train now. Goodbye.'

We were in an arena, having completed our daily run and exercises. Colonel Futon turned to us. 'It's been just over a week since I have taken you on. I want you to show me what you have learnt about your powers. Scar will go first.'

Scar stepped into the middle of the arena. He drew shadows from around him, cocooning him. Colonel Futon sent a few shadowy projectiles at it to test its strength. The shadow body shield dissipated, and when it was all gone, Scar was not there – he was at the far end of the arena, having shadow travelled there. He dived into a shadow and ran towards us very quickly, using the shadows to mask his presence so that even for those with a shadow blessing would likely not notice him unless they had been trained. Scar reappeared behind us. As we turned, he created and used a shadow whip; complete with a golden tip and elaborate handle designs, to grab a chair from across the arena. When it was in front of him, he let it sit before raising his arms and making the chair implode. Scar straightened, then bowed to us.

'Impressive,' evaluated Colonel Futon,' your shield and summoned objects were very good. Shadow travelling and running was textbook. However, your shadow imploding was clumsily performed. You should not need your hands anymore, just thoughts. Overall your performance was good, but there are things that you can work on. Phoenix, your turn.'

Starting off the same as Scar, I cocooned myself in shadows and felt Colonel Futon test them. Unlike Scar, I created a second version of myself made of shadows on the other end of the arena and as I let the shadow cocoon dissipate, I joined the shadows and hid inside them. It seemed my trick had worked as both Scar and Colonel Futon were looking at my doppelganger, not at me. Now came the tricky part. I had to push my power through the doppelganger to make it seem like it was the real me. If I, for example, simply created a table in front of the doppelganger, Colonel Futon and Scar would be able to sense that the power did not come from the doppelganger and would know that it was not I. That was one of the main disadvantages of doppelgangers until I discovered how to push my power through the doppelganger. I created a hell inferno dragon using this technique.

Whilst the dragon was covering the doppelganger, I had it create another doppelganger – this time a little less accurate so it was an obvious fake, then had the original shadow travel behind Scar and Colonel Futon. Once the dragon had faded, they saw the fake, then turned around to face the original. It straightened, and then bowed as Scar had done. I stepped out of the shadows and took the second doppelganger's place. Colonel Futon began his evaluation.

'Your shadow shield was very strong – there is no doubt that you should hold to the projectile test record. There is nothing wrong with your shadow travelling – it is quick and accurate as always. The hell inferno you summoned was very powerful, but the dragon was ill formed (This was because I had less control when pushing my power through an object). Your doppelganger,' Colonel Futon gestured but did not look,' was obviously a fake. All your skills use enough power and are accurate, but they need refinement.'

I decided to reveal the trick, letting the doppelganger dissipate and crying out,' Over here!'

Scar and Futon spun around. 'Private Phoenix – did you just shadow travel out on me?' demanded Colonel Futon, looking annoyed.

'Nope,' I replied,' I've been here the whole time. You've just been speaking to my doppelganger.'

They stared at me, mouths agape. 'How could this be possible – I felt the power coming from your doppelganger and followed it,' asked Colonel Futon.

'I figured out a way to push my power through a doppelganger so that the original source is undetectable,' I replied, feeling smug.

'I don't believe it,' whispered Colonel Futon,' when I told you that you should create your own techniques, I never expected you to do it in less than two weeks.'

Deciding that this would be a good time to reveal my other technique, I added,' I also have another thing to show. Can I continue?' Colonel Futon nodded.

I pulled over ten chairs in a circular formation and began to shadow flit as fast as I could. Both Scar and the Colonel were looking around confused. It seemed that I was going so fast that they could not see me. Slowing down, Scar noticed my rapidly appearing and disappearing body and tapped Colonel Futon's shoulder.

'Stop!' called the Colonel, so I did,' what are you doing?'

'I am shadow travelling between the shadow of the chairs,' I reply.

'How can you do it so fast without becoming dizzy or tired?' asked Colonel Futon.

'Well, I not only memorise the look of a place, but all the things my senses will feel so my whole body is prepared for the change, meaning that I do not get dizzy. I have also found that when shadow travelling, if you don't completely leave the shadows, repeated travelling requires very little energy,' I answered.

'Amazing,' breathed Colonel Futon,' I must report this. Do whatever you want… I should be back. If I don't, make sure to meet your squadron at 1pm in the mess hall. Oh, and I was supposed to give you this..'

He threw over a file before dashing out the door. Scar turned to me, and then kowtowed to me. 'Teach me, master!'

Colonel Futon POV:

I don't believe it – Private Phoenix has managed to surprise me again. Two techniques created – one a variant and the other completely new – in two weeks of having the power. Private Phoenix must have immense creativity and understanding of darkness. I have got to report this to General Shredder.

General Shredder looked up sharply. 'Did I hear you correctly? Has Private Phoenix actually created two new techniques? You have seen them?' he inquired.

'Yes,' I replied,' his doppelganger technique is refined to the point that I was tricked by it, even whilst inspecting it very closely. His shadow flitting is very fast and would be a useable technique.'

'While I do not doubt your story, I must see these techniques for myself,' said General Shredder,' you said that he should still be in the arena?' I nod. 'Then lets go there.'

The sight of four figures – Scar and Phoenix, each with a double, greeted us. The version of Scar and Phoenix closest to the entrance were talking to each other, but spun around as soon as we entered and saluted. General Shredder put them at ease and then asked,' Private Phoenix. I have heard that you have created two new techniques. I would like to see evidence of this.'

Private Phoenix nodded before replying, 'Of course, sir. If you wouldn't mind, I will demonstrate my doppelganger technique first. As you can see I have a doppelganger on the other side of the arena. Now, if you would sense the power in this room.'

We did. General Shredder commented,' I see all your power is in the doppelganger and cannot feel anything in you. Are you the doppelganger?'

'No sir,' replied Phoenix,' what I have done is send part of my power into the doppelganger, but kept the controlling part of it inside me. I can control my power, but the power will not come from me, but rather the doppelganger. If I use up the power in the doppelganger, I can use my connection with the doppelganger to transfer some of my latent power into the doppelganger, which is undetectable, as it would look like part of the natural energy flow. This technique does not have many disadvantages, since there is always a connection between the doppelganger and I. This means that I am able to recall the power in an instant. Also, pushing power through the doppelganger does not slow your power down – a shadow shield summoned by a doppelganger will appear just as fast as if it were created directly by the caster. However, it is harder to be accurate as, unless you put yourself fully into the doppelganger, you will not see or sense what the doppelganger can.'

'Impressive,' applauded General Shredder,' If we could have a demonstration.'

'I have been teaching Scar for the last hour, so he will do the demonstration,' Phoenix replied.

Phoenix's doppelganger dissipated and Scar's stood straighter. Scar's doppelganger summoned a shadow shield, then hellfire and then shadow travelled towards us, all in quick succession. Sensing the power around me, I could see that all the power for those moves came from the doppelganger, but nothing from Scar, apart from small wave from him to the doppelganger that would have been unnoticeable unless I had been looking for it. Even then, it looked just like the other multiple energy flows in the air around us.

'Amazing,' breathed General Shredder. It seemed that he hadn't really believed me and was now in shock.

'My second technique, shadow flitting, is not really a new technique, but a variation of shadow travelling. It requires the user to shadow travel between shadows very quickly but not to leave the shadow so as to save energy. To prevent myself becoming dizzy, I had to learn how to memorise or imagine a place with all my senses so that my body would be ready for the change. Scar has not quite mastered that yet, so I will be doing it instead,' finished Phoenix.

Phoenix pulled over a dummy into the centre of the chairs, which had remained untouched. He then began shadow flitting with his sword out. In less than five seconds, the dummy had fallen apart, with its stuffing spread over the ground and hardly any of the Dark Steel casing left. A slow clapping started behind us. We all spun around to see General Storm at the entrance. Scar, Phoenix and I immediately saluted whilst General Shredder merely said,' what are you doing here Storm?'

'At ease gentlemen,' she told us,' I was coming to talk to Colonel Futon about outsourcing training for him and his charges.'

'Why would they need to outsource?' asked General Shredder.

'According to the Colonel, they were recently blessed by the council on Erta. Some of their blessings we have little or no knowledge on so they will be sent away for some time to train with other armies,' General Storm replied coolly.

'You never mentioned that in your mission report,' commented General Shredder to me,' or told me! I thought we were friends!'

'Sorry, sir, but I wanted to keep it as a surprise,' I replied with a smile.

'The Army of Eros has a lieutenant who is the daughter of a death god who has agreed to train you,' General Storm announced,' One of Chronos' Colonels has agreed to train Private Phoenix. A Sergeant Major from the Army of Gaia will train Private Scar as well as a Colonel from the Army of Pontus. That Colonel is willing to train Private Phoenix as well, should he choose to do so.'

Private Phoenix nodded. 'That matter is settled. Now, what was that I just saw?' she asked, still interested.

'That was a variant of shadow travelling called shadow flitting that I came up with,' said Phoenix.

'It seems very effective,' replied General Storm,' You'll have to teach me at some point.' With that, she left.

Phoenix POV:

I am shocked that my techniques have impressed two generals. They each only took me about a day's worth of practise to perfect. I am more shocked by the fact that I am going to be trained by people outside of the Army of Erebus. I had hardly thought about the other armies or even the universe during my time in the Army of Erebus. But now, I was going to train with them. General Shredder spoke,' Since you created a new technique and a variant of an old technique, I believe that you are qualified for the Creator's award Class I and Class II, though I will need to submit it to a General of the Army of Chaos to get it approved. The next meeting is in two days, so you should have it in four to five days. I must go now.'

Once General Shredder has left, Colonel Futon turned to Scar and I. 'I think that you two should head off to lunch with your squadron. If you haven't read the file yet, do it on your way there,' Colonel Futon said before leaving.

Scar looked at his watch – 12:40. We started walking towards the mess hall. I opened up the file and held it up so that Scar could see its contents. It read:

Mission Rating: One Star

Assigned to/ Accepted by: 4 Squadron, 12 Platoon, L Company

Mission Description: A group of militants have commandeered a historic building in a residential area of Molan City.

Objective: Kill all militants (32) without damaging the building or any civilians.

Estimated time: 16 hours

'Another mission… yay!'

Another chapter for you guys - number 10. I hope you like the story. Please review to tell me what you would like to see in future chapters. Thanks for reading! SR52