1.4 Summon

Akane was practicing a choreography of moves, which included punches, kicks, and jumps. I didn't think it was easy, but she made it look like it was. She had insisted that all her parahuman abilities were thanks to her 'Ki' and that she could teach me how to use it. Of course, with me not training my whole life, the prospect of doing anything half as impressive as she was grim. That's it, if this 'Ki' even worked as she described it.

She left for school early, but not before making sure I knew all the steps of a much more basic choreography that she mentioned was an introductory 'kata' for her school of martial arts. "Anything Goes" doesn't sound like any sensible school of martial arts I ever heard of. Not that I heard of any school of martial arts that is. But "Anything Goes" sounds more like Mexican Lucha or something.

Even while I practiced what Akane had taught me, I still focused on her whereabouts. I still had to tell Akane about that tidbit. But I don't know how she would react to that. Would she think I could mind-control her?

I shook my head and shifted gears. Trying to imitate the more complex choreography Akane had shown me before.

Punch, punch, jump, kick, roll, uppercut, jump, kick.

I miss-stepped and a moment later my ankle was on fire.

I massaged it and wondered what I had done wrong. My punches had only a fraction of Akane's strength, my kicks were sloppy, wobbly even. But the biggest problem was the jump.

I mean, I can jump like a normal person. Akane can jump a couple of yards high with ease.

I closed my eyes, still massaging my ankle.

Some people were staring at Akane, muttering among themselves. I guessed they just thought she was ABB. While we had replaced her green pants with one of my jeans, she refused to wear anything other than her red shirt.

I think she mentioned something to my dad the other day, that her boyfriend, Ranma had given her the shirt moments before she died, so she could keep some modesty. I wonder how would that feel. Being loved like that. Even if I'm pretty sure Ranma was her cousin, it's still kind of sweet.

I watched as Akane was instructed by a guidance counselor (I wasn't aware those existed at Winslow) what her classes would be and gave her a small photocopy of a very rudimentary map of the school. As Akane looked down at the map, I couldn't help but wonder who had drawn it. Certainly not an architect or an Engineer. Probably one of the teachers, but more likely one of the more studious kids. It was good enough to get the general idea where each classroom was, at least.

The counselor marked some rooms with a pen and then wrote a number at the bottom of the paper. She grunted Akane's way, "that's your locker. Don't be late for class, and don't cause trouble."

"Why would I cause trouble?" Akane asked, carefully. I could sense her anger beginning to bubble. She didn't like being called a troublemaker.

"No reason." The counselor said, eyeing Akane's shirt.

Akane left without saying anything else, doing her best to find her locker.

I opened my eyes and gulped. The three bitches were hanging out, blocking her locker.

I started pacing and winced as my ankle started hurting again. I cursed under my breath. I needed some way to communicate with Akane, advise her how to deal with them. If she got angry and punched a hole on Emma's stomach… eh, I better get some popcorn.

"So, I see she's not here again." Emma was saying, her smile reminded me of warmer days, particularly christmas. It was also a reminder of how much Emma had changed, how much she had betrayed what we had.

Sophia chuckled, "I don't think we're going to see her anytime soon, if ever."

"That prank totally showed her who's boss, Emma." Madison said, almost jumping up and down cutely.

Emma smirked. "I heard she stayed a whole week at the Hospital." When the other girls whistled, impressed, she continued, "her dad barely makes enough money to feed her, so if they don't lock her with all the other loonies, I expect them to be begging for food sometime next week."

"Excuse me, you're blocking my locker." Akane said, her voice betraying no emotion. I wondered if she had paid attention to what they had been talking about, or if she had been too focused looking for her locker to care.

Emma looked at Sophia, and they both snorted. "Excuse me?"

Akane took another step and was just a few inches from them. She was taller than all of them, and was glaring daggers. "My locker. I'm new." She said, showing them the photocopy with her locker number the counselor had hastily written.

"Look, we're having a private conversation here, and-"

Akane extended her hand and opened her locker. Pushing Emma away, but not strongly enough to throw her to the floor. She stored her bag inside, and took the books she would need for her first period class. When she closed the door, she looked back at the shocked Emma. "If someone tells you you're blocking their locker, you move."

Emma was about to reply, but Sophia silenced her with her hand and held Akane's shoulder. "You don't get to act tough like that and walk away. What did Emma even do to you?"

Akane rolled her eyes. "Like I said, she was blocking my locker." She turned, looking like she hadn't even noticed Sophia holding her. I'm pretty sure I heard her whine and holding her wrist. Had Akane managed to twist her wrist?

I could hear Sophia cursing for a moment before she started to run at Akane.

Something stroke Akane. Like electricity.

Akane ducked without looking back, and I could see a punch going safely over her head. Akane was about to elbow Sophia, but stopped herself at the last moment.

Another shock, and Akane side-rolled to a nearby locker. Sophia had tried to kick Akane, but apparently Akane could sense her attacks before they hit.

I blinked. Those shocks… they were some kind of early-warning system? I think I read on one of dad's old comic-books of a fictional hero that had something like that. Some sort of precognition? How many abilities did Akane have?

Sophia threw something at Akane, but she just caught it without even looking at it. The shook didn't act this time. I guess it only activated when she couldn't sense attacks the normal way?

Akane closed her hand and let a shattered knife fell to the floor.

Sophia was breathing hard, glaring daggers at Akane. "What the fuck?"

Akane rose to her feet. "I don't know what your problem is. But you're not going to bully anyone ever again while I am here." She glared back at Sophia. "Do you understand me?"

Sophia snorted. "Bully? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me, Sophia Hess. Taylor told me about you and your little group. You disgust me." Akane turned to continue walking to the classroom. Sophia didn't try to strike her this time.

It was obvious Akane was a cape.

Sophia was probably too busy shitting bricks.

"You can't out yourself like that!" I was yelling at Akane, later that day. We were at the backyard, supposedly so Akane could continue teaching me to defend myself.

She looked almost bored. "Why not? I never bothered pretending to be weak." She made a face, "unless I was weak compared to some jerk who decided to kidnap me, obviously."

"Obviously." I repeated, and smiled at her. "Look, I don't know how it was when you were active in Japan, but these days, here in America, capes hide who they are."

Akane tilted her head. "Why?"

"Because if some gang found out you have powers, they would investigate you, find out you live with me and dad, and use us as hostages so you have to do whatever they order you."

Akane nodded, but didn't look convinced. "I guess things might be different over here."

"Might be?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ok. Are. Things are different over here."

I nodded, but smirked at her. "Sophia probably is scared shitless now."

Akane shrugged her shoulders, and sat on the ground, she then put on an alarm clock next to her, took note of it, and then started punching the ground in front of her, stopping only a moment later.

"324 punches in three seconds, that's... 108 per second?"

"Yes." I said. "Why?"

"Like I said, Ranma went from 500 punches per second to fast enough I couldn't follow with my eyes."

"You mean, you could follow 500 punches per second with your eyes?"

"Yes, of course." She said, and sighed. "I don't think I will get to that level anytime soon."

"Oh, and what was that ability from before, you know, when Sophia was trying to hit you?"

Akane looked at me strangely. "What ability?"

"You know, that- huh- shock. When you dodged without even looking."

"Danger sense." She said, still looking at me like she was trying to solve a puzzle.

I realized she figured something odd was going on. "Oh, you're wondering how I noticed that from here, when you were all the way at school, right?"

"Something like that, yes."

"I can-" I swallowed, "I can see what you see, and hear what you hear. Actually, feel whatever you feel. When your 'danger sense' shook you, I felt it."

Akane studied my face for a long while. For a split of a second, I thought she was about to slap me. But she never even raised her hand.

She took a deep breath before sighing. "Is it because your power? Because you resurrected me?"

"I think so. I'd have to trigger my power again to make sure, but yes. It's like a second nature to me."

"So, you're hearing this conversation in an echo? How do you even manage yourself with-?"

I interrupted her, "I don't get overloaded or anything like that from the extra information coming to my brain." I bit my lip. "I am not even sure it's coming to my brain. Maybe it's all in your head and I'm using some of your brain to extend my own or-"

"I get it, I get it. You don't know."

"Is it going to be a problem?"

She crossed her arms. "I don't know. It shouldn't be. It's not like you're a pervert or anything like that, right? You're not going to go around peeping on me when I'm taking a bath?"

"Can't really help it. But no, I don't plan to actively, huh, 'peep' on you."

For a few moments remained silent. Like she was thinking how to proceed. Finally, she nodded and smiled at me. "Ok. You mentioned you felt my danger sense kicking in, right?"

"Right."

"That means you can tap into senses I had to train to have." She frowned. "Maybe you can have your own danger sense? We can start with you trying to see if my muscle memory works on you."

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"I mean, I will show you some katas, and you will follow them. If you can imitate them well enough, then it means our little link could help you learn martial arts much faster than normal."

She showed me the same basic choreography from the morning, which I recreated 'perfectly' (her words, not mine). She showed me some more, until I showed her the one that had hurt my ankle in the morning. I misstepped just like I did earlier, but this time Akane was there to prevent my fall.

Akane looked somewhat happy. "Okay, good news is, you pretty much have the same kind of instincts I have. If we train you, you could be Dan level at Kenpo in a few months. Bad news is, it looks like you're kind of expecting to have the same strength and agility I have. That could lead you getting hurt, or worse. We need to improve your strength, all around. You're way too skinny."

Akane made a motion to kick me, and stopped at the last second. Her foot mere inches from my nose.

"That didn't kickstart your danger sense, right?"

I gulped. "I only realized you were going to hit me after you started moving, and-"

"Ok, Ok." She said, Interrupting me. She lowered her leg. "I projected killing intent there. The danger sense should've let you know to either block or dodge. Looks like you have the potential, but everything is untapped."

"So, what do we do?"

"We have to wake up your own danger sense. If you're able to know you're about to get hurt, it will be easier to train you how to properly dodge attacks."

I eyed her warily. "You just want to hurt me, don't you?"

"Who, me?" She teased, and lightly tapped the palm of her hand with her fist. "You must have mistaken me with someone else