February 8th - 2014

I've begun to notice something. I knew my ability to absorb information and learn things had improved since the accelerator, at least muscle memory and adapting to situations. But apparently languages and skills too. I didn't notice it much because I'm always trying to understand things on a fundamental level, makes it easy to solve any problem that comes my way.

In a few days, I'd somehow gone from rudimentary knowledge of japanese from watching a lot of anime with subtitles. To conversing with people well enough to navigate my way around the area, as well as beginning to read it as well. I'd started in tokyo of course, having taken a plane to get there, but from there I took a bus to lake yamanaka, picking up some supplies in town before making my way up the long pilgrimage in Bruce's instructions.

Over the last couple of days I made my way up the pathway heading towards the top of Mt, Fuji, staying in a cave, or near a waterfall as I embraced surviving in nature here. Finally, on the third day, I left the beaten path towards the coordinates on my watch, the little solar charger I'd brought with me keeping everything charged up. I'd just begun to crest a hill when I found what looked to be an isolated temple in the valley between Mt Fuji and Kamiyoshida.

I approached carefully, since if this was where I thought it was, then this place had more than enough trained martial artists to knock me on my ass a dozen times or more without trying. A young woman approached me as I ascended the steps, concerned that I might be lost and speaking in clear if broken English. She offered to take me to a nearby town as a guide but seemed surprised when I told her I'd been sent to find Sensei Yoru, more so when I spoke clear but still imperfect Japanese on top of it to avoid confusion, when in Rome right?

I was met at the temple gate by an elderly man, he had to be in his 70s but didn't look feeble in the least. I immediately bowed out of respect, first impressions are important, and this man taught the batman a significant amount of fighting techniques. I'd explained my situation to him, about needing control and that I needed to get stronger to protect people against a far stronger opponent. I swear this felt like a Karate kid moment with the kind of training Yoru Sensei had me doing. It didn't seem to have anything to do with combat training, but I figured it was just part of things.

Things went like that for the next month, I'd gotten word that Slade had agreed to a truce, things had gone quiet in Starling city, and I was focusing on gaining better control over my strength and abilities. Every morning I started with a run up and down the mountain, resting by a waterfall and meditating for an hour or so as I got a better feel over how my energy generation worked and how to control the output more precisely. Next I'd spend the next few hours doing Kata with the students, each one moving into the next, precision strikes being trained into muscle memory.

Finally, I'd also spend a few hours in the afternoon with the bo staff and training dummies, trying to strike hard without shattering the wood. In the evening, I'd run across Kamiyoshida and gather supplies, dodging the trees as I moved through the forest faster and faster every day to train my agility. Day in and day out the training went on, it became a habit and I followed without question. It was too important to become better, to try and master my new body, my new abilities.

One day three months in I was ambushed on my way back from town. It seemed the league wasn't giving me the chance to get strong enough to stand a chance and had their own plans as I felt more than heard the throwing knife shoot past my head, causing me to stop. My eyes closed as I tried to focus on the movement in the dark forest around me, the shadows hiding them from sight.

Their movements were different from the usual league assassins I'd been facing up until now, someone specialized maybe? I wasn't sure, but if I didn't move quickly, I wasn't going to make it back. They had incredible stealth and reflexes to match as I used the bo staf I carried on my back to deflect incoming projectiles but couldn't land a hit on them. They kept coming in nearly hitting me with lethal strikes, my own enhanced physiology giving me the ability to deflect or move just enough to avoid them.

"I'm not sure who you are, but if the league sent you, then they must be really afraid of something or really stupid to anger both the arrow and the bat."

"It doesn't matter, you won't leave here alive." he stated calmly, throwing another knife which I realized too late was a feint as he managed to land a devastating blow to my ribs, causing my heart to almost stop for a moment as I couldn't even breath. He seemed shocked I survived whatever that was and quickly hit me with a roundhouse kick, knocking me on the ground gasping for breath as I tried to take deep controlled breaths to get it back under control.

He struck again but this time I deflected it, another strike hitting me in the arm, leaving it limp at my side as the muscles refused to work. Recognizing this as a pressure point disabling move I've used, I began applying force to another point to bring feeling back into my arm and hands. It wasn't perfect, but it worked wonders for when my arm fell asleep from an awkward sleeping position.

"You're not the only one who can use pressure points to disarm your opponents' assassin." I responded, trying to goad him into making a mistake, overstepping, becoming overconfident, something. I was rewarded as this time he came out of the tress brandishing a short sword and coming in for a strike. I grabbed it with my hand, the blade cutting a deep gash as I arrested its movement gripping it hard before it was yanked out of my grasp, a foot shoving me onto the ground, the tip of the word not pointing at my neck.

"Your life ends here, and with it, the honor of the dragon will be restored" he proclaimed my death far too soon, however. My training in control allowing me to feel the electrical energy forming around my body, I needed to do something quick and shoved him off with my arm while rolling out of the way, the energy building and traveling down my arms, this time much more controlled than before. I could feel it cycling as I put my palms together, imitating the movements I'd seen repeated so many times in anime.

"You must have lost your mind in fear if you think you can fire energy like that." he started laughing, his confidence growing as I continued to focus the energy I'd been gathering and training this whole time.

"Funny thing about fiction assassin, from my perspective you shouldn't exist either, this whole world was once fiction, having superpowers was a laughable idea back home." I prayed this worked, I couldn't actually throw life force around, but containing energy with electromagnetic fields, creating plasma? If I could generate electricity it should be possible, in theory, with enough energy gathered. I just hoped I didn't blow up my hands, I wasn't sure about the limits of my regeneration yet.

A ball of light was forming in my hands, the heat immense as more and more energy formed starting to burn my hands, this time being drawn from what felt like the very air I was breathing, the irony of using what looked like an anime technique for the first time in the homeland of anime wasn't lost on me as I took in a deep breath, the focus allowing me to pour more and more energy from what felt like an endless reserve. First it was a soft red glow, then steadily moved through the spectrum of colors until it was a bright blue. Lightning arcing off my hands and around my body, striking the ground.

"Allow me to introduce you to the fourth state of matter assassin." suddenly I felt like a drained battery as I released it, the movement lightning quick as it just barely missed and splintered the tree where he was standing just moments ago, the ground scorched from the explosion. He seemed panicked as I took a deep breath and began channeling the energy again, the deep well seeping into my body as it was covered in a soft glow, a barrier of electromagnetic plasma around me evaporating the projectiles that flew my way.

"It's not possible!" he shouted as I reached out my hand, lightning arcing from my fingertips and striking his leg as he tried to dodge again, my other hand shooting more to hit him as he landed.

"With sufficient knowledge, anything is possible, you should know that given the league holds the secrets to eternal youth." suddenly a bright flash erupted in front of me, some sort of stun grenade as he vanished into the night. My whole body exhausted as I nearly collapsed and began making my way back to the temple. I still had a lot of training to do if I was going to put an end to this thing with Slade and the League.