Strange Tides [Bree Davenport]

Chapter Six

I face my girls for our first lesson today in the training room with my new lesson plans that Emmie helped me with all day yesterday. Most of them are already following my directions of telling them that they are training and sparring with each other today without using bionics while I watch and give them pointers on how to fight better. Emmie told me that was how she learned how to use the bo staff with Chase, so it should work for bionic heroes. I'm not so sure about that, but I couldn't come up with anything else.

My students are actually much better than I thought. Only a few of them have bad form while sparring against each other that I need to fix. It is true that they are some of the highest trained people on this island with all of them being in the middle or intermediate level instead of being in the beginner level like Leo and Bob. I just hadn't realized how good they truly are, and it's all because of me.

The good feeling that was traveling through my chest suddenly dissipates when I see River walk into the training room with the rest of us. He approaches a fighting dummy like he's going to train with us.

"What are you doing here?" I ask River with a frown on my face after I make my way over to him. I haven't forgotten about yesterday when he made fun of my original lesson plans. "My students are supposed to be training right now."

"That's why I'm training with this training dummy," River says simply. He raises one eyebrow at me while crossing his arms over his chest. "Didn't Donald tell you? I'm in your group now."

I continue staring at him, suddenly at a loss for words. I haven't seen Mr. Davenport at all today. I've only seen Emmie and Adam at breakfast as they chatted about the reality show they watched last night and how they couldn't wait for next week. 

"If you're in my group," I say after a few awkward seconds of silence, "then I need to know what your bionic abilities are."

"I have a mental database where I keep everything I've ever heard or read or seen safe. It helps me remember everything that has ever happened to me, whether it be good or bad," River says with a nod. His eyes are a little darker than they were before. "I also can project holograms of anything I've ever seen that look extremely real."

I haven't heard of his last bionic ability, but some of these kids here have abilities Douglas never even thought of when he was working on me and Adam and Chase. "Those sound interesting," I say. "I only have superspeed and vocal manipulation."

"I thought we were supposed to be training today, Mentor."

"Right, I guess you can train with me," I tell him with a shrug. All my girls are already partnering off together. I know I should choose their partners for them to make them branch out, but my mind is working a little slower right now with River being in my group. "Right now, we're learning how to fight without the use of our bionics since we never know if a villain could take away our bionics."

"Sounds good." He suddenly pushes me back a little just as one of my girls falls in the place where I was just standing. "Watch out, Mentor."

I don't bother saying anything to him that I can take care of myself just fine. I don't bother saying that I like the way his hand feels on my shoulder. I don't bother saying anything to him because my throat is much too dry to figure out what to say to him.

Thankfully, he takes initiative with training by standing in a fighting stance. My teaching kicks in, though, when I see that his feet are way too far apart to support him if someone attacked him. "The first thing you need to learn is how to stand correctly," I tell him. "You need to stand where it's hard for people to knock you down. You need a firm foundation. Watch me."

I spread my legs a few inches apart from each other and hold my fists up in front of my face to protect my nose. River attempts to copy my pose, but it still doesn't look right because his arms are up way too high. I walk over to him and pull his arms down a little more, so his hands are directly in front of his face.