The story of Taylor Hebert and James Barron now continues with a trip to a used bookstore for skillbooks. Beta by Faria Lyton.

Party Invite 2.5

Lunch couldn't pass fast enough. The revelation that James's gloriously bullshit powers could allow us to instantly learn almost any skill as long as we had the book almost had me skipping like a little girl on the way to the bookstore. The potential ways to exploit that were limited only by our imaginations. Über and Victor, two local villains, had nothing going for them except skills. Über could become the master of any one skill. Victor stole skills from others. James's power didn't let us instantly master skills, but it was broader and judging by how quickly we were leveling our skills we could become the master of anything given enough time.

The real question was what to learn first. While in theory we could learn any skill, we were limited by our available cash unless we wanted to start stealing books. James's power could make stealing books too damn easy. We didn't have to take them out of the store, just take them into an out of the way corner and chomp down on their contents. Despite being easy and having almost no chance of getting caught, neither of us wanted to start our hero careers by shoplifting. Between my 'emergency' twenty and James's ten and change we only had a little over thirty dollars for shopping – not near enough to exploit the glorious potential of skillbooks.

Naturally, we discussed what skills to pick up on our way to the used bookstore. First aid was easy to agree upon. Ranged weapons were discarded. Bows, crossbows and guns all made holes in people. Shadowstalker might carry fancy tranquilizer bolts, but we didn't have access to them. Neither of us was that interested in becoming an expert in the bolo or the boomerang, and I already had nets covered. That still left us plenty of other skills we could acquire.

"James, what do you know about martial arts?" Most of my knowledge came by way of Dad's kung-fu movies. I might not know much about martial arts, but I knew all that was fake.

"I know a little bit. I wanted to take lessons when I was younger, but… it didn't work out." He shrugged and glanced away. "I did some online research last night after I made my costume."

After our awkward attempt at sharing this morning we'd kept things focused on training. I sensed there might be a story behind James's casual words, but didn't feel like probing his wounds or sharing mine. "Okay. So did you decide on anything? Tae Kwon Do or Karate?"

"Kung Fu appeals to me more. I always wanted to be able to say, 'I know Kung Fu,' but not all the crazy little styles they have like Monkey Fist and Praying Mantis. Some games only let you pick one martial art, and just in case I'd prefer a broad one that combines many styles together. Something like Choy Li Fut or maybe Jeet Kune Do. It may be cliché, but I like what I read about its philosophy."

"Hmm." That was pretty specific for someone who claimed to know little about the martial arts. I'd never heard of either of those. I'd given James some ribbing about his low wisdom, but he'd always been book smart and apparently could do his research as well. "So… just a little bit of reading then?"

He grinned. "Well, just a couple of hours. My forum-fu is strong."

That was more than I'd done with a couple of hours online. I'd looked up martial arts before as part of my hero training, but had never reached a conclusion. "I've thought about it before. I thought I might want something like judo that is all throwing and blending and stuff, but that was before I started taking my bat to zombies. Now I just don't know."

"I can tell you that you don't want judo. The thing you need to know about judo is that it was created to be a sport. It's a tamer version of jujitsu that doesn't result in as many broken bones. So if you want to go with something like judo at all, then go all in and get jujitsu. Honestly, if you want that kind of thing I'd suggest you go for aikido. It's more what you said you wanted about blending, taking an opponent's force and using it against him. That's present in jujitsu, but in aikido it's the core philosophy."

I found myself nodding along. "I like the sound of that. Mostly it's for backup. I'm really starting to like my bat."

James laughed. "Funny thing about that. One of the traditional aikido weapons is the wooden sword, or bokken, but otherwise known as a…"

"A bat?" Really? "Are you shitting me?"

"I shit you not."

"Alright then. Looks like I'm going to be aikido girl then." Hopefully. Knock on wood that it could be learned from a book. "Oh, and we're here."

There were three used bookstores in close walking distance, and I knew them all. Lisa's Book Nook wasn't of much use to us. Lisa's was about sixty percent romance books, thirty percent Westerns, and ten percent other fiction. Buy-Back Books, was a national chain store and they had pretty good selection. However, I'd led us to my favorite, Book Brothers. They were a local store that operated out of a two-story building that used to be an office building twenty years ago. Now the interior doors were all removed, and the former offices stacked with floor-to-ceiling shelves. The second floor wasn't level, the carpet was threadbare, and the whole store smelled of books and mildew. I loved it. It held not only books, but memories. Mom used to drag us here. Dad would joke about her getting lost for hours. I'd head to the juvenile shelves and pick up on my own stack of books to take home. They didn't have the selection of Buy-Back Books, but their prices were better especially if you opted for store credit instead of cash when selling them your books. Too bad my store credit was currently zero.

"Come on," I urged James as I led him up the squeaking stairs. "I think what we're looking for is in the hobbies section on the second floor." I'd passed by hobbies on Friday in my search for game books.
James followed behind me muttering, "[Observe]," repeatedly under his breath. On the second floor I led him through a winding warren of little rooms, past history, biography, and film. We'd barely stepped inside the hobbies room, when James paused like a hunting dog going on point. "They're everywhere in here. Elsewhere not so much, but I'd say about a third of these are… useful." He gave a meaningful glance to where an old man that smelled of tobacco browsing the shelves next to us. "For a given value of 'useful.' Take this one for example, "If you wanted to learn how to [Pilot, Small Aircraft], this would do it. I don't think it is what we're really looking for, do you?"

I shook my head. There was so much I wanted to say, but couldn't. "Mind if I take a look at it?"

"Sure." He passed it across to me.

[You've obtained the skill book [Pilot, Small Aircraft].]
[A skill for piloting small aircraft.]
[Minimum AGI: 30]
[Minimum INT: 30]
[Would you like to learn the skill?]
[Yes] [No]

"No, not exactly what I'm looking for." I moved over the large section of shelves that held cook books. I envied James with his ability to just [Observe] books. I had to run my hands over them and wait for the popup window. Almost every cooking book spawned similar popups:

[You've obtained the skill book [Cooking].]
[You already know this skill.]

Then following that came a wave of recipes that I could learn from eating the book. I started muttering, "No," repeatedly under my breath to close them, but one was different.

[You've obtained the skill book [Gourmet Cooking].]
[This is a subskill of [Cooking], a skill that you already know.]
[Learning more about [Gourmet Cooking] will increase your [Cooking] by one.]
[Would you like to learn this subskill?]
[Yes] [No]

While I didn't, this was new information on James's power. I turned around to find him, and he'd drifted away to a few rows over. I found him in the martial arts section. Good on him for staying focused. I'd apparently inherited my mother's tendency to be distracted by books. The old guy was a few rows over, but to be safe I stepped in close to James so we could whisper. "Didn't find anything that I want to buy yet, but I learned something. Did you find your book?"

"Yeah. It was really popular for a few years, so it's not too surprising to find a copy." He had the same kind of crazy grin that he'd worn when he'd discovered loot. He showed me a book simply titled Jeet Kune Do featuring a shirtless oriental man who looked vaguely familiar from one of my father's Kung-Fu movies. "It's got some awesome bonuses! I also got lucky and found you this, if you want it."

I took the book he offered. Simple titles must be in, because it was entitled Aikido. As soon as I touched it, I received the expected popup box offering me a skill:

[You've obtained the skill book [Aikido]]
[A martial art with a focus on turning the momentum of opponents' attacks against them]
[Minimum STR: 10]
[Minimum AGI: 15]
[Minimum VIT: 10]
[Minimum WIS: 20]
[Due to your previous knowledge you will gain [Akido] at an increased level.]
[Passively increases knockback and speed of bare-handed throws, holds, disarms, and redirects by 45%]
[This skill confers expertise in falling safely. Save vs. AGI to mitigate falling and knockback damage and avoid [Prone] status.]
[While using a traditional weapon: Tanto, Jo, Bokken or Katana, [Aikido] increases the effect of the relevant skill by 1.5%]
[Warning! This skill replaces [Brawling, lvl 1]]
[Warning! The practice of [Aikido] requires the ability to maintain a relaxed state of mind even under stress. Skill level in [Aikido] may not exceed character's [WIS]]
[Would you like to learn [Aikdo, lvl 3]?]
[Yes] [No]

The warnings caught my eye, but I wasn't too concerned. The description from [Brawling] already stated it would be replaced by a martial art. The fact that aikido was limited by my WIS score wouldn't be a problem for a long time. Rather the fact that this martial art was anchored in wisdom helped convince me that James gave me solid advice when he suggested aikido. It did seem like the better abilities required me to be barehanded, but it also gave me bonuses with my bat/bokken. With any luck that meant I could train [Aikido] and [Blunt Weapon Mastery] simultaneously. Plus it just plain sounded cool. Really, I only had one question.

"This looks pretty damn good to me. What's a jo and a tanto?"

"A jo is a bo - a quarterstaff, and a tanto is the knife version of a katana."

"Then yes, I'll be ta-" I staggered and felt James catch my arm as waves of information poured through my mind: how to stand, how to move, uke – how to initiate an attack and the one who gets thrown, tori – how to receive an attack and the one who demonstrates the technique, how to fall forward and backward and to the sides, how to roll back to standing, waza – the techniques, basic waza, waza for attacking while sitting, waza for taking weapons, and on and on, technique after technique. Each one different and as unique as a snowflake. Having [Computer Programming] crammed into my head was like a water hose of facts and principles. Aikido hit me like a raging river. The flood of aikido wasn't just facts and knowledge; it included know-how, theory, and even philosophy. Aikido integrated itself through every part of me. As the sensation ebbed I became annoyingly aware of my lack of balance and sloppy posture. I straightened myself and gently removed my arm from James's grasp.

"Are you okay?" James looked really concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm even better than fine. I feel good. What a rush." That was mostly true, except for a nagging tightness in my body. I felt like I really needed to stretch, and with that thought all sorts of different stretches that I hadn't known just a moment ago leapt into to my mind. "That one was just a bit… more than the programming one, you know?"

"Not really, but I think I get the gist. [Chinese] was a bit more than what I was expecting." James nodded towards smells-like-tobacco man. "He peered over this way, but went back to minding his own business."

I felt my cheeks growing warm. Tobacco guy probably thought we were a couple. I should be thankful that he hadn't thought more of the sudden bright light when I'd consumed the book. I nodded to James. "Thanks for catching me. Not that I'm complaining, but why did your power have me learn the book?"

"Well, I wasn't going to just watch you tip over. I guess you had the window open and said 'yes'?"

"Right." That made sense. I usually pressed the buttons, but I knew the popups would accept voice commands. "Lesson learned. Watch what we say when windows are open."

James nodded his agreement. "So, what are we going to do about the book? You want to leave a five on the shelf or something?"

I fixed him with my stare for a moment. Nope. He still didn't see it. "What's wrong with that statement?"

This time it was James's turn to look embarrassed. "Whoever finds it will most likely just pocket it."

"Yup." While it was an honest mistake on a five dollar book, I was not starting out my cape career with theft – even if it had been a power accident. "Book Brothers buys back books for store credit. I'll return some books for store credit later this week and never use five dollars of it. That way I repay them for the book, even if they'll never know."

"That works…" He looked me up and down. "I think you're standing differently. So was [Aikido] worth it?"

"Oh hell yeah." Only the fact that we were not alone kept that a firm whisper instead of a shout. "It was definitely worth it. You should get that Jute Kune Do book."

"I'm going to. It's eight bucks." Left unstated was that was almost all of James's cash.

"I already said that you should get it." I got the feeling that James's family was as cash-strapped as mine, but not a sore point that I wanted to poke. "We're pooling our cash. I got my aikido book. It's fine. You did buy me lunch, and it wasn't a date. So I'm just paying you back."

"Right, so... First aid?"

Our quest for first aid books was doomed to failure. I was sorely disappointed in the selection at my favorite used bookstore. They had several shelves of alternative medicine like herbal healing and acupuncture along with a few medical texts appropriate for doctors. The highlight of the small medical section was an eight dollar paperback copy of Gray's Anatomy that taught the [Anatomy] skill to level 25. It didn't take an expert to know that medical students spent years of effort to acquire the detail level of knowledge contained in that thick tome. One of us could learn all that in seconds for a measly eight bucks. I handed the book to James. "Not quite what we need. What we need is a good book on first aid or some kind of paramedic skill."

"Yeah." James had a hungry look on his face, like a wolf spotting a fat sheep, but he returned Gray's Anatomy to the shelf where I'd found it. "I know I've seen books like that sold alongside the first aid kits for Endbringer preparedness. I guess it's the kind of thing people hold onto."

I nodded my agreement. "Maybe another day we'll hit the retail stores, or maybe Buy Back Books." The national chain store bought publisher's leftovers and resold them for cheap.

That left us both at a loss for what else we should purchase. Book Brothers had shelves upon shelves in their hobbies section that offered us so many choices. Some like [Cycling], [Flower Arranging], and [Origami] might be fun to have, but were of no practical value to us. A few others like [Tai Chi] and [Yoga] offered small stat bonuses. If they'd had a book on [Jogging] or [Running], I'd have snatched it up to pick up a Mover ability, but we found nothing. James found a large selection of books that offered skills like [Woodworking], [Welding], and [Pottery] that all acted as subskills to his [Craft] skill and would give him a quick plus one level. I found similar books like [Weaving] and [Crochet] that would add to my [Fashion Design]. Then there were the books that might be useful in certain circumstances. What to Do When the Fit hits the Shan offered the skill [Urban Survival,] but cost fifteen dollars. How useful would [Rock Climbing] be in Brockton Bay? Or [Swimming]? Meanwhile James bemoaned the absence of a book on Parkour. After he described the sport to me, it went on my when-I-have-cash list as well. Maybe once we made our hero debut we could score some cash by breaking up drug deals. That was quasi-legal for cape vigilantes under current laws.

After almost two hours of browsing and comparing titles James and I decided on our final selections and headed toward check-out. On our way I noticed an arrow leading to the Metaphysics section. I usually scoffed at that kind of stuff, but James had mana points, and in the D&D books I'd read magic-user had been a class.

"Hey, James." I waved at the sign. "Look, I know it's bullshit, but…" I continued sotto voice, "… so are your powers. What if your power considers them, um, spells?"

James regarded the sign warily. "Well, it's just about the right kind of bullshit. It can't hurt to look."

I felt like I lost WIS just by stepping in the room. The room was filled with all sorts of stuff that I normally considered complete bunk: UFOs, Atlantis, Scion built the pyramids, tarot reading, astrology, crystal healing, astral projection, modern paganism, witchcraft, and many more. I ran my hands slowly over the shelves getting nothing.

James interrupted my search. "Found a few, but they're general knowledge skills, [Occult Knowledge] and similar." He continued muttering, "Observe" quietly while searching the shelves. "Wait. I may have found one." He sounded eager when he picked it up, but lost his smile. "It's a legitimate skill, but it's more for you."

I took the book from him wondering what kind of skill book from the crackpot section would be for me instead of James. The pop-up gave me the answer:

[You've obtained the skill book [Hypnosis]]
[The ability to induce a highly suggestible state in a target person.]
[Minimum WIS: 40]

And that would be why this book was for me and not James.

[With a successful WIS vs WIS check applies the status [Hypnotized] to target.]
[Cannot be used in combat. Must first make favorable reaction roll on target.]
[Confers +10% INT to target for memory checks. Allows the hypnotist to make suggestions that target can overcome with WIS save. Bonuses to save apply to suggestions that impact the target's safety or go against their convictions.]
[Would you like to learn this skill?]
[Yes] [No]

My, that wasn't vaguely worded at all was it? What kind of suggestions? This could be damned useful, but this skill had a dangerous edge to it. "I'm already a Master. This skill could easily get mistaken as a power and get me classified as a Master who controls humans." And because of Masters like Canary that wasn't a reputation I wanted to have.

"Yeah, but it's also damned useful, isn't it?"

I made sure the pop-up was closed before responding, "Yes." In a fight the only unfair advantage was one the other guy had. However, [Hypnosis] clearly stated it couldn't be used in combat. I turned it over checking the price. "It's also ten bucks. Not today." Dilemma avoided by virtue of being broke. I had the feeling I'd be back for the book. [Hypnosis] had too many potential uses not to acquire, even if it had a perception risk.

In the end James ended up with the Jeet Kune Do book, Hoyle's Book of Games that gave [Gambling] and [+1 LUK], and The Art of Blacksmithing which gave him [+1 Craft] and lots of blueprints that James thought could be useful. I decided on Hoyle's Book of Games for the [+1 LUK] as well because my luck still sucked and the book was cheap. Balance, Flexibility and Grace was a book about gymnastics, but the skill was called [Acrobatics] and it came with [+1 AGI]. The Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders promised me the [Entomology] skill. I'd spent two months studying up on bugs and I had still just barely scratched the surface of what they could do. Having all the detailed information in that book was just too tempting to pass up.

As soon as we paid for our books I almost pulled James out of Book Brothers. "Come on. Let's get back to the Ship's Graveyard so we can download these puppies!" Maybe that was a bit too enthusiastic, but knowledge was a good thing, and these skills would really help us. Besides James was almost hugging his Jeet Kune Do book. He certainly wasn't complaining. "And after that I really want to try out my new [Aikido] skills on some zombies."