Chương 25: R&R Ch. 25 — Entering Stage Left

They flew through the air as they slipped on the communicators Jasmine had made. They still didn't have one for the team, but with Rend having vanished to who knows where, it wasn't like they needed his help.

"Explosions commonly fire-based abilities and other energy powers," Nicholas relayed as he ran through what they knew.

"I don't feel anyone just yet," Jasmine reported as they raced through the sky towards the danger. This was what she had been waiting for her whole life. The academy stuff didn't count now she was going to be an actual superhero and nobody was going to stop her. Nicholas held a hand out, eyes closed, as he gathered his power, trusting Jasmine to keep him safe. This was another one that was on his back burner, but he figured it should be usable in this state."

Mark" Both of them could now see a glowing outline of a person through the smoke and buildings; more than that, they could feel his signature. Stronger than them. Weaker than Rend. If that was all they had, they would have waited to call for backup. But there were several instructors in the rank three range.

"Punch up our first mission?" Nicholas asked, snapping his eyes open.

"Our legend has to start somehow?" Jasmine chuckled as she brought her sword up before bringing it into a dive to intercept the exploding man. Nicholas counted to three in his head. On one his power started to build as he made his next working. On two more of Jasmine's swords flew out of a portal. Three." Up" Nicholas commanded the world, and it obeyed. The glowing signature shot up into the sky to greet them. Jasmine slowed as their opponent came into view.

A large man with orange cracks running down his skin snarled as he spun through the air.

"Children? You sent children after me?" he yelled at them.

"Stand down," Jasmine said instead of rising to the bait.

"We don't want to hurt you. You've done some damage already that you'll have to pay for don't make it worse by causing a fight." Nicholas, for his part, jumped off the main flying sword and landed on another one that finished lowering him to a nearby rooftop. He would have to defend himself for this fight; they both needed to free up the cognitive load as much as possible.

"Two new heroes think they can beat me just because they have fancy costumes?" The man asked. Nicholas could feel the energy building; it was a race against his better, he just couldn't be late." Barrier" The silver barrier formed around Jasmine as the energy shot out of the man in a bead of power that exploded upon contact with the barrier.

"I'm sorry," Nicholas could hear Jasmine think through their communicator as her swords lit up with sapphire light, the water portion of their storm powers taking center stage. As the smoke was still clearing, the swords flew for their opponent. The opponent who was falling. Mark had finally run out of power, and up was being constantly maintained by him, so when the barrier went up, combustion man fell. The swords cut through the smoke as Nicholas targeted his opponent with his will."

Down" He commanded the world, gesturing as gravity warped around the man, causing him to fall back up towards Jasmine's swords as she finally blew out of the smoke. Soot stained her armor, and it looked like her helmet had been knocked askew, but she seemed right as rain. Jasmine's swords descended as combustion fell up to meet them. The clashed clashing before the man exploded, knocking the swords away and escaping the warped gravity field, letting him fall normally.

For an instant, before explosions tear out of his feet, letting him fly or more accurately hover.

"If you hit me with the buff, can it last while you do something else?" Jasmine asked through their communicator as she focused on dodging the explosions and bringing the fight farther into the sky so fewer of the buildings get damaged.

"Three seconds," Nicholas agreed. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it He dove into his visualization, snatching up the maximize card before looking for the right spot on his game board. He usually just let it be a channel to control how much power was in there and relay when it ends. But he should be able to give it enough juice to last for a while.

"Make it last a minute, last three seconds of it I'll go for my finisher give me an opening then," Jasmine ordered. Nicholas nodded." Maximize" Power surged through Jasmine as she was pushed to the limit of her potential and ability. The swords were faster, her senses better, and even more, her power reacted with a thought. Her first rank two power cycling technique was to increase her capacity; her weapons needed power to use, so she had to have a lot.

Her combat one was to augment the strength of her soul, which in turn augmented everything she did. Jasmine's domain was her own soul, and she made sure that everything touched on it. Combustion man who had been on the offensive before, was now on the defensive as Jasmine temporarily leveled up to her peak. He was still stronger, both his power and his body; the gulf between rank two and rank three was massive in that respect. But they were close now. And skill bridged that gap.

She was just that much better than him. Jasmine was strong enough now to keep him on the defensive but not strong enough to land the finisher. That wasn't her job though. She was going to push this man until he showed her teammate everything he had, and then he would open the door for her.

"Surrender!" Jasmine called, doing her job as a hero. She almost didn't want him to. He was destroying people's homes for no reason, and that wasn't okay. She wanted to beat him into submission for that sin. But that's what her grandma would do, and Jasmine refused to be the same person as her.

"What you think just because for a moment you can stand up to me you'll win?" Combustion asked as he slashed a hand through the air a rippling explosion blasting her sword array out of the way as she had to swerve to the side as they gathered back together.

"We'll win," Jasmine said as twelve swords flew even higher, forming a circle as their energy spilled from one to the other.

"Because you're heroes and good always wins?" he scoffed.

"There's nothing to that girlie, all that matters is who at the top says what's kosher, and they don't mind this." Jasmine tried not to let the words rattle her. Tried. She knew there was some truth to that. Her grandma said it was fine to keep some villains alive because it helped train heroes, but Jasmine was going to change that too. The explosive fist crashing into her face was not helping her concentration as she flipped through the air. But she could handle pain.

"Stormbolt!" Jasmine yelled, hand to her nose. The sword formation in the sky crackled before a lance of energy speared their opponent for an instant. Three swords crackling with emerald energy spun downward with a blast of wind, blasting her opponent off balance.

"Twenty seconds," Nicholas said before she could ask. She could do that. Twenty seconds easy. It wasn't easy, and Jasmine took several more injuries from explosive attacks as her swords faltered. Even pushed to the theoretical limit of what they're able to, they wouldn't be able to stand up to the attacks of someone a full rank above them forever. And she needed to save them for the final blow, which meant that she was almost out of swords she could use to defend herself with.

So she flew faster, flitting around the battlefield like a fairy, as her attacks went for grazing blows to annoy her opponent while she continued to build up more power. It had to be almost time, right? The world trembled. Nicholas spoke." Hesitate" Combustion froze, beginning to fall. If that wasn't the opening, Jasmine didn't know what was. Nineteen swords raced through the sky, spearing their opponent, making sure not to kill him but enough that he wouldn't be standing up again to kill them anytime soon.

The large flying sword she used for flying around her and Nicholas flew out and caught the villain holding him as one of her regular flying swords flew down to pick up Nicholas.

"Don't want to do the hero thing and tell everyone they're safe?" He asked as they flew away.

"No, I want to do work today, not schmooze, and we need to drop him off. We suppressed him for now, yeah, but he's still a rank above us. Maybe tomorrow we'll visit to do some volunteer work," Jasmine said as she guided them to the city's stronghold.

"Good point," Nicholas agreed. The two dropped off Combustion before flying off to the next area. They hadn't found Rend yet they had half expected the man to be waiting to critique them on everything they had done wrong in that fight but they were left to their own devices and flew off on patrol. They were still exploring the same general area since they didn't have anywhere else they were supposed to go today.

And while the odds of another villain attacking the area right after were low, they weren't zero, and just the act of being there could be something someone needs to feel safe.

Rend was pleased as punch with his new teammates. With their powers, he figured them punching up two tiers was unlikely in the perfect scenario. But from what he saw in their fight, they could be punching up one rank together easily and by themselves with some work. That was about as good as he could ask for. And if they could do it at every rank, it would only get better for all of them. His only concern was that both of them seemed to be building toward working with each other to fully complement one another.

It was fine to work with your teammates, but Rend was of the opinion that banking your power on someone else was a fool's errand. That he would need to keep an eye on. He wanted all of his chess pieces to be strong individuals first and a good team second. That they were at least pushing themselves was great, despite having the chance to. Neither had fought like their last fight, even in the day it had been they had learned slightly and adjusted their plan on the fly.

He would have to see if he could find tutors for them. Rend didn't have the skill set to teach them to maximize their powers. Though he did plan on forcing some of his worldview on them, they weren't strong enough to ignore him, and it would be a benefit to each of them. He settled in to continue watching Nicholas and Jasmine as the names Retort and Retribution began to echo through a new city. Faith in the new heroes pushing people to act as ever so slightly the scales began to shift just a little bit.