Chapter 9 - One Month Later...
One month later, in the hotel...
It's been a month, and we've made a good chunk of progress in everything. I've got my lightsaber mostly finished, too. I just need a lens strong enough to focus the light of the crystal, then I can finally use it without causing small explosions or fires, hopefully.
Kara's been working in room service with me, as we've been the ones responsible for quite a number of the messes here, and we get to stay long-term as payment. Hazel's been working as a cook in their kitchens to pay for her extended stay as well.
We finally made that clearing for an arena, too, and I started learning how to make training dummies for practice. Between all of that, this is what I've gained in stats and levels:
Name: Cyrus Ambrosio Elroy
Species: Human
Class: Scoundrel, Gray Jedi Consular.
Health: 300/300
FP: 380/380
Level: 22
Str: 27
Con: 31
Dex: 24
Int: 36
Wis: 39
Cha: 20(+5)
Computer Use: 25(+13 from Int) = 38
Demolitions: 15(+13 from Int) = 28
Stealth: 34(+7 from Dex) = 41
Awareness: 36(+14 from Wis) = 50
Persuade: 40(+5 from Cha, +2 from the Echo title) = 47
Repair: 27(+13 from Int) = 40
Security: 28(+14 from Wis) = 42
Treat Injury: 42(+14 from Wis) = 56
My stat growth is impressive, really. I even evolved some powers and abilities, as well as developed a few, too.
Power Evolved!
Heal - Master Heal: When you trigger this power, your allies recover HP equivalent to ⅔ of the used FP in the power, and are cured of all status ailments similar to poison, paralysis, and fatigue.
FP Cost: Varies in cost.
Crafting, Level 14: With enough practice, you've developed a knack for making your own tools, to keep yourself alive and safe. With enough focus and FP, who knows what you can make?
Power Evolved!
Improved Revitalize - Master Revitalize: When you trigger this power on someone recently deceased, they can rise from the dead, the amount of HP and FP you bestow to them multiplied by x2.
Cost: 10 HP and 10 FP minimum.
New Power Unlocked!
Burst of Speed: When you use this power, you'll unleash your inner speedster, and your speed will increase by x1.2, for as long as you can sustain it.
FP Cost: 50 FP per minute.
Force Levitation, Level 26: When you trigger this ability, you will be able to move around the targeted object with your mind, the heavier the object or being, the higher the cost.
FP cost: 1 x weight in pounds every two minutes.
That last one was an incredible leap, but considering how often I used it in everyday life, it isn't too surprising. We've been planning on moving out to some apartment before we did deeper digging on other Empowered, as we'd dubbed the possible other superpowered people that might exist.
If we could get a home before we started bringing other people like us in, that might be nice, you know? But anyways, right now, I'm getting ready to train with Kara and Hazel, and they'd started acting closer, sharing knowing glances, joking around like they'd known each other for years, which they very well might have, considering how they knew each other online for who knows how long.
We started walking to our clearing, and I assumed my still-awkward battle stance, not drawing my vibroblade yet. Hazel stepped opposite of me, assuming a slightly more elaborate stance, a vibroblade of her own design materializing from her inventory. Her eyes darted over me, reading my stance, while I stood almost shockingly still, waiting for her move.
She lunged at me, swinging her blade towards me recklessly, while I rolled to the side, drawing my vibroblade as I rose to meet her own blade. She kicks a leg out to try and unbalance me, but I grab her leg and twist her ankle, not enough to break, but it definitely had to hurt. She yelped and stumbled back, steadying herself again.
I give her minimal time to recover, lunging at her, pinning her to the ground with my knee to her gut, my blade against her throat. "Yield?" I ask, a smirk on my face. Her blade disappears back to her inventory, and she grabs the blade with both hands, trying to push it away. Drops of blood started to spill down her hands, and she noticed as much, so she sighed, and nodded. "I yield. Next time, though, I'm gonna win, Cy."
My blade disappears, and I use Master Heal on both of us, healing our cuts and bruises from the fight, as well as her ankle after I twisted it. "Honestly, you shouldn't have been trying to continue fighting on that ankle, but I commend you for trying." I stated.
"I know, I know. It would be a lot different if it were a life-or-death situation, though, and we need to be ready for one. Hiding here for a month is already too long, really. I'm surprised we haven't been found." She sighs.
"While you're right, we can take peace while we have it, no?" Kara cuts in. "Anyways, I believe it's my turn now. Do we want to use powers, or no?" Kara asks me. "Sure. As usual, no aiming to kill. Just until one of us yields." I agree, getting in a slightly better stance.
Kara just stands there, her hands in her pockets. We wait for a moment, to see if the other would move, then we both surge forward, our blades materializing, meeting each other. She smirks, "You've gotten better since our last spar," she says, "Too bad I'm still gonna win."
She drops to the ground, swinging her leg around to kick my feet out from under me, but I leap over them, sending a shock to her sword, blasting it away. She quickly pulls it back to her as I appear in front of her, our blades again meeting. I quickly release my sword from the lock, leaping backwards, sending a powerful blast of lightning forward, to be blocked by a target dummy she pulled over with the Force.
She leaps through the smoking remains of the dummy, her sword quickly coming down on me, and I barely blocked it, sending me stumbling back. My brain starts going into overtime. We start circling each other, and I notice dozens of different details. I see a loose tree branch far above us, easily breakable with a tiny shock, and I get a pretty basic idea.
I cast a quick Observe, and see she has enough FP to deflect the branch, and I decide to do something flashy as a last-ditch effort. I knew I was losing ground quickly. Another exchange, and I'd probably be done, unless I could break her focus.
"You know what's different about this fight, Kara?" I tried. "Whatever trick you have planned, I'm not falling for it." She denies. "There's something different. After all our practice in this forest, I can take a little more advantage of our powers. Like so." I channel Force Lightning through my blade, and swing it around experimentally, sending a spark through it to hit the loose branch above us. "Ding!" is heard as my Intelligence increases.
There's a "Crack!" and the branch starts falling. Her eyes widen, and she looks up, swiping it away with the Force, and I take the opportunity to tackle her, pinning her by her neck to the ground, and she yelps as she tries to roll, but a knee against her stomach stops her. I send the last fraction of my FP into a shock into her sword arm, making her drop her sword.
"Finally. Yield, Kara?" I ask, a triumphant grin on my face. "Fine, fine. I yield. That was clever, I'll admit." She surrenders. "Ding!" is heard as my Dexterity and Constitution increase by 2 points for the workout.
"I think that's the difference between us. You're a better fighter, but I have an easier time with powers. You ran dry by getting rid of that branch, providing me with that opportunity, because you don't focus on powers as much as I do, similarly to how I don't focus on melee combat as much as you." I deduce.
"That makes sense. Good fight." She says, putting out her hand. "That was a great fight, Kara." I shake her hand, and she smiles. "That was a cool trick. Using your weapon to channel lightning was interesting. I wonder if there's other combos we can use..." She wonders aloud.
"We'll see, I guess. But we should probably head back soon. It's 4 PM, and they're gonna start having me cook soon, then we can talk about looking for new jobs, and an apartment, if we want to look for other jobs, that is." Hazel interrupts.
The two of us glance at each other and nod, a sort of understanding passing between us. "Let's go, then." Kara says, standing back up.
On our walk back, Kara lags behind Hazel and I, so I drop back to talk quietly with her. "What's up, K? There's something bothering you." I ask, concerned. "I want you to teach me more about the Force. I know there's a lot of potential with it, and I've barely tapped into it. You're a powerhouse with the Force, though even you're limited right now, probably because the Game doesn't want you to progress past a certain point. But it wouldn't hurt for me to balance out a bit, right?" She requests.
"Of course. I'll teach you everything I can. Though I draw the line at Force Crush. That's too powerful, and I don't think I should've developed it, and the reason I did was sheerly because I was about to be captured otherwise, and potentially as a future deterrent for Truman, so he'd side with us in that encounter in California. It's also incredibly dark. I don't want you using that, at least." I agree. She nods, agreeing quickly with my limitation. "Ding!"
Influence Gained: Kara! 100/100
"Ding!" I resolve to check that other notification later, and focus on the influence now.
I frown at that finally hitting its cap. There's no telling what would happen with that. It'd been increasing over the span of the month, but I was still scared of her acting totally different because of it. I close my eyes briefly to flicker Force Sight onto her, seeing her outline as red as mine now, and my frown deepens. I resolved to talk with Hazel about it later.
"Is there anything else bothering you? I feel like that's not everything." I check. "There is one thing, but I get the feeling now's not the time. Let's focus more on getting back in time. We can talk about this later if we have to." She brushes off, walking quickly to catch back up with Hazel, and they quickly start laughing and joking. I couldn't help but smile a bit at the two of them interacting like that.
We finally arrived back, and we all split up to do our jobs, and one terrifying thought loomed. "What happens with maximum influence?"
