Koh-Lon double checked the boys aura. Not weak, but not powerful, either. She then eyed the slightly smoking remains of the wall, chair, and pillar.
'To much heat was released for it to be a chi blast. It was something else, then.' Koh-Lon thought to herself.
"Well? Is there anything you can do for me?" The boy, Kuno if she recalled correctly, asked. She noticed that he seemed more relaxed, as if a weight was lifted off of him.
"Go into the wilderness for several days. During that time, you will train and meditate. Also, eat as little as you can. That will help improve your will power." Koh-Lon said. The boy nodded and left, leaving Koh-Lon to her thoughts: What she should do with this new knowledge and how will it help her tribe.
A few days later, Kuno entered a clearing with his meager supplies. Since he trusted the woman's advice, he only took a few vital things with him: a good length of rope, a canteen, a cup, matches, sleeping pad, and two tarps. He had also visited the extensive library at the Kuno Estate and chose several volumes that he believed would be beneficial: A Treatise on Unarmed Defense, The Noble Art of Fisticuffs, United States Army Combat Training Manual, and Learning to Hear what the Body Says.
"This should be a good start." Kuno said, looking at his campsite with satisfaction. He had used the tarps to set up a lean-to, made a fire ring, and had gathered some fire wood. In the process, he had taken off his shirt, boots, and socks, leaving him in just a pair of khakis and a white headband. By the end of the day, he had also set up a 'Training Gauntlet,' several training dummies, and a platform to meditate on. The next few days were going to be long, hard, and exhaustive.
"The judo throw is performed by jamming your shoulder into the opponents underarm, grabbing their arm, and pulling forward while using your back for extra leverage. If you are in the correct position, you may follow up with a jab to the solar plexus." Kuno read aloud from the U.S. Army manual. Some people would be surprised by Kuno's proficiency with the English language, but, how else would he enjoy the works of Shakespeare and his ilk in the way the writers wanted it?
"Seems simple and easy enough to do. But, with my strength ever increasing, I wonder what would happen if I were to let go before my opponent touches the ground?" Kuno mused, heading to the pile of training dummies. He had been up since before dawn, using those hours to meditate. Already it was far more easier to control his 'gifts' then the other day.
"Kii-yaahh!" Kuno screamed as he tossed the dummy over his shoulder and into the sky. It was quite a sight watching the dummy become a small, black speck against the blue sky.
"Hmm, I may have to watch my strength when using it for now on." Kuno said, following the trajectory of the dummy with his eyes. He blinked to clear some of the sunlight from his eyes.
"By the Ancients! I now see the dummy, though it be far away!" Kuno exclaimed. He blinked again and his vision returned to normal. All this piqued his curiosity even more.
"I wonder, how strong am I? Is it just the major muscle groups or is it all?" Kuno asked himself and picked up a rock the size of a softball. Clenching his hand into a fist, he easily crushed it and bits of gravel fell from his hand when he opened it.
"How indeed. It would not be hasty, I think, to believe that my strength is even though out my body." Kuno commented, flexing his limbs. He continued to test the limits of his strength and the hand-to-hand combat maneuvers he had studied about until it was late in the evening.
"I believe that I have earned my rest for the day." Kuno said, heading back to his campsite. His meal was light, water with berries and nuts that he foraged for. After he was done eating, he meditated for an hour before he retired. As he drifted to sleep, one thought was on his mind: Whatever was happening to him, he was far from understanding and he would never be the same again.
"While traveling through China, I met a local doctor/mystic. We became friends rather quickly and agreed that we would trade our wisdom. I had shown him how to heal the body by tricking the mind and, in return, he gifted me a chart. He had explained that it showed the major ebb and flow of a person life force, which intersected in several different point. Curious, I compared it with my own nerve chart and found startling similarities. After some time, I realized that I could apply this to a new hobby of mine, pugilism. I had discovered that hitting these 'chi intersections,' as the Chinaman had put it, could cause numerous effects. For example, hitting the diagramed points in the exact order could cause agonizing pain that only the strongest of will or the most stubborn could stand it. I had also discovered that the faster the points are hit, the greater the intensity of the pain." Kuno was reading from the Treatise of Unarmed Defense and it was quite interesting. Written by a physiologist who had taken a liking to boxing and other forms of unarmed combat, it compiled several varying ideas on which form is best and nearly seventy different techniques.
"Now this, this has much possibility." Kuno said, laying the book down. He had dragged a few boulders out to the clearing, a task that was easier then he had first believed. After some moments of thought, he had the perfect plan to practice what he had learned. It took a few moments, but he finally got a heat beam, his thermal vision he came to calling it, to come from his eyes to carve the silhouette of a person into the rock. He added the points he needed to hit with some soot from last nights fire.
"Now, he did write that the faster the points are hit, the pattern becomes much more effective. The local creeper does take 45 seconds to burn just two inches, so I now have a timer. Hmmm, I think I can mark another boulder for each time I complete the pattern. It should work." Kuno said, collecting a length of creeper two and a quarter inches long. He placed the vine between his toes and readied himself.
"Hyaah!" Kuno shouted at he use his thermal vision to light the vine and start to strike the pattern.
Krakkakrakkakrakkakrakka!!!
Krak!
That was the noise that filled the air, as Kuno struck the pattern on the rock and then tallied the completed pattern. After the flame had reached his toes, he stopped and looked at his handy work.
"Zounds! Each one of those points must be one inch deep, at the least!" Kuno said, admiring the boulder's pocked surface. He turned to see the boulder that he used as a tally sheet and was even more shocked.
"How is this possible? Fast I may be, but, I lack the speed to hit a complete of four punches 300 times in one minute!" Kuno exclaimed. Feelings of joy, pride, and satisfaction filled him. He spent the rest of the day practicing the techniques described in the treatise and measuring his speed. Once again, this lead into the late evening and he ate his small meal, did his meditation, and went to sleep.
"I do sincerely hope that I was correct about my earlier assumptions." Kuno said from a top a tall pine. He was certain that, just a few weeks ago, he flew home from school. Jumping out of a tree may trigger his ability to fly. If not, he figured that he was invulnerable to such a degree that a fall from sixty feet wouldn't hurt him. Much, anyway.
"Banzai!!!" Kuno shouted as he leaped from the tree. He didn't know why he shouted what he did, but it was appropriate. He noticed that the ground was quickly getting closer.
"Fly. Come on, fly. Fly. FLY, DAMMIT, FLY!" Kuno shouted and closed his eyes. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and stared in disbelief. The ground was but three inches from him. Three inches from either making a crater or becoming pink goo.
"Huzzah!" Kuno exclaimed. He shot up several feet from the joy that he was flying. It took a few minutes for Kuno to realize how to control his flight, but when he did, he was happier then he ever had been. He willed himself forward and he went forward, he willed himself backward and he went backwards, and it was the same for the other directions.
"It is like I am truly alive for the first time. Being able to navigate three dimensions at will is… is… amazing!" Kuno shouted. He spent the day flying around the forest, testing how his other powers worked in mid-flight.
A few days later in a large city halfway across the planet, a phone rings.
"Hello." The man in the recliner, which was next to the table the phone is on, said into the receiver.
"The Last Son is no longer alone. The other is in Japan." The voice on the other side replied. The man knew what this meant.
"Are you sure?" he asked the other end.
"Yes. You do know what to do?" the voice replied.
"Yeah. See you in a few days then." The man said and hangs up the phone.
"I think I shall miss this place. In the week I spent here, I have learned more from myself then any person could teach me in my lifetime. I have grown stronger then I have first believed to be possible. Thus, my goal should be accomplished easily. That sorcerer most foul has little time left." Kuno said, walking down the path that would lead him off the mountain and out of the forest towards his destiny.
A/N: I just wanted to know, does anyone want this continued? I really enjoyed writing it and hoped you enjoyed reading it. And, if you hadn't guessed, this is a fusion with the Superman Mythos, though modified severely.